PERFECT STRANGERS EPISODE GUIDE
Season
One Credits
(1986)
Broadcast
Information:
6 episodes
aired from March 25 through April 29, 1986 on Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. on ABC
Opening Credits:
Bronson Pinchot
Mark Linn-Baker
Ernie Sabella
Lise Cutter
Producers:
Chip Keyes and Doug Keyes
Supervising Producers:
William Bickley & Michael Warren
End Credits:
Executive Producers:
Thomas L. Miller, Robert L. Boyett, Dale McRaven
Executive Script
Consultant: Marty
Nadler
Creative Consultant:
Tom Tenowich
Unit Production
Manager / First Assistant Director:
Harriette Ames-Regan
Second Assistant
Directors: Hilary
Leach, Sharon Gerhard, Brian James Ellis
Director of
Photography: Sherman
Kunkel, A.S.C.
Art Director:
Lynn Griffin
Edited by:
Kelly Sandefur
Executive in Charge of
Casting: Barbara
Miller
Casting by:
Cami Hursey Patton, C.S.A.
Music by:
Jesse Frederick & Bennett Salvay
Theme Song
"Nothing’s Gonna Stop Me Now" by
Jesse Frederick & Bennett Salvay
Theme Song Performed
by: David Pomeranz
Set Director:
Jim Mees
Technical Coordinator:
Bill Fraley
Property Master:
Frank Michalovich
Post Production
Services by: Laser
Edit, Inc.
Men’s Wardrobe:
Bob Squire
Women’s Wardrobe:
Gina Trikonis
Make-Up Artists:
Robert Ryan, Robert Osterman
Hair Stylist: Gail
Rowell
Sound Mixer: Jim
Ford
Music Director:
Richard Berres
Sound Editors: Steve
Quinn, Deni King
Music Director:
Richard Berres
Re-Recording Mixer:
Eric Levinson, CAS, David E. Fluhr
Re-Recorded by: Compact
Video
Executive Production
Supervisor: Edward O.
Denault
MILLER * BOYETT Productions in association with Lorimar TelePictures
SEASON ONE THEME SONG:
The opening credits for the first season are complete and as important to the story as the beginning of the first episode. Set to the song "Nothing's Going to Stop Me Now" (lyrics below), our first glimpse of the main characters comes when Balki and Larry are brought in from opposite sides of the screen via a reverse split screen wipe, Balki from the left and Larry from the right. The title of the show comes up in the original Perfect Strangers logo (this particular logo would be used on Audience Unlimited tickets to the filmings throughout the show's run . . . the logo would change signifiicantly in the season three opener). This is followed by individual shots of both Balki and Larry brought in via side wipes with the actors' credits listed on blue to the side.
Another blue sideways wipe brings us to the story itself. We see Larry Appleton with his camera bag over his shoulder leaving his family’s two-story idyllic albeit crowded home (complete with white picket fence) in Madison, Wisconsin. His family is there to see him off . . . mother, father and siblings (two girls and three boys are present). His mom has even packed him a sack lunch. Larry’s red Ford Mustang is burdened down with luggage and boxes . . . he’s finally striking out on his own in the world, moving to the big city of Chicago, Illinois. He waves goodbye to everyone amidst the suitcases and bags piled inside his car. They wave back (his little sister waggling her fingers in her ears and sticking her tongue out at him) as he drives off.
The scene switches to Balki Bartokomous leaving his sheep and goats in the field and handing his sheepherder’s crook over to a young man before bidding goodbye to his Myposian family and friends. His mother and father are there (although they seem a bit old to be his parents? Or maybe not, since in Little Apartment of Horrors Balki says his mama is 82 years old). He accepts a tied bundle and a jacket from his mama as she hugs him. He proceeds to jump onto the back of a horse-drawn cart where his luggage awaits him with a sign reading "America or Burst" (the first of many Balki-isms to come). His face is filled with excitement as it draws away, taking him on the first steps of an amazing adventure.
On the tramp steamer to America, Balki gets his first glimpse
of the Statue
of Liberty . . . a poignant moment many immigrants remember with great
affection. Next he is on the bus to Chicago. We also see Larry driving on the
freeway, approaching Chicago. Their worlds are about to collide (even though we
have to assume Larry is arriving at least two weeks before Balki).
NOTHING'S GONNA STOP ME NOW lyrics
Sometimes
the world looks perfect
Nothing to rearrange;
Sometimes you just get a feeling
Like you need some kind of change.
No matter what the odds are this time
Nothing's gonna stand in my way.
This flame in my heart, like a long-lost friend
Gives every dark street a light at the end.
Standing tall on the wings of my dream,
Rise and fall on the wings of my dream.
Through rain and thunder, the wind and haze
I'm bound for better days.
It's my life and my dream
And nothing's gonna stop me now.
It's my life and my dream
And nothing's gonna stop me now.
Nothing's gonna stop me now.
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