The sitcom Perfect Strangers ran for 8 seasons/150 episodes on ABC, from 1986-1993. The series follows an Odd Couple type of premise. Larry Appleton (Mark Linn-Baker) comes from a family with 8 brothers and sisters, and recently moved from his small hometown in Wisconsin, to Chicago. He is excited to be living on his own for the very first time, in an apartment above the Ritz Discount Store where he works. One day an unusual young man shows up at his door, introducing himself as Balki Bartokomous (Bronson Pinchot), a distant cousin of his from the Mediterranean island country of Mypos, where he was a professional sheepherder. Balki is not familiar with America’s customs and ways, and has a unique grasp on the English language. But’s he’s an ever-positive and joyful guy, always looking at the glass as half-full (even if he doesn’t understand that expression). Larry, on the other hand, is a bit high strung and cynical. Larry reluctantly agrees to let Balki sleep on his couch temporarily, until he finds a job. However, the two quickly become unlikely friends, and permanent roommates.

Episodes of the series usually find the guys on some wacky adventure based on one small thing, such as Larry telling Balki he’s too nice, the guys trying to pick up girls at a bar, Larry teaching Balki how to drive, Balki getting a bank account, or Larry having a panic about the state of his life on his 24th birthday. Often storylines will stem from Larry lying about something and Balki getting him to come clean, or Larry teaching Balki about some aspect of American culture, or Balki relating their situation to some strange story about his home country. No matter what the storyline, the episodes are fun, easy watch. The series changes and evolves over the course of the eight seasons, but always keeps the friendship of these cousins at the core.

The first two seasons find Larry and Balki working together at Ritz Discount Store, under miser boss/lanlord Donald Twinkacetti (Ernie Sabella), who doesn’t always treat them with respect. Larry has dreams of becoming a photojournalist, and is often trying to chase down some photo of a celebrity or politician that he can sell to a paper. Meanwhile, Balki constantly discovers new and surprising things about American culture. The first two seasons include recurring character upstairs neighbor Susan Campbell (Lise Cutter), who Balki seems instantly smitten with, but she is eventually written off. The second episode of the second season introduces the characters of flight attendants/neighbors Jennifer Lyons (Melanie Wilson) and Mary Anne Spencer (Rebeca Arthur), who become the love interests for Larry and Balki for the rest of the series.

Things change up in the third season when we discover that Larry now has a job running errands for the city editor of the Chicago Chronicle, Harry Burns (Eugene Roche)—and later he’s working directly for publisher Mr. Wainwright (F.J. O’Neill). Balki gets a job in the mailroom, but his boss Sam Gorpley (Sam Anderson) is constantly looking for any excuse to fire him. There is still this dynamic of the cousins working together, except now it is in the basement of the newspaper rather than the discount store. The third season also finds the cousins living in a larger apartment (though it’s never explained), finally giving Balki his own room. Recurring characters include advice columnist Lydia Markham (Belita Moreno) as well as elevator operator Harriette Winslow (Jo Marie Payton-France)—who eventually leaves the series after the fourth season for her own Family Matters spin-off.

Over the course of the final four seasons, we continue to see the relationships between Larry and Jennifer and Balki and Mary Anne develop and grow through a normal progression, ultimately leading to a proposal and a wedding. The seventh season brings new promotions for Larry and Balki, who move from the basement at the Chronicle to the top floor. The home life also changes as both couples move into a large house together. And finally, the short and final eighth season wraps things up for all of these relationships in a satisfying and emotional way.
 

If you had asked me what 1980s sitcom was likely to get a Blu-ray release, Perfect Strangers would not have been on my Bingo card. However, I was thrilled by the news. I watched this series regularly as it originally aired, but probably hadn’t seen it in 30 years. It is a fun and delightful sitcom that makes for an easy watch, and it constantly put a smile on my face. I was amazed by how well the series still holds up. The jokes and physical humor still work, and the themes of the series remain universal. It doesn’t feel like a show that is trapped in a particular period of time.

Before being cast on Perfect Strangers, Bronson Pinchot was probably best known for the heavily-accented character Serge he played on Beverly Hills Cop. While Balki also has a humorous accent, he’s far more innocent and has this sweet naivete to him. Balki is always talking with this heavy Greek-like accent that adds to the humor of the series, and nevr feels like it is making fun of some nationality or pushing a stereotype. Balki is constantly sharing these ridiculous stories and customs from his homeland of Mypos, which in a way reminded me of Rose from The Golden Girls. Pinchot shows that he is up for anything, no matter how ridiculous. He has excellent on-screen chemistry with co-star Mark Linn-Baker, who plays more of the straight man to Balki’s wackiness. Their characters have this fun Odd Couple dynamic and the actors know how to play off one another. There is a lot of physical humor from both actors, such as a running gag with one or both of them falling over the back of the couch, or the cousins performing the “Dance of Joy” when something good comes their way. This physical humor often leads to some laugh-out-loud moments, and it’s a wonder how the actors were able to keep a straight face. The characters also each have their own catch phrase, for Balki it’s “Don’t Be Ridiculous”, while Larry often exclaims “Oh, My, Lord!”. The cousins often find themselves in crazy situations both at work and at home, and it usually relies on them working together and being there for one another in order to resolve them.

Melanie Wilson and Rebeca Arthur are also great, filling out the ensemble as Jennifer and Mary Anne. They have a fun relationship with the guys, and the pairings seem perfect. It’s always fun whenever the seemingly-ditzy Mary Anne will suddenly blurt out something super-intelligent, leaving the others speechless for a moment.

The episodes are well-written and do an excellent job of keeping things tight and never dragging. There are so many jokes, gags and adventures packed into these 25-minute episodes. While the episode lengths are just over 23 minutes by the final season, it’s still much longer than today’s 21-minute standard for network sitcoms.

Warner Bros. had previously released the first two seasons of Perfect Strangers on DVD in 2008, and then it took 10 more years for the remaining seasons to finally find their way onto disc through the Warner Archive collection. Now the seasons have been bundled together in a new Complete Series box set, which is also available in HD Blu-ray for the very first time!

We were sent a copy of the Blu-ray release for review from AV Entertainment. Each season is split across 1, 2 or 3 discs, and all 17 discs are placed overlapping on plastic trays in a very thick clear DVD-sized plastic case. The packaging is similar to what WB used for the Complete Series releases of Succession, Robot Chicken, and many other TV shows, except without any cardboard slipcover this time. While all the discs are securely housed and somewhat easy to access in this packaging, as someone who has primarily moved on to Blu-rays and 4K discs, I find the ize of this case a bit frustrating—I’ve already adjusted my shelves for Blu-ray packaging, rather than these DVD-height cases, so I kind of wish the packaging was different. That said, I was thrilled to see this series actually available on Blu-ray!

The video presentation generally looks excellent, with a clean, clear picture that certainly looks better than how the series looked when it originally aired. The series is presented in its original 4:3 aspect ratio. There is some film grain but never overwhelming. There are also a few establishing shots here and there that are not quite as clear as the main show. For example, there’s a scene of some archive footage of Wayne Newton performing “Mack the Knife” that looks quite grainy. But in general the show looks amazing, especially for its age. The audio track provides clear dialogue throughout, and it appears that all original music is intact—there are many scenes where characters are singing mainstream songs that have not been replaced or removed. The show’s delightful theme song, “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Me Now”, is so catchy and fun that I could not bring myself to ever skip over it! The release doesn’t contain any bonus material, but that’s not unexpected given the age of the series.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (approx. 3675 min)

