View Full Version : What was up with the Season 8 gag "Tony has a bad haircut"?


Novera
11-14-2020, 03:37 PM
For the first few eps of season 8, there is a running gag about Tony getting a bad haircut.

This always felt strange/very forced and his hair didn't look that bad. What do you guys think this was about? I wonder if he actually got a bad haircut and they couldn't fix it, so they wrote it into the show.

It just seems like a strange thing to do, purposely cut his hair bad for a running joke that isn't that funny/doesn't mesh with his character. It's not like he was a vain guy who obsessed over his hair (like Uncle Jesse on Full House), so this never made sense to me.

Attached is what he looked like after taking his hat off (saying "I just got the worst haircut of my life")

Wawwie
11-14-2020, 10:30 PM
His hair looks OK to me. I don't get it.

Novera
11-15-2020, 03:23 PM
His hair looks OK to me. I don't get it.

Yeah I agree, just looks like a normal short quasi buzz-cut. Plus at this time (autumn 1991) it was really common for tv actors to have a similar hairstyle. Like on the Hogan Family, Dave had Tony Danza-ish hair, and had the same short haircut in the last season... actually they also acknowledged it on the show. In the first ep where his hair was short, they shoe horn in a line from his friend about how he got his haircut.

Bonniegirl
11-15-2020, 03:45 PM
Tony would still be hot regardless of how his hair looks. :):DBut I think it looks fine there, not a bad haircut at all !:confused:

Novera
11-15-2020, 07:25 PM
Tony would still be hot regardless of how his hair looks. :):DBut I think it looks fine there, not a bad haircut at all !:confused:

AGREED! I just rewatched the series and right up to season 8 he has abs and a cut muscular body (he was in his 40s at that point) which is very impressive. I remember a lot of moms loving the show when I was growing up in the 80s.. in hindsight I can see why :D

TVFactFan
11-21-2020, 07:08 PM
What season did he start to cut his hair? they are on season 3 now and he still has the long hair


Im guessing it was the start of the 90? season 6

Novera
11-22-2020, 04:57 PM
What season did he start to cut his hair? they are on season 3 now and he still has the long hair
Im guessing it was the start of the 90? season 6

Yeah it's actually the last season 8 (fall 1991). Before that he has the classic 70s danza hair most of the time. Occasionally the cleaned up the sides (mid 80s look) but it seems like they decided his classic 70s danza hair looked best on him.

TVFactFan
11-22-2020, 05:01 PM
Yeah it's actually the last season 8 (fall 1991). Before that he has the classic 70s danza hair most of the time. Occasionally the cleaned up the sides (mid 80s look) but it seems like they decided his classic 70s danza hair looked best on him.

So the clip with him dancing with the vacum in the opening credits is season 8?

Novera
11-22-2020, 06:30 PM
So the clip with him dancing with the vacum in the opening credits is season 8?

"Occasionally they cleaned up the sides (mid 80s look)"

zombi2
12-31-2020, 03:02 PM
He looked better that way. Ironically the real "bad haircut" I think was the prior season. The episode where him and Angela go on vacation it was like a shaggy dog.

'80sSitcoms
01-06-2021, 12:51 PM
Yeah, that's weird, and I never got it either. He looks great there. I guess the joke is maybe it's "the worst" because of how short they cut it? But yeah, it falls flat because it backfires. It doesn't look bad at all.

TMC
02-04-2022, 12:02 AM
He looked better that way. Ironically the real "bad haircut" I think was the prior season. The episode where him and Angela go on vacation it was like a shaggy dog.

I'm assuming that Tony Danza's "bad haircut" was for the made for TV movie Dead and Alive: The Race for Gus Farace (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101677/).

opus
07-25-2024, 04:31 PM
I always thought the thing was that Tony Danza got what some thought was a bad haircut at the time, maybe even Tony himself, and they just incorporated it into the show.

TVFactFan
07-25-2024, 10:37 PM
The 90's look

Codename-Bluebird
08-01-2024, 01:07 PM
I always assumed he had to have his hair cut for a movie or something, so on WTB they thought they needed to address the drastic change with jokes? it was pretty weird that they made such a thing out of it.