FLIGHT SCHOOL minisode: “Perfect Strangers” Pilot

Hey, Tanneritos!

Welcome back to How Rude Tanneritos. Today, Flight School is taking us back to 1986 for the pilot of Perfect Strangers, the show that helped launch the TGIF era before TGIF was even officially a thing. We're meeting Cousin Larry, newly arrived from Wisconsin and determined to build a brand new life in Chicago, until a distant cousin he's never met arrives from the fictional island of Meepos with one suitcase, a shepherd's vest, and absolutely no plans to leave. We'll talk about that legendary theme song, Bronson Pinchot's enormous performance as Balki, the unmistakable Miller-Boyette DNA, and whether this odd couple had us doing the dance of joy or looking for the next flight home. So grab your boarding passes, fanaritos.

Flight school is now in session.

Aha!

Ooh!

This was fun. This was... This was fun.

A departure from the family comedies that we've been reviewing.

A departure from the family stuff. Also, this was an Emmy-nominated one.

Ooh, yeah. They did get nominated for an Emmy, I think, maybe their first season or second.

Oh, just like them.

But this was, like, a really, really successful popular show, and.

Again, because it wasn't really a family thing, like I saw little bits and pieces, but I didn't, you know, I.

Never watched a whole episode.

Right. We didn't sit down and watch this Friday nights because we were working on Friday nights.

And I didn't realize, like I knew we shot at the same time.

For some reason, I thought they started a year before us. I thought they started, or they did. They started in 86 and we started in 87.

Okay, that's right.

This originally aired March 25th, 1986. Got it. Okay.

So they were a year before us.

Got it. But they went for eight seasons, I believe. Yeah. So it was, which is, I'm like, how, that's hard to do when you've got two leads.

Right.

And most of the storylines, I believe, were about, they didn't like branch off into a million characters like Full House did, where it's like, let's make this ensemble even bigger. Yeah.

With Becky and Kimmy and Steve. I don't know. I don't remember.

Yeah, so I think that's eight seasons is a long time for a buddy comedy, in my opinion. But good for them. Like, they had that chemistry.

Oh, yeah.

Marklin Baker and Bronson Pinchot had amazing chemistry.

Great.

And also some of the best physical comedy.

Oh, my gosh. Ever. Ever.

I do remember this duo.

Even I remember as a kid thinking their bodies, like, they're really funny in using their bodies.

Body very funny to make the joke um yeah.

It was always something marklin baker and and bronson were always so good at.

That yeah they were they were so good um yeah and did you know that the they did like full house this must be a miller-broyant thing like full house they had a different larry uh it was uh louis armstrong is that who it was let me look yeah no louis anderson i was gonna.

Say yeah.

This is why I take notes.

That is a different show. A very different show. Theme song was, yeah. I have to write everything down. Dream a little dream.

Yeah.

You know.

This is, okay, Louie Anderson. Yeah, no.

That's the way I'm showing, right? I'm not doing a terrible impression of someone else.

Okay. Louis Anderson was initially cast as Cousin Larry. Oh, okay.

Yeah.

He was also a very, he's a very funny comic, but he's got that kind of, like, he's got that kind of voice.

He does that. Yeah.

So they shot this pilot. They didn't air it because they didn't like the chemistry between Bronson and Louis. So they recast the role. It went to Mark Lynn Baker and it was magic. It was magical, magical chemistry. So I guess the two, I don't know. I don't know if there's tea on that. Like did the two actors clash or they just didn't have the chemistry that worked?

I just think, I mean, I can see like in my imaginings, like of kind of who Louis Anderson is and what I've seen on his sitcom TV stuff versus Mark Lynn Baker. Like, it was a much better... They were absolutely right.

Yeah. It was just a magical, magical duo. Yeah. They just had it.

Mark's face, when he could just make a look and a... Like, brilliant. Brilliant. It was a very... Kimmy-esque quality to his facial expressions.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, it felt like he was really good at, you know, that kind of stuff.

