Why isnt The Nanny more appreciated?

I’ve been rewatching old episodes on HBO Max and I forgot just how funny this show is. Yes, it has it’s dated and slightly uncool side, but the writing and performances are top notch. Fran Drescher pushed it as a star vehicle for herself and had the goods to back it up. The bitchy back and forth between CC and Niles was hysterical.

It’s a shame this show is never in the same conversation as Seinfeld and Friends as one of the funniest sitcoms of the nineties. The gay sensibility is very strong, so perhaps that’s clouding my perception, but it’s hard to deny the ratio of jokes that land.

Good show, but that voice was really hard to take.

It had a very specific tone to it, one that Will & Grace wanted to emulate but only rarely successfully landed. It IS very well done, but it's not a broad appeal comedy.

OP is a right-wing troll with tons of posts about how Biden sucks, and the usual racist and anti-trans stuff, too. For some reason, the right-wing trolls are posting a lot of these goofy threads about shows and movies that we've already discussed ad nauseam.

[quote]Why isn’t The Nanny more appreciated?

Because it really isn't very good?

It lacked diversity. No Palestinians. No members of NOI.

The writing and premise was better suited to the late 80s.

But it was innovative for it's time with a show about a Broadway musical producer and very little to do actually do with broadway...

R3 It's probably trying to get enough positive karma points so that it doesn't get banned or blocked.

It was one of my favourites growing up! I really loved the Christmas cartoon version of The Nanny too!

I LOVE it OP, but it has a very strong Jewish slant (which I enjoy - I’m a Jew). Seinfeld managed to water the Jewishness down enough for broad appeal.

And Yeta was so fucking hilarious and my favourite character!

I love The Nanny - it is one of my favorites when I need something mindless to pass the time.

The Nanny and Seinfeld are extremely Jewish which hurts global syndication. The humor on The Nanny always remained classy and well-done. I think it's beloved and appreciated accordingly. Most people like it. I never hear anyone criticizing it like they do Friends or Seinfeld.

r12 how it hurts isn't even the content of the show, they could cut out the offending word and episodes as quickly as disney kills its gays for China. But other nations, it's more about the stars themselves. .. which even if they renounced all ties to Israel would still likely be banned. This even had shuts down discussion of regional adaptations of the show.

It was funny enough, but it always seemed lacking in some way. It felt like the diet/lite version of a better comedy. Like "Designing Women" vs. "The Golden Girls", but even moreso (because while D.W. has its merits, and is definitely superior to "The Nanny", it is not superior to "The Golden Girls"). Half of DL will flame me to Hell for that last one, but it's my honest opinion.

And I say this as a fan of "Designing Women": Linda Bloodworth-Thomason is no Susan Harris. And neither are Peter Marc Jacobson & the lovely Fran Drescher. However, I enjoy all three shows on occasion. But I have a favorite.

R13 Most of the world seems either unexposed to Jewish American humor or just plain antisemitic. Americans don't understand this because our film and TV industry always heavily featured Jewish talent and the culture ended mainstreamed. Friends which had Jewish writers and half of the characters being Jews basically toned down the overt references to Judaism and made the characters appear vaguely Christian except Ross who would be impossible to disguise but he was a caricature and the butt of physical humor. I believe that's why it appealed to most of the world. Also it's slapstick juvenile humor too.

Fran, her mom, her aunt , Niles, and C. C. all could be hilarious (though none of them consistently so), and Mr. Sheffield (though unfunny, and too given to talking about "how wonderful Miss Fine is") was handsome and charming.

The children were awful, but they were hardly ever in it.

It was a very old-fashioned sitcom with an unbelievable premise, but it was sweet enough and could be funny.

FRAN'S MOTHER: "So now you've got something against Barbra Streisand?"

FRAN: "Ma! Of course not! She's Our Leader."

My little gayling self thought Fran Descher was hot when I was kid. It want until years later I realized I was just gay.

The Nanny and Everybody Loves Raymond really benefited from keeping the focus mainly on the adults. No cutesy tootsy little brat or smart-mouthed teen to steal the spotlight.

Sometimes the kids on The Nanny were a little mouthy, which I hate, but at least they were usually quiet. One of the things I liked about Everybody Loves Raymond was that not only did the children rarely appear but when they did they were polite.

Fran fought to keep the show Jewish as possible. The network execs wanted her character to be an Italian-American instead. She was right as it wasn't her culture and she used her own life and family as an inspiration to draw from. The end result was better.

