Who's the Boss?: Diet in Cell Block 11

Who's the Boss?: Diet in Cell Block 11
ABC
February 24, 1987
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Howard Meyers wrote this episode where Nick has been released from prison and now plans to publish a diet book.  Tony finds out that Nick has plagiarized from someone who's about to be released from Death Row.  Nick and Mona flirt but she's recently (a few days ago) started seeing someone and it's relatively serious for her.  The more interesting flirtation occurs in the tag, where Angela is trying to write a romance novel since she owes her publisher friend a manuscript.  Tony and Mona mock her writing, until Mona has her and Tony act out the embrace she described, to the studio audience's delight.

James Coco would die the day after this episode aired, with his character's death dealt with on a future episode.

Who's the Boss?: The Prodigal Father-in-Law

Who's the Boss?: The Prodigal Father-in-Law
ABC
December 3, 1985
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This is the first of two WtB stories written by Cherie Eichen and Bill Steinkellner (who married at some point).  It's better than the earlier Nick episode in that, one, Nick is more honest about his dishonesty, in the sense that he immediately admits to breaking out of his minimum-security Connecticut prison when denied parole; two, there's some humor from the way the characters talk about being in jail as a good thing; and three, the Nick/Mona relationship seems more balanced this time.  Note that he will be eligible for release in eight months.

Who's the Boss?: Tony's Father-in-Law

Who's the Boss?: Tony's Father-in-Law
ABC
March 5, 1985
Sitcom
DVD
C+

The title character, Nick Milano (55-year-old James Coco in his first of three appearances in the role), visits in this Ellen Guylas story.  While Coco of course gives a good performance, the problem is it's hard to warm up to a character that makes all three adults think he's dying, rather than tell them he's going to prison in a couple weeks.  Not only that, he wants Mona to sleep with him as a "last request."  Still, I do like the parts where Nick and Tony talk about Marie.

Julian Christopher (under the name of Jim Watkins) played Phil Bender on The Bob Newhart Show, while here (under the name of James Louis Watkins) he plays Nick's lawyer, the punningly named Thomas Retain (as in "lawyer on retainer").