Their lives are about to be turned upside-down!

November 7, 2017 3:02 PM

Larry and Balki meet the Demogorgan in Perfect Stranger Things. [SLYT]

Also, stay tuned to Netflix for Full House of Cards.

posted by Servo5678 (48 comments total)

Does this have any Stranger Things spoilers? I just started S2.
posted by Room 641-A at 3:17 PM on November 7, 2017

No, it's spoiler-free.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 3:19 PM on November 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

Full House of Cards

You can't make me watch House of Cards!
posted by elsietheeel at 3:20 PM on November 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

Cut. It. Out!

No, his heart. Cut it out. With a rusty spoon.
posted by The Great David S. Pumpkins at 3:24 PM on November 7, 2017 [9 favorites]

Does this have any Perfect Strangers spoilers?
posted by asperity at 3:35 PM on November 7, 2017 [41 favorites]

Yes
posted by The Great David S. Pumpkins at 3:38 PM on November 7, 2017 [3 favorites]

Does this have any Perfect Strangers spoilers?

DON. BE. RIDIKULUS.
posted by Fizz at 3:42 PM on November 7, 2017 [17 favorites]

The paint roller gag made this for me.
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:42 PM on November 7, 2017 [25 favorites]

Match Game of Thrones. Because somebody had to (but why THEM?)
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:53 PM on November 7, 2017 [4 favorites]

Now I am so happy, I do the dance of joy!
posted by leotrotsky at 3:58 PM on November 7, 2017 [4 favorites]

Not to get too deraily but, thinking back on this show (which I loved as a child of the 80s). It's not aged well at all. The joke is that he's foreign and speaks weird, get it, get it, he's weird and from another country and he doesn't understand America.

I know it's a made up country that doesn't exist but it parallels with an immigrant experience and it just sort of reeks of a kind of mean-spirited humor. Sadly not too much has changed. This is pretty much how Raj from the Big Bang Theory is depicted.

I do love a good Stranger Things mashup but ugh, what a reminder that this show was kind of ugly underneath.
posted by Fizz at 3:58 PM on November 7, 2017 [4 favorites]

It was a very 80s sitcom with a "funny foriegner" stereotype, that can't be denied. But having rewatched some of it on Hulu Plus, there are two things I enjoy quite a lot:

1) There is no A plot, B plot, etc. Sitcoms started doing that even back in the mid-80s when Perfect Strangers was running, but this show kept both its main characters together as a cohesive comedy unit almost all the time, which leads to...

2) Lots and lots of deftly executed physical comedy.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 4:04 PM on November 7, 2017 [4 favorites]

this show was kind of ugly underneath

You're not wrong. But I do kinda love that theme song (and its associated Flash game.)
posted by asperity at 4:06 PM on November 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

Also, a reminder that Perfect Strangers spun-off and gifted the rest of television with the sitcom Family Matters. I'm not sure if we should be thankful or angry for that. I'll let you decide.
posted by Fizz at 4:07 PM on November 7, 2017 [4 favorites]

Did they do that?
posted by The Great David S. Pumpkins at 4:09 PM on November 7, 2017 [18 favorites]

I know it's a made up country that doesn't exist but it parallels with an immigrant experience and it just sort of reeks of a kind of mean-spirited humor.

I'd dispute this. Balki is the beloved heart of the show, and a source of much kindness and wisdom. One of the ongoing jokes is that Balki gets along much better with everyone than Larry does, because Larry's kind of a tool.
posted by leotrotsky at 4:10 PM on November 7, 2017 [12 favorites]

He's the manic pixie dream immigrant.
posted by The Great David S. Pumpkins at 4:12 PM on November 7, 2017 [27 favorites]

Did they do that?

Yup. [wiki]

The series was centered around Harriette Winslow (Jo Marie Payton) in the role she originated on Perfect Strangers (Harriette was played by Judyann Elder for the second half of season nine after Payton's departure), and her cop husband Carl (Reginald VelJohnson; the character was initially introduced on Perfect Strangers in the fourth-season episode "Crimebusters") and their family. [...] Neither Family Matters nor Perfect Strangers featured a direct crossover with the other, however Balki and Larry were originally scripted to appear in the pilot episode before the scene was cut from the broadcast.

posted by Fizz at 4:15 PM on November 7, 2017

The paint roller gag made this for me.

