strange, yes. perfect, hardly

For some reason I was thinking about this goofy show today.



The opening credits to 80's sitcoms were the absolute best thing in the whole world. For every show, they actually hired someone to write a song that explained exactly what the show was about. Or they sing about how tough life is, but you can achieve anything anyway. So even though Balki and Cousin Larry (pronounced "Co-Sin Leddy") worked in a newspaper mailroom, they still had a pretty cool apartment and hot blonde girlfriends with large ta-ta's. (Balki's "America or Burst" sign was a premonition. His future lady-friend is practically bursting out of her shirt, so he got both of his wishes.) So anyway, the entire first minute of every show was filled with the elaborate song, actors' names and headshots, and all the hilarious, adorable, physical mishaps taken from clips of the show. Pie in the face, dancing a jig, dropping a wedding cake then blowing your bangs out of your eyes and shrugging your shoulders...and as Balki and Larry demonstrate above, the classic "getting lost in a revolving door" gag, which is only SLIGHTLY less predictable than the ol' "pregnant lady in an elevator" gag.

Sadly, the customized "theme song" has become a dying art...the stuff of legend! Speaking of legend, where exactly is Bronson Pinchot these days?? I picture him sharing a studio apartment in West Hollywood with Richard Grieco and eating Cup-O-Noodle for most of his meals. But he still can't go to the mall without 'perfect strangers' (haha) begging him to say his famous catchphrase "Get out of the city!" in his best Balki voice.

"Don't be ree-deek-ulous!!"