Anyway, we'll get into the show, but I'm just singing their praises.

It's really good. We'll go through a little beat by some of the major beats. We're not going to go through scene by scene like we always do, but the major beats. The first one is we start the show with Cousin Larry. He's starting his new life. Larry Appleton has moved from Madison, Wisconsin to Chicago. after growing up as one of nine children, which we see in the credits. Right.

I was like, I didn't realize the credits were a whole movie. The credits set up the whole damn show.

If you don't watch the credits, you have no idea what's happening.

Yes. First of all, those opening credits are so long. Like, they're so long.

And so out of focus. Was it just you? Or excuse me, was it just me or was it you too? They were out of focus. And I was like, I literally was like, is it me? Did I lose my eyesight all of a sudden? Yes. Like it was out of focus and blurry.

And I mean, I realized that was just the, you know, the quality technology, you know, that we saw. But man, it was, I was like, are we like a minute into this?

It was so long.

Movie.

Yeah.

I'm like, who the hell are these people? Are they waving with his family? I'm like, who are these people? Wait, you don't live in a house?

Yeah.

I was very confused. Yeah.

I had to pick up on a lot of context clues.

They could have done a whole pilot just from those opening credits. That's what I needed.

I didn't know. I was like, why is this guy? I thought that was his wife. That was his mom. You know what I mean? Like, I felt bad. I was like, why is he leaving.

His wife with all of his belongings and her husband and her dad? Obviously, that was like, oh, that's his mom.

It was so funny. And that shot of Balki on the back of a wagon or whatever with America or burst like that tells you everything you need to know about Balki. It was.

And also, I love that they shot it at the same park that we shot our opening credits at.

I'm like, I've seen DJ riding a horse to that park. That's where the horse was. That's where we kicked the ball. That's where this was. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then there's Balki on a thing. America or Burst.

It was so, it was so, it's so Miller Boyette.

So 80s. So 80s.

So Miller Boyette. Some things never change. It was hysterical. So Larry wants independence and he dreams of becoming a photojournalist. But for now, he's living above and working at Mr. Twinkasetti's Ritz Discount Store.

Whose name is that?

Twinkasetti?

Twinkasetti.

I don't know, but that was, I kept thinking of Twinkies, but Asetti seems.

Twinks.

Yeah, yeah. I was like, there's a lot going on in that name.

Yeah, yeah, no.

Twink-a-setty. A little diminutive term, you know? He's not a twink-a-setty.

He's like a mean, angry dude, so it doesn't match his name. He's a cranky. Yeah, he's a cranky pants. So, yeah, this is great. We immediately know that Larry's the straight guy. Like, he's going to be the straight guy to the crazy guy that's going to appear next.

Right.

He finally gets space of his own. He's living with these nine kids and this big family, and he's finally like, he just starts to relax into it. I love that. And, yeah, you can feel the Miller-Boyette DNA there. The formula, the, you know.

Right.

You can just tell it's coming. Right. It's coming. So next, Balki arrives from Mipos, the fictional island. Just as Larry is celebrating having a place of his own, Balki Bartokomos appears at his door. He's Larry's distant cousin, a shepherd from the fictional Mediterranean island of Mipos. And he's traveled all the way to America, believing cousin Larry will help him begin his new life.

You know what I just thought?

I just thought we should have seen Balki somehow involved with the Greek cousin's of the Katsopoulos.

This feels like a crossover.

Because I feel like Mipos has got to be close.

It's feeling, well, it is obviously Mediterranean, but it's giving a lot of Greek vibes.

It's giving Stavros. I feel like the crossover.

Would have been Balki somewhere popping up in the middle of this and being like, oh, my long lost cousins, Papouli or whatever.

Papouli and yeah, Jessica Thopoulos. That's, you know, we got Urkel from another millenium. That's what I'm saying. We needed to get a Balki too, a Balki Stavros. We needed a Balki.

