# Perfect Strangers (1986)

> Two mismatched cousins from different worlds share a Chicago apartment and navigate life together.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/1684

## Facts

- Seasons: 8
- Episodes: 150
- Episode runtime: 24 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: comedy
- Created by: Dale McRaven
- Network: ABC
- Cast: Bronson Pinchot, Mark Linn-Baker, Melanie Wilson, Rebeca Arthur, Sam Anderson, Ernie Sabella, Jo Marie Payton, Lise Cutter
- TMDB rating: 7.2/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090501/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: none
- Tone: warm, breezy, comforting, whimsical, light-hearted

## What critics say

Audiences rate the sitcom positively, valuing its warm odd-couple chemistry between Balki and Larry and its broad, gentle humor.

## Synopsis

Perfect Strangers (1986-1993) is an American network sitcom created by Dale McRaven for ABC. Midwestern everyman Larry Appleton (Mark Linn-Baker) is a Chicago newspaper man whose life is upended when his distant cousin Balki Bartokomous (Bronson Pinchot), a sincere and endlessly optimistic newcomer from a Mediterranean island, arrives and moves into his apartment. The engine of the show is the friction between Larry's cautious, city-weary routine and Balki's earnest misreadings of American customs, jobs, and romance. Each twenty-two-minute episode is a self-contained case of the week, built around small workplace mishaps, neighborhood schemes, and the couple's running dates and misunderstandings with the people around them. Supporting characters including Jennifer Lyons (Melanie Wilson), Mary Anne Spencer (Rebeca Arthur), and Harriette Winslow (Jo Marie Payton) keep the apartment and the newspaper office lively. Across eight seasons and roughly 150 episodes, the series keeps a warm, breezy, comforting register, leaning on physical comedy and Balki's catchphrases while slowly building a family-like bond between the cousins. Set in a contemporary 1980s Chicago, it sits in the lineage of odd-couple roommate comedies like The Odd Couple and Taxi, and will appeal to viewers who enjoy gentle family-friendly sitcoms with a fish out of water twist.

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- [The Bob Newhart Show (1972)](https://ember.film/tv/1866)
- [Who's the Boss? (1984)](https://ember.film/tv/599)
- [One Day at a Time (1975)](https://ember.film/tv/2078)
- [Full House (1987)](https://ember.film/tv/4098)
- [The Nanny (1993)](https://ember.film/tv/2233)
- [Laverne & Shirley (1976)](https://ember.film/tv/2885)
- [Joey (2004)](https://ember.film/tv/1382)
- [Newhart (1982)](https://ember.film/tv/2857)

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