Profile : Danza on the ‘Hudson’

Tony Danza had every intention of making his new ABC sitcom “Hudson Street� a sexy, adult comedy. After spending eight years playing a major league baseball player-turned-domestic helper in the popular family series “Who’s the Boss?,� the 44-year-old Brooklyn native was itching for more sophisticated material.

But despite “Hudson Street’s� fast start in the ratings derby, it didn’t take long for its star and executive producer to come to the conclusion that the show was a little bit too hot and sexy for its 8:30 p.m. Tuesday time slot. Danza is currently refocusing the show to downplay the flirtations between Danza and a co-starring character.

“The third week of my show we were No. 8 and I was watching the show with my 8-year-old daughter,� recalls Danza, relaxing at his production company office on the lot of Sony Pictures Entertainment in Culver City. “We got midway through it and I said, ‘You can’t watch this.’ I don’t think I was the only parent who felt that way. We shouldn’t be giving away that 8 to 9 hour to adult comedy. I lobbied for a later time slot. Now I’m going to conform a little bit to the earlier time slot.�

Apparently, some fans of Danza and co-star Lori Loughlin, who is well known for her role in the long-running family series “Full House,� also had trouble accepting them in a relatively steamy, early evening romantic comedy.

“There’s been a bit of a backlash that these two people with tremendous kid appeal are doing this sexy show at 8:30 p.m.,� says Danza. “I mean, I’ll show you my mail.’

In “Hudson Street� Danza plays Tony Canetti, a somewhat jaded Hoboken, N.J., cop and divorced father. Loughlin is cast as Melanie Clifford, an idealistic journalist who covers the local police beat. An underlying romantic tension between these two opposites helped to energize the show’s early episodes. On the surface they clash, but there’s a palpable attraction that seems to pull them together despite their reservations.

Will these two strong-willed characters find love and happiness together?

It’s a question that Danza isn’t in any hurry to answer now that “Hudson Street� has hooked a sizable, if not entirely satisfied, audience. (And the show faced stiff ratings competition from the NBC sitcom in the same time slot, “NewsRadio,� which is moving to Sundays on Jan. 7.)

Danza realizes that in television it’s better to keep the pot simmering for a while than to bring it to an immediate boil. In “Whose the Boss?,� which aired 1984 to 1992, fans had to wait six seasons before Danza’s housekeeper character went on a date with his boss, played by Judith Light. In that series there also existed a brewing, if more wholesome, romantic interest between its two lead characters.

“It’s absolutely better [not to rush to develop the Canetti-Clifford romance],� observes Danza. “You can date, you can go away, you can bring in other people. The idea was to keep the ball in the air as long as possible. If you can keep it alive, when it reemerges it may even be stronger.�

For the time being, though, Danza is looking to broaden his role as a police detective and father. He also wants to introduce new characters to the New York police station environment and to expand the profiles of some of Canetti’s colorful co-workers, which include a saucy female detective, a ditzy cop and an acerbic, dreadlocked Jamaican.

Danza rejected ABC’s suggestion to call his series “The Tony Danza Show.� He did this in part to help create a strong ensemble cast and ambience. Indeed, Danza got his television start in one of the most critically acclaimed ensemble sitcoms to air, “Taxi.� In the late ‘70s and early ‘80s he was one of that show’s many unforgettable characters, playing the not-too-bright cabbie and failed boxer.

During an interview, Danza exudes the same charming, tough guy confidence possessed by his three sitcom characters. Unfortunately, this persona has, in part, prevented him from parlaying his television success into big-screen stardom. In 1994 he was cast in the Disney baseball film “Angels In the Outfield� and five years earlier he played the father of a blossoming 15-year-old girl in the sitcom-styled “She’s Out of Control.� He’s also appeared in several other lesser-known feature films.

Danza admits he was extremely disappointed when passed over for a part in “Heat,� the recently released movie starring Robert De Niro and Al Pacino.

“I wanted it bad, and I made a mistake in making myself think that I was going to get it,� he says. “I was on the hook for a couple of months.�

In the grand scheme of things, Danza has faced far greater adversity in recent years. A year after “Who’s the Boss?� ended in 1992, his mother died of brain cancer. In December, 1993, Danza was in a brutal skiing accident that left him with two broken vertebrae, crushed ribs, a collapsed lung and a bruised liver and kidney. Remarkably, he says he’s in better shape today than he was before the accident.

In early 1994, Danza lost his Sherman Oaks home during the Northridge earthquake. He now lives in Malibu with his wife Tracy and their two daughters Katie, 8, and Emily Lyn, 2. It was near there last August that Danza made headlines when he got into an altercation with two photographers who were videotaping him and his daughters.

Through it all, Danza says he’s managed to keep a positive outlook on life and work. His production company, Katie Face Productions, has numerous projects in development, including several sitcoms and a film for Showtime. He’s also created a variety show that he’ll be taking to the Mirage in Las Vegas in late January. Among other things, Danza sings and dances during his show.

“It’s a throwback to another time when guys did a lot of different things as opposed to doing just comedy or music,� he states. “Eventually, I’d like to take this to TV as a weekly variety show. By the time ‘Hudson Street’ finishes, hopefully I’ll be ready to do that. Now this would be ‘The Tony Danza Show’.�

“Hudson Street� airs Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. on ABC.