Too Close for Comfort


Too Close for Comfort is an American sitcom television series 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. Its name was changed to The Ted Knight Show when the show was retooled for what would turn out to be its final season, due to actor Ted Knight's death.

Synopsis

Henry and Muriel Rush, owners of a two-family house in San Francisco, California. 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 grown children, 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 to live with the Rush family. The season concluded with Muriel giving birth to a son, Andrew.
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 its ratings fall drastically. The network canceled the series at the conclusion of the season.

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. 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. A total of 107 episodes of Too Close for Comfort were produced.

''The Ted Knight Show''

In late 1985, several changes were made before production started. The show's title was changed to The Ted Knight Show, the setting was moved to Marin County, a new theme song was recorded, and a new opening title sequence was shot. Deborah Van Valkenburgh, Lydia Cornell, and Audrey Meadows left the cast. Pat Carroll and Lisa Antille were added to the cast along with returning Nancy Dussault and Jim J. Bullock.
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 twelve 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 since 1985. The ten remaining first-run episodes were broadcast from September 1986 to February 1987.

Cast

Syndication

The show entered daily broadcast syndication in the fall of 1986, which continued until 2003. 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.

DVD releases

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, 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.
DVD NameEp #Release Date
The Complete First Season19November 2, 2004
The Complete Second Season22June 7, 2005