I find The Nanny much funnier than the GG. I was never a huge GG fan as I disliked the old mother, who was not funny to me at all, and Rose was so dumb it was painful.

The only sitcom where I liked the kids were Married with Children because they were talented comedically and played off their parents. Having only kids also was more believable than the sitcoms with three to five kids. I can't believe they almost killed that show by almost adding a baby and later adding a little (annoying) adopted brother (only to remove him halfway through that season). The show never recovered after those experiments.

Because anyone who cared the first time around is dead or will soon be?

[quote]The network execs wanted her character to be an Italian-American instead. She was right as it wasn't her culture

I'll say. Sylvia used ketchup as pasta sauce.

I thought The Nanny was funnier than either Designing Women or Golden Girls. It's one of the very few comedies I watched every week as an adult.

Golden Girls is funny and it's aged well considering it's an 80s sitcom. But it's become a meme show just like The Office. They've gotten awfully overexposed nowadays through the internet, merchandise and quotes. Betty White's popularity in the 2010s helped GG become rediscovered. So I can see why people are getting so sick of it.

r22 When they introduced Seven (last seen on a milk carton), the characters had already entered into flanderization.... It would have been better had they thought to do what they did towards the end and have the characters separate... but at this stage, I think it was more the problem of what to do with Marcy and Jefferson. . . the only characters to really evolve were Bud and Marcy. . . Marcy for the worst, Bud had the potential of becoming the equivalent of early Marcy and Steve's love child at this point. Kelly had potential there for a while but then she inhaled too many Verminator fumes. The odd one out was Jefferson. . . on paper it made sense but he was ill fit to the rest of the cast kind of like David Leisure on Empty Nest and Golden Girls.

The Nanny was a funny old-fashioned sitcom. It's very entertaining. Lucille Ball would've loved it and probably would've guest-starred if she'd still been alive.

I am 100% gay but would have married C.C. Babcock in a heartbeat. Of the kids, Brighton was my favorite - he was put in some embarrassing situations. I found Maggie and particularly Grace annoying. It is kind of ironic as Grace (Madeline Zima) didn't have fond memories of her time on The Nanny,

Grace only existed to be the innocent cute little girl who was also smart. Maggie was just a whiny teen. Brighton had the most personality and his arrogance got him in trouble.

"The Nanny and Seinfeld are extremely Jewish which hurts global syndication."

We're both verklempt!!!

R12- The Nanny was better than Friends.

R28- Our Lucy could have played the part of Yetta.

Yetta was perfect. Sorry Lucy.

Personally I put The Nanny in the same category as The Golden Girls. I never really watched either during their original runs and I don’t seek out the reruns. Both are just very…I don’t know, mediocre? I know it’s sacrilege to say here but I honestly don’t get the Golden Girls fanaticism. I don’t hate it or anything but it just doesn’t excite me either. That said I’d watch TGG over The Nanny. A little Fran Drescher goes a long way

I want Fran Drescher to do a guest stint on General Hospital and be reunited with Mister Sheffield who is playing a Greek villain with an English accent. Frank Valentini loves stunt casting and I think Fran should get in touch with Frank and get herself a soap gig even if short term. There is a current storyline where they are hunting for the long lost Nanny of one the characters. I really think this could work out!

C.C was soo sexy with that voice and nice figure. Pretty blonde thing. Wore those get ups quite well. Oh my goodness.

Fran still has a great figure and a lovely head of hair. She looked like sexy money at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Woman turned me on mightily with "The Nanny."

This show is almost timeless. It's elegant. Hasn't aged much. It's old school cool and the actors were all quite good. Everything gelled and it still holds up.

I liked Fran's family. They always made me giggle.

It’s a shame Happily Divorced didn’t end up better than it was. It had a great cast and premise.

Happily Divorced was underrated. I enjoyed it. Fran looked great in it.

They should have had a sitcom starring Peter Marc Jacobson

Happily Gay

He was good looking when he was a youngster.

It was pretty unbelievable a wealthy British theater producer with a posh accent would ever name his son "Brighton."

That's like if a wealthy American theater producer with a high-class accent named his son "Atlantic City."

It was a good show but they had to ruin it by having the two get married. The last two seasons aren't nearly as good at the first four.

Fran and Charles both fought to have them remain single but still working together, but the network wanted them married so that's what they got. And then that whole stupid subplot with Niles and CC falling in love was even worse!

And it's especially weird that his name was "Brighton Sheffield." That's like being named "Atlantic City Indianapolis."

