Charles in Charge

"Charles in Charge, of our days and our nights!"

Charles In Charge was a Dom Com from 1984-5 and 1987-90 starring Scott Baio as a college-age "nanny" to the children of the families he lived with—first the Pembrokes and later the Powells (after the show moved to syndication and the Pembrokes "moved to Seattle").

Tropes used in Charles in Charge include:

Attractive Bent Gender: Averted in "Still at Large." A female teacher tells Charles that he's "a good looking man," but "an ugly woman."
Beautiful All Along: Enid in the episode "A Date with Enid".
Can-Crushing Cranium: Buddy bragged about crushing a number of cans in a row, and could have done more if they were empty.
Channel Hop: Moved to Syndication after a season on CBS.
Credit Card Plot: In one episode Charles got a credit card with a low limit, intending to use it responsibly. However, the kids get hold of it and run up a large bill, causing Charles to be embarrassed when his card is rejected during a date.
Disguised in Drag: Charles and Buddy in "Still at Large."
Dumbass Has a Point: Buddy, who does this to himself.
Expository Theme Song: The tune very finely summarizes the show itself, and the feelings of the children he looks after, saving many a fan from having to explain the program, so much as just show a friend the intro.
First Gray Hair: Buddy reacts disastrously to spotting a single grey hair.
Flanderization: Buddy Lembeck. He started out as a girl-crazy guy who had no interest in academics but wasn't stupid at all. As the series progressed, he became progressively more stupid and eventually insane.
Identity Amnesia: During a bout of amnesia, Charles' personality changes and he becomes "Chaz".
It's a Wonderful Plot: Without Charles, the Powell family (and Charles's mother) end up with a lot more money, but they've all turned into spoiled jerks.
Ivy League for Everyone: Late in the series, Charles gets accepted as a graduate student to Princeton.
Joisey: After the move to syndication the show was explicitly set in New Brunswick, NJ.
- Rutgers students at the time jokingly identified one of the real restaurants on Easton Avenue as that owned by Charles' mother in later seasons.
Never Learned to Read: One of Charles' friends is revealed to be illiterate when a fire breaks out and he can't read the instructions for a fire extinguisher.
No Name Given: Charles and his mother. This was lampshaded in the final episode ("Did you ever wonder why he had no last name?").
Old Hero, New Pals: When it moved from network to first run syndication the only characters carried over were Charles and Buddy. Mrs. Pembroke was there as a Spinoff Sendoff, showing the house to the new family moving in.
Oven Logic: One episode of had a multi-tiered example; Charles and Buddy don't know what temperature to bake the cake at, so Buddy surmises that if a baked potato cooks at 350 degrees, a cake, which is approximately 10 times as big, should cook at 3,000. Since the oven only goes up to 500, they decide to compensate by cooking it for 6 times as long.
Poorly-Disguised Pilot: Had three episodes in the final season which were failed attempts at a pilot for a new series. In each a character would visit somewhere where there would be a character that looked suspiciously like one of the regular cast members. Ellen Travolta, who played Charles' mom, had an identical twin sister who ran a car wash in New York. Willie Aames' character Buddy had an identical cousin working in a hotel in Hawaii. Nicole Eggert's character had an identical cousin living in New Mexico.
Radio Contest: Charles is not only a great babysitter, but he also knows exactly when to call the radio station to be the tenth caller.
Retool: Upon moving to syndication, Charles' employers the Pembrokes were replaced by the Powells. Also, a prominent recurring role was added for Charles' mother Louisa, as portrayed by Ellen Travolta.
Slumber Party: In the first season the daughter has a slumber party, and all the girls end up talking to Charles about what boys are really like.
Special Guest: Olympic gymnast Julianne McNamara and Samantha Smith, the girl who wrote to Yuri Andropov, in "Slumber Party".
Sweater Girl: Some of the girls Charles dates.
Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Initially played straight during its network run, but averted after the Retool, when the Pembroke/Powell home was explicitly located in New Brunswick, NJ not far from Rutgers University.
Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?: Ben Stein pops up as an Obstructive Bureaucrat in various settings.