sale of Myposian land to an American company. Balki saved the island from potential ruin when he realized they wanted the land for a toxic waste dump, so he did not let the sale go through, passing up a hefty negotiator's fee for him and Larry. Balki has a stuffed sheep named Dimitri. In the seventh season episode "Dimitri's World", Larry and Balki begin writing a cartoon strip for the Chicago Chronicle based on his stuffed sheep. Balki reveals that the stuffed sheep is made from the wool of a sheep also named Dimitri, who died saving him from being run over by a carriage. Dimitri is dressed and posed in a way to reflect what is going on. For example, in the episode "Falling in Love is...", Balki puts out a bowl of wax lips for his date with Carol, throughout the episode, Dimitri also wears a pair of wax lips. Also in season 7, Dimitri's picture is seen on their mantel. Relationship to other characters When the series began, Balki arrived in America to live with his distant cousin Larry Appleton, carrying his meager possessions in a trunk quaintly labeled "America or Burst". A scene depicting this trunk is shown during the opening credits throughout the run of the show, although it was somewhat shortened from season 3 on. In the first scene of the pilot, he appears on his Cousin Larry's doorstep in Chicago, explaining that he had gone to Madison, Wisconsin to find Larry, only to find he had just moved to Chicago. The pilot to Perfect Strangers was originally filmed with comedian Louie Anderson as the Cousin Larry character; however the role was recast with Mark Linn-Baker playing the part, and the original pilot never aired. Balki is very close to his mother, whom he calls "Mamma", and talks about her regularly throughout the series. She was an unseen character until she appeared in the season 7 episode (Citizenship), but Balki spoke of her often in the series. In "Citizenship", Balki's mother (also played by Pinchot) came to the United States to see Balki become an American citizen (though due to a mistranslation on Larry's part, Balki's mother originally thought she was coming to see Balki get his driver's license). When Balki's mother learned that he was becoming an American citizen, she was hurt because she had hoped that Balki would return to Mypos. Balki's