Who's the Boss?

[ClassyCo]

WHO'S THE BOSS? (originally titled YOU'RE THE BOSS!) was an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 20, 1984, to April 25, 1992, producing eight seasons and 196 episodes.

The show stars Tony Danza as Tony Micelli, a former major league baseball player who wants to raise his daughter outside the big city of New York, and therefore relocates to Connecticut, where he takes a job as a live-in housekeeper. Judith Light plays Angela Bower, the woman who has hired Tony; Alyssa Milano plays Tony's daughter, Samantha; Danny Pintauro plays Angela's son, Jonathan; and Katherine Helmond plays Angela's mother, Mona.

I haven't seen a lot of WHO'S THE BOSS? over the years.

Any fans lingering out there?

 

[Mel O'Drama]

I loved this back in the latter half of the Eighties. It used to air here on a Sunday teatime if I'm remembering correctly. The cast chemistry was pretty good and I enjoyed the will they/won't they premise.

I had no idea it was still being made in the Nineties. It seemed to drop off the radar in the UK once the British remake began in its prime time slot circa 1990, I'm assuming this was intentional. The ITV network aired both shows and I'm sure they didn't want Who's The Boss? repeats undermining their new series.

Even though the premise - and I think many of the scripts and stories - was identical to the American version, The Upper Hand felt like quite a different animal. It seemed a bit more refined and restrained (I may be wrong. I haven't seen that series in around three decades either) and I enjoyed it in a different kind of way.

The remake - with Honor Blackman in the "Mona" role - did well and went on to produce almost a hundred episodes over seven series.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Judith Light is always good. Helmond is too. Danza is irritatingly likeable. And the kids seemed cute (though Lil Miz MeToo grew into a sociopath)

I watched and liked the show in the early-'80s as it was, like FAMILY TIES and CHEERS, somehow fresher than the other dire sitcoms of the era.

Don't think I could sit through it today, though.

 

[DallasFanForever]

One of my favorite sitcoms back in the 80s. I remember the premise of the show of a live-in male housekeeper working for a beautiful woman but not being anything more than strictly platonic was very hard for a lot of people to believe at the time. But I think that was always the charm of the show, guessing every season if this would be the year it finally happens.

I think the show handled the relationship well. Making them finally getting together at the very end made the most sense. Had it happened earlier in the series it would’ve seriously hurt the show.

 

[Daniel Avery]

Had Who's The Boss? not come along to snatch her up, Katherine Helmond would likely have ended up in either the Rose or Blanche roles in The Golden Girls, since the producers of GG had worked with her on Soap and were eager to work with her again. Helmond later said in interviews that she would not have felt comfortable with the Rose role, since it was so close to Jessica Tate's dim-wittedness on Soap. She would have been fun in the Blanche role; Helmond was from Texas, so Blanche could still have been a 'Southern Belle'. I do think Helmond made the right decision taking the WTB role though, since it allowed her to play the smartest person in the room for once.

 

[Willie Oleson]

I can't look at that picture and not think of Judith and young Harris Ryland.
I'm glad DALLAS distorted the memory of yet another sitcom I probably shouldn't have watched.

 

[DallasFanForever]

Had Who's The Boss? not come along to snatch her up, Katherine Helmond would likely have ended up in either the Rose or Blanche roles in The Golden Girls, since the producers of GG had worked with her on Soap and were eager to work with her again. Helmond later said in interviews that she would not have felt comfortable with the Rose role, since it was so close to Jessica Tate's dim-wittedness on Soap. She would have been fun in the Blanche role; Helmond was from Texas, so Blanche could still have been a 'Southern Belle'. I do think Helmond made the right decision taking the WTB role though, since it allowed her to play the smartest person in the room for once.

I can definitely picture Katherine playing Blanche. Mona and Blanche really weren’t that much different when you think about it. Blanche was Mona with the volume turned up.

 

[WarriorsFan]

I can definitely picture Katherine playing Blanche. Mona and Blanche really weren’t that much different when you think about it. Blanche was Mona with the volume turned up.

If Twitter had been around in the mid-1980s, we would've seen a hot grandma battle between Mona and Blanche.

 

[ClassyCo]

Had Who's The Boss? not come along to snatch her up, Katherine Helmond would likely have ended up in either the Rose or Blanche roles in The Golden Girls, since the producers of GG had worked with her on Soap and were eager to work with her again. Helmond later said in interviews that she would not have felt comfortable with the Rose role, since it was so close to Jessica Tate's dim-wittedness on Soap. She would have been fun in the Blanche role; Helmond was from Texas, so Blanche could still have been a 'Southern Belle'. I do think Helmond made the right decision taking the WTB role though, since it allowed her to play the smartest person in the room for once.

