Too Close for Comfort (TV series)
Too Close for Comfort was a television series which ran on the ABC network and in syndication from 1980 to 1986. It was modeled after the British series Keep it in the Family.
Background
The show starred Ted Knight (formerly of The Mary Tyler Moore Show) and ex-Good Morning America anchor Nancy Dussault as Henry and Muriel Rush, owners of a duplex in San Francisco. Henry played a cartoonist, who was the author of a comic strip called Cosmic Cow. Their grown daughters, Jackie (Deborah Van Valkenburgh) and Sara (Lydia Cornell), had lived with them in their old residence but moved downstairs when the transvestite named Rafkin died suddenly in the first episode. Despite the daughters' minor push for independence, Henry proved to be a very protective father and meddled in their affairs constantly. Also seen was Sara's friend Monroe Ficus, played by JM J. Bullock. It was the dynamics between Henry and Monroe that would eventually become the core of the show.
Second and Third Seasons
In the show's second year, Henry's wife Muriel (who on the show as in her 40s) announced she was pregnant. At the beginning of the third year, Muriel would give birth to Andrew - the son that Henry always wanted.
It was also in the second year that Henry's niece, April (played by actress Deena Freeman) came to live with the Rush family. April was written out of the show for the third year.
There were many references to Henry's Mother-in-law on the show. That role of Iris Martin would eventually be played by Audrey Meadows, who would move in with the Rush's after Andrew's birth.
The Ted Knight Show
In 1986, a major changed happened to the show. Henry quit his job as a cartoonist and became co-owner, and editor, of a newspaper in Marin County north of San Francisco. Muriel took a job as a photographer for the paper and Monroe went to work there, too. Jackie and Sara were written out of the show. Additionally, the other owner of the paper, Hope Stinson (Pat Carroll) and the Rush's maid, Lisa (Lisa Antille). The show was retitled The Ted Knight Show. This show would be syndicated for one year, when Ted Knight announced that he had cancer. He died August 26, 1986.
Trivia
Ted Knight's character of Henry became famous for wearing sweatshirts of College Universities. Eventually fans would send in sweatshirts from universities around the country hoping to get Henry to wear them.
The first two seasons of Too Close for Comfort have been released on Region 1 DVD.