The BEST episodes of Perfect Strangers
Every episode of Perfect Strangers ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Perfect Strangers!
The series chronicles the rocky coexistence of Larry Appleton and his distant cousin Balki Bartokomous. 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 a Greek-like island in the Mediterranean called Mypos, drops by to live with him. Balki, a shepherd 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. 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...
#1 - Happy Birthday, Baby
Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 4/29/1986
Larry is miserable on his 24th birthday after he blew a photo opportunity. So Balki tries to throw him a last minute surprise birthday party for him to cheer him up.
#2 - Pipe Dreams
Season 3 - Episode 17 - Aired 2/10/1988
Jennifer asks Larry if he can call a plumber for her to fix her shower head while she's away. Larry decides that to impress her he'll fix it himself and as Larry and Balki try and put everything together, things go extremely wrong and they end up flooding Jennifer and Mary Anne's bathroom.
#3 - Speak, Memory
Season 6 - Episode 17 - Aired 2/8/1991
Jennifer's mother comes to town and wants to meet Larry, and Jennifer doesn't think that her mother will approve of her marrying him. Later on, Larry falls down the stairs at the Chronicle and gets amnesia which last during the dinner where Larry meets Mrs. Lyons.
#4 - The Breakup
Season 6 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/12/1990
Jennifer was asked out on a date by an old boyfriend and checked with Larry first. But he agreed thinking that's what she wanted but she really wanted to know here their relationship is going. Confused, She breaks up with Larry who is too scared to tell her how he really feels but they eventually end up getting engaged.
#5 - Bachelor Party
Season 7 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/20/1991
As the best man at Larry's upcoming wedding, Balki is tricked by Mr. Gorpley into throwing a bachelor party and when Mr. Gorpley show up at the party, he spikes the punch and hires a stripper and Jennifer finds out.
#6 - Hunks Like Us
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/24/1986
Larry decides to join a health club after having the hots for a member named Jennifer. But he thinks she's only interested in jocks and pretends to be one. Balki goes with him and picks up a woman right away who happens to be Jennifer's best friend Mary Anne.
#7 - The Lottery
Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/14/1988
Balki insists on buying a lottery ticket but Larry thinks that it is just a waste of money for something that can't possibly win. But during the draws, Larry realizes that Balki picked the right numbers and won 28 million dollars but Balki can't remember where he hid the ticket.
#8 - Climb Every Billboard
Season 6 - Episode 20 - Aired 3/15/1991
Larry suggests to Mr. Wainwright that a Chronicle employee stay on a billboard until the Bull' losing streak is over. Mr. Wainwright liked the idea and assigned Larry to find someone to do it. So he tricks Balki to do it but when Balki wants to get down, Larry kicks the ladder down and they both get stuck up there until the Bulls win.
#9 - Baby, You Can Drive My Car
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 4/15/1986
Balki wants to get his driver's license but Mr. Twinkacetti doesn't think he can do it. But Larry is so confident that he can, that he bets $50 and offers Balki his car.
#10 - Three's a Crowd
Season 5 - Episode 17 - Aired 2/9/1990
While playing a board game, an argument breaks out between Jennifer and Mary Anne. The result being Mary Anne moving out and in with Larry and Balki at Balki's insistence. Larry doesn't like the idea because is jeopardizes his relationship with Jennifer. So Larry and Balki devise a plan to get Jennifer and Mary Anne back together.
#11 - Great Balls of Fire
Season 6 - Episode 23 - Aired 4/26/1991
Balki convinces Larry to become a volunteer fireman but after the fire chief wore him out, Larry refuses to go back to the fire station until he discovers that Jennifer gets really turned on by firemen. However, the only fire they get to fight is in the fire station.
#12 - Door to Door
Season 7 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/11/1991
Larry and Balki get part time jobs to earn extra money. Balki tries stuffing teddy bears, but Larry asks for his help with door to door selling cleaning products. However, Larry is determined to go to a mansion and sell lots of products instead of going door to door with disastrous results.
#13 - Up a Lazy River (2)
Season 4 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/25/1988
After the river takes them on a wild ride, The four end up lost in the woods. Hoping that Larry can regain Jennifer's respect, he talks Balki into letting him lead them back to the camp site but they end up walking for five hours in a circle. Later, Larry and Balki almost drown in quicksand and in the evening, they get attacked by a bear.
#14 - Just a Gigolo
Season 4 - Episode 19 - Aired 3/31/1989
Lydia is miserable when her boyfriend dumped her so Balki uses his match-making skills to fix Lydia up with a man who turns out to be a gigolo who married wealthy women, takes their money and leaves them.
#15 - Disorderly Orderlies
Season 5 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/12/1990
Balki tries to get Larry to do volunteer work at the hospital but he refused until he discovered that a famous football player is a patient there hoping that he can get an interview to advance his career.
#17 - The Elevator
Season 7 - Episode 18 - Aired 3/14/1992
Larry decides to impress Mr. Wainwright by enlisting himself and Balki to move his brand new oversized couch up the elevator to his office while the elevator is under repair.
#18 - Everybody in the Pool
Season 5 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/15/1989
Balki plays the football pool for the first time at the Chronicle and wins. He also ends up winning the next five weeks which makes everyone mad at him except Larry who decides to copy his picks to bet $10,000 with a bookie unaware that Balki picked all the losers.
#19 - See How They Run
Season 6 - Episode 19 - Aired 2/22/1991
Balki runs for student body president and lets Larry help and as usual, Larry goes completely over the top. The students however, don't like the idea of Balki's idea of reinstating the language requirement so Larry thinks Balki should lie in order to win but he won't.
#20 - Going Once, Going Twice
Season 7 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/1/1992
Larry goes to an auction to cover a story and brings Balki with him and Larry demonstrates the bidding procedure at an auction and they wind up buying a very expensive bottle of wine for $21,000. They now must hide it from Jennifer until they can go back to the auction and resell it.
#21 - Tux for Two
Season 2 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/4/1987
Larry has been invited to a formal party for a photographer he idolizes but Balki's honest opinions embarrass Larry.
#22 - Ladies and Germs
Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/15/1986
Larry has a date with a beauty queen but after going to the hospital to visit Mr. Twinkacetti (who has broken his leg), he catches a cold and when Balki tries to cure him with a secret Myposian cure, he ends up sleeping for three days.
#23 - Beautiful Dreamer
Season 2 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/28/1987
Balki hasn't been sleeping due to a nightmare that has been haunting him about him not being able to help out at harvest season back on Mypos.
#24 - Up a Lazy River (1)
Season 4 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/18/1988
The Chicago Chronicle is having a camping trip. Larry hates camping but knows that Jennifer loves it, so he arranges a trip. Jennifer insists she won't go alone with Larry (remembering the skiing incident), so Larry elects Balki as the camping leader thinking that Jennifer would feel safe and Mary Anne decides to go along.
#25 - ...Or Get Off the Pot (1)
Season 7 - Episode 21 - Aired 4/4/1992
Mary Anne has been hinting at Balki to propose to her and he has failed one too many times so she threatens to move out. Larry talks to Balki and tries to get him to realize but do to mis-communication, Balki thinks that Jennifer's in love with him and Mary Anne is going to die. But in all the confusion, Mary Anne move out.