Too Close for Comfort

Too Close for Comfort
Also known as	'The Ted Knight Show (season 6 title)
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Brian Cooke
Developed by	Arne Sultan Earl Barret
Starring	Ted Knight Nancy Dussault Lydia Cornell (seasons 1-5) Jim J. Bullock (as Jm J. Bullock) Deborah Van Valkenburgh (seasons 1-5) Deena Freeman (season 2) Audrey Meadows (season 3, regular; seasons 4-5, recurring) Pat Carroll (season 6) Lisa Antille (season 6)
Opening theme	"Too Close for Comfort", performed by
Composer(s)	(all season 4, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.12, multiples)
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	129 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Earl Barret Arne Sultan (seasons 1-4) Aaron Ruben (seasons 5-6)
Producer(s)	Supervising producers: Jerry McPhie (season 1) Norman Hopps (seasons 2-3) Volney Howard III (seasons 4-6) Producers: Austin Kalish & Irma Kalish (seasons 1-2) Douglas Arango & Phil Doran (season 3) George Yanok (seasons 4-6)
Camera setup	Videotape; Multi-camera
Running time	24 minutes
Production company(s)	D.L. Taffner Productions Metromedia Producers Corporation Fox Television Stations (season 6)
Distributor	DLT Entertainment
Release
Original network	ABC (1980–1983) Syndication (1984–1986)
Picture format	480i (SDTV)
Original release	November 11, 1980 (1980-11-11) – February 7, 1987 (1987-02-07)
Chronology
Related shows	Keep It in the Family Family Business

Too Close for Comfort is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from November 11, 1980, to May 5, 1983 and in first-run syndication from April 7, 1984 to February 7, 1987. It was modeled after the British series Keep It in the Family, which premiered nine months before Too Close for Comfort debuted in the United States. Its name was changed to The Ted Knight Show when the show was retooled for what would turn out to be its final season.

Synopsis

Ted Knight and Nancy Dussault star as respective characters Henry and Muriel Rush, owners of a two-family house in Mill Valley, California.^[1] The two story red house, seen at the opening and closing of each episode, was shot at 171–173 Buena Vista East Avenue in San Francisco, California.

Henry is a conservative cartoonist who authors a comic strip called Cosmic Cow. During scenes in which Henry draws in his bedroom, Knight used his earlier acquired ventriloquism talents for comical conversations with a hand-puppet version of "Cosmic Cow." Muriel is a laid back freelance photographer, having been a band singer in her earlier days. They have two grown children, older daughter, brunette Jackie (Deborah Van Valkenburgh) who works for a bank and younger daughter Sara (Lydia Cornell), a blonde bombshell and a college student at San Francisco State University.

At the start of the premiere episode, Jackie and Sara are living with their parents in a cramped, awkward arrangement. Their longtime downstairs tenant, Myron (later called Neville) Rafkin, recently died. The family discovers Rafkin was a transvestite and the many strange women Henry had been opening the door for all those years were actually Rafkin himself. Jackie and Sara convince their parents to allow them to move into the now-vacant downstairs apartment. In a running gag, Henry falls off the girls' ultra-modern chairs or couch every time he attempts to sit down. Despite the daughters' push for independence and moving into the downstairs apartment, Henry proves to be a very protective father and constantly meddles in their affairs.

Due to an actors' strike led by the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, new programming for the fall 1980 season was pushed back several months. As a result, Too Close for Comfort did not debut until November 11, 1980, and its initial season consisted of 19 episodes. The show garnered high ratings, benefiting from its placement in ABC's powerhouse Tuesday night lineup following hits like Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley and Three's Company.

A few episodes into the series, Sara's addle-headed friend Monroe Ficus, played by actor Jm J. Bullock, made an appearance. Although he was originally intended to be used for only a single episode, producers added the character to the series. Monroe was introduced to Henry by Sara as a depressed, lonely fellow student and street musician. Although Sara (with help from Jackie) tried to help him and send him on his way, Monroe found himself getting woven into the entire family's affairs and he became just a "friend" of Sara's and Henry's principal (if unintended) foil. During the first two seasons, Selma Diamond made guest appearances as Mildred Rafkin, sister of the late Myron. Sardonic, deadpan Mildred initially showed up to collect belongings left by Myron/Neville in the downstairs apartment, but continued to hang around thereafter. Seemingly, there were sentimental reasons, but occasionally she would attempt to make time with the much younger Monroe, whom she had an eye for.

