‘The Nanny’ Reunion Pandemic First Episode Read

The Nanny debuted on November 3, 1993 and ended on June 23, 1999.

Along with Family Matters, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Blossom, and Sister, Sister, and other iconic 90’s sitcoms, The Nanny was among those considered a family gathering moment around the singular television. Thus, imagine the happy surprise of tuning into the reunion pandemic reading of the first episode. The cast (with the exception of guest star James Marsden) read along in their respective homes adding the treat of Ann Hampton Calloway singing and piano playing The Nanny Named Fran theme and Peter Marc Jacobson, The Nanny’s co-creator narrating the start of each scene. 

Reunited bunch. 

Even though separate from each other, they made #StayAtHome work. Charles Shaughnessy (the very dashing Broadway producer/widower Mr. Maxwell Sheffield) with his eloquence and props, Benjamin Salisbury (the problematic middle child, Brighten) with wry humor, Nicholle Tom (the sheltered eldest child, Maggie) with that sincere innocence and surprisingly hilarious switcheroo, Madeline Zima (the youngest, slightly misunderstood child, Grace) humorously embodying a six-year-old’s quirky spirit, Lauren Lane (the catty neighbor CeCe) and Daniel Davis (Brit wit Niles the butler) still maintaining those clipped, haughty tones and perched eyebrows all alit in their hilarious banter, Renee Taylor with the loud, razzle dazzle, and of course the illustrious, down-on-her-luck Fran Drescher herself leading the pack as a cosmetics sales lady turned nanny. 

Peter Marc Jacobson narrating alongside exterior shots from the first episode. 

Although the show is about an unemployed Jewish white woman from Flushing, New York City, there was something daring that I did not catch as a child— the mentioning of President Ronald Reagan’s underhanded interference in Grenada. 

After firing Fran for crossing the line in his parenting, Mr. Sheffield goes, “I overacted, didn’t I?”

“Like Reagan in Grenada,” Niles replies. 

The whole history lesson here is that in order to demolish the People’s Revolutionary Government (which threw out Grenadian system), the profound Maurice Bishop and his followers had to be silenced. Once they were all brutally murdered (with location of their bodies still relatively unknown), the United States invaded the vulnerable Caribbean country under the guise of code name Operation Urgent Fury. Now how this related to The Nanny circa 1993, ten years after this horrific power play abuse, is a huge stretch of a simile, especially considering that the show is lily white. There are no people of color onscreen or behind-the-scenes. It is extremely problematic that this came to be suggested and given the go-ahead. Even now with the United States seizing medical supplies from reaching Barbados— another Caribbean country. In the deliverance of that line, it feels like the laughter is geared more towards what the Reagan administration did to innocent bodies than Mr. Sheffield temporarily firing Fran. 

From afar without sets and props, Fran (Fran Drescher) and Mr. Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy) still have the chemistry. 

However, one of the more funnier examples of the 90’s many pop culture references of bullying 45, was Fran waving at the unseen Ivana Zelníčková Trump— the first of his three wives— exclaiming, “you’ll find someone new.” Let us hope that comes to who leads the country in this presidential election year. 

While it was wonderful to see the cast reunited and bring back pleasant memories, it does question what flew over our heads in the dialogue. What did we not understand between the laugh tracks? Of course there was plenty of sexual innuendo going on— that happens a lot in most sitcoms. There are levels of sensitivity to consider when formulating scripts. Yet the writers put the umbrella up to let the audience guess. And often times, we miss the mark because the information was not privy to us.