Who's the Boss?: Double Date

Who's the Boss?: Double Date
ABC
February 26, 1985
Sitcom
DVD
C+

Bud Wiser wrote this story that has things I like about it, but also has a central flaw.  Sam is hoping that the previously mentioned cute but clumsy Bobby Walsh (Peter Billingsley, who had already starred in A Christmas Story) will ask her to the sixth-grade dance.  At first, Tony thinks she's too young to date, but he decides that Bobby is harmless.  Showing difficulty separating from his daughter (still a problem in later seasons), he volunteers as chaperone without discussing it with her first.  Not only that, he hits it off with, dances with, and even kisses her teacher "Old Lady Scranton" (played by an actress in her 20s).

On the plus side:

• Billingsley gives a nice performance, although he definitely doesn't fit Sam's type in later seasons.  (But then Sam would undergo personality changes starting in Season Two.)
• It's another episode where Angela helps Tony raise Sam, although Tony has to make mistakes first.
• When Angela asks what he thinks of dating, he assumes she means the two of them (rather than Sam having her first date) and he says that he thinks things are fine between them as they are, which he'll repeat months later under very different circumstances.
• Milano has progressed as an actress since the pilot and I'm very much on Sam's side in this conflict.

The flaw is partly that Tony behaves inappropriately as a chaperone, which I suppose we can give him some slack for, since Season-One Tony not only is a huge flirt, but he will respond to any attractive woman, even one who lies to him about her car breaking down so she can come into the house (Professor Morrell).  Lois Scranton's behavior on the other hand is inexcusable, considering she is the kids' teacher and should know better.  Yes, they kiss behind a curtain, not knowing that mischievous boys will draw it back, but if she's attracted to Tony, she could certainly wait for an opportunity after the dance is over.  And it's not like they met months or even weeks ago-- Was she a mid-year replacement?  This seems to be Spring, how have they not met yet?-- so it's not like this has been building up between them all this time.  Plus, OK, after three episodes in a row that build up the Tony/Angela relationship, it's jarring to have him so smitten with Sam's teacher.  This episode would've worked better earlier in the season, and with Tony and Lois kissing at the end of the dance, when they think everyone else has gone.

This is the first of two WtB episodes directed by Michael Zinberg, who did fifteen for The Bob Newhart Show.  Note that Jonathan is now 8, although he was 6 when Michael left for nine months.  And Marci is again mentioned but not seen.