History Series / CharlesInCharge

** In the series finale, "Charles Be DeMille," Scott Baio wakes up from a dream that he was the star of a weekly TV series (sound familiar?). He then hears the voices of the rest of the cast, informing him that ItWasAllADream, but that he could get back into it by closing his eyes and saying "I don't wanna wake up." When he does, the rest of the cast (in-character) reappear on the living room set.

* GrandFinale: "Charles Be DeMille", [[spoiler:the plot involves Charles directing a variety show fundraiser involving the Powell children, only to back out in order to prepare for a test to get into Princeton University; he ultimately gets accepted into the school, resulting in his departure as the Powell children's caretaker]].

* NoNameGiven: The last name of Charles and his mother is never revealed throughout the series. It even has lent itself to an occasional gag in which Charles is about to reveal his full name, only to be cut off before mentioning his surname. This was [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in the final episode, "Charles Be DeMille", when Scott Baio realizes that [[ItWasAllADream he dreamt the entire in-series universe]]:

In 1986, a year after CBS cancelled the series following its first season due to insufficient ratings to earn a sophomore season, largely due to being pummeled in the ratings against ''Series/HighwayToHeaven'' on Creator/{{NBC}}, Universal revived the series for FirstRunSyndication through their own domestic television division, relaunching in 1987.

->''"The new boy in the neighborhood, Lives downstairs and it's understood. He’s there just to take good care of me, like he’s one of the family. [...] And I sing, I want, I want Charles in Charge of me!"'' -- [[ExpositoryThemeTune The show's theme song, written by Michael Jacobs, David Kurtz and Al Burton]]

--->'''Charles:''' Yeah, Buddy, what is your real name?

* {{Flanderization}} Buddy Lembeck; he starts out as a quasi-BookDumb guy who thinks more about girls than studying, but as the series goes on, Buddy's intelligence substantially decreases, seemingly [[TookALevelInDumbass Taking Several Levels in Dumbass]] to the extent of virtually becoming TooDumbToLive.

In 1986, a year after CBS cancelled the series following its first season due to insufficient ratings to earn a sophomore season, Universal Television (then owned by MCA) partnered with series co-creator Michael Jacobs (later known for co-creating ''Series/MyTwoDads'', ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}'' and most notably, ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'' and its later sequel series ''Series/GirlMeetsWorld'') and original production companies Scholastic Productions and Al Burton Productions to revive the series for FirstRunSyndication, relaunching in 1987.

** In the season three episode, "Berkling Up is Hard to Do," Sarah tries to help a nervous Adam with his issues fitting in in junior high and being the smallest kid in school, an inversion of something Sarah has dealt with, as she is taller than most of the kids ("including the boys", Sarah's words exactly) in ''her'' junior high school class; Adam exclaims to Charles his interpretation that Sarah has volunteered to pound on anyone who picks on him. Charles then gives Sarah his own reinterpretation of the phrase "guys don't make passes at girls in molasses":

The show was then retooled for the second season, with only Baio and Aames returning; five new cast members were added (Sandra Kerns as married mother-of-three Ellen Powell, whose husband was serving in the Navy; James T. Callahan as Walter Powell, a gruff but well-meaning war veteran and grandfather of the three Powell kids; Nicole Eggert as Jamie Powell, the popular, boy crazy eldest child; Josie Davis as smart but self-conscious Sarah Powell; and Alexander Polinsky as Adam Powell, the youngest child and only boy of the three Powell offspring). It was during the syndication run that Buddy's [[CharacterizationMarchesOn personality begins to change]], increasingly [[TookALevelInDumbass decreasing in intelligence]] to the point of being TooDumbToLive. In later seasons, Ellen Travolta joined the cast as Charles' vivacious, supportive and fairly wise mom, Lillian. The show's primary setting remained in the house inhabited by the Pembrokes, who leased the house to the Powells after the Pembrokes "moved to UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}}" in the season two premiere "Amityville". The show became successful under its new syndicated format, and ran for five additional seasons, ending in 1991.

* ThemeTuneCameo: The theme song, as heard in the opening credits, appears twice in the series finale, "Charles Be DeMille": first when Buddy and the Powell kids say goodbye to Charles [[spoiler: after he announces he is leaving to go to Princeton University]], and again during a panning shot of the studio audience singing along to the theme during the closing credits (neither time did the theme get played in its entirety[[note]]The entire theme, which was performed by Shandi Sinnamon, lasts 56 seconds but was cut to about 40 and 30 seconds respectively when it was played in the two scenes.[[/note]]).