Also added in early 1981 was Arthur Wainwright (Hamilton Camp), Henry's boss and head of Wainwright Publishing, who nearly decided to force the veteran cartoonist and Cosmic Cow into retirement in order to maintain a youth-oriented staff. The short-statured Mr. Wainwright, who spoke with Shakespearean diction and fancied himself an amateur detective (as a result of the famous mystery novels his company published), eventually let Henry stay with the firm, after the latter proved adept in helping him solve the mystery of Sara's stolen purse. Wainwright no longer appeared in person after the first season, but was referred to. Later, at the start of the fifth season, Graham Jarvis began appearing as Wainwright in a few guest appearances.

Developments in seasons two and three

The cast of Too Close for Comfort during the show's second season

During its second season, the series' principal stories are focused around Muriel's pregnancy. Additionally, Henry's niece April (Deena Freeman) comes from Delaware to live with the Rush family. The season concludes with Muriel giving birth to a son, Andrew (later played regularly by twins William and Michael Cannon from 1983-1984).

For the third season, April departs and the character of Muriel's mother, Iris Martin (Audrey Meadows) is added in order to help take care of Andrew. Also that fall, Jackie becomes engaged to her steady boyfriend, police officer Brad Turner (played by Gary Dontzig in one episode and by Jordan Suffin thereafter), but they broke it off after a short time. Jackie eventually moved into the field of fashion design, taking courses and producing her own clothing templates, which she later had produced as "The Jacqueline Rush Collection." Sara, meanwhile, decided to major in communications and, while continuing her studies, became a weather girl for a time at a major San Francisco TV station. Monroe seemed to be detached from Sara's circle of friends, but was taking the same major as her and became a security guard around campus.

The character of Henry Rush became famous for wearing sweatshirts from various American colleges and universities. It was revealed in one episode that he wore the different sweatshirts because he himself had never gone to college. Eventually fans would send in sweatshirts from universities around the country hoping they would be used during filming.

In the fall of 1982, ABC moved the series to Thursday nights, which proved to be disastrous. Paired with failures such as Joanie Loves Chachi, Star of the Family and It Takes Two, Too Close For Comfort saw its ratings plummet. At the conclusion of the season, the series was cancelled by ABC. The last first-run episode broadcast by ABC on May 5, 1983 was a pilot for a proposed spin-off series called Family Business. The series was to have focused on the misadventures of Lucille Garabaldi (Lainie Kazan) and her two sons (played by George Deloy and Jimmy Baio) as they tried to run a construction business. Hillary Bailey Smith was also featured in this backdoor pilot as the new, attractive female foreman that Lucille hired for her sons.

ABC aired reruns of Too Close for Comfort at 11:00 am ET from June 27-September 23, 1983.

First-run syndication

During the early 1980s, TV station owner Metromedia was expanding its portfolio of original syndicated programming through its production subsidiary, Metromedia Producers Corporation. Its efforts would eventually lead to the creation of the Fox Broadcasting Company. When Too Close for Comfort was canceled by ABC, Metromedia Producers Corporation elected to pick up the series and began producing all-new episodes to run on various stations throughout the country.

Starting in April 1984, a total of 14 new episodes were broadcast for the show's fourth season, featuring the same cast as seen on the ABC episodes. Monroe and Iris were still around to bother Henry (although Meadows had cut back her involvement to guest shots only) and Jackie and Sara were still downstairs. The girls continued to advance in the respective career paths; Sara auditioned for a news anchor position at the TV station, but was passed over in favor of a female candidate who may have not had Sara's looks, but had greater experience in hard news. This caused Sara to learn the valuable lesson that her sex appeal alone would not get her everywhere. Monroe eventually moves in to a remodeled attic, with the entrance from the Rushes' kitchen. Henry agreed to have Monroe as a tenant in a fleeting moment of compassion, but Monroe still proved to be a constant annoyance to him.

The show's ratings improved in syndication and Metromedia ordered an additional 30 episodes, airing through November 1985. When the fifth season began, a single child actor, Joshua Goodwin, took over the role of Andrew Rush (which he would hold for the remainder of the series). Henry was now working out of his own fancy office at Wainwright Publishing, as a result of toddler Andrew's "terrible twos" behavior interfering with his concentration at home. Everyone else's worldly or, in the case of Monroe, wacky affairs were also proving to be an intense distraction, considering they were all living under the same roof. Near the end of the season, Jackie accepted a job offer in Italy that would help further her clothing line, with her family and friends giving her a big send-off. With a total of 107 episodes of Too Close for Comfort having been produced, the show became a popular staple for syndicated reruns throughout the late 1980s.

