The Brady Bunch was one of America's most beloved TV families. As successful as the show was, when the kids grew up, the producers tried to freshen it up with a new child star, and the world was introduced to Cousin Oliver, played by Robbie Rist. Robbie's stint on the show was brief but memorable, in that he garnered universal hatred from fans. The term “Cousin Oliver Syndrome” has since been used to refer to a cute child actor added to the cast of a long-running show in hopes to boost ratings, or to replace child cast members who have since grown up, usually with disastrous results for the series.
Running from 1986 to 1993, Perfect Strangers centered on the zany friendship of strait-laced Chicago resident Larry Appleton (Linn-Baker) and his distant European cousin Balki Bartokomous (Pinchot). The show was formulaic but fun, w. the lead characters engaging in throwback physical comedy that made the legendary Lucille Ball a big fan of theirs.
Charles "Chachi" Arcola was a character played by Scott Baio on the sitcom Happy Days and its spin-off Joanie Loves Chachi. The character of Chachi is the younger cousin of Fonzie, first appearing on Happy Days in season 5, beginning in 1977. Prior to Chachi there was Spike, Fonzie's nephew. He appeared in the second through the fourth seasons of the show, and was played by actor Danny Butch. He wasn’t very popular, as he was just a Fonzie clone down to the leather jacket, mannerisms and catch phrases. Chachi was much more well received.
It may have ended in 1996, but The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air may still be the first series to come to mind when people think of pop culture cousins—maybe because the line "You’re movin’ with your auntie and uncle in Bel-Air" is ingrained in cultural memory (be honest, you sang it!). Will and Carlton (and Ashley, and Hilary) are cousins who often feel more like siblings, although Will rarely fits in with his much richer relatives. Seeing them connect (especially Will and Carlton), even when they are so different, is part of the heart and soul of the show.
The Dukes of Hazzard follows the adventures of "the Duke boys", cousins Bo and Luke Duke, who live on a family farm in fictional Hazzard County, Georgia (the exact location of which was never specified, though Atlanta was mentioned several times as the nearest big city), with their female cousin Daisy and their wise old Uncle Jesse. The Duke boys race around in their customized 1969 Dodge Charger stock car, dubbed (The) General Lee, evading crooked and corrupt county commissioner Boss Hogg and his bumbling and corrupt Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane along with his deputy(s), and always managing to get caught in the middle of various local escapades and incidents. Among other things, the show has one of the top ten most remembered theme songs in TV history, coined the term “Daisy Dukes” for shorts, and Bo and Luke are the most famous fictional cousins of all time.