Danza Back On TV With A Badge ‘Taxi’ And ‘Boss’ Star Plays Detective On ‘Hudson Street’
The boss finally got out of the taxi and landed on Hudson Street. One of television’s most likable veterans is back in a new sitcom this season. Tony Danza, already a graduate of the long-running “Taxi” and “Who’s the Boss?,” is trying again in ABC’s “Hudson Street,” a surprisingly sweet-tempered romantic comedy co-starring Lori Loughlin.
Danza plays a divorced New Jersey policeman and she’s a fire-breathing reporter on the police beat. Salt and pepper, the odd-couple, David Addison and Maddie Hayes all over again. So, it’s not new. But the pilot is sure and snappy, with enough witty dialogue to keep even the hardest case softened.
The show premieres next Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. on KXLY-Channel 4 from Spokane.
Danza admits that he was anxious about venturing into TV torture again. “I think the fear is that you’d come back in a show that doesn’t measure up to what you’ve done in the past. The good news is I think this show is the best thing I’ve done. So that allays one fear. But there’s a natural anxiety of just going out and trying to do something else again. I think that’s a normal reaction.”
Two years ago Danza was seriously injured in a skiing accident that broke his back and some of his ribs. But that experience taught him a lot, he says.
“The big lesson in the accident is you get over your midlife crisis like in a minute. You’re mad at yourself. You wake up and say, ‘Gee, I don’t feel so good today.’ Well, hey, I’ll show you what doesn’t feel good!”
Danza is executive producer on “Hudson Street,” and, obviously with that title, he has more clout than Judge Ito. The sitcom will be sandwiched between “Roseanne” and “Home Improvement” on Tuesday evenings, almost as perfect a place as Princeville.
But the show has a couple of champions to live up to. Both “Taxi” and “Who’s the Boss” managed to keep audiences interested for years.
“I said I didn’t want to do anything unless it scared me,” says Danza. “And it scares me to go back and do another TV series, so this fills that bill.”