* AttractiveBentGender: Averted in "Still at Large." A female teacher of Jamie's [[spoiler: who turns out to be a fugitive on the run for committing arson in the 1970s]] tells Charles, who with Buddy, were dressed in drag, that he's "a good looking man," but "an ugly woman."* BeautifulAllAlong: Enid in the episode "A Date with Enid".

* AnAesop: In addition to giving advice (which, most of the time, is pretty sound), Charles occasionally drops life lessons to his charges; these instances, in a sense, make him TheObiWan of the show.

** In "La Cage Aux Fools," Sarah, Jamie and Adam wear costumes to go see the ''RockyHorrorPictureShow''[[note]]Charles was supposed to take them, since neither could go to the R-rated film without an adult, but he and Buddy ended up trapped in a cage after Buddy stated to Sarah that Charles would protest of animal testing at Copeland College by locking himself in the cage[[/note]]. Jamie wears a maid's outfit, which for the most part is rather conservative, other than the fact it came with garterbelt hosiery (visible only by the straps that are visible in the short distance between the costume's skirt and the hose).

* MonochromeCasting: All of the main cast members in the series are Caucasian. In addition, very few actors of other ethnicities have appeared on the show, among those that have had guest roles include Black actors [[TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody Phill Lewis]], who played Bernie in the episode "Buddy Flips a Disc" and Jeff Robie, who played Sid (the manager of Sid's Pizza Parlor, which was originally owned by his father, before Lillian purchased it later that season) in a couple of season two episodes.

** Buddy addressing people he knows with "(person's name), [[CaptainObvious It's me, Buddy]]" (and one time, "It's me, Buddence").

* WhyDoYouKeepChangingJobs: Ben Stein pops up as Stanley Willard, an ObstructiveBureaucrat in various settings, who first appears in season two's "The Loan Arranger"[[note]]In which Charles' student loans are up for renewal, leading him to worry he won't be granted an extension and be forced to drop out of school and resign from his job[[/note]]. [[spoiler:In his penultimate appearance in the season five episode "Daffy Doc," it is revealed that Stanley is a mental patient, as he "mentally promoted himself right out of reality" to jobs he couldn't get promoted to quickly enough on his own merits.]]

->''"The new boy in the neighborhood, Lives downstairs and it's understood. He’s there just to take good care of me, like he’s one of the family. [...] And I sing, I want, I want Charles in Charge of me!"'' --[[ExpositoryThemeTune The theme written by David Kurtz, Michael Jacobs, & Al Burton]]

In 1986, a year after CBS cancelled the series following its first season due to insufficient ratings to earn a sophomore season, Universal Television (then owned by MCA) partnered with series co-creator Michael Jacobs (later known for co-creating ''Series/MyTwoDads'', ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}'' and most notably, ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'') and original production companies Scholastic Productions and Al Burton Productions to revive the series for FirstRunSyndication, relaunching in 1987.

The delivery man suddenly reveals his ''American'' accent and asks Charles not to hassle him. He then invokes the Engrish accent again when Lila comes down for her study date (the reason why the food was ordered in the first place) all dressed up:

* ActingForTwo: Ellen Travolta played Charles' mother Lillian and her character's own sisters Vanessa and Sally in separate episodes; however, neither character appeared on-screen at the same time.
** Nicole Eggert played Jamie Powell and her cousin Amanda in the episode "Fair Exchange", again both characters never appeared in the episode in the same scenes.

* NoNameGiven: The last name of Charles and his mother is never revealed throughout the series. It even has lent itself to an occasional gag in which Charles is about to reveal his full name, only to be cut off before mentioning his surname. This was [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in the final episode ("Did you ever wonder why he had no last name?").

* OneHeadTaller: A combination gender-flipped and same-gender example with Sarah, Jamie and Adam.

