Few would have predicted that The Nanny would return to modern times after HBO Max began streaming reruns of the series earlier this year, but we’re in 2021 and the 25-year-old sitcom’s Fran Drescher is having another moment.
For those who were in the ’90s, there’s clearly an element of nostalgia. The series ran from 1993 to 1999, occupying the liminal space from the 1980s to the late 1990s, the latter of which saw the launch of “edgy” TV comedies such as Friends, Frasier and Will & Grace. Its humorous aesthetics—including the (incredibly catchy) theme song and animated sequences, concluding story, and premise—make The Nanny seem incredibly outdated from today’s perspective and near certainly contributes to its appeal.
But there’s also a subversive quality lurking beneath the show’s seemingly placid sitcom surface. Fran, along with her mother Sylvia (Renée Taylor), grandmother Yetta (Ann Morgan Guilbert), and C.C. Babcock (Lauren Lane), embodies what film scholar Kathleen Rowe Carlin calls “the unruly woman.” As Carlin explains, the defiant woman subverts the conventions of normative female behavior, using her laughter, her body, and her sexuality to challenge patriarchal authority. So much of the joy that The Nanny brings to viewers stems from the way in which these women continually challenge the authoritative male voice – especially Maxwell (Charles Shaughnessy), but also to a lesser extent. is Niles (Daniel Davis) – inviting a hug. a femininity that refuses to follow the rules.
Fran is the most obvious example. With Drescher’s carefully groomed hair, nasal voice, and ability to handle situations with the same ease as comedic greats like Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett, her character continually punctures her stuffy, stiff personality. British reminder that her boss (and eternal love interest) Maxwell Sheffield portrays. To put it bluntly, Fran is a force of chaos in the Sheffield household; Wherever she goes, disruption follows. If Maxwell successfully orchestrates what appears to be a Broadway play, somehow Fran will get involved and the mansion will collapse around them. If Maxwell sneezes at her womanly ways, usually with a sly eye towards his butler Niles, she will find a way to bring him back to earth, revealing, among other things, Men gossip as much as women.
Then there’s Fran’s outfit. She seems to be moving between two extremes: high fashion and excessive flamboyance (sometimes with some overlap). Even 25 years later, the internet still loves her fashion sense and it’s easy to see why: she’s nothing less than a fashion icon. Sometimes her wardrobe reflects a certain “bimbo” aesthetic — a term she uses to describe herself. In others, it suggests that she knows how to dress appropriately for formal occasions. Most of all, it proves that Fran, like so many other unconventional women in sitcoms, knows how to use her body and clothes to reflect her inner self and, just as importantly, to attract men. grandfather.
There is a vulgarity and sensuality in the writing of The Nanny, which belies its “safe” sitcom look. Although the first season focused more on Fran’s relationship with Maxwell’s three children, as the series progressed, she gradually had more of a dating life and there were many times the show stepped on the edge. gender accepted by the network. Most notably, Fran owns her sexuality in a way that, even today, is extremely rare on network television.
