A Show that Changed the World: Who's The Boss?

Many years ago, a little show about two disparate families who come together in an un-traditional way, beamed onto television sets nationwide. It broke cultural taboos, ripped into established boundaries, shocked and appalled even the most liberal of viewers with it's genre busting format, and made viewers question their values and faith. That show was not Who's the Boss?. And thus began America's 8-season love affair with yet another shitty sitcom.

The opening credits give you all the information you need to jump right into the show. "There's a time for love and a time for livin', so take a chance and face the wind." Those lyrics ring true for dimbulb main character Tony Danza, played with gusto by the award-winning Tony Danza. He and his daughter, Sam, "face the wind" when they are run out of the city due to poor personal hygene. So they pack up the Good Time Family Van and head to a Connecticut town where they hope all their live-in house cleaner dreams come true. Luckily, Tony spots an ad in the Penny Saver seeking just that. Since he's seen a vacuum before, he figures that gives him just the right amount of experience to get the job done. So he shows up at recently widowed mother Angeler Bower's doorstep, ad in hand, p-cap hairstyle freshly trimmed, and worms his way right into the family's heart.

Characters Worth Noting: The Facts of Life

The Facts of Life was a serious drama that taught the world valuable lessons on life, love, baked goods and roller skates. The deadly serious theme song summed up the nature of the show in it's first few lines "You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have the Facts of Life (the facts of life, dee doo)." The show centered on four girls, Blair, Joseph, Natalie and Toots, who were perpetually away at boarding school living under the watchful eye of housemother Mrs Garrett. The girls lived above her bakery and always smelled like cookies.

Blair was the hottest and, therefore, the biggest bitch. She was practically made of money. In fact, I believe it was even mentioned in one episode that she even shat money! Ha ha, only in Hollywood. Her favorite pastimes were making fun of those less fortunate than herself, leading young men on, talking about money, talking about her "daddy," looking pretty, and making greed fashionable (it was the 80's after all). She was probably the most shallow, and the most liked of all the girls.

A Show that Changed the World: Three's Company

30 years ago an effects-heavy, character-driven, cultural zeitgiest spectacle lit up the imaginations of people everywhere. No, I'm not talking about that tiny space movie called Star Wars, but about the era-defining, pop-culture phenomenon which was Three's Company.

"Come on knock on our doooor/We've been waiting for yooooou." That's how the immensely catchy theme song started. It tended to stick in your head and nearly drive you batty with the surpy-smooth vocals and sing-songy beat. By the summer of '77 nearly every TV watcher in the country was practically banging down the door to catch a glimpse of the often-tired, always-cliched, and instantly old-fashioned TV threesome of Jack, Janet and Chrissy. The laughs were cheap, the action stagey, and the dialogue rote, but somehow these three magical creatures wormed there way into our hearts for eight solid seasons.

A Show That Changed My Life

Back in September of 1985 a magical thing happened to television that changed me forever. I'm speaking, of course, about The Golden Girls. Those lovable old hags who loved, lost, fought, entertained, and ate cheesecake all while living in sun-drenched Miami. I found myself closely identifying with the geriatric foursome even though I was just a small boy at the time.

Rose was my favorite. Always the Dumb One of the group, Rose was actually quite witty and a little mischievous, if needed. Especially earlier in the series. Like me, Rose had a sunny personality, a keen fashion sense, white/blonde hair and big boobs. Her endless stories of home life in St Olaf provided hours of entertainment for the rest of the girls, and provided me with a much-needed back-story when we moved at the age of 10. Her hopelessly optimistic outlook always cheered the other girls up in their time of need, as well as showing me you never need to face reality when you have optimism on your side! Rose was surely the "happy" one of the group.

Now, Blanche was also very happy, but in a different way. She was the Slutty One, having romantic flings with a number of men, sometimes within the same evening! At least according to her. Like me, Blanche used sex to cover up her serious daddy issues, she then used humor to cover up the sex. Her fashions were always cutting-edge, and I can still recall the click-clack of her pumps across the floor as she moved about the house. Secretly, she was my favorite. Just don't tell Mother! Blanche could always be found in the elated afterglow of a one-night stand, or in the kitchen eating them out of house and home because her date didn't feel like bedding her that night. Although never really discussed on the show, I always suspected Blanche had weight issues as well, that's why she needed to delude herself into thinking she was the most beautiful, most thin girl of them all, when everyone knew that title went to Dorothy.

Making sure to mask her beauty behind a hideous hairdo and heavy clothes, Dorothy was known as the Angry One. Her biting sarcasm, lanky body, and manly jaw line always reminded me of my father. I always loved how in the credits she bit her hand to prevent herself from using it to slap Rose, or punch Blanche in the face, or strangle her mother to death. Like me, Dorothy hid her emotions behind angry words, a slap on the hand, or other violent and hurtful ways. Not to be out done by the other girls, her fashions were always ahead of their time. In fact, I believe her fashion sense hasn't even made it into the social consciousness yet! I have faith that one day we'll all be wearing bathrobes with gigantic collars and a flower broach to the latest charity ball. The series was centered around Dorothy and once she decided to get married and flee the house, the series ended.

Finally we come to Sophia, Dorothy's mother and the Old One, which is funny because she was actually the youngest of them all! Like me, Sophia had a rough life growing up in the Mafia infested island of Sicily. She always had a witty retort and an honest, if not particularly welcome, take on the goings-on within the house. Her salty language heightening the already tense drama. Sophia used her old age to her advantage by conveniently forgetting anything that was said to her. Sophia was not so into fashion, but she did have one item she could not live without: a wooden bead purse. She even had duplicates in case anything ever happened. That purse was practically attached to her arm as it probably contained either contraband, or dirty little secrets. Probably both.

Yes, these four lovely ladies and their (mis)adventures in America's heartland brought joy and happiness to countless millions each week for seven seasons. And this small boy from the other side of the country was one of them. They were like grandmother's to me even though they never even knew I existed. They changed my life forever by being true to themselves, even if the continuity fairy completely deserted the show. Each week I learned a lesson, bonded with the ladies, and became a man in the process. Thank you for that.