Charles in Charge

This was one of my favorite shows growing up! It's still one of my favorites now! I watch it all the time on Nick at Nite. I have seen some of the episodes from the 1st. season, but I have to admit that I watched the show in syndication, so I grew up seeing the Powell family. However, the Pembrokes were great too. I'm especially thankful for the "Amityville" episode which explained why Charles was set up with a new family and kept continuity intact. Charles is cool, but Buddy is the best! Anyway, the show rules! (no matter what season)

Charles in Charge is a show about a college student who becomes a live-in helper for the Pembroke family, consisting of mom and dad, teenager Lily, middle schooler Douglas, and 10-year-old Jason. From the second season on to the last one, Charles switches families and stays with the Powells, as the Pembrokes are moving to Seattle. The reason for this is because Charles in Charge originally ran in 1984 for the first season and was cancelled. However, it was revived in syndication from 1987-1990 and on the first episode of the 2nd. season, it is explained that while Buddy and Charles were on a camping trip, Mr. Pembroke got transferred from his job in Pennslyvania to Seattle, Washington. Mrs. Pembroke and Jason both show up in the episode to explain things to Charles and to say goodbye. From then on, the Powells are the new family who have leased the house and they also maintain Charles' services. Charles now has to contend with Grandpa, Mom Powell, (Dad is away in the Navy), teenager Jamie, middle schooler Sarah, and 10-year-old Adam. The Pembrokes and Powells are definitely not totally the same but there are some similarities.

In any case, I have seen some of the first season as well as the later seasons and they are all good. Buddy is the best. He is so crazy and hilarious. He and Charles are such good friends and have great times, dating girls and keeping everything at the household under control. It's great. Charles in Charge rules!

Scott Baio after Happy Days concluded its run was lucky enough to grab this second series which gave him quite a few more years in front of the American television viewing public. Lucky because the whole cast revamped in the second season except for Baio and Willie Aames.

Charles In Charge's most current series that is like it is Jessie from the Disney Channel. He's a college student who pays his tuition as a live in Au Pere for a family with three kids. The first season the family was the Pembrokes, but for some reason the family never clicked with the public. So in the second season Baio comes back from summer vacation and finds a whole new family moved in with three kids, two girls and a boy of roughly the same ages and he has to make a case to be hired by the newly arrived Powell family. He does in that first episode and the run for seven years was assured.

The only other regular kept on was Aames who played Buddy Lembeck, Charles best friend who provided most of the comedy. In Eight Is Enough Aames was your all American kid, here he's your all American doofus. I mean who else orders patio furniture without a patio, that was the level of comedy Aames provided, but he was funny.

Like Jessie, Charles was always around with some good advice and ever ready to solve the problems of the Powell kids. Ellen Travolta was in several episodes toward the end and we learned she called him 'doodlebug' as pet name. That didn't help with discipline.

Charles In Charge was a clean wholesome show that had some good comedy and some sound advice for living as well.

Charles in Charge had one of the greatest premises for a sitcom ever: that grownups really DO understand, that they are human and fallible, yet reliable and caring. I have come to identify with the noble notion that as adults, we all have a responsibility to help the youth in our community through the rough spots in their lives. I found it excruciatingly ironic that Josie Davis, despite playing a role that revolved around "the beauty within," felt like the "ugly sister."

Several people have commented that the Jaimie character was their first crush, but I always thought Josie Davis was hands down the more beautiful of the two. Having seen her since on 90210, I gotta say, "YOWZA!" Was I right or what? Inner beauty rocks, and Josie's got it inside and out!

I rented this series for my 11 year old daughter to watch with me,as I had loved it when I was a kid and it was on first-run. I'm happy to say that she loves it, too. It's a wholesome show for kids to watch that is amusing and has a good moral to every show. I find it very refreshing to watch, and enjoy it myself, even after all these years. It's hard to find shows for my daughter to watch that aren't filled with sexual references, even when the show is supposed to be aimed at kids. Yes, the show is dated a bit, but if you're looking for a fun, entertaining, wholesome show for your kids to watch that hasn't been shown to rerun death already on TV, this is the show for you.