For All You Miller-Boyett Nostalgia Buffs

I've discovered that YouTube contains an inordinate number of versions of the title sequence of "Perfect Strangers," as re-enacted by college students. I found at least five different ones so far. Here's the best of them:



And here, for reference, is the original:



With this and that "Simpsons" live-action sequence, re-creating TV title sequences is soon going to surpass Civil War re-enactments in popularity. And, after all, there are a lot more pleasant things to re-enact than the Civil War. I would suggest that someone turn their attention to re-enacting The Hogan Family next.

Now, why "Perfect Strangers?" I think it's just one of those shows that really hooks you when you're a little kid. I know that as a child I was kind of obsessed with it. Of course, it didn't deserve that kind of following; I saw a couple of episodes recently and found it pretty bad when it wasn't just ripping off other, better, earlier comedy (Larry and Balki move a piano like Laurel and Hardy; Balki gets hypnotized in a plot directly ripped off from "The Dick Van Dyke Show"). But kids love Larry and Balki, and they especially love the fact that they had one of the few friendships on TV that seemed real to a child: instead of being friendly all the time (one extreme of TV friendships) or insulting each other all the time (the other extreme), cousins Larry and Balki liked each other but got on each other's nerves, fought to see who would get the better stuff, got into trouble with authority figures -- they were, basically, overgrown children with a childish friendship. That made "Perfect Strangers" the perfect kiddie show, and when the kiddies grow up, they remember that show fondly.