Perfect Strangers is an American sitcom that ran for eight seasons from March 25, 1986 to August 6, 1993 on the ABC television network. It chronicles the rocky coexistence of Larry Appleton (Mark Linn-Baker) and his distant cousin Balki Bartokomous (Bronson Pinchot). Originally airing on Tuesdays and then Wednesdays in prime time, the show eventually found its niche as an anchor for ABC's original TGIF Friday night lineup. It eventually produced a spin-off, Family Matters, in 1989.

Premise

The series chronicles the rocky coexistence of Larry Appleton (Mark Linn-Baker) and his distant cousin Balki Bartokomous (Bronson Pinchot). A Wisconsin native, Larry, who comes from a large family with numerous brothers and sisters, has just moved into a new apartment in Chicago, and is experiencing his first joys of newfound privacy when Balki, a hitherto unknown cousin from an island in the Mediterranean called Mypos, drops by to live with him. Balki, a sheepherder by trade, interprets what little he knows about the United States by relying on his own recollections of American pop culture, which are often out-of-context ("America... Land of my dreams, home of the Whopper"). Balki's signature is his "Dance of Joy", a cross between a Dosado and the Hokey Pokey that Balki performs (with Larry) in celebration of good fortune. It is first performed in the third episode "First Date" at a singles bar by Balki, when he realizes that the song the band is playing sounds like the Dance of Joy.

After initially gently rebuffing his cousin's request to stay at his apartment, Larry, an aspiring photographer, decides to take Balki under his wing and teach him about American life. However, the neurotic Larry frequently proves to be equally if not more inept in this respect than Balki, often getting the pair into troubles that only his cousin can solve. Major influences on the show include "buddy sitcoms" such as Laverne & Shirley and Mork & Mindy, both of which were produced by the same team which went on to oversee Perfect Strangers.