Trying Times

This is SO obscure; I doubt anyone will ever read it. I watched a PBS or ABC after school special show episode before I had cable ('88) just because the TV guide listed David Byrne. He played the nerdy (don't recall him speaking 10 words) BF/fiancé of a daughter home for a family Xmas. He was a minor player. The star was a girl brought/sent home by a younger brother(?) I could swear she was played by Maddie Corman (Eric Stoltz's younger sister in "Some Kind of Wonderful".) She was the TOTAL jinx. Minor mishaps degenerated to "let me turn the light switch on while you fish the wedding ring out of the garbage disposer" and eventually the house burning down. I might be in error. Can anyone help me? This secondary email is checked weekly or so. Thanks in advance.