Mark Linn-Baker

Playwright Neil Simon got his first big break in the early '50s as a staff writer on Sid Caesar's fabled television series Your Show of Shows, and this comedy (adapted by Simon from his play) takes a fictionalized look at the backstage chaos that went into producing one of the landmarks of television's golden age. Max Prince (Nathan Lane) is the star of The Max Prince Show, a popular comedy-variety series with ratings that have begun to slip; Prince's show is still a major hit on the East Coast, but network executive Cal Weebs (Colin Fox) insists that it's too sophisticated for the Midwest, and urges Prince to dumb down his act. Prince has also become the whipping boy of newspaper columnist Walter Winchell (Frank Proctor), and between the tensions of producing a hour of top-quality comedy each week and being pestered about his ratings, Prince is beginning to unravel. His relationship with his wife Faye (Sherry Miller) and their children is falling apart, and stress is eating him alive. Prince's brother Harry (Richard Portnow) is Max's assistant, and his last line of defense against both the network and his writing staff, which spend its days coming up with business for the show while hurling humorous invective at each other and anyone else within earshot. (The actors playing Max's writers include Mark Linn-Baker, Victor Garber, Dan Castellaneta, Saul Rubinek, Peri Gilpin, and Zach Grenier.) Laughter on the 23rd Floor received its world premiere at the 2001 Palm Springs Film Festival and was scheduled for showings several months later on the Showtime premium cable network (who co-produced the feature). The film was directed by Richard Benjamin, who previously teamed with Mark Linn-Baker for another comedy inspired by the career of Sid Caesar, My Favorite Year. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A rebellious woman (Patricia Wettig) has continually made life hard for her younger sister (Elizabeth McGovern) by sleeping with her husband and wrecking her marriage. The older sister returns to her New Jersey hometown to cause more trouble before beginning a prison sentence. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

It's Jesse (John Stamos) vs. Dick Donaldson (Mark Linn-Baker), the snobbish cousin of his wife Becky (Lisa Loughlin). Having arrived in San Francisco to enter their daughters in a "favorite twin" contest, Dick and wife Donna (Mary Kane) waste no time running down Jesse and telling Becky that she could have picked out a much more successful husband. Angrily, Jesse vows to get even by entering his own twin sons in the contest--a move staunchly opposed by Becky. Meanwhile, Steph (Jodie Sweetin) has an interesting encounter with yet another set of twins. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The seventh season of Perfect Strangers gets under way with the marriage of "Chicago Chronicle" reporter Larry (Mark Linn-Baker) and sexy stewardess Jennifer (Melanie Wilson), whereupon the couple moves out of their apartment building an into a huge suburban house with enormous mortgage payments and a minimum of utilties. This same season, Larry's roommate-cousin, Myposian immigrant Balki (Bronson Pinchot), finally becomes a US citizen, prompting a surprise visit from his mother (also played by Bronson Pinchot!) Back on the job, Larry and Balki begin collaborating on a comic strip about a foreign sheepherder living in Chicago and his favorite sheep Dmitri. In the interests of authenticity, Balki purchase a live sheep, while Larry obsesses upon coming up with dialogue that correctly reflects "a sheep's sensibility." Elsewhere, the boys briefly become door-to-door salesmen, attempt to "exorcise" a ghost from Larry's new house, emulate Laurel & Hardy (for the millionth time!) when they try to build a gazebo, and find themselves stuck in a car trunk while trying to trap a gang of thieves. On his own, Larry is reluctantly appointing temporary king of Mypos, and goes into panic mode when he thinks that Jennifer is pregnant. As for Balki, he takes a trip to Vegas to meet his idol Wayne Newton, and enters into a most confusing ménage-a-quartre when he and his girlfriend Mary Anne (Rebecca Arthur) fall in love with their respective exact lookalikes. With Larry and Jennifer marriage, Mary Ann hopes that Balki will likewise pop the question, but he doesn't seem inclined to do so. Just when this situation is on the verge of being resolved, Season Seven of Perfect Strangers comes to an abrupt end! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As Season Five of Perfect Strangers gets under way, both Larry (Mark Linn-Baker) and Balki (Bronson Pinchot) receiving promotions at the "Chicago Chronicle", with Larry becoming a full-fledged investigative reporter, and Balki ending up on the executive staff. This latter upward move unfortunately turns out to be a byproduct of "affirmative action", inasmuch as Balki is an immigrant from the island of Mypos; once he finds this out, Balki is delighted to be demoted to a lesser editorial position. As in previous seasons, the two protagonists find themselves in situations that would not be out of place in a Laurel & Hardy comedy, such as a visit to the dentist and a misadventure on the golf links. And while Bronson Pinchot has emerged as the series' most popular actor--and as such the one who is handed the juiciest assignment, such as the episode wherein he plays both Balki and his wheeler-dealer cousin Bartok--the other regulars are all given their own moments to shine. Examples include the two-part episode in which Larry must endure a visit from his ultra-perfectionist father, and the "Chronicle"'s uptight advice columnist Lydia (Belita Moreno) struggles to overcome her fear of the camera in order to host her own TV show. One of the season's most memorable episodes is "This Old House", in which while trying to unload a dilapidated "fixer upper," Larry meets a yuppie couple who are dead ringers for the characters of Elliot and Hope on the popular drama series thirtysomething (though not played by the same actors!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The fourth season of Perfect Strangers finds aspiring photographer Larry (Mark-Linn Baker) and his Myposian-born cousin Balki (Bronson Pinchot) still working in entry-level jobs at the "Chicago Chronicle." Likewise carried over from the previous season is Larry and Balki's tendency to enmesh themselves in situations reminiscent of Laurel & Hardy, never more so than when the boys agree to move a piano up ten flights of stairs at the behest of the "Chronicle"'s neurotic advice columnist Lydia (Belita Moreno). More zany slapstick ensues in the two-part episode which finds Larry and Balki, their stewardess neighbors Mary Anne (Rebecca Arthur) and Jennifer (Melanie Wilson), and the "Chronicle"'s acid-tongue elevator operator Harriette (Jo Marie Payton-France) embark upon a disastrous camping trip. Later escapades include Balki's first airplane flight, and a hectic Q&A session when Larry and Balki compete on a TV game show. Plus, there's the obligatory Christmas episode, in which Balki generously arranges a party for his curmudgeonly mail-room supervisor Mr. Gorpley (Sam Anderson). And in a more original development, Balki is hypnotized into thinking that he's Elvis, thereby setting up a "tour de force" for series regular Bronson Pinchot. Also: Balki prepares for a college entrance exam with the aid of memories from past episodes (the standard Season Four "clip show"); Doris Roberts (Everybody Loves Raymond guests as a maid whose efficiency drives everyone crazier than usual; and John Matuszak shows up as the head of a motorcycle club for which Balki must undergo a riotous initiation ceremony. Perhaps the season's most significant episode is "Crimebusters", in which Larry and Balki go undercover to research a newspaper story and run afoul of gangsters--one of whom turns out to be an undercover cop named Carl (Reginald VelJohnson), who happens to be the husband of the boys' coworker Harriette. Within the next year, both Harriette and Carl would be spun off into their own long-running sitcom, Family Matters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"It's the craziest wedding of the year!" promised the ads for the TV movie Going to the Chapel. Well, maybe not the craziest, but certainly the silliest. The thinnish plot concerns the roadblocks standing in the way of the impending wedding of Scott Valentine and Michelle Greene. As a means to sustain audience interest, the producers populated the supporting cast with a veritable village full of top TV names: Cloris Leachman, John Ratzenberger, Max Wright, Dick Van Patten, Eileen Brennan and Barbara Billingsley. First shown October 9, 1988, Going to the Chapel died in the ratings opposite the blockbuster biopic Liberace: Behind the Music. