Too Close for Comfort

Too Close for Comfort is an American sitcom television series 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 in 1986 for its sixth season, which would turn out to be its last due to Ted Knight's death. The original concept of the series was based on the 1980s British sitcom Keep It in the Family. Knight plays work-at-home cartoonist Henry Rush, who is married to Muriel. Their two adult daughters, Jackie and Sara, live in the downstairs apartment of their San Francisco two-flat. An episode involving the daughters moving across the bay to Oakland and the family complaining about crime, undrinkable water, and constant sound of police sirens saw the episode being briefly protested by Oakland politicians. The family moves to Marin County for the show's final season, where Henry Rush becomes a co-owner of the local weekly newspaper.

Henry and Muriel Rush are owners of a two-unit house at 171–173 Buena Vista Avenue East 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 adult daughters, 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.

A running gag throughout the series was Henry’s wardrobe consisting of a sweatshirt representing a specific college. After the University of Michigan appeared in the pilot episode, students began sending in shirts from their school for Knight to wear on the program. 107 schools in all were included, with Oregon State University and Northwestern University tying for the most appearances.

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 concludes with Muriel giving birth to a son, Andrew (later played regularly by twins William and Michael Cannon from 1983 to 1984).

In the fall of 1982, ABC moved the series to Thursday nights, which proved to be disastrous and the show saw its ratings fall drastically. The network canceled the series at the conclusion of the season after falling from #6 for the 1981–82 season to #38 for the 1982–83 season.

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, played the role of Andrew Rush.

In late 1985, several changes were made before production started for Season 6. The show's title was changed to The Ted Knight Show (not to be confused with the 1978 CBS show of the same name), and the premise and setting were altered. Henry retires from drawing Cosmic Cow and, along with Muriel and Andrew, moves to Marin County where he buys a share of a local newspaper and becomes its editor. Monroe joins the Rushes and takes a job with Henry's paper as a reporter. Pat Carroll played the role of Hope Stinson, who owns the majority share of the newspaper and serves as a foil for Henry. In addition, the Rushes hire a live-in nanny, played by Lisa Antille. The characters of Jackie, Sara and Muriel's mother Iris were not included in the retooled show.