Charles in Charge

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"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
• 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)
• Identity Amnesia
• Ivy League for Everyone
• No Name Given (Charles and his mother. This was lampshaded in the final episode ("Did you ever wonder why he had no last name?")).
• 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.
• Special Guest (Olympic gymnast Julianne McNamara and Samantha Smith, the girl who wrote to Yuri Andropov, in "Slumber Party")
• Sweater Girl (Some of the ladies Charles dates.)
• Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs? (Ben Stein pops up as an Obstructive Bureaucrat in various settings).