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Old 01-27-2022, 01:55 AM   #1
TMC
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Question What exactly was the purpose of Charles' surname not being known

This was especially problematic when his mother, Lillian was introduced to the main cast, and she too, could only be known by a "single name basis". They even acknowledge and joke about it in the series finale about how we never knew what Charles' last name was.
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Old 02-07-2022, 02:42 AM   #2
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the writers just decided not to give him a last name and it was running gag.
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Old 01-12-2023, 01:29 AM   #3
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Did Charles Have a Last Name on Charles in Charge?

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Today, we figure out whether Charles had a last name on Charles in Charge.

In Pop Culture Questions Answered, I answer whatever questions you folks might have about movies, TV, music or whatever (feel free to e-mail questions to me at brian@pop culture references.com).

Charles in Charge was a TV sitcom about a college student, played by Scott Baio (hot off of Happy Days ending), who was a live-in nanny for the Pembroke family. The “twist,” as it were, was that a male college student was a nanny. A MAN AS A NANNY! WHA?!?!? The show was canceled after one season, but then after more than a year off of the air, it was brought back for a first-run syndication series, with Charles’ new family being The Powells. The show ran for four more seasons, for a total of 126 episodes, thus allowing it to become a major hit in SECOND-run syndication.

In any event, the show famously called Charles just, you know, Charles. However, my buddy Alex asked on Facebook, “My brothers and I debated this for years, long before streaming existed though. What was Charles’ last name? Many sites say he didn’t have one but there was one episode he was a substitute teacher and I think they said it in that.”

I watched every episode that Charles was a substitute teacher during the series (Charles was studying to become a teacher), and no, he never used a last name in those episode. The last episode made a specific joke about how Charles didn’t have a last name (part of a nice Fourth Wall-breaking bit that I’ll address in the future), so I’m going with Charles never having a last name on the series.

Thanks for the question, Alex!
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