Who's the Boss?: Difference between revisions

Who's the Boss?
File:Wtb1.jpg Cast of "Who's the Boss?"
Created by	Martin Cohan Blake Hunter
Starring	Tony Danza Judith Light Alyssa Milano Danny Pintauro Katherine Helmond
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	196
Production
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	23 minutes
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	September 20, 1984 – April 25, 1992
Related
The Upper Hand

Who's the Boss? is a television sitcom starring Tony Danza and Judith Light. It aired for eight seasons on ABC from 1984 to 1992.

Premise

Widower Tony Micelli (Danza) is a former second baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals who was forced to retire due to a shoulder injury. He wanted to move out of Brooklyn to find a better environment for his daughter, Samantha (Alyssa Milano). He ended up taking a job in upscale Fairfield County, Connecticut as a live-in housekeeper for divorced advertising executive Angela Bower (Judith Light). The Micellis moved into the Bower residence. Also starring were Danny Pintauro as her son Jonathan and Katherine Helmond as Mona Robinson, her feisty, man-hungry mother.

The title of the show referred to the clear role reversal of the two lead actors, where a woman was the breadwinner, while a man stayed at home and took care of the house, thus the question of who the "boss" really was. It challenged media stereotypes of Italian-Americans as wholly ignorant of life outside of urban working-class neighborhoods.

The contrast between easy-going, spontaneous Tony and driven, self-controlled Angela resulted in their mutual attraction. While there was playful banter and many hints of attraction for much of the run, Tony and Angela never consumated the relationship, and dated others. Angela had a steady man in Geoffrey (Robin Thomas), while Tony had many girlfriends who came and went, including Kathleen Sawyer (Kate Vernon) in seasons six and seven. Finally at the start of the eighth season, Tony and Angela admitted their love for each other, and had a whirlwind romance until the end of the series.

In addition, Tony provided a much-needed male role model for geeky Jonathan, while Angela (and even Mona) gave Samantha the woman's guidance she had been missing.

Keeping ties with Tony's and Samantha's Brooklyn roots, former motherly neighbor Mrs. Rossini (Rhoda Gemignani) turned up a few times each season, whether visted by the cast in New York or by way of her coming to Connecticut. One of her very important appearences was in the Christmas episode of season two, in which Tony's childhood apartment was up for rent, causing Tony, Mrs. Rossini, and some other relatives to retrieve futrniture and Micelli family possessions. Tony's final time in the apartment brought back serious memories of his late father, and how they were angry at each other when he died. Tony confided in Angela about his regret over not making up with him, but it was Mrs. Rossini who livened spirts for the Christmas season. Danza said later that this episode was based on a real-life experience with his own father, who had passed away on bad terms with him while Danza was starring on Taxi.

Amid the surroundings of prosperity between Angela and Mona (who eventually opened up their own ad firm together in the third season), Tony decided to go back to school, enrolling in the same college daughter Samantha attended in 1988. Samantha's best friend Bonnie (Shana Lane-Block) was a recurring character during these seasons, while steady romance came into her life in the form of boyfriend Jesse Nash (Scott Bloom) during her senior year of high school and into college.

By the fall of 1990, with Samantha in the middle of college and Jonathan in high school, Who's the Boss?, like other series getting on in years, fell victim to the infusion of a new "cute child" to the cast. For the seventh season, producers added 5-year-old Billy (Jonathan Halyalkar), a kid from the Micellis' old Brooklyn neighborhood, who seemed to move into the household but actually frequently visited. Billy was a comic foil to Tony, but also attempted to get into the mix in other character's storylines. He only lasted that season however. In the E! True Hollywood Story about the series, Katherine Helmond remarked that Halyalkar was a gifted performer but had difficulty catching up to the pace of the acting and writing that had been set by the cast and crew for several seasons.

In the fall of 1991, after more or less seven years on its established Tuesday night slot, Who's the Boss? was moved to Saturday nights, along with fellow long-running sitcom Growing Pains. Originally suspected by the insiders that the move was due to the show's waning popularity on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (respectively), ABC attempted to diffuse this fact by adding another long-running show with somewhat higher ratings, Perfect Strangers, to the Saturday lineup in February 1992. All three shows, along with the new cartoon Capitol Critters, launched the new I Love Saturday Night lineup - an equivalent to the hit Friday TGIF lineup. While Perfect Strangers saw a record ratings drop due to the move, Who's the Boss? (as well as Growing Pains) had been falling lower than ever all season, which led to the ultimate decision to end the series - while "some people were still watching".

The show's theme song is "Brand New Life" by Larry Carlton, Robert Craft, Martin Cohan, and Blake Hunter. It was performed by country music singer Steve Wariner.

