Ellen: The Apartment Hunt

Ellen: The Apartment Hunt
ABC
January 11, 1995
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Mark Driscoll wrote this story where Ellen has trouble saying no to Audrey, so she helps her look for an apartment, lets her move in when that apartment is destroyed in an earthquake, lets Audrey keep her (Ellen's) apartment when Ellen moves out, and lets her move into another apartment in the building when Ellen's new place is destroyed in a fire.  Meanwhile, Paige dates an anonymous juror (his face covered by a blue circle) whom it's hinted is on the O.J. Simpson jury, since there are references to a glove and a knife.  (Opening statements were on January 24, 1995, but the case had been big news for months.)

Kate Hodge makes her last appearance as Stephanie, who's been dating Joe three weeks now.  Ralph P. Martin, who plays Tony the landlord, will be known to Who's the Boss? viewers as Ernie the water man.

Who's the Boss?: Savor the Veal, Part 1

Who's the Boss?: Savor the Veal, Part 1
ABC
April 18, 1992
Sitcom
DVD
B

Mark Fink, who among other things wrote the "Austin from Texas" episode of Three's Company, joins WtB staff writers Doran, Kallis, and Rosenfarb for this first of three parts.  Tony and Hank have just graduated but, while Hank has a job lined up, Tony doesn't.  He tries being driving instructor but it doesn't go well.  Then he gets an offer in Iowa.  Angela encourages him to take the family and see the college, and then she encourages him to take the job.  He worries about having regrets but she thinks it's time for him to pursue his dreams and put himself first.

Tony's new boss Dr. Graham (possibly named after writer Clay Graham) is played by Jerry Hardin, who was Dr. Wilson, Kip's father, on Bosom Buddies.  Colette Duvall's fourth but not last role on the show is as the voice of the Airline Agent.  Rosie Taravella will be back as the Flight Attendant for the last two parts.  This is the last episode for Ernie and Al.

Who's the Boss?: Allergic to Love

And Mona's dating a hand model

Who's the Boss?: Allergic to Love
ABC
February 8, 1992
Sitcom
DVD
C+

If by now you're getting the feeling that the characters and/or writers-- Adam I. Lapidus this time-- were ambivalent about Tony and Angela getting married, you're correct.  Here, Tony seems to be, yes, allergic to love, and the more he insists he wants to get married, the less she believes him.  At some point in this season, there was a switcheroo, with some, including Light, still in favor of having a wedding, and others, most notably Tony D and ABC, feeling that marrying off Tony M and Angela would be a mistake, either because that wasn't what the show was supposed to be about and/or because it would harm the series in syndication.  In any case, the dilemma here is "solved" in that it turns out that Tony is only allergic to the glue in the wedding invitation envelopes, but there's still an unsettling feeling about the proceedings.

A few other things to note: Mona says that Angela was at her wedding, implying she was pregnant at the time; Sam, despite her relationship with Hank, is only inviting Bonnie, whom we haven't seen in about a year; Tony worries about whether Angela snores, even though he's literally slept with her a few times; and Tony looks like his mother, while Angela looks like his father!

Alf's Max Wright plays Dr. Wormser.  Bruce French and Eileen Barnett return as Ted and Elaine Braddock.

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

Curnal Aulisio on Married with Children

Who's the Boss?: Who's the Boss?
ABC
January 25, 1992
Sitcom
DVD
C-

This Teverbaugh & Va Salle episode isn't as bad as I remembered, but that's not saying much.  When Tony's friends tease that he's henpecked and he himself feels like Angela's ordering him around, he ends up lying to her and his friends.

Cheerleaders Lisa Cohen, Colette Duvall, and Ria Giullani had recently appeared as characters with their own first names.  Robert Briscoe Evans's third and last WtB role is as the Announcer.  Vinny Argiro returns as Vinnie (yes, with that spelling). while Walter Olkewicz is back as Tiny.  And Curnal Aulisio is introduced as Sam's new boyfriend, Hank Thomopolous.

Who's the Boss?: Death and Love, Part 2

Who's the Boss?: Death and Love, Part 2
ABC
November 16, 1991
Sitcom
DVD
C+

Doran, Kallis, and Rosenfarb drop the ball on the second part, although there are definitely moments I like, from Ernie the water-man playing Hugh Hefner to Jonathan's monotone delivery of a lie about going to see a movie.  I somewhat like Angela confiding in Sam and Mona about her fears of marriage.  But I have issues with the way that Angela has issues, so that her understandable fears of getting remarried are dismissed, while Tony is let off the hook for his manipulations, not just his scheme to get her to go to the football game with him, but his "Rain Man" act.  When, in a role reversal, he accepts her proposal, I should be cheering with the studio audience.  Instead, I'm wondering if maybe these two shouldn't get married, and I don't think that's the intention.  But such is the schizophrenia of the show's final season, and believe me, it'll get worse.

Who's the Boss?: A Well-Kept Housekeeper

Who's the Boss?: A Well-Kept Housekeeper
ABC
November 2, 1991
Sitcom
DVD
B

This story by Doran, Kallis, and Rosenfarb deals with Tony's insecurities about being involved with a rich woman.  This didn't seem to be an issue in the early seasons, but Angela's neighbor (I've forgotten her name, the one he met at the grocery store) and Genevieve Pescher were just temporary involvements.  He's more serious about Angela and he does come from a traditional background, where he was raised to be the breadwinner.  The situation is played for humor, but not everything is resolved, although at least the issue is confronted, by them as a couple, and by the writers.  There's a sexy moment near the end, where Angela helps him "feel like a man," by making him open a jar of jam.  I would've gone with a B+ but Tony does, as he later admits, act like a "jerk" during this episode.

