Recently, I spent the afternoon home and sick. Because my mom raised me right, if you stay home sick then you do stay-at-home-sick-things. Like watch tv and eat soup and generally have no fun at all. TV viewing has changed since I was a school girl and would be relegated to the dreaded “afternoon tv.” Now that was viewing that made me wish I was back in school. Now, I have streaming and have many, many options. So, what did I choose? A sitcom I used to watch in the 80’s. I discovered Hulu has Who’s the Boss? (1984-1992) available. All 8 seasons and 196 episodes. That day while stuck on my couch I found it a mix of being both a comfort and a cringeworthy watch.

Comfort

Up until that day I hadn’t watched an episode of the sitcom for years. Many years in fact. The main reason I settled on a marathon of Boss was simply because if and when I fell asleep I knew it wouldn’t matter. Everything has evolved in the last nearly-40 years including the sitcom. An 80’s sitcom was fairly surface level. Problems would be solved within a half-hour. Sure there were more complex problems that would require a special two-parter. But for the most part, the episodes ended on an up note.

Ah, simpler times!

No, not really but that’s what the laugh track makes you believe. The wink-wink jokes of Mona. The good girl teen angst of Samantha. The delightful cuteness of Jonathan’s awkwardness. And the keystone of all that was the sexual tension between Angela and Tony. Tension that was dragged out for 8 long seasons with no satisfiable conclusion. I’ve mentioned the Friends flaw before. Basically it’s when the powers-that-be try to string along the viewers in a sexual tension that realistically would have ended years earlier. The Tony and Angela relationship is the epitome of this.

For the most part that day, I would see the beginning of an episode. Fall asleep and wake up a couple episodes later. And here’s the thing about these old sitcoms, I didn’t miss a thing. I could watch a few more, fall asleep, and repeat the pattern without feeling like I needed to go back to pick up important plot points. In fact, for these older shows, it actually is better if you do miss a few things because sometimes plot points just change (example season 3 episode 16 “Hit the Road Chad” the joke is Angela can’t sing. Fast forward to season 4 episode 16 “Tony and the Dreamtones” in which Angela now is a good singer).

There was something oddly comforting about watching the series that soothed my soul while the chicken noodle soup soothed my body. I’m not sure how or why this has stuck in my brain but there were punchlines that I knew were coming. Ask me what I did yesterday and I’ll have to take a minute. Watching a sitcom I haven’t watched in years and the jokes are still rattling around in there. Maybe if I could dump some of that stuff out I’d have room for more important things. Like, why did I come into this particular room at the moment?

While watching the episodes I noticed something I haven’t seen in a while. There in the corner of the screen was a G. Not a PG or TVM. But just a little capital G. Can any scripted show made today claim a G? I don’t think so. That ties back to the surface level shenanigans. Never too deep because apparently we were not that deep in the 80’s. We liked fluff.

Cringeworthy

Humor does not age well. It is not a fine wine. Jokes generally do not get better over time. This is no exception. There are some things that just need to be ignored when watching this show today.

Mona was mean. She was a cougar before we had a definition. But what bothers me is how mean she is to her daughter. She is critical and commented on Angela’s appearance (fat jokes were okay at this time) and demeanor. Her character just wasn’t very nice to be in a G-rated household.

By the end of the series, everyone watching knew that the actor that played Jonathan was gay. But throughout the show’s run, he was portrayed as a girl-crazy teenage boy. Not really a problem until you figure the actor was probably dealing with figuring out his orientation and having to hide his true self to conform.

And then there is the title itself. Who’s the boss? Is not really a question. Angela. Angela is the boss and always was, It was her house. Her life. It was always hers. Why was this even a question? It’s not.

I get those were different times but really? I don’t understand the question and if I was older and paying more attention to things back then I would have asked the same thing. Why is this even a question?

Oh, it was created by men. For jokes. Gotcha.

In the end, there are some things that didn’t age that well. But you know, that isn’t going to stop me from watching my marathon. And maybe, just maybe if I watch it to the end the characters will finally get the ending they deserve. Here’s hoping anyway.