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 - Knock, Knock, Who's There?
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 3/25/1986
Larry Appleton has just settled in his new Chicago apartment after leaving home of one of nine kids and took a job at the corner discount store working for his greedy landlord Mr. Twinkacetti until he can eventually become a photo journalist. But one evening, Balki Bartokomous, his distant cousin and a Mediterranean sheep herder from the island of Mypos shows up on his door step looking for a place to stay. So Larry takes him in and tries to get him a job at Twinkacetti's store which may mean risking his own job.
#3 - 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.
#4 - 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.
#5 - Hello, Baby
Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/17/1986
Balki invites Gina, a friend from his citizenship class to stay with them. But she happens to be pregnant and goes into labor in the middle of the night.
#6 - Picture This
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 4/1/1986
Larry tries to kickstart his career and gets tipped off that Dolly Parton is in town committing adultery. So he decides to follow her until he can get a picture to sell to newspapers. Meanwhile, Balki will do a favor for anyone who will ask for it so Larry teaches him to say ""no"" once in a while but it backfires on him.
#7 - First Date
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 4/8/1986
Larry takes Balki to a singles bar to meet women and while Balki gets his first date, Larry gets beat up in a parking lot by a boyfriend of a woman he hit on.
#8 - Check This
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 4/22/1986
Larry takes Balki to the bank to open a bank account but Balki doesn't seem to understand everything about banking when he overspends with his checks and buys Larry new furniture. Meanwhile, Twinkacetti is going to a poker game and his wife, Edwina doesn't like him gambling. So he asks Larry to tell his wife that they were at a basketball game but Larry refuses to.
#9 - Falling in Love is...
Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/12/1986
Balki falls in love with a girl at night school and who makes a play for Larry and constantly breaks dates with him. Balki refuses to believe that she is just using him to get good grades.
#10 - Since I Lost My Baby
Season 2 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/14/1987
After Mr. Twinkacetti forgot his wedding anniversary (for the 16th time), Edwina kicks him out. Balki invites him to stay for a while but he makes no efforts to reconcile with Edwina. So Larry and Balki try and get them back together.
#11 - Snow Way to Treat a Lady (1)
Season 2 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/18/1987
Jennifer and Mary Anne are going skiing and invite Larry and Balki. Larry thinks he can impress Jennifer by being an expert skier without much luck. So he decides to fake an injury to get sympathy from Jennifer.
#12 - The Unnatural
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/1/1986
Larry's softball team has a chance of winning the championship but the star player was sent to prison. So He promises to let Balki play until a star ringer shows up.
#13 - Lifesavers
Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/22/1986
After Larry saves Balki from getting hit by a taxi, Balki becomes his personal servant which ends up annoying Larry.
#14 - A Horse is a Horse
Season 6 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/19/1990
Larry and Balki buy a race horse and when they race him, he comes in last. They later discover that he has an incurable disease. But Balki takes the horse back to the apartment and tries a Myposian potion to cure him.
#15 - 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.
#16 - Family Feud
Season 6 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/26/1990
A 500 year-old feud in the Bartokomous family is back when their rival Zolton Bauchelitis is coming to fight a duel with Balki. Larry gets caught up in it and must fight Zolton himself. However, they don't try and kill each other, the winner takes the loser's ears.
#17 - Call Me Indestructible
Season 6 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/2/1990
Larry is assigned to do an article about a Korean war pilot and goes up in his plane to fly with him, even though he is petrified of small planes, and Balki goes too. After doing tricks in the air, the pilot bails out, Balki lands the plane and Later, Balki discovers that Tephlonous, the Myposian God of Protection was with them and that they are indestructible for 4 weeks. It turns out to be a dream after Larry fainted.
#18 - The Men Who Knew Too Much (1)
Season 6 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/9/1990
Larry is sent to Los Angeles to write an article about a soap opera star's wedding and Balki goes with him. While attempting to get a better story, they get chased by mobsters after they witness and video tape Marco Madison, a big time gangster, murder an undercover drug agent and Larry and Balki are prime suspects.
#19 - The Men Who Knew Too Much (2)
Season 6 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/16/1990
Larry and Balki manage to play back the tape proving their innocence, but they have trouble getting the tape to the police after they are mugged and captured by Marco's men.
#20 - The Ring
Season 6 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/23/1990
Larry buys an engagement ring for Jennifer from a street hustler unaware that he sells phony diamonds. When he discovers that the ring is fake, Larry sells his car, buys a real diamond and tries to switch the rings before she gets it appraised the next day.
#21 - Black Widow
Season 6 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/30/1990
After doing some research, Larry finds evidence that Mary Anne is a serial killer but Jennifer is very skeptical since she's known her all her life. But Larry gets scared when Mary Anne is planning on taking Balki mountain climbing, and when Jennifer gets called into work, he thinks that Mary Anne killed her. It turns out to be a total misunderstanding.
#22 - The Sunshine Boys
Season 6 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/7/1990
Larry's popular high school rival Bunky McDermott comes to see him and invites him and Balki to a formal dinner party and make him a member of his popular club. Larry is so excited and lies to Bunky about going to the Caribbean but to convince him, Larry and Balki spend some time in a tanning bed and end up getting sunburned.
#23 - Hocus Pocus
Season 6 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/28/1990
When Balki practices his magic tricks for the Youth Center Show, Larry refuses to go because he's been having trouble finding a story for Mr. Wainwright. But after he finds out that Margaret Thatcher will be stopping by, he sees a great interview and decides to go.
#24 - Finders Keepers
Season 6 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/4/1991
Balki finds a box with over $50,000 cash in it. Larry wants to keep it but Balki is insistent on finding the rightful owner, which won't be easy, especially with Mr. Gorpley scheming to get it anyway he can.
#25 - Grandpa
Season 6 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/11/1991
Grandpa Appleton comes for a visit and is quite a surprise: He's 76 years old and is acting like a wild teenager, and has a much younger girlfriend. Larry thinks he should act more his age but Balki thinks that it's okay acting as young as he feels.