Robert Sternin

TV writer-producer Robert Sternin's resume has a certain enviable symmetry. At one end is the ABC sitcom "Who's the Boss," centered on a male housekeeper played by energetic star Tony Danza. At the other is "The Nanny," for which Fran Drescher's character was tasked with keeping the Sheffield household in order. In between was one of those only-in-Hollywood TV show premises, "The Charmings," in which Snow White and Prince Charming are transported to modern-day Burbank, California, minus the brood of seven dwarves. The introduction of a housekeeper or nanny into the standard home-based sitcom formula is a trusted formula, because it allows for many layers of conflict and sexual tension. Sternin kept things lively with both his "Boss" and "Nanny" entries, coming in for the 1985-86 season on the former as a producer and guiding many more episodes of the latter. On the writing side, Sternin wrote an astonishing 145 episodes of "The Nanny," including the two-part 1999 finale.