Who's the Boss?: Custody, Part 2

Who's the Boss?: Custody, Part 2
ABC
November 12, 1985
Sitcom
DVD
B+

Angela plans to fight Michael, who wants custody of Jonathan six months out of the year, and Michael thinks he'll win because he and Heather will be a married couple, while Angela is a single career woman who leaves their child with a (male) housekeeper.  The irony is that this episode has a few scenes where Tony is much more paternal than Michael ever was, like the "shaving" scene.  And it turns out that Michael is not ready for the responsibility, especially after Jonathan is so nervous that he throws up all over Heather's shoes at the wedding.

After the vomit, but before Michael tells Angela he's giving up on custody, Tony and Angela have a talk where she says she's not going to fight Michael after all, and Tony doesn't want her to give up Jonathan.  (Yes, she'll still see him half the year, but it won't be the same as having him around all the time.)  It's clear by now that the Micellis and the Bowers are unofficially a family and it's not just sympathy for Angela that makes Tony not want to give him up.  After Michael leaves, it's obvious that "we" have "our little boy."

And there's a sweet tag where Tony and Angela dance.  He says he can't believe Michael would leave a great kid like Jonathan, but then he left a great woman like Angela.  And their dancing goes from a little awkward and nervous to more of the magic that we'd see in their later dances.

Todd Jeffries, who plays the Minister, would return as Skeeter Barnes.  Naughton unfortunately never comes back, although Michael will be mentioned now and again as the years pass.  It's unclear if Jonathan ever visits him, perhaps in the summer, or if he's really out of his son's life.

Who's the Boss?: Custody, Part 1

Who's the Boss?: Custody, Part 1
ABC
November 5, 1985
Sitcom
DVD
B

Sternin & Fraser wrote this two-parter where Angela's now-ex-husband Michael returns with marriage on his mind.  For a moment, Angela thinks Michael wants to get back together.  (And earlier, Tony reminds her of what happened the last time Michael visited.)  But Michael is engaged to a young woman named Heather (Suzanne Barnes, who would of course return for Part 2).  He wants Jonathan to come out to his new home in L.A. and be his best man.  (Jonathan is only in the third grade, but I guess it wouldn't have been as interesting for him to be a ring-bearer.)  Tony and Mona convince Angela to go along, with her new Guacamunchies account as an excuse.  Soon Tony, Sam, and Mona want to tag along, and Angela says OK.

In California, Jonathan has a great time with his father and Heather.  Angela feels out of place, especially when she goes to the beach in business attire in between meetings.  Danza does a nice job of showing without words how Tony sympathizes with her.  And later they have a good talk in the hotel suite.  He convinces her to attend the wedding, for Jonathan's sake.  But then Michael shows up and he wants custody of Jonathan.

That last scene in particular is good, but some of this episode is filler, like the beach scene with the Beach Boys' "Surf City" playing in the background.  (One reason this season may not be officially released: the music rights issue.)  I remember preferring Part 2, but we'll see.

Douglas Maida, who has an uncredited role as a Ball Player, would be an uncredited Courtier in the Alice in Wonderland TV-movie the next month.

Who's the Boss?: Angela's Ex, Part 2

Who's the Boss?: Angela's Ex, Part 2
ABC
February 12, 1985
Sitcom
DVD
B

Sternin & Fraser also wrote this second part, which is not as good but still a perfectly fine episode.  Tony gets a job working for a nice, rich, elderly woman.  (How rich?  Well, she has three maids and at least one other servant, but she is rich enough to think Angela lives on the poor side of town.)  It's a great job, especially with all those maids to flirt (and more?) with, but Tony misses Angela.  Meanwhile, Angela and Michael are trying to make their marriage work, but he resents her taking work home.  The Micellis pays a visit, and it's cute how Jonathan and Samantha pretend they don't miss each other.  (It would be in later seasons that she'd be more negative towards him.)  Michael and Angela realize they need to divorce and he, offscreen, invites Tony to come back.  Note that Crunchy Crawlers cereal is mentioned here and in the previous episode, a callback to the pilot.

Ian Abercrombie, who plays Leo the butler-chauffeur, was a Lawyer on Three's Company.  We hear Jim Peterson's voice on the answering machine but Boen does not appear.

Who's the Boss?: Angela's Ex, Part 1

Who's the Boss?: Angela's Ex, Part 1
ABC
February 5, 1985
Sitcom
DVD
A-

Sternin & Fraser wrote this story, which is one of the best of the series.  Angela's "ex," Michael, well cast and well played by James Naughton, returns and we discover that when, in the pilot, she referred to her husband leaving her, she didn't mean she was divorced.  She tried to have him served with papers, but he was in the jungle, working on one of his documentaries, for six months.  Obviously, she and even more so the Micellis are surprised to see him.  Mona is annoyed but Jonathan is ecstatic, especially since his daddy brought a boa constrictor.

Michael in turn is surprised to find out about Tony's live-in job and Angela's promotion to president of her company.  He doesn't want a divorce and when she tells him it's over, he kisses her.  Then the next morning, the audience and Tony find out that Mr. and Mrs. Bower spent the night together in her room.  Michael gets a desk job in Manhattan and he's moving back in.  He even fires Tony, because Tony is "Jonathan's father and Angela's friend," and those should be Michael's roles.  Angela objects when Tony tells her, but he, probably thinking of how he can never have a second chance with his late wife Marie, that she needs to put her marriage first.  So Tony and Angela share a close hug goodbye.

Part of what's wonderful about this episode is that it's interesting to see how all six characters, even Sam, have their own takes on the events.  For instance, Mona thinks Michael is a jerk and she lets out a wail when, watching from outside the kitchen, she spies Angela kissing him.  Naughton and Light are completely plausible as a long-term mismatched but attracted couple.  Angela's conflict is very believable.

As is Tony's.  There are some moments early on where the T/A ship is teased, as when she tells Jonathan, who's been hit with a snowball by 6th-grader Richard Welling (the unseen kid Sam fought with in "Angela's First Fight"), to go upstairs and take off his clothes.  Tony jokes as if she's talking to him.  And when Michael assumes that Angela is involved with Tony, Tony says nothing is going on, but Angela says they could do something if they wanted.  Tony utters a surprised, "We could?", as if he's never seriously considered the possibility but would like to.

Yet I don't think it's just jealousy that makes him worried about Angela getting involved with Michael.  Mona knows Michael and clearly doesn't approve of him.  (Nor he of her, as with his reaction to her Spring Break outfit.)  But Tony has to base his opinion on what's in front of him.  He seems amused by Michael when Angela isn't, but he does think she's rushing into things, legally married or not.  Still, he does step aside when Michael fires him.

As for Michael, he admits he's jealous of Tony, although not really romantically.  He seems to see Angela in a new way, now that he might lose her.  It's telling that he says that he never knew she had it in her, to become president, and she says he never looked.  He says he is now.

Jonathan's feelings are more straightforward.  He's seven and he adores his father.  Sam at 12 (we know this is set after her birthday, because she wears the robe Angela bought for her) is starting to perceive adult relationships.  But she's too outspoken to keep quiet, as when she points out that Mr. Bower is wearing his clothes from yesterday, as he's pretending to have dropped by for breakfast.  (Tony tells Jonathan this and Michael plays along.)

This is the first of two two-parters with Michael.  I wish there had been more.  He actually helps the fivesome feel more like a family.  And there's a scene where he issues dinner invitations and then has to explain he doesn't mean the Micellis.  Jonathan says that Sam and Tony are family, but Tony pretends they already have plans.