** Australian pop singer Samantha Fox, portrayed Samantha Steele, who Charles becomes involved with [[spoiler: before finding out she's married, which turns out to be a fake story to create publicity and controversy]] in "Paper Covers Rock".
* SpinOff: The series had three proposed spin-offs, all three aired as backdoor pilots towards the end of season five (none being picked up to series) and fell under the trope PoorlyDisguisedPilot. Each featured a main cast member playing a new character:
** The backdoor pilot for the proposed ''Almost Family'' had Charles travel to visit the car wash owned by Lillian's look-alike sister Sally (played by Ellen Travolta), which is in danger of closing.

** Also ''Series/{{Jessie}}'' on Creator/DisneyChannel being a DistaffCounterpart, which was created by Pamela Eells O'Connell.

* {{Uncanceled}}
* UnnecessaryMakeover: In-universe, in "The Boy Who Loved Woman", Sarah gives herself a makeover to try and win the affections of a boy named Mark who Jamie ends up asking out without realizing that Sarah is already interested in, modeling herself after Jamie; the impetus for this, Jamie inferring that it isn't fair for Sarah to compete with her for guys since they would more often pick Jamie. When Mark arrives, he asks Sarah why she looks weird. Charles helps her realize that [[JustTheWayYouAre she is smarter, more sensitive and warmer than Jamie is]], which is why Mark was interested in her. Then Jamie walks in, leaving him to clarify that both sisters have their own great qualities. It turns out that Mark only asked Jamie out beacuse of her looks, and because Sarah was busy the night before, it turns out that he was more interested in Sarah.

''Charles In Charge'' was a DomCom that starred Scott Baio as a college-age "nanny" to the children of the families he lived with in New Brunswick, New Jersey. It debuted in 1984 in Creator/{{CBS}}, with the original premise of Charles being employed by the Pembrokes, headed by working parents Jill and Stan (the parents were played by Julie Cobb and eventual sitcom director James Widdoes) who hired a caretaker to handle their kids due to their work schedules – teenage daughter Lila (April Lerman), smart middle brother Douglas (Jonathan Ward) and youngest child Jason (Michael Pearlman).

The show was then retooled for the second season, with only Baio and Aames returning; five new cast members were added (Sandra Kerns as married mother-of-three Ellen Powell, whose husband was serving in the Navy; James T. Callahan as Walter Powell, a gruff but well-meaning war veteran and grandfather of the three Powell kids; Nicole Eggert as Jamie Powell, the popular, boy crazy eldest child; Josie Davis as smart but self-conscious Sarah Powell; and Alexander Polinsky as Adam Powell, the youngest child and only boy of the three Powell offspring). It was during the syndication run that Buddy's [[CharacterizationMarchesOn personality begins to change]], increasingly [[TookALevelInDumbass decreasing in intelligence]] to the point of being TooDumbToLive. In later seasons, Ellen Travolta joined the cast as Charles' mom, Lillian. The show's primary setting remained in the house inhabited by the Pembrokes, who leased the house to the Powells after the Pembrokes "moved to UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}}" in the season two premiere "Amityville". The show became successful under its new syndicated format, and ran for five additional seasons, ending in 1991.

* AttractiveBentGender: Averted in "Still at Large." A female teacher tells Charles that he's "a good looking man," but "an ugly woman."

* CanCrushingCranium: In the case of Buddy, it is averted in the episode "Judge Lest Not Ye Beheaded," Buddy takes out a coconut from a bag from a bag of coconuts. He smashes it on his forehead, and ends up knocking himself unconscious.

* CatchPhrase: Charles' "You had to (something that results in some sort of foul-up), didn't you?!", which is more often said to Buddy but occasionally said to other characters.

** Buddy addressing people he knows with "(person's name), [[CaptainObvious It's me, Buddy]]".
** Buddy's "Heeeeelp me, Heeeeelp me!" cry in the final couple of seasons.

** The final scene of "The Undergraduate," features Jamie asking Charles to explain to Adam about girls. Adam told Jamie that every time he tries to score on a girl named Anne Louise Harmon and keeps striking out, who happens to be a pitcher of his school baseball team. Adam later exclaims that Charles deciphering that he can't score when Anne Louise pitches the baseball is incorrect, saying "Are you kidding? That's the only time I score". Jamie and Charles promptly run after him.

--->'''Buddy:''' [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything I'll show you My Little Winner]].

** In "Brain Man", when Buddy takes and ESP test and gets all the answers right:
--->'''Miss Pelling:''' Buddy, you have an enormous gift.
--->'''Buddy:''' Thanks but how am I doing on the ESP.
** Later in the same episode, Charles wants to sleep with a girl named Lily (named after the flower) and Buddy uses his ESP to predict that the blossoming flower will open its petals to a young stallion.

