Alyssa Milano’s picture hung in a lot of lockers during the ‘80s and early ‘90s. As the street smart, quick-witted Samantha Micelli, Milano was the best part of ABC’s long-running “teach you something every episode” sitcom Who’s the Boss? from 1984 until the show’s end in 1992.
For the record, the awesomeness hierarchy on Who’s the Boss? went Sam, Mona, Angela, Tony, and then Jonathan.
During her time as Tony Danza’s television daughter, Milano was the quintessential ‘80s crush.
Her character was a tomboy who tossed a baseball around the yard with her dad, rocked overalls, and hailed from New York, so there was no annoying Valley Girl chatter to deal with. We grew up along side of her, watching her go from “Tomboy Sam” in the early seasons to “Absolute Knockout Sam” during the final years of the show.
An added feather in the cap of the crushtastic Milano is that she held down the role of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s kidnapped daughter, Jenny Matrix, in Commando, one of the best action flicks of the ‘80s.
Like our first High School Crush, Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, Milano stuck around beyond our adolescence, and we got to see how drop-dead gorgeous grown up Samantha Micelli was.
After a couple seasons on Melrose Place, Milano jumped from the FOX evening soap opera to Charmed, teaming up with Shannon Doherty and Hollie Marie Combs as Phoebe, Prue (Doherty), and Piper Halliwell, three sisters who also happened to be witches. The show was a critical and ratings success, lasting eight seasons, with Milano and Combs being the only constants throughout.
In recent years, Milano had a recurring role on Season 3 of My Name is Earl and showed up in the Owen Wilson/Jason Sudeikis vehicle Hall Pass. A huge baseball fan, she launched her “Touch” line of team apparel for female fans, and wrote a blog on the MLB website for a time.
Later this month, she’ll return to the small screen as the lead in the new ABC series Mistresses.
Welcome back, Alyssa. We still love you!
