As the vaguely problematic theme song explains, "he's there just to care of me, like he's one of the family..."  Scott Baio's Charles (no last name) was one of the many acceptably non-traditional caregivers populating the 1980s sitcom landscape. From fellow hired hands like Mr. Belvedere and Tony from Who's the Boss to more outlandish figures like ALF or VICKI of Small Wonder, we as mainstream American TV-watchers loved to see a slightly unorthodox twist on an otherwise stable, affluent family. 

Most family sitcoms aim to provide an exaggerated version of ourselves to both relate to and scoff at, a funhouse mirror that gives everyone in the household someone who shares their perspective and faces similar challenges. Charles in Charge, on the  other hand, foregoes anything not of interest to its twelve to sixteen-year-old audience- the design of the show guarantees an ice-cream-for-breakfast mentality where no grown-up issues will ever be involved. The mostly unseen naval commander father is deployed overseas, leaving a working mom and feisty grandpa (both also increasingly unseen) to deal with the three teenage children, hence the "need" for Charles- an adult presence who is still more or less a teenager himself. Ergo, the adults and their boring stories about marital issues and office politics are not part of the equation; instead we often have cascading authorities to appease in comic fashion. A typical plot might involve Charles getting in hot water with a credit card company while in turn having to mete out wisdom to the kids who rang up the charges, or dealing with a stuffy professor while the younger teens require academic help of their own.  And of course there will be dating foibles aplenty for Charles and all three children. The adults function, to whatever extent they're present at all, as occasional obstacles.

The behind-the-scenes story has a similar sense of the inmates running the asylum- the show premiered on network in a more grounded form with a different family in which both parents were present and the stories focused on more realistic issues. When it was cancelled after the first season and reworked for syndication, Charles and his goofy pal Buddy were given teen idol glow-ups and their college hijinks were foregrounded, as were the two new teenage daughters Sarah (Josie Davis) and Jamie (Nicole Eggert), the latter of whom was also a major pin-up star in the works. Credited as "Scott Vincent Baio," the star directs episodes increasingly often throughout the series, and the family focus gives way to high school and college antics and ultimately bizarre storylines about cults, switched personalities, and an invention that can turn any object into a hotdog. Dream sequences involving costumes and musical numbers become more frequent. Three of the final five episodes are back-door pilots for hilariously counterintuitive spin-offs that didn't go anywhere. None of these are criticisms- as the show goes on it continues to blossom into a gloriously demented mess that is magnitudes more fun and watchable than its more serious-minded contemporaries.

Coasting on star power and silliness, the latter seasons of Charles in Charge are everything we remember fondly about the TV reruns we watched in the late afternoons after school- broad caricatures and crazy scenarios with a hint of teen romance, and a distinct lack of social or educational value.

-Jay, Sitcom Study Podcast