Showing posts with label charles in charge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label charles in charge. Show all posts

Counter Point: Charles in Charge

By Jake


In response to this post. Read it first.

My only issue with Glenn is that he clearly believe that Charles in Charge is at least a two star show. I, like you, have watched episodes of CiC from Netflix under the watch instantly option. I would never buy the dvds, nor would I have them sent to my house (because I want to maintain the respect of the mail person). Yet, I find the show decent and fairly funny. It's at least as funny as post-Suzanne Summers Three's Company, if not funnier.



Season One is not great, due to the lack of parenting skills of the Pembrooks, as they rely on Charles to practically raise their children. Their complete lack of parental skills is befuddling. They must have killed at least as many children as Susan Smith before Charles entered their lives, like a sexed up Mary Poppins (Mary Poppin' Boners, perhaps).

At the beginning of season two, when Charles returns to the familiar house, he finds that the Pembrooks have moved away because the father has gotten a job in Seattle (or another irrelevant city on the West Coast). In their place is a new family, the Powells.

The Pembrooks have worked a deal out with the Powells so that Charles can maintain his job as nanny (and his role in the sitcom). The Powells are the crotchety grandpa Walter (a war vet), Mrs. Ellen Powell, her son Adam and her two daughters, Sarah and Jamie. Mrs. Powell's husband is a military man and is on a military base somewhere. Thus, leaving the perfect opportunity for Charles to take care of yet another family.

This time things are a bit different. Charles object of affection from season one, Gwendolyn Pierce (which I will name my band), is all but an after though as Charles and his best friend, Buddy, are on the hunt for some grade A trim. Charles must maintain his career as a nanny at the same time as his never ending search for pussy. This causes many comedic situations.

Mrs. Powell, along with the help of Walter (her husband's father), are pretty capable of taking care of the children. They need Charles more as a baby sitter, rather than a secondary parent. Grandpa has to constantly go to his veterans lodge and Mrs. Powell has a career. This leaves Charles time to penetrate vaginas and take care of the children.

I gave Charles in Charge three stars (out of five) and I will stand by that until the day I die.

Charles in Charge

By Glenn

Netflix has a service now where instead of just obtaining DVDs through the mail, you can watch what would OTHERWISE be DVDs online using your computer. They call this service "Watch Instantly" without a hint of irony.



When I was in California visiting my sister I had a moment of extreme vulnerability that led me to start watching Charles in Charge. I started with the very first episode of season 1 and didn't stop until I got tired roughly two hours later. There was a VERY funny line in the pilot episode and I've definitely laughed out loud - as an adult - at different parts of the show, but overall I knew that this affair had to end.

Because Netflix makes future recommendations and immediate character judgments based on what movies/shows you rate highly and what you watch, I started getting a lot of recommendations based on these several episodes of Charles in Charge and it wasn't looking good. Gone were the helpful suggestions of Ghost World, Hotel Rwanda and Land Before Time - replaced with UNhelpful suggestions of Waterworld, Hotel for Dogs and Land Before Time IX. Hotel for Dogs isn't even in theatres yet and already Netflix was telling me I couldn't watch any movies until I saw it.

So I decide to go to the Charles in Charge DVD page and rate one of the discs 1 star. That means I "Hated It." What a lie. The only things I hate about Charles in Charge is the low quality of the writing, poor acting, and heavy religious imagery of the third season.

I know I'll never really come to terms with my betrayal of the show, but writing about it helps. It all actually reminds me of the episode where Buddy wants Charles to rate a movie poorly because it will impress the editor of the school newspaper and Charles feels conflicted because he actually liked the movie. It only gets more complicated when Charles finds out that Grandpa Powell absolutely hates the movie but Sarah owns stock in the production company that made it. In the end Charles kills himself instead of reviewing the movie.