Every time you sit down to interview someone, you want to make sure you’ve done your homework so you at least seem like you know what you're talking about. But what you don’t expect is for the interviewee to flip the script on you. That’s exactly what happened when Tony Danza asked me out of the blue, “How was talking to Shatner? That must have been fun, huh?”
Of course it was! Captain Kirk, after all, is a legend. But before I could even respond, Tony was already onto the next question: “You want to hear the first time I met him?”
And who wouldn’t?
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Tony explained, “He was the captain of the ABC Battle of the Network Stars team in ’84, and I was on the team. But I really had to sell myself to him. I was like, ‘Hey, I’m a good athlete, you have to use me,’ and eventually, he did.”
Now, Shatner has a reputation for being both incredibly friendly and, well, let’s just say, a bit quirky. “It was both,” Tony laughs. “First off, I was a huge fan of Star Trek, so meeting him was a dream come true. But yeah, he definitely had his own way of doing things.”
As we wrapped up the story about Shatner, another burning question came up: why do so many of Tony's TV characters share the same first name? In Taxi, he’s Tony Banta; in Who’s the Boss?, he’s Tony Micelli; in Hudson Street, he’s Tony Canetti; in The Tony Danza Show, he’s Tony DiMeo; and in his latest Netflix series, The Good Cop, he’s Tony Caruso, Sr. What gives?
“Listen,” he replied with a laugh, “people joke that it reflects on my acting ability—that I wouldn’t answer to another name. But seriously, it started with Taxi. The role was originally written for an Irish heavyweight named Phil Ryan. Then they met me and changed it to Phil Banta, and eventually Tony Banta. By the time Who’s the Boss? came around, they just stuck with the name. I don’t know why. If you’re gonna be pigeonholed, you might as well embrace it fully, right?”
Meet The Good Cop
Now let’s talk about the latest Tony: Caruso. In The Good Cop, which premiered on Netflix in September, Tony plays Big Tony, a former NYPD cop who served time in jail for bending the rules. He now lives with his son, Tony Jr. (played by Josh Groban), a brilliant, rule-abiding NYPD detective who solves some of Brooklyn’s toughest crimes. Together, father and son often team up to solve cases. The show is created by Andy Breckman, the genius behind Monk.
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“What do I look for in a project?” Tony asks rhetorically. “It’s always about the writing, and Andy Breckman is truly a brilliant writer. This role is the most fun I’ve had since Who’s the Boss?. It reminded me of classic shows like Columbo and The Rockford Files. There’s a mystery element, but it’s not just a procedural. You get comedy, of course, but you also have a murder mystery. It’s a delicate balance, and Andy handles it masterfully.”
One of the strengths of The Good Cop is the dynamic between father and son. This relationship resonates with Tony, 67, who has a close bond with his own 47-year-old son.
