Alyssa Milano's hair during the fifth and sixth seasons

[TMC]

Did anybody else think that this was in essence, when her beauty peaked and blossomed on the show?









I wonder if this particular look was the main inspiration for Disney modeling Ariel in The Little Mermaid after her.

I frankly, didn't like it when Alyssa cut her hair during the last few years of the show to a Dorothy Hamill-esque wedge. I suppose that it kind of aged her if that makes sense.

[Novera]

Absolutely! This was the era where my brother painted his bedroom wall with magazine cut outs of her, he was absolutely obsessed. I remember the crop/bob cut being more popular in the early 90s (thanks to Demi in Ghost, Wilson Philips etc.) but it made her look dowdy or matronly... I can't put my finger on it, it just didn't work for her. I think my personal favourite/peak moment was when Al fixes up her hair ("with a DIFFUSAH") and she was peak late 80s/early 90s

[TMC]

Originally Posted by Novera

Absolutely! This was the era where my brother painted his bedroom wall with magazine cut outs of her, he was absolutely obsessed. I remember the crop/bob cut being more popular in the early 90s (thanks to Demi in Ghost, Wilson Philips etc.) but it made her look dowdy or matronly... I can't put my finger on it, it just didn't work for her. I think my personal favourite/peak moment was when Al fixes up her hair ("with a DIFFUSAH") and she was peak late 80s/early 90s

Alyssa probably didn't look that "good" again on screen until she was on Melrose Place. Granted, I haven't seen much of her post-WTB/pre-Melrose Place B-movie/Skinemax phase, when she desperately tried to shed her good girl image.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by Novera

Absolutely! This was the era where my brother painted his bedroom wall with magazine cut outs of her, he was absolutely obsessed. I remember the crop/bob cut being more popular in the early 90s (thanks to Demi in Ghost, Wilson Philips etc.) but it made her look dowdy or matronly... I can't put my finger on it, it just didn't work for her. I think my personal favourite/peak moment was when Al fixes up her hair ("with a DIFFUSAH") and she was peak late 80s/early 90s

I seriously wonder if there was any sort of outrage over Alyssa cutting her hair (a la what happened with Keri Russell when she cut her hair while doing Felicity) really short in the last two seasons of the show. Alyssa in the middle of Season 6 was already "experimenting" with her hair by dying it a darker shade and cutting it to shoulder length. She by that point, looked more "modest pretty" instead of "bombshell pretty" as she was leading up to that point.

Alyssa in that first photo from the Season 6 premiere episode, where the Bower/Micelli clan go to Jamaica, was so jaw-droppingly beautiful with her long, thick, flowing hair. Sam getting the short hair-do incidentally, coincided with her departure from high school and becoming a young adult.

[Novera]

Originally Posted by TMC

I seriously wonder if there was any sort of outrage over Alyssa cutting her hair (a la what happened with Keri Russell when she cut her hair while doing Felicity) really short in the last two seasons of the show.

First of all I couldn't agree with you more on everything you said - and that picture of her in Jamaica is how my brain references her at all times. Like even today I like to imagine her that way, because I remember she was seriously the hottest thing that every guy I knew had ever seen at the time.

Also I remember the writers seemed to go out of their way to have Tony reference her darker hair ("you didn't clear that with me" or something to that effect). So I wonder if it's something Milano wanted, like she didn't want to be the sexy girl with long hair anymore. I recall Becky from Roseanne wanted a shorter hair cut but the producers said "no you're from a small town and you're poor, you should have normal long blond hair". So Roseanne grabbed a pair of scissors and cut out a chunk of her hair, forcing them to give her one of those early 90s bob cuts.

Boy George went through a similar thing in the mid 80s when he said he began to feel like a doll, so he cut off his hair with that "chopped up" black hair cut that was featured in their 1986 album cover.

But at the same time it would be totally possible that the network was like "ok she's being too sexy, lets make her more wholesome"... but I can't imagine they'd do that when their market research would've shown she has reached iconic status among teen boys (Italian or otherwise!)

[rusty spike]

I think that was the trend to go with those short cuts. It was a way to end the 80's and start fresh in the 1990s.

