Who's the Boss?: A Moving Episode

Who's the Boss?: A Moving Episode
ABC
May 19, 1987
Sitcom
DVD
B

Cinnamon & Wengrod wrote this season-closer where Mona is moving to New York to help her brother run his hotel, so she suggests that Tony turn her loft into a bachelor pad.  At first, especially with the encouragement of his friend Philly Fingers (John Del Regno again), Tony is excited about the idea.  But the pull of Angela, the main house, and his "family man" role are stronger.  Angela asks him to move back and he smiles and says, "You're the boss."  Mona, too, comes home, having decided it's better to be annoyed by her daughter than her brother.

Walter Olkewicz makes his first of four appearances as Tony's friend Tiny McGee, not to be confused with his other large ironically named friend, Pee Wee.

Season Three ranges from C to B+, averaging out to a low B, so it's a bit of a comeback after Season Two.  (Which wasn't bad of course, it just had a weaker middle.)  Like I said, Angela goes through the most changes: starting her own business, having a serious relationship with Geoffrey, and going relatively wild.  But, as this episode shows, Tony is changing, too, settling down compared to the previous season and particularly Season One.  Sam still is a bit too much of the '80s material girl, but there are moments when we can glimpse the good-hearted Brooklyn tomboy.  Jonathan is relatively unchanged, although he is beginning to be a preteen.  Mona is getting a little cruder and crueler, but less than she would be later.  And the family is blending more than ever.