Larry Appleton is a fictional character on the television show Perfect Strangers

Perfect Strangers (TV series)

Perfect Strangers is an American sitcom that ran for eight seasons from March 25, 1986, to August 6, 1993, on the ABC television network. Created by Dale McRaven, the series chronicles the rocky coexistence of midwestern American Larry Appleton and his distant cousin from eastern Mediterranean...

, played by Mark Linn-Baker

Mark Linn-Baker

Mark Linn-Baker is an American actor and director famous for his role as Larry Appleton on the television sitcom Perfect Strangers.-Early life and career:...

. Larry was often called Cousin Larry or just Cousin normally pronouncing cousin "cosin" by his cousin Balki

Balki

Bałki is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Repki, within Sokołów County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland.-References:...

. Larry's surname was also often mispronounced by Balki as "Ap-pleh-ton".

Character Development

Larry first moved away from his parents in the pilot (Knock Knock.. Who's There), at the age of 23. He moved into an apartment in Chicago, Illinois, where he intended to live alone, and got a job as a clerk at Ritz Discount, a store in the ground floor of Larry's apartment building. Donald Twinkacetti was Larry's boss and landlord.

Shortly after Larry moved into his apartment, Balki Bartokomous

Balki Bartokomous

Balki Bartokomous is a fictional character on the television sitcom Perfect Strangers, played by Bronson Pinchot. Balki is from the island of Mypos, a fictional country in the Mediterranean Sea.- Character history :...

, a distant cousin

Cousin

In kinship terminology, a cousin is a relative with whom one shares one or more common ancestors. The term is rarely used when referring to a relative in one's immediate family where there is a more specific term . The term "blood relative" can be used synonymously and establishes the existence of...

 that Larry did not even know came to his apartment intending to live with Larry. At first, Larry did not want Balki living with him because he wanted to live alone, after living with eight siblings. Later, Balki convinced Larry that it would be better to have a roommate to have someone to talk to.

In a season 2 episode (Hunks Like Us), Larry met Jennifer Lyons at a health club, who became his girlfriend and later his wife (The Wedding).

During seasons 1 and 2, Larry had a dream of being a photojournalist. In season 2 (Up on a Roof), he received 10th place in a photography contest, and was also invited to a party with a famous photographer (Tux For Two). In season 3, Larry got a job at the Chicago Chronicle. He originally intended to be a photojournalist, but his boss Harry Burns wanted Larry to write a story, so Larry became a journalist, working out of the buildings basement. In season 4 (High Society), he proposed the idea of having an investigative team at the Chronicle. Although he did not get to head the team because of little prior experience, he became a member of the team. With the help of Balki, he helped uncover the story behind a mob in Los Angeles in season 5. In season 7 (Dimitri's World), Larry became an editorial writer.

In season 6, Larry's girlfriend broke up with Larry out of concerns that their relationship wasn't going anywhere and went back to her old boyfriend. Two weeks later, Balki convinced Larry to propose to Jennifer, and then Jennifer accepted his proposal (The Ring). Larry and Jennifer were married in season 7 (The Wedding).

On the series finale of Perfect Strangers (Up, Up, and Away (part 1)), Larry became a father for the first time when Jennifer gave birth to his son, Tucker Appleton, in a hot air balloon

Hot air balloon

The hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology. It is in a class of aircraft known as balloon aircraft. On November 21, 1783, in Paris, France, the first untethered manned flight was made by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes in a hot air...

.

Family

Larry was born in Madison, Wisconsin

Madison, Wisconsin

Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....

. He has eight siblings, including brothers named Billy and Danny and a sister named Elaine. Larry grew up on a wheat

Wheat

Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...

 farm

Farm

A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...

. Larry was the salutatorian

Salutatorian

Salutatorian is an academic title given, in the United States and Canada, to the second highest graduate of the entire graduating class of a specific discipline. Only the valedictorian is ranked higher. This honor is traditionally based on grade point average and number of credits taken, but...

 of his high school class.

Personal

His catchphrases include: "Oh, my Lord!", "I have...(OH GOD!) a plan!", "Watch and learn", and "Don't you ever, ever, do that, again!".

Larry has a tendency to come up with plans that annoy Balki, Jennifer, and Mary Anne. Larry is willing to lie to make his plans succeed; however, these plans usually fail.

Larry also seems to want quick money, but many of his get-rich-quick schemes fail, too.

Larry studied journalism

Journalism

Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...

in college.