History Series / CharlesInCharge

* SweaterGirl: Some of the ladies that Charles dates.

-->'''Gwendolyn:''' Hello, Buddy. Is that your real name?
-->'''Buddy:''' Oh, that's just what people call me.
-->'''Gwendolyn:''' Oh. Well, what is your real name, then?
-->'''Charles:''' Yeah, Buddy, what is your real name?
-->'''Buddy:''' Buddence.
-->'''Charles:''' (''stifling a chuckle'') Buddence?
-->'''Gwendolyn:''' Well, you don't mind if I just call you Buddy?
-->'''Buddy:''' Well, everyone else does.
-->'''Charles:''' I don't blame them.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
%%* The series also tends to do this when it comes to Adam saying something that Charles incorrectly interprets as something sexual, before Adam explains of what he really meant (usually involving the literal meaning of the word or phrase, not the euphemism).
%%** In the final scene of season two's "Feud for Thought", Jamie and Sarah ask Charles about his date with Dina del Fluvio. Sarah asks what he likes about her; just as Charles tries to answer, Adam says "does the word 'promiscuous' ring a bell?" As the girls walk upstairs, Adam then explains that the word is featured in a sentence within his history lesson: "the Middle Ages were marked by promiscuous violence". Charles remains frazzled, Adam then decides to go upstairs and ask his mother what the word means.
%%** In the final scene of season two's "Dating", Charles answers Adam's question about why people go on dates and then asks him if he has anybody he has a crush on. Adam says he likes his neighbor Marilyn Kelso and that he likes her because she comes across. Adam explains to a puzzled Charles that Marilyn lives on the other side of the street and comes across (walks over to his side of the street) whenever she sees Adam playing out in the yard. Buddy and Charles then decide to go scope out attractive girls who "come across".
%%** 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, she happens to be a pitcher of his school's baseball team. Adam later exclaims that Charles deciphering that he can't score when Anne Louise pitches the baseball is incorrect, he then subverts the usual instance of him meaning something literally on saying "Are you kidding? That's the only time I score". Jamie and Charles promptly run after him.
%%** In the final scene of the season four episode "Walter's War," Adam mentions having slept with Cindy Wilson the night before while visiting at her house; Charles and Buddy misinterpret this as the euphemism for having sex. Although Adam meant this literally, as he explains that the both of them fell asleep while watching ''The Last Emperor'' because they got bored while watching the movie. This inspires Charles and Buddy to rent that same movie and call up some girls to come over and watch so the same thing happens.

* FashionModel: At one point the older daughter Jamie goes to modeling school in hopes of becoming a famous model. Charles tries to convince her that it's a scam, but then it is pointed out to him that she is presenting herself with more composure and deportment, which is a positive, even if the school itself isn't what it makes itself out to be.

* AdvertisedExtra: Even though Sandra Kerns is still credited as a main cast member in the opening credits, She only appears once in Season 4 and twice in Season 5.

-->'''Charles:''' Excuse me, MrWizard. I'd like to spe-- speak to Russell alone for a minute, OK?

* LargeHam: Buddy becomes an UpToEleven version of this by the fifth season.

* HollywoodNerd: Sarah is a slightly watered-down, plain-clothes version of this.

* PantyShot: In one episode, gymnast Julie [=McNamara=] does a cartwheel in a cheerleader skirt.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/charles_in_charge_758.jpg]]

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 1990.

* AbsenteeActor: Sandra Kerns, who plays Ellen Powell, does not appear in most of the episodes during the fourth and fifth seasons, outside of two, when Ellen Travolta joined the cast. This is because when the show left CBS and entered first-run syndication, the show's budget was slashed, and as a result the producers could not afford to have both characters in the same episode.

* SpinOff: The series had two proposed spin-offs, both aired as backdoor pilots towards the end of season five (neither 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 sister Sally, which is in danger of closing.
** "Fair Exchange" was also a BackDoorPilot for a proposed spin-off that was to have revolved around the family of Jamie, Sarah and Adam's young cousins (which included Jamie's identical cousin Amanda, played by Jamie's portrayer Nicole Eggert) takes in a foreign exchange student from Romania. In the episode, Sarah travels to Albuquerque to visit their cousins in place of Jamie.
** The episode "Last Resort" focused on Buddy's cousin (played by a blonde Willie Aames) working at a hotel in Hawaii and dealing with a wacky staff and even wackier guests.

* 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]]:
-->'''Lillian's voice:''' Haven't you ever wondered why you have no last name?

--->'''Buddy''' (misinterpreting "illiterate" for "illegitimate"): Hey, come on, big guy. [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Just because your mom and dad weren't married....]] (beat) doesn't mean you can't put out a fire, OK?
--->'''Charles:''' Excuse me, MrWizard. I'd like to spe-- speak to Russell alone for a minute, OK?
--->'''Buddy:" Oh, sure. The minute the subject turns to s-e-x, I have to leave the room.

--->'''Lillian's voice:''' Haven't you ever wondered why you have no last name?

