Who's the Boss?

This is an incredibly entertaining sitcom, one of the best ever of the family comedy genre. Actually, there are two families here who sort of merge into one, both physically (sharing the same house) and emotionally (sibling spats and so on, but genuine care & concern).

The series revolves around a fairly affluent, divorced New York City advertising executive, Angela Bauer, who lives in a lovely colonial home in Connecticut with her rather shy & insecure young son, Jonathan. There are frequent visits from her man hungry mother, Mona, who eventually moves into an apartment over the garage. In the meantime, Angela hires an unusual, macho appearing Italian housekeeper hunk from Brooklyn, Tony Micelli, who is anxious to give his teenage daughter, Samantha, the greater opportunities that accompany a suburban life. Tony & Sam move in and the two families combine, so to speak.

The relationship between Angela and Tony makes this series. Angela, the serious career woman, begins to rely heavily on Tony not only for domestic management, but also as a surrogate dad for son Jonathan. In the process Tony and Angela become best friends, share both laughs and tears, and exchange advice on everything from clothing styles to parenting to love interests. Naturally, romantic feelings develop between Angela and Tony and the chemistry & sexual tension of this unconsummated relationship are at the heart of the ongoing story. There are some pretty funny situations...Angela & Tony kissing after becoming a bit tipsy, Tony inadvertently walking in on Angela as she's just getting out of the shower, a scenario where the pair are forced to sleep in the same bed. Are you getting the picture? This ongoing situation is just so much more entertaining than modern sitcoms where everyone hops into bed straight away.

Judith Light and Tony Danza are both magnificent in their roles. Light plays the workaholic, uptight Angela to perfection and no one could possibly impart more charisma to housekeeper Tony than Danza does. Katherine Helmond is brilliantly cast as the vixen mother, Mona. Danny Pintauro plays the cute Jonathan and Alyssa Milano puts real pizazz into her portrayal of Sam, a pretty & very social teenager who, typical of her age, is constantly on an emotional roller coaster and keeps the household in a state of continuous uproar.

This is a brilliant and hilarious series with a clever, unique take on the employer / employee relationship.

This show warmed my heart for many years. At first, I must say that Samantha was my favourite character. I'm sorry but everything was just a little too perfect for her. I loved Jonathon, and Mona, I guess is my favourite now. She was the bubbling brown sugar of the show. Between Angela and Tony, I do think that they should have hooked up sooner, I wish I saw their wedding. It could have easily run for ten years, but what can you do? I think the mistake that got the show cancelled was marrying Sam off too fast. I despised her husband from the moment I first saw him.

I am so glad to see reruns of this show again. It is so much fun to watch, and it's nostalgic. I like all the characters except for Danny (when he was older his voice sounds....well we won't go there) As the seasons go on, though, Angela and Tony are the main focus of the show anyway. I don't get the whole Billy thing, why do shows always do that? It's almost a guarantee that it's going to be dead in its track within a year or two. Anyway it did run for a long time, and I love the final episode. You get to decide how they end. They need to do a reunion show.

I adore Who's the Boss! Who's the Boss is suspenseful with Angela and Tony's relationship, and adorable with all of the childish problems of Sam and Jonathon. Plus, the boy cray Mona reminds me of a teenager. I think the acting skills of the cast was remarkable! Judith Light played the perfect respectable business woman. She could go from uptight and angry to love sick over Tony at any moment... And Tony Danza could do the same. He could be angry or sad or whatever and then transition right into "oh Angela... you... you look nice." And he wasn't very hard on the eyes, if you know what I mean. (Also, Light and Danza played great drunk people.)Alissa Milano played the best teenager TV has seen yet. I would know... I am a teenager myself. She could make her self laugh, cry, look angry, or have any expression needed at any moment! The part of a teenage girl is very demanding and she played it well. Danny Pintauro played a cute little kid. He was always happy which was very important. And Katherine Helmond could not have played her part any better. She could yell like an out of control teen, she could act like an grandmother/mother. She was amazing. As you can see, Who's the Boss was a sensational series

This show is one of my favorites to watch in re-runs. The quality of acting among the main characters elevated this to a level close to that of a good stage play, rather than that of the throwaway sitcoms that are so prevalent in prime time nowadays. The writers and actors together did a wonderful job of creating and maintaining emotional and sexual tension between Angela and Tony. It's so effective that in certain parts of some episodes I can feel the heart-pounding, did-he-mean-what-I-thought-he-meant, oh-my-gosh-I-think-he-really-likes-me tension right along with the characters in the show. And that kind of emotional effect just doesn't happen often with TV shows. It shows especial skill that they were able to maintain the chemistry and tension over an eight-year period, without it wearing thin or becoming too predictable.

Judith Light is a wonderful actress. It is a mystery to me why she has been stuck in the realm of made-for-TV movies and infomercials since the end of this series. I think she belongs on the stage, personally. And to me, Tony Danza will always be Tony "oh hey, hey oh!" Micelli.

They never should have brought in Billy, though. He was a cute kid, but at that point the show foundered for a while. It did recover in the last season and the final episode actually leaves me in tears when I see it.