Too Close for Comfort

Henry and Muriel Rush are the owners of a duplex in San Francisco, where they live with their two adult daughters: 21-year-old banker Jackie and 18-year-old college freshman Sara, in a cramped, awkward arrangement. Henry is a cartoonist of a comic strip called Cosmic Cow, while Muriel is a former musician currently working as a photographer. When Henry and Muriel's downstairs tenant, Myron Rafkin, suddenly dies, the family discovers Rafkin was living a secret life as a transvestite, and the many mysterious women Henry had been opening the door for all those years were actually Rafkin himself. Sara comes up with the idea for her and Jackie to convince their parents to let them to move into Rafkin's former apartment. Henry rejects the idea at first, but after Henry interviews a couple of prospective tenants he doesn't approve of, Muriel convinces him that having the girls move in may not be such a bad idea.

With Sara and Jackie living downstairs, Henry has become a snoop-aholic. Sara asks for permission to go to Lake Tahoe for the weekend, leaving behind birth control pills that Henry assumes is hers and Jackie lets her navy boyfriend spend the night, causing Henry to hit the roof.

Jackie, who works at a bank, tries to make a money delivery to a supermarket, but finds it closed. After calling her boss, she finds herself in charge of a bag with $100,000 in it. Meanwhile, Muriel and Henry are convinced that the ex-convict plumbers are going to rip them off, but soon Jackie's bag of money enters the fray.

Sara befriends Monroe Ficus, a recently dumped young man, who quickly follows her all over the place even following her home. Meanwhile, Henry and Muriel plan on celebrating their anniversary but just before heading out for the evening they get a phone call from Sara and Monroe with news that they have been arrested.

Jackie and Sara have split the cost of rent but when Sara is unable to pay her half, Henry tells her to go out and get a job. Sara easily gets a job as a waitress, but Henry is in no way thrilled with the skimpy costume that she has to wear. This leads to a blow up between Henry and Muriel leading her to move in with Jackie and Sara.

The furniture of the previous tenant, Rafkin, has become Jackie and Sara's but when his sister shows up to claim his belongings, they find themselves in an unfurnished apartment. When Henry refuses to pay for new furniture, the girls decide to move out and into an unsafe part of town.

A doctor informs Muriel that she's pregnant after she faints at a restaurant while celebrating her 42nd birthday with her family. While she and Henry are initially elated, they find themselves faced with a serious decision as they begin to realize all of the implications of having another child at this point of their lives.

Henry's free-spirited niece, April, shows up on his doorstep after moving from Delaware to start a song writing career, and he reluctantly allows her to stay in the guest bedroom of his apartment until she's able to get established. However, their relationship starts off on the wrong foot, and Henry hopes it isn't too late when he finally figures out why.

Muriel and Henry read a newspaper article about a nurse who had switched babies in the maternity ward of the hospital that Sara had been delivered at. They quickly set out to find if indeed Sara had been switched at birth. However, they aren't too pleased when they discover the only other baby girl in the maternity ward is now serving time in prison.

Jackie openly dreads a visit from an annoying, nerdy guy who had a crush on her when she was a kid. However, when Sara is the first to discover his physical appearance has changed completely and starts dating him, Jackie becomes extremely jealous and vindictive.

Muriel goes in for an amniocentesis, but she and Henry decline to learn the sex of the baby. This doesn't sit well with Henry's mischievous father Huey, who is in town to bury his deceased friend. In the meantime, Jackie makes an unexpected decision after taking part in a successful strike at her bank.

An older man dressed like a bum shows up at the Rushes' doorstep looking for the transvestite persona of Rafkin, their deceased former tenant, because they always got together for Thanksgiving dinner. Feeling bad for him for several obvious reasons, they invite him to join their own disastrous get together, and later find out that he too has a big secret that involves his appearance.

After several false alarms, Muriel finally goes into labor while Henry is at work.

Henry makes it to the hospital in time for Muriel to give birth.

Henry threatens to move out when Muriel's mother says she's moving in.

Henry has intimacy issues with Muriel after the baby is born.

Henry ruins a date for Iris.

Muriel wants to renew their vows for their anniversary in a small get-together that soon balloons out of control.

The Rushes rent their newly built apartment to Monroe

Jackie is envious of Sara's many dates, so she decides to get breast implants to make herself more attractive.

Sara auditions for an anchor position at the station and thinks she's a shoo-in next to her plain Jane competition.

The Rush's home is scheduled for demolition by the city in order to build a new subway station

Monroe's father comes for a visit.

Henry's father visits to ask if he will be his best man at his upcoming wedding. The happy news is dampened by Henry's suspicions of his father's much younger fiancée.

Henry decides to work at a downtown office, due to life at home getting crazier, but it turns out there were more distractions downtown than he bargained for.

After his father's death, Henry decides it's time to plan his own funeral. He soon starts to examine his life decisions.

Andrew might be a genius and is recruited by a school for gifted children.

Budgets are tight throughout the Rush household. Henry coaches Monroe to ask for a raise at work, but the coaching backfires and Monroe is fired. Henry works overtime to find Monroe a new job.

The Rushes' friend Paul pretends to be a member of their family to impress his long-lost son.

Jackie drops a bomb on Henry and Muriel when she announces that she wants to become a single mother.

Henry, Muriel and Monroe move to Mill Valley, CA. The Rushes buy a new home. Henry bought a 49% share in a newspaper with a demanding 51% owner. Monroe is now his assistant and Muriel his photographer.

Monroe publishes a front page story about corporate pollution and gets sent to jail for not revealing his source.

The Rush's friends visit and overstay their welcome.

The Rushes and Mrs. Stinson help a Vietnamese family who opened a restaurant achieve the American dream.

The Marin Bugler holds a beauty contest with unexpected repercussions for the winner

Henry strikes up a deal to run the Garfield comic strip in the Marin Bugler