A retired baseball player, widowed, takes a job as a housekeeper for a divorced advertising executive. Each has one child, and gradually fall in love.
Who's The Boss? spent eight seasons on ABC (1984-92), mixing together a trio of actors familiar to network viewers. Judith Light left the daytime soap, One Life to Live, to play Angela Bower opposite Tony Danza (ex-Taxi). Katherine Helmond (ex-Soap) played Angela's mother, Mona. Viewers were also introduced to Alyssa Milano as Tony's daughter.
ABC was rebuilding its Tuesday comedy block after the end of Happy Days (11 seasons) and Soap. Three's Company had morphed into Three's a Crowd. Who's The Boss? proved to be a problem solver. Unfortunately, network suits got stupid at the end and moved the show to Saturdays for its final season. Opposite NBC's Golden Girls. Game over.
Still, it was fun while it lasted. Milano has remained a steady presence on TV in later years (i.e. the original Charmed), and Light moved on to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in a recurring role as a judge.
Courtesy of Dailymotion, here's the series opener. In memory of Katherine Helmond, who has passed away at 89.
Rating for the series: B.
Fun Fact: the character of Mona was originally written as Angela's older sister until someone suggested Katherine Helmond for the part, then the character was changed to Angela's mother.
ReplyDeleteFunny how Mona could've easily fit right in with the Golden Girls, as I think that series was conceived after "Boss?" got off the ground, and had it landed at ABC instead of NBC......
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