Too Close For Comfort

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.

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 book called Cosmic Cow. Their grown daughters, Jackie and Sarah, 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 Sarah'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.

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.

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.

A minor hit for ABC, the show ran on that network for three years. It was subsequently syndicated until 1986, when Ted Knight announced that he had cancer. He died later that year.

The first two seasons of Too Close for Comfort have been released on Region 1 DVD