Richard Roat had played Dr. Thompson on The Bob Newhart Show and is Phil Davis here.  Oliver Muirhead returns as Oliver, the snooty (and funny) maitre d' at Le Fleur.  Jennifer McComb and Ria Pavia return as Sam's friends from the dorms Jennifer and Laurie, while Lisa Cohen, Colette Duvall, and Ria Giullani play Lisa, Colette, and Ria here and would later appear as Cheerleaders. Bruce French (who played a Hotel Clerk on Soap) and Eileen Barnett would return as Ted and Elaine Braddock.  I saw no sign of Jonathan in this syndicated version.

Who's the Boss?: Starlight Memories

Who's the Boss?: Starlight Memories
ABC
November 20, 1990
Sitcom
DVD
B

Clay Graham wrote this story where Tony and Angela meet a couple who got together 46 years ago, and they imagine themselves as the couple's younger selves.  As with Angela dreaming she's Tony's Brooklyn wife, Light and Danza are able to be more physically and emotionally demonstrative than usual.  T & A decide that their slow pace is all right for them because they're happy.  (More than once, the script says they've been together seven years, when it's more like six and a half.)  We get another surreal tag, where slow-dancing in the living room makes everything turn to black & white, like in the older couple's story.

Brenda Varda, who plays the airheaded checker Lizzie, would be a Lawyer on Ellen a few years later.  Note that in the flashback, Ernie plays Ralph, the actor's real name.

Who's the Boss?: The Kid

"Tony (series star Tony Danza)
is faced with a crucial decision
when asked by an elderly
woman, who was a neighbor of
his in his boyhood days, to take
over the raising of her five-year-
old grandson Billy (Jonathan
Halyalkar) on 'The Kid' episode
of  'WHO'S THE BOSS?'..."

Who's the Boss?: The Kid
ABC
October 23, 1990
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Bob Rosenfarb's first of eleven WtB stories is neatly summed up in the capsule to the right.  I'll add that although Angela is still dating Andy (Doug Ballard), she thinks about what it would be like to raise a child with Tony and is very open to the idea of taking in Billy.  Sam and Jonathan are fine with it, too, especially Sam.  To be honest, the conflict is almost nonexistent, and none of the negatives to the situation come up until later episodes.

Who's the Boss?: Ridiculous Liaisons

Who's the Boss?: Ridiculous Liaisons
ABC
September 18, 1990
Sitcom
DVD
B

Daniel Palladino wrote this Season-Seven-opener, set some time during the summer.  Tony is still seeing Kathleen and trying to be mature and sophisticated about Angela seeing Peter Gerber (Stan Ivar in his last appearance on the show).  However, when Angela is swept off her feet by a mystery man named Christopher, who charms the rest of the family as well, Tony becomes jealous and obsessed, in a very comical way.

Busboy Michael Gilbert Lewis played a Policeman in the "Dream Girls" episode of Just the Ten of Us.  Chris Paul Davis is credited as Christopher, perhaps his voice, and would play Kyle later in the season.  Oliver Muirhead would reprise his very funny role as the Maitre d'.  Tony Singletary takes over for regular director Asaad Kelada, perhaps till the end of the series run.  (I see 49 episodes listed.)  He does well with the farce.

Who's the Boss?: Dear Landlord

Who's the Boss?: Dear Landlord
ABC
January 16, 1990
Sitcom
DVD
C

Daniel Palladino, who usually does a better job, contributed this story that starts out very well and then goes somewhat off the rails.  Ernie has gossip about the Harpers, gossip that contradicts both Season Five and Season Seven, but that's OK within the episode itself.  The Harpers have split up and their house is for sale.  Angela agrees to buy it and rent it out, with Tony managing it.  The two of them flirt so much about this that Ernie gets sweaty!

Various inappropriate people (of which we just see three) want to rent the house, but then an adorable little old man named Don Lester (played by David Sage, who would be a Priest on Roseanne) comes by and he's willing to pay six months in advance.  Unfortunately, after Angela leaves on a business trip, a flaky but pretty actress named Michelle comes by and Tony ends up renting to her.  She has Tony do lots of favors for her and her rent check (for $250 less than the original amount) bounces, yet we're supposed to think Angela's main objection is that she's jealous that Tony's charmed by a younger woman.  (Ironically or not, Michelle is played by an actress who's only a couple years younger than Judith Light.)  In the end, Angela gives Michelle money to stay in a hotel while looking for an apartment in New York, which isn't much of a "win" for Angela.  Still, I guess this is setting up the gut-puncher of a season-closer a few months away.

Who's the Boss?: Sex, Lies and Exercise Tape

Randee Heller in exercise garb

Who's the Boss?: Sex, Lies and Exercise Tape
ABC
November 21, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B

Seth Weisbord wrote this story where Angela joins a health club and wants to befriend "the cool girls," two of whom are played by actresses I was pleased to see again at the time: Three's Company/a Crowd's Mary Cadorette as Deb and Soap's Randee Heller as Carol, both of whom would return later in the season.  Angela has bad memories of high school, as we know, so this influences her to first let the girls think that she's having an affair with Tony, and then to accept a date with Carol's brother.

Tony's reactions to the situation, including when Ernie, the short, gossipy water-man (Ralph P. Martin in the first of ten appearances), tells him rumors about Angela having an affair with an employee, are quite funny and revealing.  He does promise to cancel a date he made out of jealousy but then goes out with the woman anyway, yet I suppose I can cut him a little slack, since Angela did something similar when she went out with Mr. March.  On the other hand, that was much earlier in the series and in the relationship, so it does seem wrong of Tony to do this so soon after "Jamaica."  He redeems himself a little in the tag, where he appears as Angela's nerdy old crush.