There is not a brand new life around the bend for classic 1980s sitcom Who’s The Boss? The proposed revival for the series, which would have featured original series stars Tony Danza and Alyssa Milano, will not be moving forward. Entertainment Weekly reports that the series has been canceled at its proposed streaming home, Amazon Freevee.
News of the revival first surfaced in 2022; it was to have featured Milano‘s now-grown Samantha Micelli as a single mother, living in the family home with her father Tony (Danza); the differences in their parenting styles would have formed the backbone of the show. The late Norman Lear was attached to produce the revival, which would have streamed on Amazon’s free, ad-supported service Freevee. It’s one of a number of sitcom revivals that have cropped up in recent years to feed streaming services’ insatiable hunger for content; other examples include Punky Brewster, Mad About You, Will and Grace, Frasier, Night Court, and the recently cancelled That ’90s Show.
What Was ‘Who’s The Boss?’ About?
The series starred Danza as Tony Micelli, a retired baseball player and single father to Samantha (Milano) who took a job as a housekeeper for high-powered ad executive Angela Bower (Judith Light) and her young son Jonathan (Danny Pintauro). The series played with the typical gender dynamics of the day, as Danza stayed at home, handling domestic tasks like cooking and cleaning, while Bower was the household breadwinner. The series also featured Katherine Helmond as Angela’s high-spirited, sexually liberated mother Mona. Created by Martin Cohan (Silver Spoons) and Blake Hunter, the series was a ratings success for ABC for its first seven seasons, but it faltered in its final season when it was moved from Tuesdays to Saturdays – and when it sought a definitive answer to Tony and Angela’s long-brewing will-they-or-won’t-they romance. The series ran for eight seasons, concluding with an hour-long finale in 1992. It had a lengthy afterlife in syndication, and was affectionately spoofed in a Community episode, in which Abed must determine who the titular boss really was.
Despite the termination of the Who’s the Boss revival, both Danza and Milano are keeping busy. Danza recently turned up on Power Book III: Raising Kanan and And Just Like That, and will star alongside Adam Saunders in the comedy Re-Election. Milano, meanwhile, is currently making her Broadway debut in a revival of Chicagoas Roxie Hart.
The Who’s The Boss revival will not be moving forward at Amazon Freevee.
via Collider