Crossover he is.

Yeah.

Amazing. But I can't imagine anyone else playing this role except for Bronson Pinchot.

No, he was brilliant. He was funny, ridiculous. You had empathy for him.

He drove you nuts. He was all of the things.

He knew exactly who he was. This isn't a character that developed over time.

No, no, no. First scene.

He comes straight out of the gate with his exaggerated accent, his confusion about the American customs. But he's got, like, such a big heart.

Like, he's doing it. And the don't be ridiculous. The first time he said that, I was like, oh, my gosh, that's right. Don't be ridiculous. I forgot about that catchphrase.

Of course.

Don't be ridiculous.

Yeah.

That was like, oh, I remember people saying that all the time. I remember my mom saying that, you know, don't be ridiculous.

Such a big.

And yeah, this was right. Again, from the pilot, he had his catchphrases. From the pilot. It took us a while to get How Rude and Hola Tanritos.

Now he was in from the beginning.

From the very beginning. Loved it. Next, Larry reluctantly takes him in. Balki assumes that he'll be staying with Larry while Larry tries to explain that he moved to Chicago specifically because he wanted to live alone. But once Larry realizes Balki has nowhere else to go, he agrees to let him stay. Which I think was very big of Larry.

That was very generous.

This is a stranger. He's claiming familial relations, but how do you know?

How do you know? Yeah. Who's the ponie in the.

The meepo family or whatever what was on that side is a mom is a dad yeah.

How what where's the family tree like where's.

The family tree i need to know where these where these.

Meepos people are larry just takes him at his word and was like okay i'll trust you i mean because the.

Dad was like yeah i don't want you want you to go live with him dad obviously doesn't know him so maybe it's the mom's side.

I gotta know i gotta know it was yeah that was.

And i i will also say uh.

Hilarious show, great character, all that probably didn't age really well in some respects as far.

As like, you know, making fun of immigrants.

But it was giving me Borat vibes, which was, you know, sort of the same.

Yeah, it was giving me Borat vibes.

That's a good comparison. That's true.

Yeah, no, it was a little less like inappropriate. Right, right.

No, it was, it didn't, it didn't bump me in 19, in the 80s. Like I was just like, oh, this is a historical show. And now as a 50 year old watching in 2026, I'm kind of like, ooh, We couldn't make this show today. Right. But Bronson just really brought that character to life. It's hysterical. And next, Balki goes to work at Ritz Discount. Larry brings Balki to the discount store and tries to convince Mr. Twinkasetti to hire him. Balki demonstrates that he can fix things, but his methods involve taking parts from the other merchandise. Then he applies the... Miposian art of bartering and sells a huge pile of merchandise for $ 45. When it's worth hundreds and hundreds of dollars. So, yeah, Balki just messes up

big time and doesn't realize it. He thinks he did a great thing.

Causing confusion and chaos.

Thinks he's done a great thing. Meanwhile, you're watching Mark Lynn Baker, like, you see the panic.

Right, right. It's just so funny.

It was such a.

Great sitcom chaos moment because there's always that. you know, just like the setup of here's what's going to go wrong.

Yep. Yep. There's definitely a formula to these sitcoms and Miller-Boyette shows in particular where, okay, we've established what the show is going to be and then here's the high drama with lots of physical comedy, lots of glass breaking.

Like that was.

It seems, yeah, people moving in is a good start to a sitcom.

Oh, yeah, you're right.

You're right. People moving in.

It's some sort of a shake-up. You usually start a sitcom at some sort of, you know, conflict.

And there's misunderstanding, there's chaos, there's physical comedy, and then there's a heart scene at the end. So this is a very, very similar format.

Yeah.

And so the store disaster gets Larry and Balky fired and then rehired so they can work off the damage. More importantly, Larry finally stops treating Balky like a temporary inconvenience and accepts that his cousin is now a part of his life.

