MovieChat Forums > Who's the Boss? (1984) Discussion > Why were there shows about Male Babysitt...

Why were there shows about Male Babysitters In The 80's ????

posted 14 years ago by FloatingOpera7
33 replies | jump to latest

Who's The Boss - Tony Danza as a man babysitter/nanny/housekeeper.

Mr. Belvedere - combination butler, housekeeper/ male nanny.

Charles In Charge - young man taking care of a family's children.

What is this about ? LOL Guys, men, males, do not work as baby sitters or nannies, and they didn't do it in the 80's and don't do it today or ever have. I don't know of any male nanny. It was very unrealistic. I love those shows but I never gave it a thought back then as a kid watching these shows in the 80's. These were "realistic" comedies set in the real world back then to me but looking back now that I am a very grown adult I find the premise of the shows as being totally untrue to real life.

I love the cute charm of 80's shows- loved Small Wonder as a kid, loved seeing Mr Belvedere, loved seeing Facts of Life, Cosby Show, Family Ties, etc but they were far from realistic. They were cutsey wootsey shows about happy families without really delving into dark issues or problems when you compare them to today's more real-based shows I don't like today's TV and do prefer 80's shows but really they were unrealistic.

Guys simply cannot hope to get a job as a babysitter. It's always been a female job. Women are hired as babysitters and housekeepers not men.

[–] stud-kickass 10 years ago

A big premise of Growing Pains was also that the dad was at home and the mom was out of the house for work.

Full House, at least at first, was a show about three single guys raising three girls.

You had movies back then like Three Men and a Baby.

I don't know why, but for some reason, people loved seeing guys do traditionally female chores in the 80's.. The big movie stars of the time were larger than life super macho action heroes (Arnold, Stallone, etc) so maybe people just liked seeing the contrast of seeing guys do "feminine" things

[–] mikeflw1 10 years ago

Just a stray thought here...

Wasn't it in the 1970's that the Woody Allen movies were so popular?
You know, the ones with the neurotic, wimpy, incompetent men. Do you remember Woody fleeing from the lobster that escaped getting put into the cooking pot?

Given that was the other choice to the Rambo, Conan, Dirty Harry, Mad Max, etc., the inexperienced, but loving and decent guys must have been a real plus.

[–] Redart27 8 years ago

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[–] DarTobor (4881) 3 years ago

I was just thinking about it and Who's the Boss? and Charles in Charge had the same basic premise, and Danza and Baio are the same basic person.

[–] Theman (1154) 2 years ago

I was a male babysitter in the 80s and 90s. Later I became an Infantryman.

[–] Mustang (5391) a year ago

It was a big thing in the 80's the whole Sensitive New Age Guy thing. It was about trying to get men to take on women's roles and women to do the corporate job. Needless to say it didn't really work.

[–] Kowalski (70450) a year ago

I HAVE RAISED MY DAUGHTER FOR THE LAST 15 YEARS...SHE TELLS HER FRIENDS HOW COOL I AM...GUYS CAN RAISE/WATCH CHILDREN JUST AS WELL AS WOMEN IF THEY ARE COMMITTED.