I know "the widower" is just a plot device, but it's so weird that these kids who lose their mother (on The Nanny or Andy Griffith, for example) never give a thought to the deceased.

They thought about Sarah a lot on the show in the first year.

I loved that show. My brother bought me the talking Nanny doll.

R44, they kind of had to get them together at that point. After a while, it just seemed like Mr. Sheffield was torturing her and it made him look bad. They’d admit feelings to each other and then he’d start dating someone else. They pushed the will-they-won’t-they a season too long anyway.

They could’ve salvaged the last two seasons by giving Fran a new career and pushed their relationship to the back burner but it was clear they thought they’d made a catastrophic mistake so there’s a lot of sloppy storytelling and you could tell they were scrambling and weren’t sure how to commit to anything.

The same thing that killed I Dream of Jeannie. The sexual tension drove the plot but it's never sustainable.

The Nanny is part of my holy trinity (Fresh Prince and GG's) and I rewatch it probably yearly. The only thing I would have to say is, I HATED her mother. she was like a fat spider, mildly repulsive.

Sylvia: Do I smell banana fritters with fresh fruit compote?

Niles: No.

Sylvia: [italic]Could[/italic] I?

I think Fran was really beautiful during the run of the show. She had small parts in films starting from the late 1970s but didn't get stunning until her 30s.

First show I can recall where the subject of pubic hair, though not directly called that, is definitely referred to when Fran masquerade as as a nurse and is called upon to shave Maxwell for surgery. Just thinking about that hotty's pubes and down there was hot! They both kind of looked directly at the camera a couple of times too, to show how naughty they felt. How delightful!

R53 She was in Saturday Night Fever and had the line "I guess Connie got her answer" because she wanted an actual name in the credits.

r54 that scene was very funny.

I’ve been watching the re-runs lately and it holds up well!

Fran and John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. She was just out of high school and it was her first professional acting job.

Lauren Lane as C.C. was really pretty terrific and rarely even mentioned by her name. I wonder if she's done theater, as she might be great in some comedies. She might make a good Vera in "Auntie Mame" or even "Mame" if she can sing (and they revise the darn thing).

Directed by DL fave Dorothy Lyman of Mama's Family.

Should have said Dorothy directed many, not all.

I met Dorothy Lyman once and she is a total sweetheart. Lovely woman.

I read Lauren Lane said she’s not a singer, so no Mame. She’s a theater professor in her home state of Texas. I liked “The Nanny” mainly for the catty exchanges between CC and Niles.

Niles would be gay today, but otherwise the show still feels fresh.

R59 She guest starred on an episode of Law & Order in the late 1990's. I do not remember much about the episode, except she was in on the murder of her sister.

Yes, he would definitely be gay today. Unfortunately that was impossible on a network sitcom in 1993. Different times.

The Nanny opening FRIENDS style.

R66- It was possible on a network sitcom in 1993. The character of Leon on Roseanne was GAY. He was not a regular character he was recurring but still. Rosanne had to really fight ABC to get the gay character on her show to begin with.

I loved the actor who played Niles. He was weirdly sexy (for a middle-aged guy) when he'd get into it with C. C., and he had such great timing.

r68 Roseanne's show had already been a huge hit for years by the time Martin Mull joined the cast, and Roseanne had a ton of clout. She could get away with it. Not Fran Drescher on a brand new, untested sitcom.

In many ways, “The Nanny” was an homage to older sitcoms and certain kind older show biz, like the references to Streisand. It really didn’t break new ground or set trends.

R71- I don't think FRIENDS broke any new ground or set any trends either.

The three kids on The Nanny did not seem like sophisticated New Yorkers. They looked seemed like BLAND out of towners visiting the city for a few days. They did a poor job with the casting of them. They seemed like they were from Illinois and just wore nice clothes or something.

You're right R73. None of them did pass for native New Yorkers, rich or poor. Which is kinda confusing because it's not like NYC doesn't have local child actors they could have cast.

I liked "The Nanny" for what it was - a corny, likable sitcom which felt dated even back in the mid-90s. Plus, Fran Drescher and Charles Shaughnessy had great chemistry together. Other than that, it was a very old fashioned, Borscht Belt humor playing on ethnic stereotypes and lines you could see coming from a mile away.

Didn’t care much for the show, but that theme song was fantastic.

Tony award winner Ann Hampton Callaway.

Ben Salisbury (Brighton) didn't age well but is rumored to be hung like a horse.

I've just started watching the first dozen episodes online after only seeing a stray episode when it was on it's network run.

It still holds up, seems less dated than the Golden Girls (which I'm a big fan of), has many Broadway references in the first half of season 1 & the kids seem like New Yorkers to me & are more enjoyable than the usual sitcom offspring of that era.

I just finished the Stephen Nichols (from DOOL) guest star episode where he pops out an eyepatch to seduce Fran lol!

[quote]Our Lucy could have played the part of Yetta.

For whatever its worth......Mindy Cohn claims that Lucy approached her in Dan Tana's (or Chasen's) and told her how much she loved FOL -- especially the Natalie/Tootie dynamic

Charles Shaughnessy was very goodlooking.

A very, very handsome man. Fantastic HAIR, great accent!

r44 There were several rumours that the intended end would see them couple up as the kids age out and head the Green Acres route.. whether in the catskills or the rural uk. It's always seemed disingenuous to blame the fans for its flanderization and inevitable death by ratings when it's been a long standard problem of the networks themselves, where a shows production costs increase, followed by the actors and usually the first heavy budget cut are the writers and they attempt to patch this over with guest spots by celebrities which is usually a sign of the first coffin nail being struck . . . also, at the time all the networks moved from audience testing to audience surveys - the problem like other polling is double blind sampling, directed questions, etc. and virtually every show ends with its characters becoming parodies of themselves, continuity is permanently lost and the characters regress to more exaggerated forms of their beginnings. But it's also true that a core audience doesn't like change in any direction, really. The 70s did the melodramatic shift - main cast member dies and lead characters develop gain permanent ptsd, the 80s followed suit but character development is temporary instead location shifts and essentially reboots show to square one, the 90s the rebirth of the nuclear family idealism, menopause doesn't exist and everybody gets a pony. The 00s, everybody dies, everybody is bitter, all relationshisp are destroyed because no one ever moves on... we could also pair this up with the industy becoming further and further separated from real life... the increasing hollywood bubble and sense of elitism or patronizing paternalism in regards to their audiences. .. as the 2010s brought back the very special episodes in every bloody episode. . . and unsurprisingly where award shows overall percentile ratings drop.

R54: Shave him for SURGERY!!

This whole sequence cracks me up.....from the "Ya look good, you'll do fine" to "it's not like he's going to a Bat Mitzvah!" to "Bucking for a raise?"

Oh do fuck off, R84.....whatever the fuck you're pontificating about

Never saw Lucy at Dan Tana, must have been Chasen's.

[Quote]My little gayling self thought Fran Descher was hot when I was kid. It want until years later I realized I was just gay.

Apparently, her husband had the same experience. 😉

The Nanny theme song was the swingingest sitcom theme song ever.

I liked the show too. I always thought Niles [i]was[/i] gay, albeit closeted. That's why I was surprised when he and CC "fell in love." I thought it was a big FU to the audience.

R88- Niles and Mr. Sheffield were BOTH

HOMOSEXUALS

I remember Peter Marc Jacobson saying the set was very accident-prone as Ben Salisbury would often forget to zip his pants and everyone would trip over his massive copperhead!

r 78 Ann Hampton Callaway does not have a Tony. She was a nominee for a so-so performance in a so-so revue from 20 years ago. Her sister is the real talent in that family.

No one but theater queens would know either of them.

Mr. Sheffield wasn't gay but he may as well have been. Resisting a babe like Fran Fine who lived with him and was always trying to seduce him too all those years. Even C.C. was a pretty woman but her attitude was ugly. It was just a wholesome, old-school type of show compared to stuff like Friends where everyone was fucking each other.

If Niles from the "Nanny" and Niles from "Frasier" were going at it, which one would be the top?

I'm thinking double-headed dildo, R94.

If only network TV in the 90s had more balls. We wouldn't have gotten clearly gay-coded characters eventually come out as straight due to network pressure.

R94 and R95 Can we add Rodney Banks in the mix too?

R96 that happens for the majority of television series today Show me one series that has xclusively 100% gay gold star gay men in it and only features 100% gay content that doesn't include bisexuality, heterosexuality, or trans sex, or where the "gay" guu doesn't end up having sex with a female or trans person.

I think NIles from "Nanny" would be more of a top for the way he gave lip back to CC; Niles from "Frasier" was too pussy-whipped by Maris, even he ever got any sex from her, which would be doubtful anyway.

Fran Drescher was the first female sitcom star to portray a Jewish character since Gertrude Berg in the Goldbergs in 1949! The writers were smart to spin the humor more towards American vs Brit and middle class vs upper class instead of Jew vs WASP. That allowed for the presence of Fran’s Italian friend Val and her ex Danny.

That said, once she hooked up with Maxwell there wasn’t any dramatic tension left. The show eventually became an odd fusion of the Lucy Show and the Cher show, with Fran modeling skin-tight gowns and screwing with Maxwell’s business. I also hated how they re-did the kitchen in season 5, I preferred the green cabinets.

I don’t think of Seinfeld as especially Jewish, except for the episodes where Jerry’s parents visit. It was mostly just weird NYC (Kramer) and ethnic humor (George and his parents).

"Seinfeld" tried to not make it Jewish. I once was at a Jewish street fair in NY where Jerry Stiller was asked why his family's last name was "Costanza" and he shrugged his shoulders and said basically, "Yeah, they're really a Jewish family".

Jerry's parents seem to be Irish, not Jewish. Even though they are still called "Seinfeld".

IMHO, it was a comedy that was actually funny.

CC: Don't blame me. I'm the one that wanted to do "Twelve Angry Men."

Niles: But they didn't want to do you.

[quote]Fran Drescher was the first female sitcom star to portray a Jewish character since Gertrude Berg in the Goldbergs in 1949!

I must be living in an alternate universe where we had a sitcom called "Rhoda"!

Rhoda Morgenstern to be precise!

R105 I meant to say the first *jewish* lead sitcom actress to play a jewish character. Valerie Harper, as I’m sure you know, was not jewish. Neither was Nancy walker.

Isn't Marlo Thomas Jewish? Was Ann Marie on That Girl as well?

Marlo Thomas is Lebanese, or half-Lebanese Christian and half-Sicilian, anyway

But many people assume she is Jewish.

The problem with the Nanny and Fran Drescher and Jews was that she was playing a character that seemed like a throwback to most American Jews at the time, a type of Jew they did not view fondly. Most Jewish-Americans has left the working class a generation prior and did not like to be reminded that people like Drescher still existed.

Remember that Friends ran at around the same time and Jennifer Aniston's uber-JAP Rachel Greene and even Ross and Monica were far more in line with the lives most American Jews led at the time - suburbia, college and all that.

"Jewish Mothers" were more in line with the equally JAPpy character Marlo Thomas played, not with Drescher's loud mother. (For comparison, Miriam Maisel and Drescher's mother are around the same age.)

So there was a a strong tendency in the Jewish community to see it as not relevant and even vaguely anti-Semitic, that she was playing a caricature of a Borscht Belt era Jew.

So all that, plus The Nanny was an old school sitcom at a time when shows like Friends and Seinfeld had moved on to a different aesthetic.

^^And yes, because one of you Aspies will point it out, I know that Miriam Maisel and Ma Drescher are fictional characters but they are supposed to be the same age

"Friends" is so damn over-rated. I'd watch it once in a while and Phoebe was like the only one who was funny.

[quote] Isn't Marlo Thomas Jewish?

LEBANESE, Blanche... LEBANESE!

[quote] I'd watch it once in a while and Phoebe was like the only one who was funny.

How can you say that when David Schwimmer so frequently split America's sides by yelling, "WE WERE ON A BREAK!"?

Yes R111, we know that Eldergays LOATHE Friends and don't understand its popularity and there are numerous threads speculating as to the reasons for that.

The problem of every show is to make the viewer want more. The Nanny created only one main focus: The relationship of Max and Fran. Once that got resolved (marriage), the interest was fading and stories like Fran getting pregnant did not keep the interest going. The show tried, but couldn't pivot its focus to something else and still call itself "The Nanny".

It was good and fun the first few seasons.

[quote] I don’t think of Seinfeld as especially Jewish, except for the episodes where Jerry’s parents visit. It was mostly just weird NYC (Kramer) and ethnic humor (George and his parents).

Wow.

After Transparent and Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld is the most Jewish show ever on TV. Granted Jerry and his friends did not discuss being Jewish (though they clearly were) but all the side characters -- the Costanzas, all Jerry's relatives, etc. were very Jewish.

Remember "before Goebbels made your hamburger..."

Can't imagine where they got the idea for the show.

Here's the clip for the Uncle Leo quote

[quote] After Transparent and Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld is the most Jewish show ever on TV.

[bold] ***AHEM***[/bold]

Why isn't Grace Under Fire more appreciated?

It wasn’t very good. I watched it when it was on CBS

Yetta: All I'm saying is that a blond like that with big shoulder pads dragged off your grandfather. Fran: That was a Cossack!

R116 what are you talking about? Elaine, George and Kramer, along with their family members and various romantic partners, were decidedly not Jewish. The Costanzas were not Jewish, Jews aren’t the only neurotic ethnic group in New York. Only Jerry was Jewish and, as you suggest, he wasn’t observant at all. His parents and uncle Leo were the most Jewish thing about the show aside from the episode where Jerry tried to get a chocolate babka. The episode where Jerry makes out with his date during Schindler’s list is only funny because his parents find out about it. Jerry has no interest in religion or any ethnic traditions.

There is no comparison with transparent, where the characters went to temple and constantly talked about being Jewish and the creator of the show, Jill Soloway, deliberately staged an equivalence between being Jewish and being queer — hence the flashbacks to Weimar Germany and the mysterious Tante Gittel.

"Nanny and the Professor" really was more a takeoff of "Mary Poppins". Juliet Mills was/is very English and her character's last name was Piccadilly if I recall.

Regarding Friends. Rachel's consumerist and shallow attitude made her relatable to middle-class or rich white American girls in general. She didn't seem connected to the Jewish religion. Mostly secular and materialistic. She definitely had the name, the attitude and appearance though that reads as rich Jewish princess. The nose job, doctor father and her Bubbe should have given it away. But it's not as obvious to people who aren't from the East Coast.

Monica and Ross were Jewish by ethnicity but not religious. Their mom isn't Jewish either. Hence why they celebrate Christmas. Ross is stereotypical in his high intelligence, neuroticism and whining along with his New York accent. Monica was all middle American suburban Karen though. Cox's Southern accent kept coming out.

All of them probably eat pork and don't observe kosher.

Ann Guilbert as Yetta was always funny.

Oh it's the Aspie British Jew again.....

I really enjoyed the show. Unlike some others I am glad they got married. They had run the will they won't they into the ground so they needed to move forward. I liked the new dynamic of the marriage and it was a nice novelty I am glad we got to see, but I am also glad that it was something we saw only 1 season of because it probably would not have been enjoyable or sustainable to see that phase of the relationship for too long. I think it ended at the right time and didn't wear out its welcome.

The Nanny had great writing and all of the main stars (except the kids) had perfect comedic timing (well, Mr. Sheffield was supposed to be the stick-in-the-mud so he didn't really deliver many jokes, but the other ones did). The Jewishness of it made the show funnier. I suppose they could have done Greek or Italians too I suppose, and it would have also worked, but I think the built-in funny Yiddish words give Judaism an extra boost the others don't have.

The eldest daughter (Nicholle Tom) went on to costar in The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman as a boozy whorish gal just trying to get ahead in a world filled with weirdos in Hollywood, which was hilarious. She was pretty good in it, with Laura Kightlinger. Sally Kellerman did one of her last performances I think on that show. Unfortunately it was an IFC production and didn't get a good audience so it only lasted two seasons, but I recommend everyone check them out if they haven't already.

Were they planning on doing a new season of the series in California? The show seemed set up to have a new start there. I agree I think it ended at the right time and I was also happy they got married.

Sylvia Fine was a nice Jewish broad.

This thread makes me miss Loehmanns.

How come that shiksa Wendi McLendon-Covey in the role of the mother on THE GOLDBERGS and not a nice Jewish actress?

It is interesting how Hollywood cast gentiles as Jews and Jews as gentiles.

As someone pointed out, there was one thing people were interested in: will they or won't they? Once that got resolved, who cares, since that was pretty much the only real story arc. A show like "Frasier" had a similar, better crafted storyline with Niles and Daphne, but it was never the singular focus of the show.

[quote]Juliet Mills was/is very English and her character's last name was Piccadilly if I recall.

"Phoebe Figalilly is a silly name-

and so many silly things keep happening.

What is the magic thing about Nanny?

Is it love?"

[quote] Why isn’t The Nanny more appreciated?

Because this nobody nanny doesn't go to MY synagogue, that's why!

I couldn't watch it because of her voice. I'm sure she's a very nice person. But oh, my ears.

[quote] Jews aren’t the only neurotic ethnic group in New York.

Link?

I never understand the delicates who post about how they can't watch because of her voice.

Yes, that's part of the gag!

It's not like the episodes were 22-minute soliloquies from Fran or anything.

LOve this show!

Fran said that she would do a revival if they ignored the last season... once the romantic tension is gone, it is hard to keep up but it was still funny in the last season

The actor who played Niles also disliked him getting with CC but I always saw that relationship as unrequited sexual tension.