God Dammit.
posted by leotrotsky at 4:18 PM on November 7, 2017 [8 favorites]

I love you guys so much. Especially Fizz, for missing Urkel's catchphrase.
posted by elsietheeel at 4:18 PM on November 7, 2017 [9 favorites]

OMG!?! I just tuned that right the fuck out of my brain. Probably because I have a love/hate relationship with all things Urkel and Family Matters. Good one.
posted by Fizz at 4:20 PM on November 7, 2017 [3 favorites]

Did they do that?

Yup. [wiki]

I think you missed TGDSP's reference.
posted by linux at 4:22 PM on November 7, 2017

Honestly, the only way you can watch Family Matters without losing your mind is to excise 'Did I do that?', '...cheeeeese!...', 'I'm wearing you down baby!', and '...*snortlaugh*...' from your brain, so no judgment on my part.

I am totally sincere with my love for you and my love for Perfect Strangers (my mom and I used to do the dance of joy in our California driveway every time it rained), Family Matters, and Full House (which, as I have recently mentioned, I rewatched in full last month). Being 40 stinks in a lot of ways, but childhood TV memories are solid gold.
posted by elsietheeel at 4:30 PM on November 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

the only way you can watch Family Matters without losing your mind

If you want to go all-in on losing your mind, I recommend this video.
posted by asperity at 4:49 PM on November 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

I demand Les choses de l'étranger, a spooky absurdist comedy!
posted by octobersurprise at 4:58 PM on November 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

Surely that should be a demogorgon, not a demogorgan. It's a variety of gorgon, not a native of Demogorga.
posted by acb at 5:40 PM on November 7, 2017 [9 favorites]

In my version Demogorgon was Balki.
posted by ryoshu at 6:06 PM on November 7, 2017

Bronson was clearly not on-board. His loss, as it was fantastic because Cousin Larry was absolutely Cousin Larry, I mean, I clapped an hooted, and the kids are, as always, much better actors than the series deserves, but gets anyways.

"Not again!"
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:38 PM on November 7, 2017

The affection in this thread amazes me. Sometimes I wonder if I was the only kid/teen who HATED Three's Company, Happy Days, Lavern and Shirley, Mork and Mindy, Welcome Back Kotter and then pretty much every sit com that the 80s spawned.
posted by bonobothegreat at 8:34 PM on November 7, 2017 [3 favorites]

Yes, you were.
posted by lhauser at 8:35 PM on November 7, 2017 [10 favorites]

The affection in this thread amazes me. Sometimes I wonder if I was the only kid/teen who HATED Three's Company, Happy Days, Lavern and Shirley, Mork and Mindy, Welcome Back Kotter and then pretty much every sit com that the 80s spawned.

Yeah, but what about The Wonder Years? Amirite??
posted by trif at 3:19 AM on November 8, 2017

Noah Schnapp's line delivery is just perfect here.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 4:17 AM on November 8, 2017

If you haven't seen it, Mark Linn-Baker's performance as Mark Linn-Baker on "The Leftovers" is really kind of stunning. What starts off as a couple of one-off jokes that the entire cast of Perfect Strangers had disappeared in the departure turns into a surprisingly poignant B-plot and a goddamn fantastic performance by him. Dude has chops.
posted by middleclasstool at 5:33 AM on November 8, 2017 [5 favorites]

middleclasstool: Dude has chops.

My Favorite Year is one of the best movies ever, and to play straight man to that cast takes enormous comic talent. Plus something like ten Broadway roles to his name, and more off-Broadway. Dude’s got an MFA in Drama from Yale.
posted by tzikeh at 6:01 AM on November 8, 2017 [4 favorites]

Sometimes I wonder if I was the only kid/teen who HATED Three's Company, Happy Days, Lavern and Shirley, Mork and Mindy, Welcome Back Kotter and then pretty much every sit com that the 80s spawned.

Nope. They were all terrible.