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Given a six-episode trial run in the spring of 1986, the slapstick sitcom Perfect Strangers) returned for its first full season in the fall of that same year. Also returning were Mark Linn-Baker as aspiring Chicago photographer Larry and Bronson Pinchot as his cousin and roommate Balki, a recent émigré from the faraway Mediterranean island of Mypos. Whereas in Season One only Larry was gainfully employed, in Season Two Balki has joined Larry in a menial job at the Ritz Discount Shop, run by the misanthropic "Twinkie" (Ernie Sabella) and his loudmouthed wife Edwina (Belita Moreno). In another new development, Larry's upstair neighbor (and occasional girlfriend) Susan has moved out, replaced by a pair of curvaceous stewardesses, Mary Anne (Rebecca Arthur) and Jennifer (Melanie Wilson). Now that a year has gone by, has the nervous Larry completely adjusted to the zany Balki, and has the innocent Balki gotten over his tendency to take everything literally and accept everyone he meets at face value? In the words of Balki himself, "Dun't be ridi-ku-louse!" Why, in the opening episode alone, Balki generously allows a pregnant foreigner whom he's met in his citizenship class to use Larry's room until the baby comes--without informing Larry. In subsequent episodes, Balki rigidly adheres to Myposian custom by becoming Larry's permanent manservant after Larry saves his life; the boys have a harrowing experience as babysitters, attempt to hide a dog from their landlady, and endeavor to patch up the marriage between Twinkie and Edwina (not so much out of the goodness of their hearts, but to get Twinkie out of their apartment). And in a two-part misadventure, Larry, Balki, Mary Anne and Jennifer embark upon a skiing trip, only to be trapped in an avalanche (evidentally they've traveled some distance from Chicago!) Near the end of the season, Larry and Balki both serve notice to Twinkie and try their hands at a variety of temporary jobs--with the expected disastrous results. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Created by Dale McRaven, the popular ABC slapstick sitcom Perfect Strangers proved beyond all doubt that Laurel & Hardy were alive and living in Chicago. Mark Linn-Baker starred as Larry Appleton, a would-be photographer living in his own Chicago apartment. Larry's calm, well-organized lifestyle was set on its ear with the unexpected arrival of his distant cousin Balki Bartokomous (Bronson Pinchot), a native of the mythical Mediterranean island of Mypos, where he'd been a professional sheepherder. The comedy arose from the relationship between the long-suffering, easily excitable Larry, and the wide-eyed Balki, who never quite got over his wonderment at living in "The Land of the Whopper," who spoke in a bizarre, near-incomprehensible foreign accent (his catchphrase: "Dun't be ridi-ka-louse"), who innocently took everything literally and everyone at face value, and who persisted in honoring the most bizarre of the "typical" Myposian customs. During the first two seasons, Larry and later Balki both worked at the Ritz Discount Shop, run by the misanthropic Donald "Twinkie" Twinkacetti (Ernie Sabella). Beginning with season three, the roommates were employed by "The Chicago Chronicle," Larry as a reporter and Balki as a mail clerk under the thumb of ill-tempered Sam Gorpley (Sam Anderson). Eventually, both Larry and Balki joined the editorial staff, and by the series' seventh season, they were collaborating on a comic strip about a talking sheep named Dmitri. Their superiors at the "Chronicle" included editor Harry Burns (Eugene Roche) and publisher R.T. Wainwright (F.J. O'Neil). Throughout the series' run, there were several women in Larry's and Balki's lives, beginning with Larry's upstairs neighbor, nurse Susan Campbell (Lise Cutter). Introduced in season two were the boys' toothsome new neighbors, stewardesses Jennifer (Melanie Wilson) and Mary Anne (Rebeca Arthur). Perhaps inevitably, romance bloomed between the boys and the girls, with Larry marrying Jennifer in season seven and Balki wedding Mary Anne in the final season (in which both ladies became