* TheUnseen: Adam's friend Kevin Holloway, and Jamie's popular and gossipy classmate (who can't keep a secret at all) Marcy Crawford are mentioned frequently during the syndication but never seen.
* WackyGuy: Buddy.

* [[AnnoyingYoungerSibling Annoying Younger Brother]]: Douglas in the CBS run.
** Adam in the syndicated incarnation, to Jamie and sometimes Sarah.

* DropInCharacter: Buddy.

* {{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.
* [[GirlOfTheWeek Girl or Guy of the Week]]: Most of the characters, except for the parents of Charles' charges, has had at least a couple of these.

* The series also tends to do this when it comes to Adam saying something that Charles incorrectly interprets as something sexual, before Adam explains of what he really meant (usually involving the literal meaning of the word or phrase, not the euphemism).
** In the final scene of season two's "Feud for Thought", Jamie and Sarah ask Charles about his date with Dina del Fluvio. Sarah asks what he likes about her; just as Charles tries to answer, Adam says "does the word 'promiscuous' ring a bell?" As the girls walk upstairs, Adam then explains that the word is featured in a sentence within his history lesson: "the Middle Ages were marked by promiscuous violence". Charles remains frazzled, Adam then decides to go upstairs and ask his mother what the word means.
** In the final scene of season two's "Dating", Charles answers Adam's question about why people go on dates and then asks him if he has anybody he has a crush on. Adam says he likes his neighbor Marilyn Kelso and that he likes her because she comes across. Adam explains to a puzzled Charles that Marilyn lives on the other side of the street and comes across (walks over to his side of the street) whenever she sees Adam playing out in the yard. Buddy and Charles then decide to go scope out attractive girls who "come across".
** 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, she happens to be a pitcher of his school's baseball team. Adam later exclaims that Charles deciphering that he can't score when Anne Louise pitches the baseball is incorrect, he then subverts the usual instance of him meaning something literally on saying "Are you kidding? That's the only time I score". Jamie and Charles promptly run after him.
** In the final scene of the season four episode "Walter's War," Adam mentions having slept with Cindy Wilson the night before while visiting at her house; Charles and Buddy misinterpret this as the euphemism for having sex. Although Adam meant this literally, as he explains that the both of them fell asleep while watching ''The Last Emperor'' because they got bored while watching the movie. This inspires Charles and Buddy to rent that same movie and call up some girls to come over and watch so the same thing happens.

* HormoneAddledTeenager: Jamie Powell is this to some degree, in terms of her love interests.

* IvyLeagueForEveryone

* 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]]).

''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).

* CurseCutShort: Through the series as had instances of the word "hell" (as a pejorative term) scattered through various episodes, as a family show, it has avoided using other profanities, as evidenced by these two instances of GettingCrapPastTheRadar:

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: In "The Egg and Us," Buddy's grandmother Gloria tries to explain how she met Walter, which leads to this exchange:
--->'''Gloria:''' Only one thing happened that night and it wasn't romantic.
--->'''Buddy:''' Oh, no. It was pure sex?
** In "Judge Lest Not Ye Beheaded", Sarah explains to Adam why she is choosing to enter a beauty contest (even though she objects to them) being held at the Yesterday Cafe.
--->'''Sarah:''' I just entered the stupid beauty contest to blow the top off it.
--->'''Adam:''' Great, I love a topless beauty contest.
** Seconds later, Sarah threatens to Adam that she will tell Walter about "that stash of girlie magazines" hidden under Adam's mattress if he breathes a word to anyone about her reasons in entering the contest.
** In season five's "Brain Man", Charles and Buddy become paid volunteers for a psychic research study on extrasensory perception. Later on, Buddy asks Ms. Spelling, the attractive blonde proctor of the test that if she really does have ESP to read his mind and tell him what he's thinking. Three seconds later, she promptly slaps him in the face, implying that she discovered Buddy was thinking some sexual thoughts about her.
** Also from that episode, when Buddy takes an 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.
** Towards the end of "The Organization Man," Buddy uses Charles' ridiculously intuitive electronic organizer My Little Winner to find out what Buddy and the girl he tutored, Mike Lewis, would do later that night, Mike looks at the organizer in disgust and slaps Buddy in the face, implying something clearly sexual. In the next scene, Buddy volunteers to help out at the Yesterday Cafe, but when he says that he could entertain Walter with My Little Winner (referring to the organizer), Walter gets the wrong idea:
--->'''Buddy:''' I just wanted you to know I'd be more than happy to stay until closing if you need me.
--->'''Walter:''' For what?
--->'''Buddy:''' I could entertain you.
--->'''Walter:''' Lembeck, how in the world could you entertain me?
--->'''Buddy:''' [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything I'll show you]] [[DoubleEntendre My Little Winner]].
--->'''Walter:''' Get out! Out, I say! Get out! Out!
** Walter throwing Buddy out results in the other young people in the diner leaving as well (Walter issued an ultimatum to all the diner's patrons earlier in the episode, to act with decorum or go home, which led to everyone leaving).