Blu-ray:
• All 8 seasons/150 episodes of the series on 17 discs.
  • Season 1 (1986) – 6 episodes – 1 disc:
    “Knock Knock, Who’s There?”, “Picture This”, “First Date”, “Baby, You Can Drive My Car”, “Check This”, “Happy Birthday, Baby”
  • Season 2 (1986–87) – 22 episodes – 2 discs:
    “Hello Baby”, “Hunks Like Us”, “The Unnatural”, “Lifesavers”, “Babes in Babylon”, “Ladies and Germs”, “Falling in Love Is…”, “Can I Get a Witness”, “Two Men and a Cradle”, “The Rent Strike”, “A Christmas Story”, “Dog Gone Blues”, “Since I Lost My Baby”, “Trouble in Paradise”, “Beautiful Dreamer”, “Tux for Two”, “Ten Speed and a Soft Touch”, “Snow Way to Treat a Lady, Part 1”, “Snow Way to Treat a Lady, Part 2”, “Get a Job”, “Hello, Elaine”, “Up on a Roof”
  • Season 3 (1987–88) – 22 episodes – 2 discs:
    “All the News That Fits”, “Weigh to Go, Buddy”, “Sexual Harassment in Chicago”, “Taking Stock”, “Your Cheatin’ Heart”, “The Horn Blows at Midnight”, “The Karate Kids”, “Night School Confidential”, “Future Shock”, “Couch Potato”, “The Break-In”, “To Be or Not to Be”, “My Lips Are Sealed”, “The Pen Pal”, “Just Desserts”, “Better Shop Around”, “Pipe Dreams”, “The Defiant Guys”, “My Brother, Myself”, “You Gotta Have Friends”, “The Graduate”, “Bye Bye Biki”
  • Season 4 (1988–89) – 22 episodes – 2 discs:
    “The Lottery”, “Assertive Training”, “Aliens”, “Piano Movers”, “High Society”, “Up a Lazy River, Part 1”, “Up a Lazy River, Part 2”, “College Bound”, “The Gift of the Mypiot”, “Maid to Order”, “That Old Gang of Mine”, “Crimebusters”, “Games People Play”, “Come Fly with Me”, “Blind Alley”, “The King and I”, “Prose and Cons”, “Car Wars”, “Just a Gigolo”, “Seven Card Studs”, “Teacher’s Pest”, “Wedding Belle Blues”
  • Season 5 (1989–90) – 24 episodes – 3 discs:
    “Good Skates”, “Lie-Ability”, “The Newsletter”, “Tooth or Consequences”, “Dog Day Mid-Afternoon”, “Poetry in Motion”, “Father Knows Best???, Part 1”, “Father Knows Best???, Part 2”, “Hello Ball”, “Almost Live from Chicago”, “Home Movies”, “Everyone in the Pool”, “Because They’re Cousins”, “Disorderly Orderlies”, “The Selling of Mypos”, “Nightmare Vacation”, “Three’s a Crowd”, “A Blast from the Past”, “He’s the Boss”, “Here Comes the Judge”, “This Old House”, “Bye, Bye Birdie”, “Digging Up the News”, “Eyewitless Report”
  • Season 6 (1990–91) – 24 episodes – 3 discs:
    “Safe at Home”, “New Kid on the Block”, “The Break Up”, “A Horse is a Horse”, “Family Feud”, “Call Me Indestructible”, “The Men Who Knew Too Much, Part 1”, “The Men Who Knew Too Much, Part 2”, “The Ring”, “Black Widow”, “The Sunshine Boys”, “Hocus Pocus”, “Finders Keepers”, “Grandpa”, “Little Apartment of Horrors”, “I Saw This on TV”, “Speak, Memory”, “Out of Sync”, “See How They Run”, “Climb Every Billboard”, “A Catered Affair”, “Duck Soup”, “Great Balls of Fire”, “See You in September”
  • Season 7 (1991–92) – 24 episodes – 3 discs:
    “Bachelor Party”, “The Wedding”, “This New House”, “Weekend at Ferdinand’s”, “Fright Night”, “The Gazebo”, “Citizenship, Part 1”, “Citizenship, Part 2”, “Wild Turkey”, “Dimitri’s World”, “Car Tunes”, “Door to Door”, “Two Angry Men”, “Missing”, “Going Once, Going Twice”, “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby”, “Wayne Man”, “The Elevator”, “The Play’s The Thing”, “Stress Test”, “…Or Get Off the Pot”, “Chicago Suite”, “It Had to Be You”, “Get Me to the Dump on Time”
  • Season 8 (1993) – 6 episodes – 1 disc:
    “The Baby Shower”, “After Hours”, “Lethal Weapon”, “The Baby Quiz”, “Up, Up and Away, Part 1”, “Up, Up and Away, Part 2”
• 1080p / Full Frame 1.33:1
• Audio: English 2.0 Mono DTS-HD Master Audio (Seasons 1-4), English 2.0 Stereo DTS-HD Master Audio (Seasons 5-8)
• Subtitles: English SDH

Extras:

There is no bonus material included on this release.

Final Thoughts:

Perfect Strangers is a fun, easy watch that constantly brought a smile to my face. This series was a favorite of mine growing up, and it still holds up decades later. The episodes are well-written with a nice blend of comedy, heart and physical humor. It gives the viewers characters to care about and root for, and allows them and their relationships to develop over the course of the series, while still keeping the zaniness and quirkiness. I never dreamed of this series getting a Blu-ray release, but Warner’s Complete Series collection looks and sounds great, and is definitely worth picking up for any fan of the series.