Bronson Pinchot Movies

Although Larry (Mark Linn-Baker and Balki (Bronson Pinchot) are still gainfully employed as reporters at the "Chicago Chronicle" at the outset of Perfect Strangers' sixth season, the boys are not above moonlighting to pick up some extra cash. Balki is particually enterprising, opening up a catering business specializing in exotic (and oftimes inedible) dishes from his native country of Mypos. Otherwise, our heroes get mixed up in their usual Laurel&Hardy-like misadventures, especially in a two-part episode wherein they are sent to cover a celebrity wedding, only to end up being pursued by mobsters. Another legendary comic duo is invoked in the episode "I Saw This On TV", featuring a fantasy sequence, shot in black and white, in which Larry and Balki and their sexy neighbors Jennifer (Melanie Wilson) and Mary Anne (Rebecca Arthur) morph into the characters of Ralph Kramden, Ed Norton, Alice and Trixie from The Honeymooners. As the season draws to a close, Larry has finally worked up the courage to propose to Jennifer--but the couple may not make it to the altar after agreeing to take Balki's highly bizarre Myposian compatability test! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Wills, an ex-cop (John Larroquette), and Bobby (Bronson Pinchot), who's a psychic, team up as sleuths in Wills's new "Second Sight Detective Agency." To add a little spice, there's a very pretty nun who catches the eye of the laughable detective. ~ Rovi

This 1987 episode of Saturday Night Live is hosted by Bronson Pinchot and features musical guests Paul Young and Buster Poindexter. ~ Skyler Miller, Rovi

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, Rovi

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, Rovi

In this teen comedy, the employees at a posh hotel go to war with the resort's snooty guests. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

What's that wisecracking young black guy (Eddie Murphy) in that beat-up Chevy Nova doing in lily-white Beverly Hills? He's Axel Foley, a Detroit detective who's been sent on involuntary vacation because he refuses to drop his intention of avenging his friend's murder. Warned by Beverly Hills police chief Ronny Cox to stay out of trouble, Foley nonetheless dogs the trail of above-the-law Steven Berkoff, the British crime czar who was responsible for the murder of Foley's friend. With the help of sympathetic local cops Judge Reinhold and John Ashton and lady friend Lisa Eilbacher, Foley attempts to corner Berkoff in his mansion, which leads to a wild slapsticky shootout. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi