Too Close for Comfort

Too Close for Comfort 80's TV Show

Too Close for Comfort was a comedy that ran from 1980 to 1986 on ABC.  It was modeled after a British show called Keep It in the Family.  The show starred Ted Knight as Henry Rush, Nancy Dussault as Muriel Rush, Deborah Van Valenburgh as Jackie Rush, and Lydia Cornell as Sara Rush.  Other regular characters were Monroe Ficus (Jim J. Bullock) and Mildred Rafkin (Selma Diamond).  In its final years, the name of the show was changed to the Ted Knight Show.

Fans of this show will remember that cartoonist Henry Rush (Knight), and his wife Muriel (Nancy), own a duplex in San Francisco.  Henry’s comic strip is called the “Cosmic Cow”, and he often uses a hand puppet and his ventriloquist talent for comedic interludes.  After their downstairs tenant dies, the Rush’s two grown daughters, Jackie and Sara, asked to move in to that apartment.  Regardless of their attempt at independence, Henry continually meddles in their affairs.