Aw.

That's a sweet ending, you know?

Yeah. Larry's got a heart and he acknowledges that Balki is just... He's a sweet guy. He's got a good heart. He's just a little bit of a nightmare.

He's just a little... Yeah, he's just a little, you know, out of touch.

Just a little bit out of touch. But yeah, I thought the pilot... Overall, the pilot really... nailed, like, this is what the show is. Like, this is what the show is. This is what it's.

Going to be. No, I thought it was great.

I mean, I definitely, had I seen that show, I would have been like, oh, I want to watch more of this just to see how it develops. Because, you know, oftentimes you watch a pilot and you're like, ooh, you can kind of hear the gears grinding into action and it's not quite as smooth. But this was, like you said, the chemistry between them. It was like they had been, you know, doing this danced together for a really long time.

Yeah. No, for sure. It was, it's like they had been, it's, it's almost hard to believe that they were strangers when they met because they just sync up so well. Perfect. Yeah.

Perfect strangers.

They, They just, yeah, they seem like brothers. Like, I know they're cousins, but by the end of the episode, it really feels like they're roommates, they're brothers, they're cousins.

And that, yeah, that definitely picks up through the show, if I remember right. Like, they kind of, you know, but it's always the, like, driving Larry crazy, Balki trying to do something, but at the end, they figure it out.

Balki trying to understand American customs and just getting it wrong every single time. Don't be ridiculous. Don't be ridiculous. Yeah, no, this was... fantastic yeah they get a couple of girlfriends later in the later in the series okay um which i didn't watch i watched early episodes but i did not watch later episodes so i never saw the girlfriends personally uh but this is a great pilot um i don't know what i would give it out of a 10 out of a 10 from 1.

To 10 on a 1 to 10 i'm gonna give it for a pilot i'm gonna.

Give it like a 7 Okay. Yeah, I think Seven is solid.

I feel like there's definitely room to grow with some of the other characters and the storylines and all of that, but I feel like it came out of the gate real strong with a lot of promise. Yeah.

And a lot of laughs.

It was funny. Lots of laughs. It's got all of the ingredients of a great sitcom.

Yeah.

And that crunching of the glass as they kept walking through the discount store. Right. And all the broken glass on the floor. I was just like, the sound guys must have gone crazy because I was like, ah. Just nuts. But yeah, I'll agree with your seven. I don't remember what I rated all the other pilots that we watched.

I don't either. But seven sounds solid.

Did we rate the other pilots?

I feel like I think I rated Boy Meets World. I don't remember what I got.

I don't know.

I don't even remember we were rating anything.

I don't know. Well, I gave Full House a 10 because I'm biased.

Well, obviously.

But yeah, let's give it let's give it a seven.

I'm going to give it a seven. OK, that sounds solid.

Yeah. What would you give Perfect Strangers, the pilot?

Yeah.

You know, you rank it way up there with Full House. Right.

Or is it is it like not as much? Yeah, we'd love to hear. And we would love you to tell us.

And you can find us to tell us on Instagram at How Rude Podcast. You can also send us an email at HowRudeTanaritos at gmail.com. And make sure you're liking and subscribing to the podcast. You can get all the new ones, our fun flight school minisodes, our recap episodes, our interviews, all that fun stuff. And we will see you next time, Tanaritos. And remember, the world is small, but the house is full.

Of Miposians. Yes.

You know, I'm sure they bring in the family later.

Yes, a lot of Meposians.

Meposians.

Meposians everywhere. Yes, indeed. Very full.

You know, missed crossover opportunity with Katsapalai and Meposians. True.

Next time.

Bye. Bye. Bye.

FLIGHT SCHOOL minisode: “Perfect Strangers” Pilot

Kapitelklicken springt direkt hin

Shownotes

Transkriptvom Podcast bereitgestellt · Zeitmarken springen hin