Who's the Boss?: Ad Man Micelli

Bonnie, Robin, and Julia befriend Marci and Sam.

Who's the Boss?: Ad Man Micelli
ABC
October 8, 1985
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Although this has some good farcical moments, I have to mark this episode down because it begins the transformation of Sam from feisty but sweet tomboy to, as her friends sing here, "Material Girl."  She's in junior high now, seventh grade, and yet somehow turning thirteen.  (Was she held back or started late because of the timing of her birthday?  And what happened to her winter birthday?  This confusion about Sam's age and birthday will last through the rest of the series.)

She and Marci want to get in with the popular crowd, but when her father arranges a surprise sleepover birthday party (presumably through Marci, since he hasn't met her three new friends yet), she lies and says that he is the president of Wallace & McQuade.  Tony wants her to tell her friends the truth, but then he ends up playing along with it, as does Mona, who is "one of the girls" at the slumber party, as we learned in an earlier episode she was at Angela's parties.

Then Angela comes home with a date.  (Tony expresses jealousy earlier when he hears she'll be going out, something he did not do in the first season, and I think this episode following after the two-part opener has something to do with this change.)  He takes her into the kitchen to discuss things, while Mona explains and then gets rid of "Cousin Andrew."  Tony proposes to Angela for the first time, although of course it's just to get through the evening.  (Like the popular girls won't figure things out eventually?)

The lie is revealed when Sam gets a locket with her mother's picture in it.  She knows her mother would want her to be proud of her background, so she admits the truth.  Her new friends accept her, but considering the effect they'll have on her, I wish they hadn't.

Robin Fraser (Tonya Crowe), despite being the alpha female and the snobby one, would be back only twice more.  Julia (Angela Lee), the airheaded redhead, would return six more times.  You'd never guess it from this episode, but Bonnie (Shana Lane-Block), the little brunette, would end up having the most staying power as Sam's friend, still around six years and twenty-one more appearances later.  (She'd also eventually be taller than Milano.)