Saturday 9: Who's the Boss

Saturday 9: Brand New Life (The Theme from Who's the Boss) (1984)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) Who's the Boss? is a sitcom that ran from 1984 to 1992. Were you a fan?

A. No. I think this was one of the shows that came on a station I could not receive.

2) This week's song was composed by the show's producers, two men not known as songwriters. Have you ever tried your hand at songwriting?

A. Yes, I have written a few songs. None that have ever been played by anyone but me, though.

3) The lyrics tell us that, as we go through life, it's not uncommon to "lose a dream or two." Do you agree? Have you ever had to give up on a dream?

A. I think most people's dreams fall by the wayside in this world. Capitalism is not set up to appease dreamers, it is set up to appease people who already have money and power. I have given up on many dreams.

4) Who's the Boss? was about a highly-paid executive who hires a housekeeper. In the 1980s, it was unusual because the exec was a woman and the housekeeper was a man. Do you believe a man can be as good at housework as a woman?

A. Yes, a man can do housework as well as a woman. And a woman can weld just as well as a man.

5) Though the show's star, Tony Danza, graduated from University of Dubuque and was prepared to be a teacher, he got sidetracked. Back in New York, he boxed and tended bar and fell into acting. He finally did teach in 2010, taking over a 10th grade English class. How many different occupations have you held?

A. Gosh. Babysitter. File clerk. Secretary. Legal Secretary. Student worker. Writer. Poet. Blogger. Website designer (not very good at that). Substitute teacher. Adjunct teacher. Musician. Photographer. News reporter. Wife (and all that entails).

6) On the show, his daughter was played by Alyssa Milano. When she was a teenager, she rebelled against the show's producers by cutting off her long hair and wearing a pixie style. Were you a rebellious teen?

A. According to some people, I was. I was also a straight-A student (except for gym) for the most part.

7) "The Boss" was Judith Light, who had been known to TV audiences from her work on One Life to Live. She met Robert Desiderio on the set of the soap opera and they have been married more than 34 years. Tell us where one of your romances got started.

A. I had ridden the school bus with my husband when I was very young but he doesn't remember me. I remembered him. However, we were formally introduced in October 1982 at the annual Lord Botetourt versus James River High School rivalry football game. We stood under the goal posts (you could do that then, I don't think you can now), and I pretended not to know anything about football and asked him stupid questions to make him talk.

8) The show, rebroadcast with subtitles, was a hit in Italy, where it was known as Casalingo Superpiù (Super Housekeeper). Say something to us in Italian.

A. Mio marito è il mio migliore amico e lo amo molto. Lui è il mio mondo e non so cosa farei senza di lui.

I have no idea if that's correct. I used google translator.

9) Random question: have you more recently watched the sun rise or set?

A. We have a lovely view of the sunset from the front of the house. I seldom see it rise because we have trees in the way out the back door.

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