'Strangers' turn out to be a perfect match
By Tom Nolan

LOS ANGELES - They took us by surprise in late winter of 1986, these two distant cousins: Balki Bartokomous, the endearing and exuberant young goat herder from Mypos, a mythical Mediterranean island; and Larry Appleton, the cautious Midwesterner who dreams of a career in photojournalism while working in a Chicago discount store.

Introduced with a barrage of promotion by ABC, these "Perfect Strangers" became instant favorites of millions of American television watchers for their initial six-week run.  All but one of the six episodes finished in A.C. Nielsen's top 10 shows.

Those same six episodes are in reruns through early September [7 p.m. Wednesdays on ABC - Ch. 7], and the series will return in September on ABC's fall schedule in the same time slot.  One episode per week of the new adventures of Larry and Balki is being filmed in front of a studio audience on a soundstage at the MGM studios in Culver City.

In the bleachers for those shows kids of all ages respond with genuine affection to the actors playing Balki and Larry.  They call out tentatively to the two during breaks in the filming.  Here and there someone imitates Balki's already familiar catchphrase, "Doan be ree-dicaluss."

As Larry Appleton, Mark Linn-Baker -- with a face that's all sharp angles and with a comic intensity that could make a menu sound funny -- plays a perfect exasperated counterpoint to Bronson Pinchot, whose rendering of the "simple" Balki offers unexpected shadings.

Industry mavens are saying that Larry and Balki have a good shot at becoming one of TV's all-time favorite pairings, on a par with "Laverne & Shirley" or Richie and the Fonz of "Happy Days."  As it happens, those shows are among those coproduced by "Perfect Strangers" team Tom Miller and Bob Boyett.  Executive producer Miller says the inspiration for "Perfect Strangers" came when he and Boyett witnessed firsthand the crowd euphoria at the '84 Olympics ceremonies in Los Angeles.

"It was an incredible experience," Miller says, "and we thought, 'Wouldn't it be great if you could do something in television that would give you a little feeling of this, of, 'Isn't it great to be an American?  Isn't America great?'  And then we thought that maybe we [could] have a character from somewhere who comes over here and is just in love with everything he sees: 'Look -- big lemons!  Look -- tea bags!'  All the little things we take for granted.

"But we knew we would need a very special person to make that understandable and loveable."

They saw that person onscreen, Miller says, in the movie "Beverly Hills Cop," playing an art gallery clerk named Serge.  "Here was this strange little man with that amazing sound and look, and what a wonderful life force came at you!  Writers can't make up a character like that; that's an actor making up that character.  And blowing Eddie Murphy off the screen, which is not an easy thing to do."

The actor, of course, was Bronson Pinchot -- born in New York, raised in California, graduated from the Yale Drama School.  Pinchot says that initially he was reluctant to do the show [developed with writer and coexecutive producer Dale McRaven].  For one thing, Pinchot was committed to an NBC series called "Sara" [later canceled.]  And despite his gift for dialect, he says, "I thought maybe it's stupid to do another accent character now."

But a vacation in Greece provided some inspiration for Balki's physical look and sound, and he gave the producers his commitment.

For balance, the man from Mypos was thrust into the life of his "totally American" cousin, Larry -- who, it was decided, should live in Chicago.

"We wanted it midwest," says Miller.  "Larry had grown up in Madison, Wis., we decided -- I'm from Madison -- and where would he go?  New York has been done to death; and when you think of the Midwest, what's a real cosmopolitan place, yet lots of, like, regular people live there?  Chicago is perfect -- it's Midwest but hip."

The first pilot was made with an actor who didn't satisfy the creative team or the network.  After looking in Hollywood and New York, the producers chose Mark Linn-Baker, best known as the young lead opposite Peter O'Toole in the movie, "My Favorite Year."

"Mark and I had a unique spark that was there 50 seconds after he came into the room," Pinchot remembers of their first reading.

"I almost felt like it was some kind of cosmic joke -- that I'd actually known him all my life and somebody had given me an amnesia pill.  It was like two musicians who'd been jamming together for years.  It was so pleasurable it was spooky."

Although they'd never met, the two actors do have some things in common.  Both attended the Yale Drama School [at different times], and both worked in Woody Allen films: Pinchot was cut out of "Broadway Danny Rose," and Linn-Baker was snipped from "Manhattan."

Initially Larry was written as a very knowing guy, almost cynical, says Linn-Baker [himself born in Missouri and raised in Connecticut].

"The thought was to have Balki, this total innocent, paired with someone who was really jaded -- the 'Odd Couple' idea.  But what we finally came to was that Larry -- while immersed in the culture and a little more thoughtful -- was finally just as much of an innocent in his own right."

Once Linn-Baker was cast, "Perfect Strangers" was rushed into production.  ABC committed to six episodes.  Four weeks after the network's go-ahead, the show was on the air, scheduled between the popular "Who's the Boss?" and "Moonlighting."

Praise has come from all corners.  Rolling Stone has called Larry and Balki the [Ralph] Kramden and [Ed] Norton of the 80's [the characters played by Jackie Gleason and Art Carney on "The Honeymooners"].

Most prized by the cast and producers were warm words from the Queen of Sitcom, Lucille Ball.

"I think we're just now beginning to tap that wonderful, wide-eyed, naive, open-hearted quality in Balki," says producer Miller.  "Larry, on the other hand, has most of the neuroses that many of us have: 'Wait, wait, not so fast!  I need a plan!'  One person is totally spontaneous, and the other needs more control.  It's a simple fix, really, but then sloppy / neat worked for Neil Simon, and the realist / dreamer worked for us with Laverne and Shirley.  But within that, the two characters are learning from each other and being nourished."

Despite the enthusiasm, Miller sounds a producer's note of caution: "We're going against 'Highway to Heaven' now, you know, and no one at ABC expects us to beat that.  I mean, if we can come in a respectable second, everyone would be thrilled."

Pinchot exudes a gratitude that Balki would respond to.  "I've had such a series of miracles -- not coincidences, miracles -- that have brought me to this place.  It's an amazing thing, and I'm enjoying all of it.  The show engenders a different level of warmth, so people are friendly and sweet, and I love that.  It's very nice."

Linn-Baker nods his thanks, smiles and -- with a touch of Larry's caution -- touches wood a lot.