Too Close for Comfort (1980–1986)

Jackie and Sarah Rush are two grown sisters who live in half of a duplex. Their parents, Henry and Muriel, live in the other half. Though one might think this proximity may be fun, both ... See full summary »

Creator:

Brian Cooke

Stars:

Ted Knight, Nancy Dussault, Jim J. Bullock

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Ted Knight	...	Henry Rush (129 episodes, 1980-1987)
Nancy Dussault	...	Muriel Rush (129 episodes, 1980-1987)
Jim J. Bullock	...	Monroe Ficus (118 episodes, 1980-1987)
Deborah Van Valkenburgh	...	Jackie Rush (107 episodes, 1980-1985)
Lydia Cornell	...	Sara Rush (106 episodes, 1980-1985)

Storyline

Jackie and Sarah Rush are two grown sisters who live in half of a duplex. Their parents, Henry and Muriel, live in the other half. Though one might think this proximity may be fun, both sides often feel that it's "too close for comfort", in this half-hour situation comedy.

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Plot Keywords:

cartoonist | remake | death of cast member | sitcom | based on british tv series | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 February 1983 (France)

Also Known As:

The Ted Knight Show

Filming Locations:

171-173 Buena Vista Avenue East, San Francisco, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

D.L. Taffner Productions, D.L. Taffner Syndication Sales, DLT Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In one episode, Ted Knight wore a sweatshirt with the name and logo of an actual university on it. Soon, college and university students, who were fans of the show, began sending logo sweatshirts for Knight to wear on the air. From then on, Knight began wearing as many different sweatshirts as possible in each episode to please the fans.

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Connections

Referenced in Family Guy: Brian Goes Back to College (2005)

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Soundtracks

"Too Close for Comfort"
(theme song)
Written by Johnny Mandel
Performed by David Pomeranz

User Reviews

Starring Ted Knight

Three years after the success of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show",fellow alumnus Ted Knight was finally given his own weekly situation comedy series,after years of playing second fiddle characters not to mention voice-over for several animated cartoons for television. However,Ted Knight was one of the last MTM alumnus to do so,and it turned out to be not only one of the funniest situation comedies of the 1980's,but did Ted Knight go out in grand style! The series,"Too Close For Comfort", was one of the most popular shows of its day when it premiered on ABC-TV in September of 1980,and to anyone's surprise it lasted on the network for five astounding seasons,ending its run in April of 1985 after 180 episodes,which was also titled,"The Ted Knight Show",and was produced by the same individuals who brought you another successful series that was also at the top of the Nielsens during the 80's on ABC...."Three's Company",which was the highest rated show on the air. "Too Close For Comfort",surpassed it as it became of the most popular shows of 1981 and making Ted Knight one of the most respected actors of the 1980's.

The series itself is indeed a timeless classic with Ted Knight playing a conservative San Franciscian Henry Rush,a cartoonist of children's comic book heroine,Cosmic Cow,who resides in an upstairs apartment of a two story house with his wife,Muriel Rush,a former big band singer(which allows us to occasionally hear Broadway performer Nancy Dussault's terrific voice in several of the episodes),and free-lance photographer.Their college-aged daughters,pretty brunette Jackie,a bank teller(played by that gorgeous babe Deborah Van-Valkenburgh from the movie "The Warriors"),and sexy blonde Sara(played by Lydia Cornell)who is a freshman at San Francisco State University,wanting freedom and independence,moved into the downstairs apartment. Guys came and went as Henry agonized over his "2 little girls" since he is very overprotected of them.There is also the overprotected as Muriel's mother,Iris Martin(played with absolute prowess by TV alum Audrey Meadows of "The Honeymooners")where in some of the episodes comes by for visits and usually spends time with the family,her and Henry's mother-in-law have a match with words over whatever and it is some of the lowest insults ever depicted for TV. Other characters on the show included Henry's boss,Mr. Wainwright(played by Hamilton Camp),and others including the upstairs neighbors Mrs. Rafkin(Selma Diamond),and Mrs. Stinson(Pat Carroll).

In some of the episodes,and this was during the subsequent two half seasons,Henry's hippie niece April stayed with the family for a year while Muriel became pregnant and gave birth to their son,Andrew while the oldest daughter Jackie became engaged and moved off on her own to Italy to pursue her career,while Sara became a TV weather girl and eventually toward the end of the series,she graduates from college. Sure,Ted Knight was a joy to watch,but who was the most annoyingest character on that show? MONROE! J.M. Bullock's character of Monroe was not only the most annoying as hell,but was also the first-ever "openly gay" character ever depicted in a comedy series. He was just as annoying as he ever was now,and during this show he was a real pain in the ass. Believe me,watch some of the episodes and you'll see why he drives Ted Knight up the wall with some of his antics and downright hilarious schemes. But their were some interesting things that occur,especially when Knight's character would be drawing up his Cosmic Cow(he usually wear it on his arm)at his desk,and in some of the episodes several guest stars would appear,and one I do recall had the great cartoonist Walter Lantz stopped by for a visit(Walter Lantz was the man behind the cartoon character "Woody Woodpecker" and etc......).

By the 1985-1986,the series "Too Close For Comfort" was cancelled by ABC,and in the fall of 1985,the premiere of "The Ted Knight Show" was made for syndication,and only seven episodes were produced which brought back some of the characters from the ABC series with included Nancy Dussault,J.M. Bullock,and numerous others. This time around The Rushes' moved outside San Francisco toward the Mill Valley region of California where Henry is co-editor of a weekly newspaper while the rest of the characters while this time around,the two daughters were not seen often,and also Muriel worked as a staff photographer. The show never made it into its second season,when its star,Ted Knight,passed away in 1986 of cancer.