Trivia

• In early development, the series was titled You're the Boss, in reference to Angela's character employing Tony, and the highly unusual (at the time) gender role reversal. Eventually, before the fall 1984 premiere, the producers changed it to Who's the Boss?, an open ended title which hinted that any one of the leads (including Mona) could get their own way - or be the "boss".
• The series' pilot was shot in November 1983, a full 10 months before the show actually took to the air. ABC originally was planning to put it on mid-season in January 1984, but due to creative differences between producers and the network, the show was delayed until the next season.
• While the show was shelved for an extended amount of time in early 1984, Danza was arrested for fighting in a New York bar, after a fellow patron made a lude remark about a lady friend of his. A few months later, Who's the Boss? resumed taping. During his court date that July, Danza faced a choice of jail time or community service, as a result of battery and other charges. Danza opted for community service, which he was in the middle of serving when the series finally premiered in September 1984.
• Rotund comic James Coco was a frequent guest beginning in season two, as Tony's father in-law visiting from New York. People have credited his appearences on Who's the Boss? as a prime example of his comedic talent on TV, despite the fact that he wasn't a regular and had never starred in a successful TV series of his own. When Coco passed away in February 1987, prior to the conclusion of season three, his character was written out as having died as well (with a funeral episode and tribute).
• Later in the show's run, it was reported that Danza starting exhibiting erratic behavior on the set. These stories ranged from Tony getting after the directors to arguments with the writers, forcing minor script revisions. While it was uncovered that only the writing became an issue for Danza, his frustrations to have the show be a "well oiled machine" boiled over at the start of the 1989-90 season, where he staged a single-man walkout for two weeks until he calmed down. The remainder of the cast filmed scenes without Danza in the meantime. Upon his return, Danza offered an apology to everyone on the set, and resumed work. However, the crew then monitored Danza's mood, and a few weeks later made light of the whole incident by issuing shirts on set that said "I Survived Week Six".

Versions in other countries

Several versions of Who's the Boss? have been produced for foreign television markets. In 1990, The Upper Hand, aired in Britain alongside the original. A Spanish language version, produced in Mexico by TV Azteca and Columbia TriStar International Television, debuted in 1998 under the title Una familia con Ángel starring Laura Luz and Daniel Martínez; it was broadcast in the U.S. on the Telemundo network. In 2005, the Argentine network Telefé also made its own local version, called ¿Quién es el jefe?, a direct translation of the original American title. A Russian version of the show has also been produced. In 2006 Colombian network Caracol TV did the same, producing ¿Quién manda a quién? (which was the title of the original show when dubbed in Spanish). A Polish version "I kto tu rzadzi?" debuted in 2007. starring Malgorzata Foremniak and Boguslaw Linda. Russian version - Kto v dome hoziain? (Who's the boss in home?)started on CTC - Moskva in 2005. Starring - Andrej Noskov, Anna Nevskaja, Darija Bondarenko.

Spin-offs

Who's the Boss? spawned two short lived spin-offs. One was a show called Charmed Lives, about two women up for a job. It only lasted three episodes and was immediately taken off the air. The second spin-off was Living Dolls. Premiering and ending in 1989, the show starred Leah Remini, Michael Learned, and Halle Berry. The show featured Remini, who had appeared in two Who's the Boss? episodes as a friend of Samantha's, as a homeless model taken under the wing of an agent played by Learned. In those same Who's the Boss? episodes, Jonathan Ward played Learned's son Rick; in the Living Dolls series, David Moscow took over the role. The show lasted less than one season.

Syndication

Who's the Boss? aired on TBS Superstation in the 1990s after it was canceled, and was also added to the ABC Family Channel line-up in the late 1990s/early 2000s. Nick at Nite broadcast the show between 2004 and 2006. The series is not currently airing on any cable TV channels, but it is in syndication and can be found on several local networks across the country.

There were three episodes of Who's the Boss? that did not air during the show's original run. The first one was "Charmed Lives" in season 2, which was the pilot for the short-lived series Charmed Lives. The second was season 3's "Mona," which was a pilot for a spin-off about Mona that never happened. The third one was "Life's a Ditch" in season 6, originally a Living Dolls episode.

DVD releases

On June 8, 2004, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the first season of Who's the Boss? on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time. Due to low sales for the first season, it is highly unlikely that more season DVD sets will be released unless Sony (the company that owns Who's the Boss?) sells the rights to another company.

Cover Art	DVD Name	Ep #	Release Date
File:Who's the Boss Season 1.jpg	The Complete First Season	22	June 8 2004

External links

• Who's the Boss? at IMDb
• Template:Tvtome show
• "Who's The Boss?" Resource page
• Living Dolls at IMDb
• Full episodes of "Who's The Boss?" free at AOL Video