Did Who's the Boss actually project negative stereotypes

[TMC]

In particular, about Brooklyn and the Italian Americans who live there? I've personally never had the chance to visit Brooklyn but this is what somebody said on the old Jump the Shark website:

The show really jumped the shark when Tony adopted the I'm-too-good-cause-I-live-in-the-suburbs routine. I'm originally from Brooklyn and what always pissed me off about the show was the characterization of both Brooklyn and Italians. It was such obviously Hollywood slanted writing. To someone anywhere else in the country watching WTB, Brooklyn Italians are boorish, loud, stupid, ignorant, overdramatic, vindictive, poor slobs. Not to be over sensitive, but it's such a bull **** stereotype. Yeah, Samantha was sooo disadvantaged living in Brooklyn, she was poor and got into fights everyday. Tony was a looser going nowhere. Suddenly, when they got to Connecticut, everything was rosy. Sam and Tony both turned their lives around, thanks to this idyllic environment. There was never any mention of the ills that often accompany an affluent suburb like Fairfield County, Ct., such as drug use and other temptations. As long as they were out of Brooklyn, it was blue skies. The Brooklyn I know is one of home ownership, upward mobility, private and top public schools. The people I know in Brooklyn are not poor, they don't get mugged every day and don't hang out the window on a fire escape, because the majority of Brooklyn Italians live in their own homes and no, they don't drive broken down vans. Italians have come a long way since the first immigrants in the early 1900's. They no longer live in tenements and their neighborhoods are among the safest in Brooklyn. Ey-Oh-Oh-Ey Tony did Brooklyn and Italians a huge disservice. We're not all bufoons like him.

Ironically, Tony Danza and Alyssa Milano actually are from Brooklyn in real life. So there is a big sense of authenticity with their characters.

The Al character (as played by William Gallo) is really the only character that I can think of off the top of my head, that clearly fits the description of an over-the-top stereotype or caricature of what people likely think that most Italian men from the East Coast act like. Al I suppose, strikes me as a more ignorant version of The Fonz on Happy Days or a sanitized version of Andrew "Dice" Clay's stand-up persona.

Even Mrs. Rossini's character, despite being presented as a surrogate mother figure to Tony can easily come across as brash and loud.

[biffbronson]

How exactly was Tony's van "broken down?" Talk about exaggerating unfairly to make a series look bad.

Every big city consists of people of various ethnic backgrounds and financial status. Depicting any single one doesn't qualify a comedy series to be crucified. Time to lighten up.