Too Close for Comfort: Season 04 (1984)

Cancelled by ABC at the end of its third season, Too Close for Comfort was revived in off-network syndication beginning April 2, 1984. This move was part of a concerted effort by the Metromedia station group to create a "fourth network," an alternative to the established webs ABC, NBC, and CBS. Although Too Close for Comfort did not result in the fulfillment of this ambition, a few years later Metromedia would be folded into the new Fox network. Substantially, the "new" Too Close for Comfort is the same mixture as before. Ted Knight still heads the cast as San Francisco-based newspaper cartoonist Henry Rush, with Nancy Dussault as his level-headed wife Muriel and Audrey Meadows as his insufferable mother-in-law Iris. Conservative to the bone and an inveterate worrier, Henry still continues to fret over his pretty twenty-something daughters Jackie (Deborah Van Valkenburgh) and Sara (Lydia Cornell), who live in the lower apartment in Henry and Muriel's two-story townhouse. Also on hand is Henry and Muriel's youngest child, Andrew, who has aged considerably since his birth two seasons earlier and who is now played by Joshua Goodwin; and the Rushes' semi-permanent house guest, the neurotic Monroe Ficus (Jim J. Bullock). As a "syndie," Too Close for Comfort posted surprisingly good ratings, even higher than the series had enjoyed during its terminal ABC season. This fact not only insured Too Close for Comfort an additional season of new episodes, but also proved to be a major shot in the arm for the entire "off-network sitcom" genre, spawning new versions of such popular ex-network efforts as Charles in Charge and Mama's Family. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi