Welcome back to ’80s Couch Surfing, a series in which I watch and review two episodes of a sitcom from the 1980s. Today’s entry is Perfect Strangers (1986-1993), a tale about a somewhat normal Chicago guy who has his European shepherd cousin come live with him.

Season 1 Episode 5: Check This

After putting myself through Small Wonder and Out of This World, I really needed a palate cleanser — a show that was actually, on some level, enjoyable. So I turned to an old favorite, Perfect Strangers. It was a goofy show about two mismatched roommates that managed to gain the approval of my parents and be funny (two factors that weren’t always compatible). Also, it has what I consider to be the greatest ’80s sitcom theme of all time. I am known to go around singing “standing TALL on the wINGs of my DREAMS” while people avoid me.

Anyway, Perfect Strangers pits the (neurotic) straight man Larry against his wackadoodle “ethnic” cousin who is from a fictional island country where everything is (ha ha) different and I’m sure there’s some commentary about immigrants in there. We all just thought Balki was both funny and quotable, and seeing Larry getting increasingly exasperated at him never failed to entertain.

This episode comes pretty early in the show’s run, and Balki is still sleeping on Larry’s couch and doing noisy exercises in the morning. Can I just say that I *love* the fact that Balki sleeps with a stuffed sheep? Or a seal? It’s hard to tell, but I think it’s a sheep because he used to be a shepherd. Larry lectures him about how to fold up the couch and tries to show him, but manages to throw out his back while learning from Balki that the thing is broken. I have to say that in the first two minutes, there are already more genuine laughs in this episode than in the previous six that I’ve watched for ’80s Couch Surfing (and hey, it also has a couch!). These two actors have great chemistry together, and it shows on screen, especially with all of the physical comedy that they do. Balki is a little bit of a smart-aleck, but he’s so nice that it never seems mean-spirited.

OK, so the very basic plot here is that Balki is hiding all of his money underneath mattresses, so Larry encourages him to take it to the bank. Banks, like everything else from the modern world, mystify Balki, so we’re in for a lot of explaining about how they work from a short-tempered Larry. That’s pretty much it. And it works. Balki hears that the bank is going to loan out his money and make a profit on it, and he freaks the heck out. Seeing Larry spiral into an explanation hole is great, especially when he gets to, “Credit? Credit is where you prove to the bank that you don’t need to borrow your own money.”

At the department store where… someone (Balki? Lady I don’t know? Larry?) works, Balki comes in all flush from a spending spree with his newfangled checks. There’s a strange dig on the ERA from the manager here, which sparks the above response. Also, it turns out that Balki is writing checks for thousands of dollars’ worth of stuff that he can’t afford, but since Larry and the cranky bank guy didn’t properly explain check balancing and overdrafting, I kind of feel it’s on them.

Well, Larry gets what’s coming to him as his entire apartment is redecorated in Balki’s taste in furniture. Which, as I survey it, is not too different from the stylish taste of an 85-year-old spinster who lives every day like it’s 1922. Larry is pretty steamed that Balki just got rid of all of his old furniture, moreso with money he doesn’t have, and during all of this the actor is walking hunched over because his back is destroyed. Larry explains that as part of a family of nine kids, he never had his “own” stuff until he moved to Chicago, which is why he’s pretty possessive of it. That’s a pretty good piece of backstory, actually.

Another good line: “In Mypos, money is not important! Two chickens is a pig, two pigs is a cow, and two cows is a fortune!”

So Balki helps buy back Larry’s furniture from the retail store and then fixes Larry’s back with a bear hug. That does trigger a side effect of paralyzing Larry’s arms, for which, Balki says, “you need a doctor.” And that’s the episode!

The first season was pretty short (just six episodes) but was a huge ratings hit, and if this episode is an example, I can see why. It’s just effortlessly funny with a lot of physical, verbal, and character humor with a lot of callbacks.

Season 2 Episode 1: Hello Baby

Why not, we’ll go to the season 2 premiere! One interesting little thing about Perfect Strangers is that over the seasons, there was actual development and momentum in the characters’ lives. They moved to new places, got new jobs, and navigated through relationships to marriage and families. But here, they’re still in a cruddy little apartment and working at the same retail store.

As the episode opens and Larry is almost crushed to death, one of Balki’s fellow citizenship classmates comes in asking for help. Gina here is pregnant, temporarily husband-free, and being evicted from her apartment. So Balki volunteers to house her until her husband returns. Larry is thrilled, moreso when he realizes that he’s giving up his bedroom to her and will have to crash on the couch with Balki.

“What… are those?” “These are my Spider-Man pa-ja-mas!” I dare you not to smile when you see the unabashed glee that Balki has over his sleepwear. I’m a little disappointed it isn’t a proper onesie, but it’s great even so. This show really wouldn’t work if Larry didn’t get so hilariously annoyed at everything Balki does, so you just know that this sleepover is going to be hell on him.

For some reason they don’t turn off any lights or even do that fake sitcom “night” lighting here; it’s just blazing light and they’re trying to sleep. Larry gets a face full of stuffed sheep butt and I am not ashamed to say that this tickled me to no end. Fun fact: the sheep’s name is Dimitri. There’s a really great bit when Larry gets exasperated, throws Dimitri on the floor, and Balki guilts him into picking it back up and apologizing to it.

Poor cousin Larry, he’s not going to get much sleep tonight once he discovers that Gina is two weeks overdue. Cue a lot of silly preparation training for an evacuation to the hospital, which is of course needed a couple of hours later when Gina waddles out and announces that the baby is coming. You can just about see Larry’s head explode from having to handle all this, while Balki is gleeful and relatively calm.

Well, the drive to the hospital doesn’t go very well, although I think Larry killed three people from how frantic he was driving. In the backseat, Balki gently delivers the baby. It’s all fine, although not nearly as funny or dramatic as it could be. The actress playing Gina doesn’t even show up in this scene other than a hand.

Afterward, Larry is really hard on himself for acting like a lunatic and not coming through in a hard situation, but he kind of redeems himself by offering to help Gina find a good apartment.

As I was watching these episodes, my wife came into the room and got enraged that I was doing this without her — as she was, unbeknownst to me, a big Perfect Strangers fan. It’s still really funny stuff even with the laugh track and simpering “lesson” tacked at the end. I might even have to spring for a few seasons soon!