''Too Close for Comfort'' is an American

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

television series that aired on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

from November 11, 1980, to May 5, 1983, and in first-run

syndication Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...

from April 7, 1984, to February 7, 1987. Its name was changed to ''The Ted Knight Show'' when the show was retooled in 1986 for what would turn out to be its final season, due to

Ted Knight Ted Knight (born Tadeusz Wladyslaw Konopka; December 7, 1923August 26, 1986) was an American actor well known for playing the comedic roles of Ted Baxter in ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'', Henry Rush in ''Too Close for Comfort'', and Judge Elihu ...

's death. The original concept of the series was based on the 1980s British sitcom '' Keep It in the Family''. Knight plays work-at-home cartoonist Henry Rush, whose two adult daughters live in the downstairs apartment of his

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

townhouse. The family moves to

Marin County Marin County is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is acros ...

for the show's final season, where Rush becomes a co-owner of the local weekly newspaper.

Synopsis

Henry and Muriel Rush are owners of a two-unit house at 171–173 Buena Vista Avenue East

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. Henry is a conservative cartoonist who authors a comic strip called ''Cosmic Cow'' with a hand-puppet version of "Cosmic Cow." Muriel is a freelance photographer. They have two adult daughters, Jackie and Sara. Additional characters include Sara's friend, Monroe Ficus, and Henry's boss, Arthur Wainwright, who was head of Wainwright Publishing. The character of Monroe was originally intended to be used for only a single episode but producers added the character to the series.

Developments in seasons two and three

During its second season, the series' principal stories were focused around Muriel's pregnancy. Henry's niece April comes from

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

to live with the Rush family. The season concluded with Muriel giving birth to a son, Andrew (later played regularly by twins William and Michael Cannon from 1983 to 1984). The character of Henry Rush became famous for wearing sweatshirts from various American colleges and universities. Fans would send in sweatshirts from universities around the country hoping they would be used during taping. In the fall of 1982, ABC moved the series to Thursday nights, which proved to be disastrous and the show saw its ratings fall drastically. The network canceled the series at the conclusion of the season, after falling from #6 for the 1981–82 season, down to #38 for the 1982–83 season.

First-run syndication

During the early 1980s, TV station owner

Metromedia Metromedia (also often MetroMedia) was an American media company that owned radio and television stations in the United States from 1956 to 1986 and controlled Orion Pictures from 1988 to 1997. Metromedia was established in 1956 after the DuMo ...

was expanding its portfolio of original syndicated programming through its production subsidiary, Metromedia Producers Corporation. 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 23 new episodes were broadcast for the show's fourth season, featuring the same cast as seen on the ABC episodes. 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.

''The Ted Knight Show''

In late 1985, several changes were made before production started for season six. The largest changes were to the show's title, which was changed to ''The Ted Knight Show'' (not to be confused with the short-lived 1978

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

show of the same name), and to the premise and setting. Henry had retired from drawing Cosmic Cow and, along with Muriel and Andrew, moved to

where Henry bought a share of a local newspaper and became its editor. Monroe followed the Rushes to Marin County and eventually got a job with Henry's paper as a reporter. Veteran actress

Pat Carroll Patricia Ann Carroll (May 5, 1927 – July 30, 2022) was an American actress and comedian. She was known for voicing Ursula in ''The Little Mermaid'' and for appearances in CBS's ''The Danny Thomas Show'', ABC's '' Laverne & Shirley'', and NB ...

joined the cast as Hope Stinson, who owned the majority share of the newspaper and who served as a foil for Henry. In addition, the writers gave the Rushes a live-in nanny for Andrew and brought in Lisa Antille to play the role. Deborah Van Valkenburgh and Lydia Cornell were dropped from the series, as was Audrey Meadows. First-run episodes of ''The Ted Knight Show'' were broadcast starting in April 1986. Twenty-two episodes were produced prior to the summer of 1986 and 12 had aired by mid-July. The revamped show was scheduled to resume production until the death of star Ted Knight, who had been battling

colon cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel mo ...

since 1985. The 10 remaining first-run episodes were broadcast from September 1986 to February 1987, after which those episodes were added to the ''Too Close for Comfort'' syndicated rerun package and reverted to the original show title.

Cast

as Henry Rush *

Nancy Dussault Nancy Dussault (born June 30, 1936) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for playing Muriel Rush in the sitcom ''Too Close for Comfort'' (1980–1987). In a career spanning over half a century, Dussault received two Tony Award n ...

as Muriel Rush *

Deborah Van Valkenburgh Deborah Gaye Van Valkenburgh (born August 29, 1952) is an American actress best known for her screen debut as Mercy in the 1979 cult film '' The Warriors'', and her role as Jackie Rush for five seasons (1980–1985) on the television situation ...

as Jackie Rush (1980–1985) *

Lydia Cornell Lydia Cornell (born Lydia Korniloff, July 23, 1953) is an American actress best known for her role as Sara Rush on the ABC situation comedy ''Too Close for Comfort''. Early life and family Cornell was born Lydia Korniloff in El Paso, Texas ...

as Sara Rush (1980–1985) * Jim J. Bullock as Monroe Ficus *

Hamilton Camp Hamilton Camp (Born Robin S. Camp, 30 October 1934 – 2 October 2005) was a London-born actor and singer, who relocated to the United States with his family when he was a young child. He became an American folk singer during he 1960s, and ev ...

as Arthur Wainwright (1981) *

Deena Freeman Deena Freeman (born February 11, 1956) is an American actress who has appeared in movies, television and commercials. Freeman is most remembered for her role as April, the niece of Henry Rush in the sitcom ''Too Close for Comfort'' (1981–1982) ...

