Craig Sjodin \/ TV Guide \/ \u00a9Columbia Pictures Television \/ courtesy Everett Collection<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\nWho\u2019s the Boss? was also often praised for never using Tony\u2019s role on the show as a joke, although it certainly wasn\u2019t afraid to highlight its trailblazing storytelling, either.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was an [episode] where I break up the date [Angela] is on, and I have the guy up against the wall with a bat, and he says, \u2018Angela, who is this?\u2019 And she says, \u2018Grant, that\u2019s my housekeeper,\u2019\u201d Danza recalls of one episode. \u201cHe says, \u2018Angela, that\u2019s the ugliest woman I\u2019ve ever seen!\u2019 It\u2019s so good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Danza remains happy with the work he did on the show, even watching it back now. He recently stumbled on an episode from season 5, the series\u2019 first at NBC, and was impressed by everyone\u2019s performances \u2014 even if he couldn\u2019t hear what anyone was actually saying.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was switching around [channels] and it was on, so I stayed and I watched,\u201d he said, noting that season 5 was an \u201cinteresting year\u201d for the cast because \u201call bets were off\u201d after swapping networks. \u201cBut there was something wrong with the audio. So [I watched] with no audio. I do [that] with old movies because I want to watch the work. And I couldn\u2019t believe it. I loved it. It was so detailed. I could tell what was going on without listening. I thought it was really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking back, Danza says he\u2019s particularly satisfied with how the show was able to stay universally relatable and watchable for all ages.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m proud of the fact that you could sit down with your family and not worry about the message you were going to get,\u201d Danza explains. \u201cI worried about the message every week. I was like, \u2018OK, wait a minute. There\u2019s kids out there and parents listening to this.\u2019 And I mean, we certainly pushed the envelope with Mona\u2019s [edgier] comments, but most of those hopefully went over kids\u2019 heads.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t want a woman, a mother, to be sitting there being embarrassed watching the show because she doesn\u2019t know if [her kid] should hear this,\u201d he adds. \u201cSo, I was really careful about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was Danza\u2019s latest film, Re-Election<\/em>, that sparked the career retrospection. The actor portrays Stan, the father of emotionally stunted, middle-aged Jimmy (played by writer-director Adam Saunders<\/strong>), who is desperate to go back to high school to try and win a long-lost race for class president. Jimmy\u2019s obsession with the past plays into one of the movie\u2019s central themes of unfinished business.<\/p>\nWhile eight seasons might seem like enough to make a sitcom feel finished, Danza admits that it\u2019s the years after the series wrapped that tend to spark a sense of regret. The desire to stay in the sitcom business, he explains, ultimately led him to turn down a role that in hindsight may have been a good choice for his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was hell-bent to be the funniest guy on TV. I wanted to do another sitcom [after\u00a0Boss] and I got offered this part in a one-hour series, and I said, \u2018[No], I\u2019m gonna do a sitcom, that\u2019s what I do,\u2019\u201d Danza recalls. \u201cAnd I look back on it now, and I really think that was maybe a big turning point in what I\u2019ve been aspiring to, what I want to do, and what I want out of my career. \u2026 I think I took a wrong turn there.\u201d<\/p>\n
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