Who's the Boss?
Who's the Boss?
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Who's the Boss?

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2215765

Who's the Boss?

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Who's the Boss?

Who's the Boss? is an American sitcom television series created by Martin Cohan and Blake Hunter, that aired on ABC from September 20, 1984, to April 25, 1992, with a total of 196 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons. It was produced by Hunter-Cohan Productions in association with Embassy Television (later Embassy Communications and ELP Communications) and Columbia Pictures Television and stars Tony Danza as Tony Micelli, a former Major League Baseball athlete who strives to raise his daughter, Samantha Micelli (Alyssa Milano), outside of the hectic nature of New York City and relocates her to Fairfield, Connecticut, where he works as a live-in housekeeper for a single advertising executive named Angela Bower (Judith Light). The series' cast also includes Katherine Helmond as Angela's mother, Mona Robinson, and Danny Pintauro as Angela's young son, Jonathan Bower.

The show became one of the most popular sitcoms of the 1980s. The series was nominated for more than 40 awards, including ten Primetime Emmy Awards and five Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one of each, although early reviews of the series were lukewarm. Also very successful in the ratings, Who's the Boss? ranked in the top ten in the final primetime ratings between 1985 and 1989, and has since continued in syndication worldwide.

Widower Anthony Morton "Tony" Micelli is a former Major League Baseball player who was forced to retire due to a shoulder injury. Wanting to move out of Brooklyn to find a better environment for his daughter, Samantha, he takes a job in the upscale suburb of Fairfield, Connecticut, as a live-in housekeeper for divorced advertising executive Angela Bower and her young son Jonathan. He and Samantha move into the Bower home. Also appearing is Angela's feisty, sexually progressive mother Mona Robinson, who dates all kinds of men, from college-age to silver-haired CEOs.

The title of the show refers to the role reversal of Tony and Angela. Angela is the breadwinner of the home, and Tony (although he is not her husband) stays at home to take care of the household and provides guidance and support to the children, Samantha and Jonathan. It challenged contemporary stereotypes of young, Italian-American males as macho, boorish, and wholly ignorant of life outside of urban working-class neighborhoods. Tony was depicted as sensitive, intelligent, and domestic with an interest in intellectual pursuits, and yet still athletic and streetwise.

The easy-going, spontaneous Tony and the driven, self-controlled Angela are attracted to each other, though both are uncomfortable with the notion for much of the show's run. While there is playful banter and many hints of their feelings for each other, Tony and Angela do their best to avoid facing this aspect of their developing relationship and date other people. Angela has a steady romantic interest in Geoffrey Wells (Robin Thomas), while Tony has a variety of girlfriends who come and go, including Kathleen Sawyer (Kate Vernon) in seasons six and seven. In the meantime, however, they become best friends, relying on each other frequently for emotional support. In addition, Tony provides a male role model for Jonathan, while Angela and Mona give Samantha the womanly guidance she had been missing.

Keeping ties with Tony's and Sam's Brooklyn roots is motherly former neighbor Mrs. Rossini (Rhoda Gemignani), who ends up becoming a thorn in Mona's side. Several other friends turn up a few times each season, sometimes in New York, sometimes in Connecticut.

Angela eventually strikes out on her own and opens an ad firm in season three, while Tony decides to go back to school at Fairfield University, enrolling in the same college that daughter Samantha would later attend. Sam's best friend Bonnie (Shana Lane-Block) is a recurring character during these seasons, while romance comes into her life in the form of her boyfriend Jesse Nash (Scott Bloom) during her sophomore year of high school.

At the start of season eight, Tony and Angela finally acknowledge their love for each other. However, the series does not end with the widely expected marriage but on a more ambiguous note. This was due primarily to concerns by the network that a marriage, representing a definitive ending, could hurt syndication. Tony Danza also vehemently opposed the marriage, saying it would contradict the original purpose of the show.

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