Perfect Strangers: The Complete Series: The Classic Buddy Sitcom Finally Receives a Complete Release (Blu-ray)

The Show:

"Buddy sitcoms" have been a staple of television for quite some time. With classics examples like "The Odd Couple," "Mork & Mindy," "Bosom Buddies," and "Laverne & Shirley," their oddball pairings were often fantastic conduits that led to a number of amusing misadventures. Of course, no such list would be complete without one of the most beloved & long-lasting entries, "Perfect Strangers," which ran for a total of eight seasons from 1986-1993 on ABC. It too took an unusual pair, in this case a foreigner coming to live with his American cousin in Chicago, and used them to come up with all kinds of comical hijinks, delighting audiences over the course of 150 episodes.

Despite the show's popularity, the rather unusual thing is that only the first two seasons were ever made available on DVD, with many wondering when, or even if, the rest was going to be released. As the show celebrates its 40th anniversary, Warner Bros. has decided to fix the issue by giving fans the long-awaited complete series set on Blu-ray, finally giving them the chance to revisit the entire program from beginning to end, which also means that it's time for us to go back and have a look at this popular buddy comedy to see why it was able to last so long & why its reputation has many people considering it a classic of its genre.

The series focuses on Balki Bartokomous (Bronson Pinchot), a sheepherder from the island of Mypos, who goes to live with his distant cousin Larry Appleton (Mark Linn-Baker), a salesman at a discount store, in his apartment in Chicago. Larry is completely blind-sided by Balki's arrival, initially rejecting his request to live with him, but he eventually relents and decides to help teach him about America (a land that Balki only knows bits & pieces about). Early on, Balki also gets a job at the same discount store, managed by Mr. Twinkacetti (Ernie Sabella), though they eventually move into a different apartment and get jobs at a newspaper. Together, they navigate life, love, and everything in between, with Balki often showing that he's quite adept at helping out in tough situations, showing that these two are indeed "perfect" for each other.

With shows of this nature, you know full-well that it's not going to involve any kind of complicated, intricate plot that has you thinking about it long afterward. Instead, you're going to have your main pair somehow stumbling into a brief, amusing situation, one that gets you engaged just enough, and has them trying to find their way out in the span of roughly 20-some minutes. "Perfect Strangers" is, of course, no different. We watch as Balki & Larry go about their regular daily lives, dealing with their jobs, their apartment, their romantic entanglements, and a multitude of other common, everyday things.

Like any good sitcom, these situations are spiced up considerably by having characters with fascinating personalities, ones that seem like they shouldn't connect, but naturally they do just that. Balki being a foreigner in America provides for a number of delightful scenarios, especially given his tendency to want to try to do all the things he thinks Americans would do (pick up women, get a Driver's License, play sports, go skiing, etc.), while only really knowing about certain parts of American ways from pop culture. This makes him the perfect counterpoint to the far-more-reserved Larry, who is not one for confrontation or going outside of his comfort zone (unless it involves a potential romance). Put these two together, and it seems like there would hardly be a limit to the amount of misadventures they could get up to.

Of course, most of said misadventures are scenarios meant to be rather amusing & comical, but to keep it even more fresh, they also throw in episodes that take a slightly more serious route, ones that provide for deeper emotional involvement & further connection to the characters. Sometimes this will only be part of the episode, but it's also the element that ends up showing how these two are indeed a great pair that compliment each other quite well.

Granted, as mentioned earlier, these aren't meant to be stories that have you pondering their meaning long after they're over. Like most simple-concept sitcoms, each episode is meant to be a quick, entertaining morsel that you eat up & enjoy before moving on to the next one. In that regard, "Perfect Strangers" works just fine, giving you plenty of enjoyable stories, delivered with great comedic timing by leads Bronson Pinchot & Mark Linn-Baker, who clearly have wonderful chemistry together. In the end, their escapades probably aren't something you'll dwell on for very long, but they're fun, charming, and give you the quick dose of humor a show like this should provide, ultimately making this a series worth exploring for newcomers, and revisiting for those that are finally able to watch it in its entirety once more.

Video/Audio:

"Perfect Strangers: The Complete Series" comes to Blu-ray in 1.33:1, 1080p High Definition transfers of outstanding quality. The entire show has been beautifully restored, giving you a remarkably sharp picture that has it looking the best it ever has. Likewise, the 2.0 Mono & Stereo audio tracks are fantastic, giving you all of the dialogue, sound effects, and music in excellent quality. Overall, Warner Bros. has done a marvelous job making the show look new again for its long-awaited complete release.

Special Features:

None.

Conclusion:

"Perfect Strangers" presents a pretty typical "buddy sitcom" that pairs two personalities that shouldn't go together, but naturally end up complimenting each other quite well. With a pair of great leads in Bronson Pinchot & Mark Linn-Baker, whose strong chemistry is undeniable, the show delivers quick, entertaining morsels that provide a fair amount of laughs and even a number of emotional moments along the way, ultimately making for a show whose escapades you might not dwell on for very long, but which do the job they set out to do just fine.

Score: 3.5/5

Now available on Blu-ray.

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