mothers, just in time for the series finale). Belita Moreno was seen in the earliest episodes as the irascible "Twinkie"'s equally contentious wife, Edwina, and later resurfaced as the "Chicago Chronicle"'s uptight advice columnist, Lydia Markham. Also, Alisan Porter began making sporadic appearances during season six in the role of Larry and Balki's new neighbor Tess Holland. Last but far from least, Jo Marie Payton-France joined the cast in season three as Harriette Winslow, the sarcastic elevator operator at the "Chronicle." It was eventually established that Harriette was the wife of Chicago cop Carl Winslow, introduced as a one-shot character in 1989 in the person of actor Reginald VelJohnson. Before long, both Harriette and Carl were spun off into their own series, Family Matters. Reruns of Perfect Strangers were seen on ABC's daytime schedule from 1989 through 1990. The prime-time version of the show was abruptly canceled on April 18, 1992, but returned to tie up loose plot ends with five new episodes, which aired from July 9 through August 6, 1993. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ghostwriter was based on the 1979 Philip Roth novel, part of his unofficial "Zuckerman trilogy". Based loosely on an incident in Roth's own youth, the story, set in 1956, centers around 23-year-old novelist Nathan Zuckerman (Mark-Lynn Baker). Nathan's insistence upon writing about the Holocaust brings forth a warning from his father that too much dwelling on the past might rekindle anti-Semitism. In response, Judge Leopold Wapter (Joseph Wiseman) advises Nathan to see the Broadway production of Diary of Anne Frank. Nathan is so impressed with the story that he begins to fantasize that Anne Frank is still alive. Later, during a visit to the New England farm of his idol, author E. I. Lonoff (Sam Wanamaker), Nathan meets a gamin-like stranger (Paulette Smit) whom he imagines to be Anne Frank in the flesh. Philip Roth adapted his own novel (with director Tristam Rogers) for the made-for-TV Ghostwriter. Originally slated for telecast over the BBC, the film eventually became a coproduction of the BBC and America's Public Broadcasting System, and had its American debut on PBS' American Playhouse on January 17, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Richard Benjamin's directorial debut is an engaging slice of nostalgia, purportedly based on an incident in life of Mel Brooks. Mark Linn-Baker stars as Benjy Stone, junior writer on the popular 1950s TV comedy/variety series The King Kaiser Show. Kaiser (Joseph Bologna)'s guest star this week is Hollywood matinee idol Alan Swann (Peter O'Toole), a swashbuckling Errol Flynn type, right down to his indiscriminate womanizing and fondness for mass quantities of booze. Stone is assigned to keep the actor out of trouble during rehearsals and deliver him sober to the performance. Becoming fast friends, Stone and Swann alternate baby-sitting responsibilities: Swann takes the young writer to the Stork Club and on an early-morning jaunt through Central Park with a "borrowed" police horse, while Stone takes Swann to his home in the Bronx, where the star is fawned over by Benji's mom (Lainie Kazan) and asked embarrassing questions about his love life by Uncle Morty (Lou Jacobi). Despite a few anxious moments, all goes well until Swann, panicking at the discovery that King Kaiser's show will be telecast live and not on film, walks out just before airtime. Shamed by Benjy into honoring his committment, Swann makes a spectacular, timber-smashing entrance, saving the show and rescuing Kaiser from being rubbed out by a gangster (Cameron Mitchell) whom the comedian has offended. Though it fluctuates between wistful realism and the manic exaggeration of a TV comedy sketch, My Favorite Year holds together quite well, delivering a plentitude of solid laughs. Jessica Harper, usually the star of bizarro films like Inserts and Suspiria, is quite appealing as Benjy Stone's girlfriend; that lady dancing with O'Toole at the Stork Club is 1930s film star Gloria Stuart, later an Oscar nominee for Titanic; the King Kaiser Show wardrobe mistress is played by Selma Diamond, a real-life comedy writer for Sid Caesar. My Favorite Year was converted into an unsuccessful Broadway musical in the early 1990s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide