FAQ

Charles's last name was never mentioned on the show. His mom's last name was also never mentioned. It was ALMOST in this episode at 3:23

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQReDPDXxyo

The fact that Charles had no last name might have initially lead some to believe that Charles was in fact Chachi or would eventually be revealed as Chachi. However, despite having the same birth name (Charles) and the same mother (Ellen Travolta), the two characters are unrelated. Chachi was from Milwaukee while Charles was from the East Coast (probably Scranton since his mom was living there). They also grew up in different time periods: Charles would have grown up in the late 70s/early 80s while Chachi grew up in the 1960s. On the last episode of "Happy Days", Chachi married Joanie. On "Charles in Charge" there is no mention of Charles ever being married or having a wife. Chachi is referenced on one episode, though, when Charles mentions that "kid from Happy Days". Also, Chachi was a teen in the early 60s, so it's highly unlikely that we would be a college student in his late teens/early twenties over 20 years later!

In TV time, the show was only on for a little over four and a half years which is a reasonable time for someone to go through college. In our time, the show started in the fall of 1984 and ended in late 1990, which would mean six years had passed for Charles to finish college, seemingly too long for someone to go through college. Many people forget that the show did not air during the 1985-86 season and part of the 1986-87 season. When it did come back on in January 1987, in TV time, only a summer had passed. While in our time, almost two years had passed. Couple that with the fact that Charles had a full-time job which took up a lot of time, so he probably scheduled a minimal class load.

No, but Charles has a telephone conversation with his father in Episode 11, Season 1 ("Home for the Holidays"). After the first season, Charles' dad is rarely mentioned but eventually said to be deceased.

No, they met at college. Charles was from the East Coast while Buddy was from the West Cost.

The show aired on CBS for its first season but was cancelled by the network due to low ratings. The cast were released from their contracts at this time. When the show was picked up again to run in first-run syndication, some of the Pembroke family members had moved on to other projects and were not available to return to the show. Of the other Pembrokes, only the actor playing Jason even expressed an interest in returning to the series. The entire family was written out of the show and replaced with the Powells, who were subleasing the house from the Pembrokes, who had since moved to Seattle.

Jason did appear on the first episode of the second season, with a different actress playing his mother Jill, to say goodbye to Charles and to tell him (and the audience) that the new family wanted to keep him on board.