"Who's the Boss?" (1984) TV series 1984-1992

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Creators:

Martin Cohan
Blake Hunter

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

Release Date:

20 September 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Family | Romance

Plot:

A TV show about Tony Micelli, the housekeeper, Angela Bauer, the career-woman, their kids Samantha and Jonathon, and Mona, Angela's man-crazy mother.

Plot Keywords:

Punctuation In Title | Family Relationships | Question In Title | Famous Opening Theme | Male Female Relationship

Awards:

Won Golden Globe. Another 16 wins & 30 nominations

Cast

Tony Danza	...	Tony Micelli (196 episodes, 1984-1992)
Judith Light	...	Angela Bower (196 episodes, 1984-1992)
Alyssa Milano	...	Samantha Micelli (196 episodes, 1984-1992)
Danny Pintauro	...	Jonathan Bower (196 episodes, 1984-1992)
Katherine Helmond	...	Mona Robinson (196 episodes, 1984-1992)

Runtime:

30 min (including commercials)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Canada:PG (Nova Scotia) (DVD) | Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

ABC Television Center - 4151 Prospect Avenue, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Embassy Television

Trivia:

ABC originally planned to cancel the show at the end of the seventh season but the producers were able to convince the network to renew the show for an eighth season. As part of the deal to renew the show (and to revive fan interest) it was decided to base the entire eight season around Tony and Angela finally becoming a couple. When ratings for the eighth season failed to increase, the show was cancelled.

Quotes:

Angela: Well, we got on a plane you know swish, swoosh.
Tony: Yeah, well, it sounds like something happened in between the swish and the swoosh.
Angela: Well, we went to Las Vegas, and we got married but I thought we got the marriage annulled the next day?
Angela's first Husband: No. These are just the papers that divided up the garbage collection. Angela, we're still married.
Mona Robinson: [bursts into laughter] And to think all of this time that you were married to Michael you were a bigamist.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Living Single: Who's the Boss? (#1.22)" (1994)

Soundtrack:

Brand New Life

When There was Still a Modicum of Ethnicity Recognition Left!!

Our parent's generation was full of ethnic and religious generalizations which dominated the population's thought patterns, particularly in urban areas, today that is no longer the case!! In 1984 there was still a smattering of ethnic stereotypes that many people identified with on a fondly familiar level!! "Who's the Boss" combined the prevailing philosophies of today as well as the values of yesteryear!! I thought Tony Danza was the best part of the show...Italian Americans have a culture all to themselves, and reminiscing about the way things use to be was homogenized into a value system which exists today!!

The whole genre is set up whereby old values clashed with modern situations!! The big bread winner in the household was a female, she was employing a male housekeeper...This male housekeeper was a semi-professional athlete, so he was very much a man!!! The mother was a party animal, and the kids were victims of their respective environments!! It was a case of W.A.S.P meets WAP.....I could identify with this combination totally, I am half one and half the other!! Together they sound like an insect repellent!! I use the term WAP kiddingly and with no disrespect!! For purposes of comic relief, all value systems were exaggerated!! This show exemplified the adjective "cute", and was enormously popular...Stars like Grant Aleksander contributed to the show tremendously!! They helped make it very entertaining!!!

Today, a show like "Who's the Boss" could not make it!! The show encompassed an antiquated association of human nature through religious and social upbringings!! The ideas of the 1980's embraced a nostalgic ethnicity recognition which correlated to a bygone era's sociological pattern of living!!! Today, all such stigmatic associations have been aggregately obviated in American Television programming!!... I think that "Who's the Boss" was one the last bastions of programming that used innocuous cultural labeling as a humorous element to be incorporated into a television show... It was a great idea for a great period in American history (The 1980's)