Graphics artist Kip Wilson (Tom Hanks) and writer Henry Desmond (Peter Scolari) are best friends who work in an advertising agency in NYC. Ruth Dunbar (Holland Taylor) is their boss and Amy Cassidy (Wendie Jo Sperber) is the receptionist. Amy is desperately in love with Henry. When the boys lose their apartment to the wrecking ball, they find a place with Amy's help in her ladies-only Susan B. Anthony Hotel. Kip falls head over heels for Amy's roommate Sonny Lumet (Donna Dixon). The boys have to cross-dress as their fake sisters Buffy and Hildagar. In the second season, Kip reveals their secret identities to Ruth, Sonny and Isabelle Hammond (Telma Hopkins) who becomes the new manger of the hotel. The boys buy their own video production agency "60 Seconds Street" with Amy and help from Ruth.The gimmick allows the boys to cross-dress but it doesn't take full advantage of its comic potential. Hanks and Scolari have great chemistry. Wendie Jo Sperber is great fun as a third wheel option. Donna Dixon is gorgeous and charming. Her character is great in the first season but diminishes without the chase in the second season. Telma Hopkins doesn't get much interesting material and Holland Taylor is a good boss character. I think revealing their secret to each character could be great fun. Doing it all at the same time takes away some comedic possibilities. Isabelle should have uncovered the ruse early on. Sonny could have discovered it at the end of the first season as a cliffhanger. I like The Reunion and its after-school special message. Most of this show's best stuff comes from the fun duo's great chemistry.

Sure, the storyline had been done before in "Some Like it Hot", but I really loved this show. The obvious reason for looking back on it now is to see Tom Hanks "back in the day" before he hit the big screen. After all, he was the only actor besides Spencer Tracy to ever win back-to-back Best Actor Oscars. Wouldn't you be curious if we had 40 or so half-hour episodes of Spence as a young man parading around in a dress in a situation comedy? I know I would. Besides Tom Hanks, the other cast members were terrific, and most had pretty good careers. Peter Scolari (Henry Desmond) had a long run on "Newhart" in the 80's, Donna Dixon (Sonny Lumet) was adequate enough as Hank's love interest on the show, the late Wendy Jo Sperber (Amy Cassidy) was very good as the overweight girl who hoped against hope that Scolari's character would come to love her, and finally there's the early appearance of Telma Hopkins (Isabelle Hammond) who had other comedic roles on "Gimme A Break" and then "Family Matters".It isn't until the second season that Sonny learns the truth about Buffy and Hildy actually being Kip and Henry, and the dynamics of the show pretty much change completely with Kip and Henry and their old boss starting their own ad agency. After a couple of seasons the show simply ran out of steam because there is only so much you can do with such a limited premise - much like Gilligan's Island.

As a 14 year old boy, sitting in the studio audience of this show on quite a few occasions, many of my earliest Hollywood memories are wrapped around this show. The premise of the show was simple sure enough, but the lead actors really made it come to life. The moments before and after each taping were really memorable. Peter Scolari would always come out to the audience and hang out with us and chat. Sometimes juggle! He was a real sweetheart. Watching the show now brings it all back. How about a Bosom Buddies reunion show? I suppose Tom Hanks probably would like to pretend that the show never happened. Thankfully, the show is preserved on film forever.

A local TV station began showing episodes of 'Bosum Buddies' and all I tell you is that unless you were old enough to remember watching this show back in the eighties, don't bother looking for it. I was a big fan of 'Bosum Buddies' back in grade school but after twenty-five years it has dated badly. While I admit it's interesting to see Tom Hanks back when he was young and unknown, the jokes are of the early PC variety and the plot lines revolve around Tom Hanks' and Peter Scolari's attempt to hide their cross-dressing secret from the women at the hotel. Watching this show in 2005, it's incredible how preachy everybody was back then.