More than 30 years later, television is still asking “Who’s the Boss?”
The 1980s family comedy starring Tony Danza and Alyssa Milano is the latest series getting a revival, with the stars confirming they’ll reprise their roles in the developing sequel.
Danza, who played pro baseball star turned live-in housekeeper Tony Micelli, said Tuesday on Instagram that he’s “(v)ery excited to bring Who’s The Boss back to television!”
Milano, who broke out in the role of Tony’s spunky daughter Samantha and became a bona fide child star in the process, tweeted: “We feel the time is right to tell the story of where these amazing characters are today. Can’t wait to share their stories with you. So happy.”
The series is in development at Sony Pictures Television, according to a statement from Sony, but there’s no word yet on which network or streaming service will air the final product. Licensing for the series’ 196-episode library also will be shopped around in the sale.
The classic comedy reportedly has the support of costars Danny Pintauro and his onscreen mom, Judith Light, who played ad exec and head of household Angela Bower. The progressive sitcom drew praise and laughs for reversing gender roles and stereotypes during its run on ABC from 1984 to 1992. (Katherine Helmond, who played matriarch Mona Robinson, died in 2019.)
The sequel will be set 30 years later and will focus on Tony and Samantha’s relationship. She’s a single mother who lives in the home in which the original series was set much in the vein of another nostalgia-mining reboot, Netflix’s “Fuller House.” The series is expected to explore the generational differences, opposing worldviews and parenting styles within the dynamic of a modern family in 2020, Sony said.
Norman Lear, one of TV’s best-known producers, will return to executive produce the sequel, along with his producing partner, Brent Miller of ACT III Productions, and Dan Farah of Farah Films. Danza and Milano also will serve as executive producers.
Lear has already rebooted “One Day at a Time” with Netflix and gave new life to his other 1970s sitcoms “All in the Family” and “The Jeffersons” when they were performed live with contemporary actors for the Emmy-winning ABC special “Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear’s ‘All in the Family’ and ‘The Jeffersons'” in 2019.~