Anyone know why he missed an ep in season 6(when Maggie got married)... was it because he was a drunk?

[quote]As someone pointed out, there was one thing people were interested in: will they or won't they? Once that got resolved, who cares, since that was pretty much the only real story arc.

Thanks to Shelley, r136, Cheers got to avoid that problem.

R108- The group of non Jewish Europeans Ashkenazi Jews are most closely related to are Italians. They are also related to people from the Fertile Crescent which includes Lebanon.

What needs to be more appreciated is "Nanny and the Professor".

[quote]Anyone know why he missed an ep in season 6(when Maggie got married)... was it because he was a drunk?

No. Well, I mean...he may well have had a drinking problem (didn't know the man), but that wasn't why he was absent from that episode. He'd flown home to Arkansas because one of his parents (or his sister? I can't recall) was gravely ill & had been hospitalized.

I wonder if Maggie's husband was hand-picked by Fran's husband? He was cute.

Daniel Davis' take on Madeline Zima's less-than-fond memories of the show (from linked article):

[quote]It was a disappointing thing for Davis to hear about the show he loved so much, but he believes it simply boiled down to Zima’s natural attitude. “There was always the sense with Madeline that she was just an unhappy child — it was her nature. It was noticeable,” he explained. “I think the writers picked up on her unhappiness, and they wrote it into her character ... It’s why Gracie always seemed unhappy and was in therapy.”

Burn. FWIW...I was at the taping of the series finale. For someone who supposedly had such a negative experience, Madeline sure did cry a lot after their final curtain call. (all three of the kids were crying & hugging on each other). Also, she's appeared in their little reunion-things -- that silly dinner party (where Danny Bonaduce shows up at the end), as well as the virtual table-read of the pilot episode during the pandemic.

The Nanny was generally a mediocre show as was the Golden Girls.

Sorry Nanny and Golden Girls worshiping QUEENS 👸

^ Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

Daniel Davis was banned from performing on Broadway at one point because of his awful behavior during La Cage.

Madeline never called out anyone in particular, just that she felt she was treated more like a prop than an actual kid.

Mr. Sheffield had a big strong chest and knew how to show it off.

for a bunch of bored NYC rich kids with an absent father they sure as hell didn't get into much trouble.

When the show aired in Germany they de-Jewified Fran's voice by dubbing it with a normal German voice, she sounded like the Sheffields.

From what I remember, Sheffield did discipline and was attentive to his kids though his job kept him busy. He wasn't a bumbling dad type.

OP, why isn't your mom more appreciated. She was such a filthy whore.

[quote]When the show aired in Germany they de-Jewified Fran's voice

Ve ahr not surprised.

What few people realize is the original show was supposed to be called "The Tranny." The producers were like, "Fran is NOT a tranny? Oh well we hired her, let's make her a Jew, it's close"

Besides boot camp, where would everyone else be wearing tan?

[quote] When the show aired in Germany they de-Jewified Fran's voice by dubbing it with a normal German voice, she sounded like the Sheffields.

Is it streaming?

[quote] When the show aired in Germany they de-Jewified Fran's voice by dubbing it with a normal German voice, she sounded like the Sheffields.

The dub gave her a whiny, nasal voice. There was a joke in one of the later seasons where Fran had to undergo a medical procedure and Max asks the doctor to check Fran's nose for polyps and, if possible, to remove them. Later in the episode, Max asks about the polyps and the doctor says that the polyps were so vast her head would've collapsed if removed.

R161 🤣🤣🤣

In terms of embracing stereotypes and the broad humor, I guess it was like the TV equivalent of Mel Brooks movies. Hit or miss but could be really laugh out loud funny.

I never watch this show but I can't believe there's a self-respecting character with the name "Cee Cee".

C.C. Babcock was the best! Love her!

In the final episode, we learned that the "C.C." was an abbreviation for Chastity Claire. If my name was Chastity Babcock, I'd go by C.C., too.

Mr Sheffield: Miss Fine have you seen the ancient document that was on my desk?

Fran: Chita Rivera's resumé?

My favorite line/put-down from The Nanny:

Toward the end of the first season, Fran's ex-boyfriend Danny reappeared & proposed to her. She accepted. Naturally, the kids were devastated & angry when Fran told them that she'd be leaving after the wedding. While they sulked around the kitchen table, C.C. -- who was over-the-moon about this development, popping champagne -- said to them:

C.C.: "Hey kids! When I'm down in the dumps, you know what cheers me up?"

Fran: "A fifth of Scotch & fresh pack of batteries?"

