Why Do People Watch These Shows? : A tale of two sitcoms: Audiences often seem to love what the critics hate

We’re the loud, dumb relative who is always invited to come to the family reunion because we’re going to pick up the check.

--Dan Guntzelman, executive producer of the ABC comedy “Growing Pains”

The loud, dumb relative in question is the situation comedy--more specifically, situation comedies like “Growing Pains,” which manage to survive and prosper among the top 10 prime time shows despite unfriendly reviews.

These are the shows people mean when they say, piously: “I never watch television.” The same unseen sitcoms that, somehow, everyone seems mysteriously familiar with (“Well, I caught half of it this once when I was home and the car wouldn’t start and I had the flu and the remote control was stuck”).

People fear coming out of the sitcom-watchers closet so much that it’s not unusual for them to deny their viewing habits, even to themselves. Ask TV viewers what they watch on a national survey and they’ll say “Public Broadcasting,” asserts Alan Wurtzel, ABC’s senior vice president of marketing and research services. “And it’s not that people are lying to you when they say they’re watching PBS--they really think that they’re watching it.”

But despite denials, somebody is watching “Growing Pains,” “Who’s The Boss?” another ABC comedy the critics don’t like) and other--pardon the expression--sitcoms.

Despite its trashing by much of the press, the four-season-old “Growing Pains” ranked No. 5 in last season’s Nielsen ratings and ranks No. 10 this season-to-date. “Who’s The Boss” ended last season in sixth place and ranks No. 7 this season.

Because of their popularity, these shows help pick up the check for prime-time TV. Although once in a while TV may give birth to a show that pulls both top ratings and good reviews (note this season’s newcomer “Roseanne,” the No. 2 prime-time show, and the continuing phenomenon of the nation’s No.1 favorite, “The Cosby Show”), networks rely on the much-derided, though profitable, Top 10 sitcoms to keep themselves afloat. “Growing Pains” and “Who’s The Boss?” help foot the bill for the less lucrative, more costly to produce “thirtysomething,” “China Beach” and “20/20.” They also provide a crucial lead-in to the late evening programs.

In other ways, such shows may be even more valuable than top-rated late-evening comedies such as NBC’s “Cheers” and “Dear John” because they also draw an audience that includes more women and children, who make most of the family’s purchasing decisions and represent TV’s heaviest viewership.

The researchers have their own opinions as to why approximately 30 million people are relaxing with “Growing Pains” and “Who’s The Boss?” each week. But the best way to find out why people watch these shows is to ask the viewers themselves.

Calendar identified some regular watchers of one or both comedies, and asked them to speak frankly about why they want to spend their prime time with the loud, dumb relative.

‘WHO’S THE BOSS?’

According to the network, “a half-hour comedy about a lovable ex-baseball player turned live-in housekeeper; his dynamite ‘boss lady,’ who is an advertising executive; their respective kids, and her mother, as they all share the domestic joys and woes of making an unusual home together in suburban Connecticut.”

From Columbia Pictures Television, it stars former boxer Tony Danza as housekeeper Tony Micelli, Judith Light as executive Angela Bower, Katherine Helmond as Angela’s mother Mona Robinson, Alyssa Milano as Samantha Micelli and Danny Pintauro as Jonathan Bower.

REVIEWS: Indifferent at best. “Pleasantly and forgettably funny,” raved the Washington Post. “Will Mr. Danza’s pectorals be enough to keep this sitcom alive? It probably doesn’t matter,” gushed the New York Times.

The producers declined to be interviewed for this story, not wanting to be lumped in the same category as “Growing Pains.”

THE VIEWERS: Francis O’Connor, 65, of Rancho California, a retired aerospace engineer, used to live in a more remote area where he and his wife kept themselves entertained with a variety of programming brought in with their satellite dish. Now that they live in Rancho California, they no longer have a dish and spend less time with TV.

“Then, I was like a kid in a candy store, I watched 6 or 7 hours a day,” O’Connor said. “Now, it’s 2 or 3 hours. I don’t want to be a captive to anything. In the era of remote control, you can be a channel-switcher real easy.

“I think (‘Boss’) has a pretty good cross-section of age groups, interaction between age groups, and it’s an unusual arrangement--Danza being a housekeeper,” O’Connor continued. “I think there’s enough variety and situation changes, it’s not the kind of show where you end up at the end of the show and say: ‘Who writes this stuff?’ ”

O’Connor prefers shows in which relationships seem realistic, rather than seeing characters either in continual jeopardy or trying too hard for laughs. “I had eight kids, and I don’t see much relationship to what you see (on TV),” he said. “None of them are in jail, they’re making money, they’re married, none of them are on welfare . . . I don’t think I’d want most of the kids on TV to be role models for my children.”

For his own enjoyment, O’Connor looks to Katherine Helmond’s Mona, the cast’s only senior citizen. “She’s a free soul,” he said shyly. “I’m not necessarily that much of a free soul, but I like them” (Mona is also a favorite of 50-year-old Gardena homemaker Kathryn Armstrong, who says: “I pretty much always watch the same channel. Usually Channel 7.”)

While O’Connor likes reality-based plot lines, he also likes situation comedy’s predictably happy endings. “As far as I’m concerned, that’s the real world--people are sensitive to each other, as opposed to everyone being out for themselves.”

Ned V. Collander, 70, who lives “just outside Chino,” has been semi-retired since suffering a stroke 11 years ago, and now does volunteer work to help other “strokees.” “The Tony Danza character, he’s a natural,” he said (he thinks “Growing Pains’ ” Thicke is a natural, too). “Many, many years ago I took a minor in drama, so I admire his ability.” Collander also enjoys the show’s budding romance between the housekeeper and the mistress of the house: “You could say it’s titillating, it’s kind of fun--I enjoy this kind of thing,” he said. “I’m not going to say (the writing) reminds me of Aristotle or Plato or anything else, but it’s fun.”

Rommel Valerio, 25, of West Hollywood, a media secretary for an advertising agency, also likes the unconsummated romance of Tony and Angela. “It’s just like how ‘Moonlighting’ was, it’s like you’re tuned into it while they get together. Plus it’s very funny, very humorous,” he said.

Lori M. Ward, 27, of Simi Valley, who was watching about 10 hours of TV a week when she talked to The Times during a hiatus between jobs (she had just dropped out of a flight attendant’s training course in Miami), said she tunes in to “Boss” because “it’s one of the best shows on the air. Tony Danza, he’s a good actor, I think he’s great, it’s a funny show.” Ronata Longmire, 26, who works in the nutrition center at Holiday Health Spa in Hollywood, started watching the show because she remembered Judith Light from her days as the troubled Karen Wolek on “One Life To Live.” “I like the fact that she is, like, an executive, has a white-collar job. She’s this powerful woman, but she’s sort of dippy,” Longmire said. “They show how excellent she is at her job, but that she’s an imperfect person.”

And Gina Rios, 17, of Highland, a senior at Aquinas Catholic School in Los Angeles, said she watches “Who’s The Boss?” and other family comedies “because since I’m an only child, I don’t have those relationships. It’s neat to see them on TV. It’s what all my friends are going through at home.”