TMC
04-03-2023, 01:40 AM
At least according to this one particular blog post (http://zvbxrpl.blogspot.com/2004/07/things-that-suck-charles-in-charge.html):
A really bad theme song that belongs to no apparent genre of music
A hero played by a guy who was added to Happy Days several years after it had already begun to suck (Scott Baio)
The hero's dumb buddy, named, appropriately enough, Buddy. Buddy Lembeck, to be accurate. Among people of a certain age, the name "Buddy Lembeck" is kind of a magic incantation inducing laughter, a symbol of the worst in sitcoms, of a character so dumb you can barely tell how he breathes, of a perpetually fishy stare, of bad "jokes" that everyone in the audience can predict about ten minutes in advance. As an experiment, say "Buddy Lembeck" to someone who grew up in the '80s and see if they don't laugh, or at least recoil in horror. It's like saying "Erich Von Zipper" to a child of the '60s.
Child actors who grew up too fast. This led to inappropriate, unintentional (I hope) suggestions of sexual tension between Charles and the girls of whom he was supposed to be In Charge, and that Lolita vibe may explain the show's popularity among people who love '80s camp.
Produced directly for syndication and therefore shot as cheaply as possible, with only two sets, both of which look like they are going to fall over at any moment.
Plots like this one -- at any rate, this was the plot of the episode I saw: Charles is dating two girls at the same time, and trying to keep one from finding out about the other. To his horror, he finds that Buddy Lembeck has volunteered him to be a judge in a beauty contest (conveniently held in the only other standing set, the local diner), and both his girlfriends are entering. Now who's he going to vote for? To make matters worse, both the girls of whom he is In Charge (I never could figure out if he's the nanny, or the bad-haired butler, or what) decide to enter the contest too. The girls, by the way, consist of a blonde airhead and a blonde feminist. The feminist initially wants to enter the beauty contest in order to condemn it when she gets up to speak, but she winds up liking the pretty dress so much that she wants to win as much as anybody. Now Charles has four contestants, all of whom expect him to vote for them. So he does the only ethical thing and votes for the only girl he doesn't know personally. But he learns his lesson when his girlfriends dump him and somebody throws food at him and Buddy signs him up to be the judge in another beauty contest!
A studio audience that says "OOOOOH!" and "YAAAAYYYY!" when a character so much as sneezes.
A really bad theme song that belongs to no apparent genre of music
A hero played by a guy who was added to Happy Days several years after it had already begun to suck (Scott Baio)
The hero's dumb buddy, named, appropriately enough, Buddy. Buddy Lembeck, to be accurate. Among people of a certain age, the name "Buddy Lembeck" is kind of a magic incantation inducing laughter, a symbol of the worst in sitcoms, of a character so dumb you can barely tell how he breathes, of a perpetually fishy stare, of bad "jokes" that everyone in the audience can predict about ten minutes in advance. As an experiment, say "Buddy Lembeck" to someone who grew up in the '80s and see if they don't laugh, or at least recoil in horror. It's like saying "Erich Von Zipper" to a child of the '60s.
Child actors who grew up too fast. This led to inappropriate, unintentional (I hope) suggestions of sexual tension between Charles and the girls of whom he was supposed to be In Charge, and that Lolita vibe may explain the show's popularity among people who love '80s camp.
Produced directly for syndication and therefore shot as cheaply as possible, with only two sets, both of which look like they are going to fall over at any moment.
Plots like this one -- at any rate, this was the plot of the episode I saw: Charles is dating two girls at the same time, and trying to keep one from finding out about the other. To his horror, he finds that Buddy Lembeck has volunteered him to be a judge in a beauty contest (conveniently held in the only other standing set, the local diner), and both his girlfriends are entering. Now who's he going to vote for? To make matters worse, both the girls of whom he is In Charge (I never could figure out if he's the nanny, or the bad-haired butler, or what) decide to enter the contest too. The girls, by the way, consist of a blonde airhead and a blonde feminist. The feminist initially wants to enter the beauty contest in order to condemn it when she gets up to speak, but she winds up liking the pretty dress so much that she wants to win as much as anybody. Now Charles has four contestants, all of whom expect him to vote for them. So he does the only ethical thing and votes for the only girl he doesn't know personally. But he learns his lesson when his girlfriends dump him and somebody throws food at him and Buddy signs him up to be the judge in another beauty contest!
A studio audience that says "OOOOOH!" and "YAAAAYYYY!" when a character so much as sneezes.