Even Max laughed at that (but tried to hide it).

[quote] The Nanny was generally a mediocre show as was the Golden Girls.

Disproven by imagining this scene with Bea Arthur

Because like an endless number of sitcoms it's dull, unfunny and keeps rehashing the same old same old. Characters don't change and the jokes become so predictable! That's why they're called situation comedies because the situation never changes

I love this one ...

CC: This isn't a typical night.

Niles: Yes, you're not home alone sitting on your foot massager watching [italic]Sisters.[/italic]

So what's this about Benjamin Salisbury's steak? Is this DL wishful thinking?

[quote]I never watch this show but I can't believe there's a self-respecting character with the name "Cee Cee".

Well, it's CLEAR that you never watched the show....because C.C. never had any self-respect. Or anyone else's respect. That was her whole schtick. Why are you even commenting???

Only people who like a good laugh enjoy "The Nanny", so of course there are many here who just snarl!

we're watching it now, starting with the first season. it's really funny.

The whole cast had impeccable comedic timing, even the kids. They never took themselves too seriously so we were never subjected to a heavy handed dramatic episode. Even when Max got mugged, they didn’t lose the humor.

I used to love when they would refernce past sitcoms...like The Dick Van Dyke Show, where Ann Guilbert played Millie....Yetta referring to Brighton as Ritchie and turning to the mirror and yelling...see theres Millie !

[quote]The children were awful, but they were hardly ever in it.

Two of the better episodes were the one where Brighton discovers his "endowment," and the one where he joins Sylvia's canasta team (complete with team jacket.)

I binged watched a couple of seasons once and, by the end, Fran was my least favorite character. Also, yiu could see the punchlines coming from outer space.

The relationship between Fran and Sylvia is comedy gold. When you saw those two in a scene,you knew you were going to laugh.If Yetta was in the scene as well,it was guaranteed. I always said that Fran,Yetta and Sylvia could have had a show of their own.

I always thought C.C. and Maxwell were the two best dressed characters on television.

R181, the mother / daughter parts are great

[quote]Two of the better episodes were the one where Brighton discovers his "endowment," and the one where he joins Sylvia's canasta team (complete with team jacket.)

The Flushing Queens!

Between Sylvia, Grandma Yetta, and Aunt Frieda, it's a wonder they never won the "Best Hairstyling" Emmy.

I loved the running gags about Sylvia's overeating.

Op Because, it was shit. It is appreciated, as shit.

Is there any proof Benjamin Salisbury is packing?

It was adapted in 11 countries (including a Spanish-language US version for Univision), but [italic]My Fair Nanny,[/italic] the Russian version, was so popular that the original US creative team was commissioned to write new episodes after all of the American episodes had been used up.

Episode #2.25, "The Chatterbox," was an unsuccessful back door pilot for a proposed spinoff series.

I never watched it again after the episode about the home invasion with Fran getting raped and her husband coming out as gay.

Fran and her ex have said that the Polish adaptation, [italic]Niania,[/italic] is the closest to the original.

I agree OP this show is always great for an old school laugh, like comfort food

It got better over time as Fran and "husband" made it an often homage to other shows and various aspects of pop culture. But it began as a bunch of gaudy cliches and was never taken seriously because of that. The shows after the marriage seemed phoned-in.

[quote]Jerry's parents seem to be Irish, not Jewish. Even though they are still called "Seinfeld".

The actor who originally played Jerry's father, Phil Bruns, was Jewish. Phil was a familiar face in many sitcoms. The actor who replaced Phil Bruns, was Barney Martin, he had the longer run as Jerry's father. Barney Martin was Irish.

The mother, actress Liz Sheridan, certainly looked Jewish, but I have no idea what she was, Liz was the NYC based actress who dated James Dean. When she died, Liz had been married to an African-American jazz musician for many years. They had one daughter.

Before Jerry Stiller portrayed Frank Costanza, John Randolph portrayed Frank.

[quote]Back then when I watched it I thought that the premise and the setup was terribly dated already. And yet, the humor worked well, and it still works today.

The set up was dated, huh? Dated, but definitely based in reality.

How many famous actors, and accomplished wealth men, have ended up fucking their kids nannies, then ended up marrying them. There is quite a long list.

The difference on The Nanny, Sheffield and Fran weren’t married to other people. They were always free to hook up, but it took forever. That same premise was actually used in many other sitcoms, the fact that the main characters took forever to acknowledge they cared for each other in a romantic way. Usually, when the characters did finally hook up, it was the end of the series.

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