Who's the Boss?: Dinner for Two

Who's the Boss?: Dinner for Two
ABC
November 20, 1984
Sitcom
DVD
B+

Now we're talkin'!  The Tony/Angela ship officially sets sail here, in the first of eight WtB stories by the memorably named Bud Wiser.  With Mona taking the kids on a camping trip (to free Wilbur the snake, whom we met in the pilot), Tony has a date with the unseen Tanya (possibly the Tanya we'd meet in Season Three), while Angela will be entertaining Mitchell (John Reilly, who was Dr. Kenderson on Three's Company), who's flying in from Boston.  However, Boston gets fogged in and Mitchell has to cancel.  Tony is about to leave when Angela gets the call, so Tony hesitates.  And then Robaire the caterer shows up, Angela having taken Mona's advice to entertain Mitchell at home.  Robaire, played by Robert Costanzo, who was Sal Petrone on The Bob Newhart Show and a Carny on Soap, is a scene-stealing role, both funny and catalytic, as he assumes that Tony and Angela are a couple and encourages them to have dinner together.  Then he finds out that Tony has a date and is offended, so Tony sends him home.

Then it gets really interesting.  Tony and Angela feel awkward, like they're on a date, until they start sharing embarrassing stories.  The ice is broken, but Tony looks uncertain about where this is heading.  Then, while they're still dressed up but shooting hoops, Mitchell arrives.  And Angela asks Tony to serve dinner.  He remembers that he's Angela's servant.  But he goes along with it, having lost the chance to see Tanya and not wanting to ruin Angela's evening.  Then later, while cleaning up after Mitchell has departed, Tony pours two glasses of wine or champagne and prepares to take them out to Angela in the living room.  He stops himself and pours them down the sink.  Angela comes in and apologizes.  He says it's OK and he fondly calls her boss.

It's interesting to watch Tony in this episode, the first one where Danza is really called upon to act, rather than to just be funny.  He's got to say a lot with his facial expressions and hold back a lot of words.  Angela seems less aware of what's happening between them.  She's attracted to Tony, but I think this episode is more about his attraction to her, as when he says that Mitchell doesn't know what he's missing, and Angela thinks he means the food.  Note that Angela's dress is typical of what she'd wear in the early seasons: mid-'80s sparkly and modest in front but back-revealing.  Also, this episode begins the tradition of anecdotes, sometimes Mona's, about Angela's awkward adolescence, here with her fat, acned, and clumsy in college.

Note that Samantha is 11 at this point and Jonathan 7.