Charles held the responsibility of handling his charges' problems, often finding ways to fix them before the episode's end; even still, the children/teenagers he takes care of sometimes are quick to overreact when a plan of Charles to help them goes wrong. When the series originally aired on CBS, the show debuted the same season as another DomCom about a man employed by a family, ''WhosTheBoss'' (although that series featured a male housekeeper instead of a male nanny). In turn, he attempted to balance a normal social life alongside his college courses and role as a live-in caretaker. His best friend was Buddence "Buddy" Lembeck (Willie Aames), a girl-crazy underachiever; Charles' love interest in the series was the fair-haired Gwendolyn Pierce (Jennifer Runyon).

In 1986, a year after CBS cancelled the series following its first season due to insufficient ratings to earn a sophomore season, Universal Television (then owned by MCA) partnered with series co-creator Michael Jacobs (later known for creating ''MyTwoDads'', ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}'' and most notably, ''BoyMeetsWorld'') and original production companies Scholastic Productions and Al Burton Productions to revive the series for FirstRunSyndication, relaunching in 1987.

The show was then retooled for the second season, with only Baio and Aames returning; five new cast members were added (Sandra Kerns as married mother-of-three Ellen Powell, whose husband was serving in the Navy; James T. Callahan as Walter Powell, a gruff but well-meaning war veteran and grandfather of the three Powell kids; Nicole Eggert as Jamie Powell, the popular, boy crazy eldest child; Josie Davis as smart but self-conscious Sarah Powell; and Alexander Polinsky as Adam Powell, the youngest child and only boy of the three Powell offspring). It was during the syndication run that Buddy's [[CharacterizationMarchesOn personality begins to change]], increasingly [[TookALevelInDumbass decreasing in intelligence]] to the point of being TooDumbToLive. The show's primary setting remained in the house inhabited by the Pembrokes, who leased the house to the Powells after the Pembrokes "moved to UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}}" in the season two premiere "Amityville". The show became successful under its new syndicated format, and ran for five additional seasons, ending in 1991.

* AbsenteeActor: Sandra Kerns, who plays Ellen Powell, does not appear in most of the episodes during the fourth and fifth seasons, outside of two; however, Kerns is also absent from a few second and third season episodes.

->''"Charles in Charge, of our days and our nights!"''

* TheOtherDarrin: Julie Cobb played Jill Pembroke during the first season but when her character returned in the second season premiere to explain why the Pembrokes were moving away she was played by Lisa Donovan.

** The NickAtNite DomCom ''Series/SeeDadRun'' is a Spiritual Successor to ''Charles in Charge'' in that both feature Scott Baio as someone finding themselves in a new role as a father figure.

* Paranormal Episode: The episode "U.F. Oh No" focuses on Adam believing that he spotted a UFO; Charles is originally skeptical about it, until he sees one for himself out the kitchen window later in the episode; Jamie, Walter, Adam and Sarah also see the object. [[spoiler: It turns out that Buddy simulated the UFO as part of a college psychology project to see how people would react to the existence of seeing one, the only issue is that the UFO that Charles saw two nights before wasn't Buddy's creation.]]

In 1986, a year after CBS cancelled the series following its first season due to insufficient ratings to earn a sophomore season, Universal Television (then owned by MCA) partnered with series co-creator Michael Jacobs (later known for creating ''MyTwoDads'', ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}'' and most notably, ''BoyMeetsWorld'') and original production company Scholastic Productions to revive the series for FirstRunSyndication, relaunching in 1987.

Charles held the responsibility of handling his charges' problems, often finding ways to fix them before the episode's end; even still, the children/teenagers he takes care of sometimes are quick to overreact when a plan of Charles to help them goes wrong. When the series originally aired on CBS, the show debuted the same season as another DomCom about a man employed by a family Who'sTheBoss (although that series featured a male housekeeper instead of a male nanny). In turn, he attempted to balance a normal social life alongside his college courses and role as a live-in caretaker. His best friend was Buddence "Buddy" Lembeck (Willie Aames), a girl-crazy underachiever; Charles' love interest in the series was the fair-haired Gwendolyn Pierce (Jennifer Runyon).