You know, I've never thought about Helmond and the possibility that she could've been one of THE GOLDEN GIRLS. She had been on SOAP, which was a big hit for the same producers, and it's easy to understand why they would've wanted her back for the newer show. I bet they would've offered her Rose because it mirrored Jessica, and she would've turned it down, probably preferring to play Blanche just as Rue McClanahan* did. Honestly, I don't know if I could see Katherine Helmond as Blanche, but she probably could've pulled it off.

*Rue McClanahan said she was originally offered the role of Mary Campbell on SOAP, but she wanted to play Jessica Tate instead. Since Helmond had already been given that role, the producers decided to push forward without McClanahan. I question the legitimacy of this story because McClanahan was still playing Vivian on MAUDE at the time SOAP was conceived, but that doesn't entirely rule it out I don't guess.

A fairly interesting look at the failed WHO'S THE BOSS? pilots:

 

[Seaviewer]

Who's the Boss? would rank about number 3 or 4 in my top 80s list. Not sure how it would hold up today.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

Never cared for the show, but Katherine Helmond is great in any role!

I will never watch anything with Alyssa Milano in it, new or reruns. She is far too self-important and irritating.

 

[ClassyCo]

Katherine Helmond is great in any role

She is quite a good actress. Enjoyed her immensely as scatter-brained Jessica Tate on SOAP.

 

[Alexis Colby Carrington]

They remade this as The Upper Hand in the UK which I enjoyed. Though I've always wanted to see Judith Light's earlier work after first seeing her in new Dallas

 

[Daniel Avery]

Judith Light made her mark playing Karen Wolek on One Life to Live: a mild-mannered housewife by day, hooker by night. She was a witness in the trial of the accused murderer of her pimp and was forced to confess her secret life to the whole town. She got back-to-back Daytime Emmys for 'Karen,' then went on to bigger and better things obviously.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Judith Light made her mark playing Karen Wolek on One Life to Live: a mild-mannered housewife by day, hooker by night. She was a witness in the trial of the accused murderer of her pimp and was forced to confess her secret life to the whole town.

Hysterical. Perhaps the finest moment in daytime history.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Judith Light made her mark playing Karen Wolek on One Life to Live:

Oh yeah, now we're talking!

 

[WarriorsFan]

Judith Light made her mark playing Karen Wolek on One Life to Live: a mild-mannered housewife by day, hooker by night. She was a witness in the trial of the accused murderer of her pimp and was forced to confess her secret life to the whole town. She got back-to-back Daytime Emmys for 'Karen,' then went on to bigger and better things obviously.

Of note is that Judith Light beat Susan Lucci for the Daytime Emmy in 1981 (Susan wasn't nominated in 1980 when Judith won her first Daytime Emmy).

It's funny that Who's the Boss and The Cosby Show both premiered on September 20, 1984, and the final episodes of both shows were broadcast 5 days apart, Who's the Boss on April 25, 1992 and The Cosby Show on April 30, 1992. Spring 1992 was the end for many of the big 1980s sitcoms: The Cosby Show, The Golden Girls, Who's the Boss, Growing Pains, Night Court.

 

[DallasFanForever]

Spring 1992 was the end for many of the big 1980s sitcoms: The Cosby Show, The Golden Girls, Who's the Boss, Growing Pains, Night Court.

I had forgotten that all of these shows went off the air so close together. NBC in particular must’ve been scrambling to fill the holes in their lineup the next fall.

 

[Daniel Avery]

I recall pre-WTB, Danny Pintauro played Paul Stenbeck on As The World Turns, one of those impossibly-sweet soap kids who becomes a "prize" in a tug-of-war between his divorced parents. Granted, James Stenbeck was one of soapdom's most evil villains, and Paul's poor, put-upon mother Barbara had tried so hard to hide him from James....but poor little Paul grew up so damaged that by the time they'd recast him into adulthood, he had "killed" his father and his mother had pretty much gone nuts. So I'm glad little Paul managed to get out in time so he could live with that nice hooker-lady from One Life to Live.

 

[Crimson]

I had come across a clip of WHO'S THE BOSS on Youtube a few weeks back; the scene of Tony inadvertently walking into bathroom while Angela was coming out of the shower. I thought the scene took forever to get to the punchline. Which seems like the entire series in a nutshell.

The uptight blonde lady paired with the childish brunette male was a big thing in the mid-80s (CHEERS; WTB; MOONLIGHTING), but also inherently limited. At some point 'will they or won't they?' turns into 'who cares?'

Shelley Long was probably wise for leaving CHEERS when she did, or the Sam & Diane relationship would have dragged out interminably like Tony & Angela.