as April Rush (1981–1982) *

Audrey Meadows Audrey Meadows ( Cotter, February 8, 1922 – February 3, 1996) was an American actress best known for her role as the deadpan housewife The Honeymooners#Alice Kramden, Alice Kramden on the 1950s American television comedy ''The Honeymooners''. ...

as Iris Martin (1982–1983, guest appearances thereafter) * William and Michael Cannon as Andrew Rush (1983–1984) * Joshua Goodwin as Andrew Rush (1985–1986) *

as Hope Stinson (1986) * Lisa Antille as Lisa Flores (1986)

Notable guest stars

Peter Haskell Peter Abraham Haskell (October 15, 1934 – April 12, 2010) was an American actor who worked primarily in television. Early years Haskell was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Rose (née Golden) and geophysicist Norman Haskell. He att ...

Georgann Johnson Georgann Johnson (born Georgia Anne Johnson, August 15, 1926 – June 4, 2018) was an American stage, film, and television actress. She was also known as Georgiann Johnson and Georgianne Johnson. Early years Johnson was born in Decorah, Iow ...

* Hillary B. Smith *

Selma Diamond Selma Diamond (August 5, 1920 – May 13, 1985) was a Canadian-born American comedian, actress, and radio and television writer, known for her high-range, raspy voice and her portrayal of Selma Hacker on the first two seasons of the NBC televisio ...

as Mildred Rafkin * Jordan Suffin as Officer Brad Turner * Elyse Knight (daughter of Ted Knight) as Samantha Bishop ("The Runaway," 1984) *

Graham Jarvis Graham Powley Jarvis (August 25, 1930 – April 16, 2003) was a Canadian character actor in American films and television from the 1960s to the early 2000s. Early years Jarvis was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Margaret Biddulph (Scratche ...

as Arthur Wainwright (1985) *

Ernie Wise Ernest Wiseman, (27 November 1925 – 21 March 1999), known by his stage name Ernie Wise, was an English comedian, best known as one half of the comedy duo Morecambe and Wise, who became a national institution on British television, especially ...

as Ernie Dockery (1985) * Jim Davis (creator of the comic strip ''

Garfield ''Garfield'' is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976, then in nationwide syndication from 1978 as ''Garfield'', it chronicles the life of the title character Garfield the cat, his human ...

'') as himself (1986) *

Walter Lantz Walter Lantz (April 27, 1899 – March 22, 1994) was an American cartoonist, animator, producer and director best known for founding Walter Lantz Productions and creating Woody Woodpecker. Biography Early years and start in animation Lantz ...

(creator of ''

Woody Woodpecker Woody Woodpecker is an animated character that appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Studio and distributed by Universal Studios between 1940 and 1972. Woody, an anthropomorphic woodpecker, was created in 1940 by Lan ...

'') as himself

Episodes

Syndication

The show entered daily

broadcast syndication Broadcast syndication is the practice of leasing the right to broadcasting television shows and radio programs to multiple television stations and radio stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in the United States where ...

in the fall of 1986, which continued until 2003. The syndication rights for ''Too Close for Comfort'' are held by

DLT Entertainment Donald L. Taffner (November 29, 1930 - September 6, 2011) was an American television producer. Taffner and his wife-business partner Eleanor Bolta were responsible for bringing to the U.S. such television shows as ''Three's Company'', ''Too Close ...

, a production and distribution company owned by show producer D.L. Taffner. , the full series is available through the on-demand section of

ViacomCBS Paramount Global (doing business as Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned and operated by National Amusements (79.4%) and headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York. I ...

's streaming service

Pluto TV Pluto TV is a free, ad-supported video streaming service owned and operated by the Paramount Streaming division of Paramount Global. Co-founded by Tom Ryan, Ilya Pozin and Nick Grouf in 2013 and based in Los Angeles, California, in the United Sta ...

. Reruns as of July 2022 air on

Antenna TV Antenna TV is an American digital television network owned by Nexstar Media Group. The network's programming consists of classic television series, primarily sitcoms, from the 1950s to the 1990s. Antenna TV's programming and advertising operati ...

and Tubi

Home media

Rhino Entertainment Company Rhino Entertainment Company is an American specialty record label and production company founded in 1978. It is currently the catalog division for Warner Music Group. Its current CEO is Mark Pinkus. History Founded in 1978, Rhino was originall ...

(under its ''Rhino Retrovision'' classic TV entertainment brand) released the first two seasons of ''Too Close for Comfort'' on DVD in Region 1 in 2004/2005. However, Rhino did not obtain the original, uncut versions of the episodes for the Season 1 release and instead used the versions edited for syndication (like those seen on Nickelodeon's sister networks, Nick at Nite and TV Land), which are missing several minutes of footage, including the final scene of each episode before the closing credits. (The episodes are also dubbed to replace references to

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

with "Oldtown", mostly in a running gag where Henry reacts to the city's name with horror; the joke was perceived as a slur, as Oakland had a much larger Black population than San Francisco.) There are no future plans for additional releases.

References

External links

*
Interview with Lydia Cornell by Michael Sutton
{{People's Choice Award for Favorite New TV Comedy 1980s American sitcoms 1980 American television series debuts 1987 American television series endings American Broadcasting Company original programming American television series based on British television series American television series revived after cancellation English-language television shows First-run syndicated television programs in the United States Television series about families Television series by Metromedia Television shows about comics Television shows set in San Francisco