The Ted Knight Show

The sixth season title screen for first run episodes. Note the title change.

The sixth season title screen for reruns.

In late 1985, several changes were made before further episodes were produced. The show's title was changed to The Ted Knight Show (not to be confused with the short-lived 1978 CBS show of the same name; hence it was occasionally referred to as The New Ted Knight Show, such as when Jim J. Bullock made a guest appearance on Break the Bank) and the setting was changed to Marin County, north of San Francisco. A new arrangement of Johnny Mandel's theme song was recorded, and a new opening title sequence was shot in the surrounding area. Deborah Van Valkenburgh, Lydia Cornell, and Audrey Meadows all left the revamped series (although Meadows did return for one final guest appearance in the sixth season). In their places, veteran actress Pat Carroll and Lisa Antille were brought in to join the returning Ted Knight, Nancy Dussault, and Jim J. Bullock.

As far as the story was concerned, the Rushes were living in a new, much larger house somewhere near Mill Valley. Henry retired from cartooning and instead took on a new role as editor and 49% owner of the Marin Bugler, with Hope Stinson (Carroll) owning the other 51% and proving to be a thorn in his side. Muriel began working as the paper's staff photographer. Monroe was still around, living in his own apartment nearby, but was now additionally working a reporter-in-training at the Bugler. To take care of Andrew, Henry and Muriel hired a live-in nanny/housekeeper, a young Hispanic woman named Lisa Flores (Antille), who would later become involved with Monroe. Lisa Antille had previously made a guest appearance in a fifth season Too Close for Comfort episode as Yvonne, a housekeeper that the Rushes temporarily employed, only until she attempted to have Monroe marry her in order to avoid deportation.

First-run episodes of The Ted Knight Show were broadcast starting in April 1986. A total of 22 episodes were produced prior to the summer of 1986 and twelve had aired by mid-July. The revamped show continued to be successful and was scheduled to resume production for another season, but Ted Knight, who had been battling colon cancer since 1985, died on August 26, 1986 at the age of 62. Although this spelled the end for the program as no further episodes would be produced, the ten remaining episodes were broadcast beginning in September 1986 and concluded in February 1987.

When these episodes were added to the syndicated rerun package, the graphic with the changed title was replaced with one with the original Too Close for Comfort title on it. The new opening theme and sequence remained unchanged.^{[2] [3]}

Cast

• Ted Knight as Henry Rush
• Nancy Dussault as Muriel Rush
• Deborah Van Valkenburgh as Jackie Rush (1980-1985)
• Lydia Cornell as Sara Rush (1980-1985)
• JM J. Bullock as Monroe Ficus
• Hamilton Camp as Arthur Wainwright (1981)
• Deena Freeman as April Rush (1981-1982)
• Audrey Meadows as Iris Martin (1982-1983, guest appearances thereafter)
• William and Michael Cannon as Andrew Rush (1983-1984)
• Joshua Goodwin as Andrew Rush (1985-1986)
• Pat Carroll as Hope Stinson (1986)
• Lisa Antille as Lisa Flores (1986)

Notable guest stars

• Selma Diamond as Mildred Rafkin
• Jordan Suffin as Officer Brad Turner
• Elyse Knight (daughter of Ted Knight) as Samantha Bishop ("The Runaway," 1984)
• Graham Jarvis as Arthur Wainwright (1985)
• Ernie Wise as Ernie Dockery (1985)

Episodes

Syndication

The show entered daily broadcast syndication in the fall of 1986, which continued until 2003.^[4] The syndication rights for Too Close for Comfort are held by DLT Entertainment, a production and distribution company owned by show producer D.L. Taffner.

Reruns of the series aired on TBS. The series later aired on TV Land from 2003-2006. The series also aired on Antenna TV from January 2011 to September 2012.

DVD releases

Rhino Entertainment released the first two seasons of Too Close for Comfort on DVD in Region 1 in 2004/2005.^[5][6] Rhino did not obtain the original versions of the episodes for the Season 1 release and instead used the versions edited for syndication, which are missing several minutes of footage, including the final scene of each episode before the closing credits. There are no known plans for additional releases.

References

External links

• Too Close for Comfort at the Internet Movie Database
• Too Close for Comfort at TV.com
• Interview with Lydia Cornell by Michael Sutton
• Interview with Lydia Cornell on the podcast The Future and You (anecdotes about Ted Knight and Too Close For Comfort)