Halle Berry landed her first major TV role on the short-lived “Who’s the Boss?” spin-off series, 1989’s “Living Dolls.” Ironically, Berry almost never caught that break, as the role originally went to someone else.
“Living Dolls” was centered around Patricia “Trish” Carlin (Michael Learned), the woman in charge of a modeling school that was also a home for four teenage students, including Charlene “Charlie” Briscoe (Leah Remini). The backdoor pilot aired as an episode of “Who’s the Boss?” Season 5, which featured Vivica A. Fox as Emily Franklin. Berry replaced Fox when the show was ordered to series by ABC.
“What was interesting about that was I was playing a model,” Berry told Vanity Fair in 2021. “And up until that point, that’s what I was doing — I was in Chicago modeling. So, I felt like it was a great place to start. I was essentially playing a version of myself in many ways.”
“Living Dolls” only had tangential connections to “Who’s the Boss?,” which revealed that Samantha Micelli (Alyssa Milano) was Charlie’s friend growing up. Milano made guest appearances on “Living Dolls” and her “Who’s the Boss?” co-star Tony Danza also popped in for an episode.
The Facts of Life 2?
The first episode of “Living Dolls” established Halle Berry’s Emily as the brainy member of the cast with ambitions to ultimately go to medical school.
The dynamic between the four young women and the matronly Patricia seemed very reminiscent of “The Facts of Life,” another hit ’80s sitcom. This was not lost on Michael Learned.
“I didn’t know what [the producers] wanted,” recalled Learned during an interview with the Television Academy. “I had been told that [Patricia] was supposed to be sort of a … tough cookie. And so that’s what I understood was what they wanted in my character, when in truth what they wanted was Charlotte Rae and ‘Facts of Life’ … and that’s what they were writing.”
Learned also noted that she felt “very close” to Berry and believed that she should have been more heavily featured.
“[Berry] should have been [a major star] on that show,” said Learned. “They never really used her. … She never complained or anything, but I think it was hard on her because she is a star and she was meant to be one.”
During the season, Berry collapsed into a diabetic coma for a week before eventually returning to the show. However, ABC canceled “Living Dolls” in December 1989.