Tis I, Balki of Mypos.

I think we can all agree that the ONLY happenin' place to be on a Friday night for a prepubescent child of the early 90's was TGIF. Some of the best shows of our generation reigned supreme during this glorious television slot.

And those are just the ones I found title screens for on Wikipedia (actually can we take a second and remember DINOSAURS?  The abusive baby beating it's construction worker father with a rolling pin, the older brother dinosaur with a head spike curl a la Danny Zuko that you thought was hot even though he was a giant reptile....) These were the glory days of TGIF. There are actually 16 official TGIF seasons, (there was a brief hiatus and a failed revival...how they believed "8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter" was going to breathe life into beloved childhood programming is both foolhardy and insulting) and it all begin with a little show called Perfect Strangers.

Meet Balki

Tell me that if this man showed up on your doorstep claiming to be your cousin from Mypos and hoping to live on your couch he wouldn't be pepper sprayed and sack punched in 5 seconds flat. But fortunately for all of us, Larry isn't as smart as we are!

Meet Larry

Trusting, lonely, and a total square-- Larry is as boring as Balki is zany! It's almost like Mork and Mindy, which was coincidentally created by the people that made Perfect Strangers. . How many times can you make the same show without people noticing? Apparently 3, because they made Laverne and Shirley too. But in any case, let's do a brief synopsis of the show, which ran for 8 captivating seasons.

We're so different... yet the same!

Balki shows up on Larry's doorstep in Chicago from Mypos, a Mediterranean Island where he was allegedly a shepherd of some kind. He has come to America to live the high life, and would like to stay with Larry, who he claims is his long lost cousin. Now, had Larry taken the time to look into Balki's ridiculous back story, he would know that Mypos isn't a place and Balki is a liar. But instead of busting out the family tree for further investigation, Larry welcomes Balki into his home where he could easily bludgeon Larry to death in his sleep.

 Luckily, it doesn't come to that. 

Even more luckily, Larry's landlord/boss agrees to allow the incompetent Balki to work alongside Larry as a clerk at a discount store despite his intense disdain for the both of them. In fact, the luck streak these two dudes ride over the course of 8 seasons is nothing short of television magic. Larry gets a job with a hip Chicago newspaper, Balki scores a gig in the mailroom. Larry and Balki get girlfriends at the same time (who both happen to be stewardesses for the same airline, and also happen to live in the same building as Balki and Larry...even when they move in season 3 which they artlessly fail to explain...) they marry around the same time, make babies at the same time, and generally live parallel lives despite all their wacky differences! It’s like a sitcom or something. Or is it?

More than just a sitcom

Perfect Strangers was also a game I was forced to play by my older sister Natalie. She would be the always sensible, obviously superior Larry, and I’d be the outrageous and flamboyant Balki. On the show, it was clear that Larry learned some sweet little lessons from his gently retarded cousin. In our game I just repeatedly performed Balki’s signature “dance of joy” while Natalie hurled insults and made a big scene over being embarrassed of me.

This is what we as children felt was going on in Perfect Strangers. We didn’t see much wrong in pretending to be two middle aged borderline homosexuals squabbling over who used the nice towels in the guest bathroom. The saddest part about that is that both of the actors on that show are Yale graduates... but they'll be Balki and Larry for the rest of their lives. 


Is that so wrong?

**Is that Harriet Winslow of Family Matters in the back? Why yes it is...Family Matters is a spinoff of Perfect Strangers. So Carl Winslow can thank Balki and Larry for being allowed to perpetuate America's disdain for the police force on national television.**

Never talk to strangers...unless they are perfect.