If there's one thing that makes this 20-year-old sitcom worth revisiting--and there is only the one thing--it's Who's the Boss?'s value as an ethnographic snapshot that reveals just how much our culture has changed in the last two decades. Tony Micelli (Tony Danza), a blue-collar guy from Brooklyn, works as a housekeeper, babysitter, and cook for a successful advertising executive and single mother (Judith Light) in ritzy Connecticut, and while the humor is the cardboard-cutout-type typical of sitcoms--mistaken identities, unspoken romantic attraction, and the wisecracking of precocious gradeschoolers the likes of whom exist only in sitcoms--none of it is about denigrating this stereotypically macho man for his domestic skills, which are numerous, varied, and accomplished. In fact, it's offered as a given that a guy like Tony can bake a cake like Betty Crocker (we simply don't see stuff like this anymore, now that women's lib has run out of steam and "sensitive" men are out of fashion). Of course, you only need to watch one or two of these 22 episodes--crisp and clear, despite the fact that they date from 1984-1985, and accompanied by seven bonus featurettes in this triple-disc boxed set--to marvel at such a cultural shift. Then you can use the discs as coasters to keep those unsightly moisture rings off your coffee table. Optional. (M. Johanson)
Who's the Boss?: The Complete First Season
Columbia TriStar, 3 discs, 455 min., not rated, DVD: $39.95 August 23, 2004
Who's the Boss?: The Complete First Season
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