Movies - The Nanny

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	Movies - The Nanny

The Nanny was an American sitcom that first aired on November 3, 1993 on CBS. It starred Fran Drescher as "the nanny named Fran" (as Ann Hampton Callaway sang in the theme she wrote). Six seasons were aired; the show ended its run in 1999.

The show was produced by Sternin/Fraser Ink, Inc. and High School Sweethearts Productions. In association with and distributed by TriStar Television. The Nanny was executive produced by Drescher and her then-husband Peter Marc Jacobson, who was her high school sweetheart.

Along with Rhoda
, Seinfeld
, and Will & Grace it is one of a handful of successful American comedies with an explicitly Jewish main character. Many of the characters in the series (e.g. Yetta, her grandmother) were named after Fran Drescher's real family.

The plot

The plot revolved around nasal-voiced Fran Fine (Fran Drescher) from Flushing, Queens, who, fresh out of her job as a bridal consultant in her boyfriend's shop, was peddling cosmetics on the Upper East Side doorstep of a wealthy and widowed Englishman, Broadway producer Maxwell Sheffield (played by former Days of our Lives star Charles Shaughnessy). When he mistakenly believed she was there in response to his classified ad, she quickly seized upon the opportunity to become the nanny for his three children. But soon Fran, with her off-beat nurturing and no-nonsense honesty, touched Maxwell as well as the kids. It was a situation of blue collar meets blue blood, as Fran gave the prim-and-proper Maxwell and his children a dose of "Queens logic," helping them become a healthy, happy family.

Proudly running the Sheffield household was the butler, Niles (Daniel Davis), who watched all events with a bemused eye and leveled problems with his quick wit. Niles quickly recognized Fran's gift at bringing warmth back to the family and did his best to undermine Maxwell's socialite business partner, C.C. Babcock (Lauren Lane), in their ongoing game of one-upmanship. C.C. viewed Fran with a mixture of skepticism and jealousy, as she had designs on the very available Sheffield herself.

From the outset, Mr. Sheffield clearly was smitten with Fran, even if he was too shy to admit it, and Fran was equally taken with Mr. Sheffield. For the first few years, the writers teased viewers with a series of '"will they or won't they?" situations. Throughout that plotline, they still always addressed each other professionally, as "Miss Fine" and "Mr. Sheffield" (or more accurately, and often self-lampooned, "MIS-TUH Sheffield"). At the end of the fifth season, the two wed, and in the sixth - and final - year, the two welcomed twins into the family. Far more unexpected was the pairing of Niles and C.C., whose antagonism towards each other apparently had masked their true feelings.

Perpetually hovering close by were Fran's typically obsessive and food loving "Jewish mother" Sylvia (who would often when hungry steal from or demand food from other characters, citing anything from her slow metabolism to their wellbeing ("It's too big for you"} as a reason), her cigarette-addicted senile grandmother Yetta, dispensing nonsensical advice and often erroneously believing Sheffield to already be Fran's husband and his children be hers as well, a belief she did not keep to herself), and her dim-witted best friend Val, keeping her company to her perpetual quest for a husband and being a constant reminder that things can always get worse (as Val is much more unlucky than Fran).

The comedy

The comedy in The Nanny was heavily formulated, something that contributed to the success of the series. The most obvious example of this is character-based, with all major characters possessing a specific trait (sometimes more than one) which would be referenced at least once an episode (though not always). For instance; Fran's constant references to eccentric family members, Mr. Sheffield's rivalry with Andrew Lloyd Webber, Sylvia's excessive love for and knowledge of food, Niles' one-liners that are often at the expense of Ms. Babcock, Ms. Babcock's cold-hearted reaction to usually sentimental situations, Maggie's initial shyness around boys and her eagerness to date, Brighton's "whimpering" reaction to adversity, Gracie's psychological analysis of various situations, Val's less than intelligent understanding of what's happening around her, and Yetta's senility. This, coupled with the development of each major character, made the show very accessible when compared to other TV Shows which can often revolve exclusively around one or two characters. The conflicting elements of each character's own comedy were often played off against one another (Fran and Mr. Sheffield, Niles and Ms. Babcock, Maggie and Brighton).

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Movies - The Nanny

The plot

The comedy

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