The WORST episodes of Perfect Strangers
Every episode of Perfect Strangers ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst 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 - 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.
#2 - Digging Up the News
Season 5 - Episode 24 - Aired 4/27/1990
Larry is assigned to interview Uncle Shaggy, a kid's show host and when he gets Balki to take a picture of him without his costume, the get Uncle Shaggy fired after someone discovered that he has a criminal record for something he did along time ago. But Larry swears he will make it up to him.
#3 - Safe at Home
Season 6 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/28/1990
After Larry buys an expensive stereo chair, their apartment is robbed along with the chair. So Larry buys a high-tech security system but takes all the responsibilities himself and won't share them with Balki.
#4 - New Kid on the Block
Season 6 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/5/1990
Balki agrees to babysit their new neighbor's daughter Tess and lets her do whatever she wants. She ends up terrorizing the apartment which disturbs Larry who is trying to write a possible front-page story for a city council expose. She also disrupts the staff at the Chronicle.
#5 - 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.
#6 - 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.
#7 - 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.
#8 - 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.
#9 - 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.
#10 - 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.
#11 - Bye, Bye Birdie
Season 5 - Episode 23 - Aired 4/13/1990
Balki grows very fond of his new pet parrot that drives Larry crazy. Meanwhile, their chimney is clogged and when Larry tried to light a fire, he had to open the window to let the smoke out, the parrot flies out and Balki is heartbroken.
#12 - 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.
#13 - 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.
#14 - 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.
#15 - 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.
#16 - 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.
#17 - Little Apartment of Horrors
Season 6 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/18/1991
During the cold season, Larry has a bad cold, along with everyone else except Balki. So Balki's mama sent a plant that cures Larry and everyone else and Larry decides to grow it big to make money off it unaware that growing it big has wacky side effects.
#18 - I Saw This on TV
Season 6 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/1/1991
Larry manages to get tickets to go to a Bulls game with Balki on the night that Larry promised to take Jennifer to the ballet. So Larry lied to Jennifer saying that he had to work. Balki tells him a story about an old Honeymooners rerun where we see Ralph (Larry) lying to Alice (Jennifer) about having to work late when he plans on going bowling with Norton (Balki) and Alice ends up finding out about it while she was with Trixie (Mary Anne). However Jennifer found out about the basketball game and Larry is in a heap of trouble.
#19 - 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.
#20 - 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.
#21 - Dog Day Mid-Afternoon
Season 5 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/20/1989
Larry writes an expose of a money laundering scheme that gets him his first front page story but he's upset when he realizes that Marshall & Walpole too all the credit for his article. Also, Marvin Berman, the money laundering scheme's accountant, is also upset because his boss took all the credit for the scheme that was really his idea. So he shows up at the Chronicle with a bomb and demands a printed retraction.
#22 - Poetry in Motion
Season 5 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/5/1989
Larry and Balki discover that Lowell Kelly, a famous poet used to live in their apartment and his unpublished poem is hidden there. So they search for it but Balki doesn't know that Larry plans to sell it after he discovered that it would be worth about $100,000.
#23 - Father Knows Best (1)
Season 5 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/10/1989
Larry's perfectionist father comes for a visit and Larry wants to impress him so he can finally get a ""well done son"" from his father. But instead, they end up trapped in the basement that is flooding after Larry broke the water pipe.
#24 - Father Knows Best (2)
Season 5 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/17/1989
Larry and Balki, Jennifer and Mary Anne, Lydia and Mr. Gorpley, and of course Larry's father are all trapped in the flooding basement. Larry attempts to solve the problem without much luck. So thinking they're all going to die, Larry must tell his father how he feels. Luck changes when Larry finds his chemistry set.
#25 - Hello Ball
Season 5 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/24/1989
When Jennifer's father comes to town, Larry tries to impress him. So they decide to go golfing. Larry is an excellent golfer but Mr. Lyons is a bad golfer and a bad loser o Larry decides to let him win and lets Balki play thinking that he can't golf, but can he?