Given the popularity of Sinead O Connor at the time , her haircut could have been a lot worse

[Novera]

Originally Posted by rusty spike

I think that was the trend to go with those short cuts. It was a way to end the 80's and start fresh in the 1990s.

Given the popularity of Sinead O Connor at the time , her haircut could have been a lot worse

That's actually a good point, because I'm re-visiting that era through the eyes of a modern era. But back then a short bob cut would've been a hot/fresh/new cut to show off. After 10 years of long hair, that was new and fun!

[MikeLutton]

i alway's thought sam had nice hair 2 once she got older,

[TMC]

Originally Posted by Novera

First of all I couldn't agree with you more on everything you said - and that picture of her in Jamaica is how my brain references her at all times. Like even today I like to imagine her that way, because I remember she was seriously the hottest thing that every guy I knew had ever seen at the time.

Also I remember the writers seemed to go out of their way to have Tony reference her darker hair ("you didn't clear that with me" or something to that effect). So I wonder if it's something Milano wanted, like she didn't want to be the sexy girl with long hair anymore. I recall Becky from Roseanne wanted a shorter hair cut but the producers said "no you're from a small town and you're poor, you should have normal long blond hair". So Roseanne grabbed a pair of scissors and cut out a chunk of her hair, forcing them to give her one of those early 90s bob cuts.

Boy George went through a similar thing in the mid 80s when he said he began to feel like a doll, so he cut off his hair with that "chopped up" black hair cut that was featured in their 1986 album cover.

But at the same time it would be totally possible that the network was like "ok she's being too sexy, lets make her more wholesome"... but I can't imagine they'd do that when their market research would've shown she has reached iconic status among teen boys (Italian or otherwise!)

I'm assuming that this was also around the same time that Alyssa did a photoshoot while wearing a New Jersey Devils jersey:












I guess that I would label this the "Teen Steam" era, since it was also around that same time that Alyssa's "infamous" workout video of the same name was released.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by rusty spike

I think that was the trend to go with those short cuts. It was a way to end the 80's and start fresh in the 1990s.

Given the popularity of Sinead O Connor at the time , her haircut could have been a lot worse

Interestingly, this is what I dug up on the old Jump the Shark website:

• Everyone agrees sam was a babe but what about that harsh faze where she cut off her hair, gained weight, and started wearing work out clothes around the house constantly? harsh 80's jane fonda type leotards, wrist bands headband, the whole deal. she looked awful and she started acting weird around that time too, REALLY pleased with herself i think she was suppose to be working in a gym or owned it or something. yick. then she shacked up with some loser and tony couldn't do a thing about it because she was of age. so cute daughter just barely under her dad's worried thumb went out the door in a big way. SHARK! what happened?! she was so cute before and so un-full-of-herself! puberty was great for her, young adulthood killed her character! she looks great now by the way...
  
• I loved the show up unto the point where Samantha chopped off her hair. After that, everything she wore was just dark and goth. I liked the more cutesy dressed, curly brown-haired Sam. Her dark, straight hair ruined it for me. I use to watch the show to check out her hair and clothes. I couldn't depend on her anymore for fashion tips.
  
• When Sam after college moved to work in some country inn and met her new man. She had short hair and was always working behind the counter when they showed her. That's when the new kid, Billy joined the show. It was never the same.
  
• Who's the Boss jumped the shark when Tony and Angela got together because this undermined the whole premise of the show....the tension and anticipation was gone. It also was nearing rocky waters once the kids got to be teenagers, Sam cut her hair and Billy (hah???) was introduced. You are what you surround yourself with and Katherine Helmond, Judith Light and Tony Danza were surrounded by some stuff that was dragging them down!!!!
  
• It definitely jumped the shark when Jonathan and Sam had the exact same haircut! Sam had the dark wedge and Jonathan had the blonde wedge! At first I thought they were Ann & Nancy Wilson from Heart, but soon realized that it was just Alyssa and Jonathan!
  
• When Alyssa Milano dyed her hair black and cut it shoulder length. I hung in there until she chopped it all off. That was the final straw. Alas, the cutting of her hair tied in with her skipping grades, which was a bad move. Lost all teenage viewers at that point.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by rusty spike

I think that was the trend to go with those short cuts. It was a way to end the 80's and start fresh in the 1990s.

