# Who's the Boss? (1984)

> A former baseball player turned housekeeper raises his boss's children in a Manhattan home alongside a driven advertising executive.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/599

## Facts

- Seasons: 8
- Episodes: 196
- Episode runtime: 23 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: comedy
- Created by: Blake Hunter
- Network: ABC
- Cast: Tony Danza, Judith Light, Alyssa Milano, Danny Pintauro, Katherine Helmond, James Hampton, Walter Olkewicz, Nicole Eggert
- TMDB rating: 6.6/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086827/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: none
- Tone: warm, breezy, wholesome, comforting, nostalgic

## What critics say

Audiences broadly found the family sitcom warm and reliably funny, with Tony Danza's lead performance as the anchor of its steady eight-season run.

## Synopsis

Who's the Boss? (1984-1992) is a American network sitcom created by Blake Hunter for ABC. Former professional baseball player Tony Micelli (Tony Danza) moves with his preteen daughter into the Connecticut-raised Manhattan home of advertising executive Angela Bower (Judith Light), taking a job as housekeeper and father figure to her young son Jonathan (Danny Pintauro). The engine of the show is the friction between Tony's laid-back working class instincts and Angela's type-A corporate polish, playing out in everyday household crises, dating complications, and the slow growth of an unlikely family. Alyssa Milano plays Tony's daughter Samantha, and Katherine Helmond adds sharp comic energy as Angela's mother Mona. Each episode is a self-contained studio-audience comedy built around a domestic problem resolved within twenty-three minutes, and the series runs for eight seasons. Its tone is warm, breezy, and gently sentimental, with a nostalgic 1980s New York feel. Fans of Full House, Growing Pains and The Odd Couple will find the same comfortable household humor and wholesome family heart.

## Shows like Who's the Boss?

- [Baby Daddy (2012)](https://ember.film/tv/38637)
- [Step by Step (1991)](https://ember.film/tv/2486)
- [Mama's Family (1983)](https://ember.film/tv/1907)
- [Benson (1979)](https://ember.film/tv/1745)
- [Growing Pains (1985)](https://ember.film/tv/47)
- [Empty Nest (1988)](https://ember.film/tv/2682)
- [My Two Dads (1987)](https://ember.film/tv/1758)
- [Fuller House (2016)](https://ember.film/tv/56452)
- [Melissa & Joey (2010)](https://ember.film/tv/29400)
- [One Day at a Time (1975)](https://ember.film/tv/2078)

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