But then, I think I just don't really like sitcoms that aren't The Brak Show or The IT Crowd.
posted by Foosnark at 6:12 AM on November 8, 2017

It's not aged well at all.

It was always a shitty concept, although I have to admit it was well-executed for the time. Bronson Pinchot had so much onscreen charisma and Mark Lynn-Baker was a perfect 80's style straight man.
posted by Edgewise at 7:29 AM on November 8, 2017 [5 favorites]

Sometimes I wonder if I was the only kid/teen who HATED Three's Company, Happy Days, Lavern and Shirley, Mork and Mindy, Welcome Back Kotter and then pretty much every sit com that the 80s spawned.

Thing is, back then you only had a limited number of channels to choose from and I know that a lot of my tv watching youth was not out of liking a particular show but simply because it was on. You just consumed tv back then, even if you hated it, something was on. And maybe you sort of grew to not like but tolerate a lot of these tv shows.
posted by Fizz at 7:32 AM on November 8, 2017 [10 favorites]

Thing is, back then you only had a limited number of channels to choose from and I know that a lot of my tv watching youth was not out of liking a particular show but simply because it was on. You just consumed tv back then, even if you hated it, something was on. And maybe you sort of grew to not like but tolerate a lot of these tv shows.

This is exactly right.
posted by josher71 at 8:33 AM on November 8, 2017

This contributes to the theory that Millie Bobby Brown's parents demand large sums of money for her appareance.
posted by k8t at 8:35 AM on November 8, 2017 [1 favorite]

The affection in this thread amazes me. Sometimes I wonder if I was the only kid/teen who HATED Three's Company, Happy Days, Lavern and Shirley, Mork and Mindy, Welcome Back Kotter and then pretty much every sit com that the 80s spawned.

The rest of that list I could care less about, but IMHO Three’s Company was saved by John Ritter’s physical comedy, may he rest in peace.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 8:45 AM on November 8, 2017

I love you guys so much. Especially Fizz, for missing Urkel's catchphrase.

I would very much like to see a sitcom featuring MeFi's own The Great David S. Pumpkins, Fizz, and elsietheeel.
posted by Ruki at 10:25 AM on November 8, 2017 [4 favorites]

(So as not to abuse edit: Link goes to a comment exchange in the tail end of a MeTa thread that just delighted me. The comments, not the thread.)
posted by Ruki at 10:27 AM on November 8, 2017

The unrelenting second-hand embarrassment experienced while trying to get through any episode of Three's Company meant the show couldn't even be a hate-watch for me.

I didn't even notice M.B. Brown's absence, because she doesn't go trick-or-treating in the show. There's a new kid in the mix in the second season, but I figured they weren't included because viewers are still catching up.
posted by Iris Gambol at 10:32 AM on November 8, 2017

Neither Family Matters nor Perfect Strangers featured a direct crossover with the other, however Balki and Larry were originally scripted to appear in the pilot episode

Huh. I guess this would have been less awkward than, say, All in the Family Matters.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:36 AM on November 8, 2017 [4 favorites]

All in the Family Matters.

Episode 11: "Harriett Discovers Women's Lib"

As a supporter for women's lib, Aunt Rachel accuses Mike of chauvinism and storms out of the house, meanwhile Urkel goes on jury duty for a murder trial, making Archie very unhappy.
posted by Fizz at 12:15 PM on November 8, 2017 [2 favorites]

I really want this mashup to exist. I feel like I need to make a tumblr and just write out full episode descriptions. There's so much to work with here.
posted by Fizz at 12:25 PM on November 8, 2017 [1 favorite]

This contributes to the theory that Millie Bobby Brown's parents demand large sums of money for her appareance.

That kid's parents are going to kill her career quicker than Thora Birch's did.
posted by leotrotsky at 6:59 AM on November 9, 2017

I know I'm days late, but whatever else was wrong with Perfect Strangers back in the day, it's also wrong to fail to mention that the whole schtick is really lifted wholesale from Andy Kaufman's "foreign man" character, which had its own turn on TV via Taxi.
posted by uberchet at 1:07 PM on November 13, 2017