Given the popularity of Sinead O Connor at the time , her haircut could have been a lot worse

To tell you the truth with the recent benefit of Who's the Boss? airing constantly on GAC Family, Sam's drastic change in her hairstyle is around the time that I really start to lose interest in the show. What I mean is that Sam with short-hair pretty much coincides with the big "shark jumping" moments of the show like Tony and Angela officially getting together, Tony and Mona's characters arguably undergoing severe cases of Flanderization, the introduction of Billy, and Sam's rushed marriage to Hank.

And maybe the petty and shallow part in me says that Alyssa Milano was "messing with perfection" because she was arguably the most beautiful that she had ever looked come the start of Season 6 and the Jamaica episode. And I do suspect that a lot of teen viewers (especially boys) were turned off by Sam's abrupt maturity/evolution in the last few years of the show.

[TMC]

Another photo of Alyssa during her "long and luxurious brown hair" days on WTB.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by rusty spike

I think that was the trend to go with those short cuts. It was a way to end the 80's and start fresh in the 1990s.

Given the popularity of Sinead O Connor at the time , her haircut could have been a lot worse

I know that I'm speculating, but I wonder if Alyssa cut her hair in part because she was worried about being too "sexualized". That was the argument that her Charmed co-star turned "frenemy" Rose McGowan had for why she cut off her hair. And many guys back in the day, did have huge crushes on Alyssa Milano and saw her as kind of their dream girl.

Also, Alyssa did claim that she, around the time that she was doing Who's the Boss? was sexually assaulted. So maybe, something like that goes hand in hand.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by Novera

First of all I couldn't agree with you more on everything you said - and that picture of her in Jamaica is how my brain references her at all times. Like even today I like to imagine her that way, because I remember she was seriously the hottest thing that every guy I knew had ever seen at the time.

Also I remember the writers seemed to go out of their way to have Tony reference her darker hair ("you didn't clear that with me" or something to that effect). So I wonder if it's something Milano wanted, like she didn't want to be the sexy girl with long hair anymore. I recall Becky from Roseanne wanted a shorter hair cut but the producers said "no you're from a small town and you're poor, you should have normal long blond hair". So Roseanne grabbed a pair of scissors and cut out a chunk of her hair, forcing them to give her one of those early 90s bob cuts.

Boy George went through a similar thing in the mid 80s when he said he began to feel like a doll, so he cut off his hair with that "chopped up" black hair cut that was featured in their 1986 album cover.

But at the same time it would be totally possible that the network was like "ok she's being too sexy, lets make her more wholesome"... but I can't imagine they'd do that when their market research would've shown she has reached iconic status among teen boys (Italian or otherwise!)

Some screencaps of Alyssa from Season 6's "In Search of Tony" episode, which was at the height of her Ariel look:

[TMC]

Originally Posted by Novera

First of all I couldn't agree with you more on everything you said - and that picture of her in Jamaica is how my brain references her at all times. Like even today I like to imagine her that way, because I remember she was seriously the hottest thing that every guy I knew had ever seen at the time.

Also I remember the writers seemed to go out of their way to have Tony reference her darker hair ("you didn't clear that with me" or something to that effect). So I wonder if it's something Milano wanted, like she didn't want to be the sexy girl with long hair anymore. I recall Becky from Roseanne wanted a shorter hair cut but the producers said "no you're from a small town and you're poor, you should have normal long blond hair". So Roseanne grabbed a pair of scissors and cut out a chunk of her hair, forcing them to give her one of those early 90s bob cuts.

Boy George went through a similar thing in the mid 80s when he said he began to feel like a doll, so he cut off his hair with that "chopped up" black hair cut that was featured in their 1986 album cover.

But at the same time it would be totally possible that the network was like "ok she's being too sexy, lets make her more wholesome"... but I can't imagine they'd do that when their market research would've shown she has reached iconic status among teen boys (Italian or otherwise!)

I just saw the episode that first featured Alyssa Milano's new jet black, "cut to the shoulders" hairstyle ("Supermom Burnout") on GAC Family. There's a scene in the kitchen early on where Jonathan is teasing Sam about her hair looking like an oil slick. And that's when Tony had a reference about her hair color now being darker. I'm assuming that was to get it out of the way because they figured the audience were going to say something about Sam's hair suddenly looking different in the middle of the season.