Line #3 YMMV/TheNanny


1	* AmericansHateTingle: "Lamb Chop's on the Menu" didn't translate so well when the show was brought overseas, due to the character of Lamb Chop being virtually unknown outside the US, not to mention that the bratty and diva-like behavior of the character and her brazen flirting with Maxwell put off some international viewers who saw it as obnoxious and unlikeable.
2	* BizarroEpisode:
3	** Even for viewers who grew up with and love the character, the aforementioned Lamb Chop episode is this trope. It doesn't help that the episode goes back and forth on treating Lamb Chop as real.[[note]] The scenes with Shari tend to treat Lamb Chop as real, but Fran later mocks Val for thinking she's alive and even describes the way Lamb Chop is put to bed as psychotic. On the other hand, the ending, with Lamb Chop remembering her fall down the laundry chute, which Shari couldn't have possibly known about, and throwing Shari out of her business meeting with Mr. Sheffield, seems to confirm she's actually alive.[[/note]]
4	** One episode in a later season Fran is approached by a woman who states that, due to a mix-up years ago, she might be Fran's actual mother and not Sylvia (and for a second, Fran believes it when she hears the woman's laugh, which sounds freakishly similar to Fran's own unique laugh). Of course, it turns out she's not, and the woman is never mentioned ever again.
5	** The animated ChristmasSpecial "Oy to the World", in which Fran and Brighton are magically whisked to the North Pole, where they must protect Christmas against the wrath of ice princess "C.C. the Abominable Babcock". It ''never'' appears in syndication.
6	* DesignatedHero[=/=]DesignatedVillain: Niles and C.C. respectively [[spoiler: when he pesters her with marriage proposals. Sure, she delighted in humiliating him and can be a little harsh at times, but considering Niles has proposed to her four times completely out of the blue, while still making jokes at her expense he’s not even on a First name basis with her. She’s within her right to say no him, yet she's made out to be a bitch for refusing him. Also, Niles is portrayed as righteous during his ReasonYouSuckSpeech in which he calls her out on pining after Maxwell, despite the fact he himself is “in love with” her yet won’t accept that she’s said no to him. The "you'll die alone and old...” argument he makes towards her when she says no screams EntitledToHaveYou. All of this somehow has the effect of humbling C.C. and getting her to realise that Niles is the one for her, and they wind up married with a baby.]] For what it's worth, Nile's actor wasn't fond of this story turn, too.
7	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The show was (and still is) immensely popular in many countries outside the USA (Argentina, Australia, Chile and Russia, to name a few). It's also very popular in Mexico. It does help that the Mexican dub was really good, and [[AdoredByTheNetwork the network that had the rights to broadcasted it there was very fond of put its reruns for many years]]. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_foreign_adaptations_of_The_Nanny It's even gotten several]] {{Foreign Remake}}s, too.
8	* GrowingTheBeard: Creator/FranDrescher says "Imaginary Friend" in season 1 was the turning point in the series, finding their niche in slapstick comedy.
9	* HarsherInHindsight:
10	** In one episode, Fran fears that her mother might be having an affair (she's not, she's just flirting with the butcher to get low priced meat) and in another, a lonely and desperate Niles asks himself if Sylvia would ever leave Morty. [[spoiler:Skip ahead to the final season, and Sylvia really ''does'' start having an affair and almost leaves Morty]].
11	** Fran's favorite store, Loehmann's, had filed for bankruptcy on multiple occasions and eventually had to close all its stores. Loehmann’s did eventually come back as an online retailer to some success but by 2018 not even the website exists.
12	** Similar to the Loehmann's case above; during the season 3 episode "The Cantor Show" after their Temple Cantor quits to pursue a career in Broadway, Sylvia comments that without him the Temple will go under, and offhandedly mentions that "Blockbuster Video is already measuring the parking lot", joking about the exponential growth of the company during the mid to late 90's at the peak of their popularity. No one expected that less than 20 years later there'd be no trace of them.
13	** The episode in which Fran thinks she's pregnant only to reveal it was a false positive on the test leading to her crying softly to herself on the hospital bed, is a lot harder to watch after you find out that Fran Drescher's bout with uterine cancer led to a hysterectomy that left the actress herself infertile and incapable of ever bearing children.
14	** "Pishke Business" features Fran playing C.C. to butter up an investor (played by Wallace Shawn) whose condition for putting money into a show is "[[SexualExtortion No chick, no check]]." Later, after a disgusted Max ends the plan, C.C. chases after Shawn's character to get him to reconsider. It all falls under this trope after learning that [[https://thebrag.com/the-nannys-lauren-lane-claims-wallace-shawn-made-sexual-advance/ Wallace Shawn was alleged to have made unwanted advances on C.C.'s actress Lauren Lane]] off-camera.
15	** In one episode, [[JewishMother Sylvia]] has a freak-out where she threatens to throw herself in the Hudson River, to which Fran responded "Ma, flooding New Jersey is not gonna solve anything!" Flash forward to Fall 2012 and watch what happened to the state after Hurricane Sandy.
16	** In season 2 episode 23, C.C. complains loudly to Niles ''"My mental health is just a sick game to you isn't it?!"'' and it's played for laughs. Later in season 5 episode 17, C.C. actually ends up in a mental hospital and is absent for several episodes after she finally has a breakdown caused by all the mind games Niles has played on her through the years.
17	* HeartwarmingInHindsight: In "The Strike", Fran refuses to cross a picket line of striking busboys at the party for Maxwell's theater production of ''Film/NormaRae'' (a work about unions, fittingly enough), and Maxwell gets in trouble when he tries to force Fran through the picket line before apologizing about his inconsiderate behavior. In 2021, Creator/FranDrescher got elected president of [[UsefulNotes/UnionsInHollywood SAG-AFTRA]], and in 2023, [[UsefulNotes/TVStrikes she led SAG-AFTRA in a strike alongside the WGA]].
18	* HilariousInHindsight:
19	** In "Imaginary Friend", mention is made of Maxwell's [[Franchise/HarryPotter great-aunt Hermione and her giant hoot owl]] in regards to the Sheffield family's history of dementia.
20	** While Maggie was doing that particular research, she also noted that Maxwell was the only member of his family to not have the title of "Sir" or "Lord" in his name (except for another uncle who thought he was a leprechaun.) In reality, Charles Shaughnessy is the 5th Baron Shaughnessy, so he is an actual Lord.
21	** The season 6 Thanksgiving episode (the one in which Fran finds out she's pregnant for real). Morty is seen watching the football game, and he said the he should have bet on Pittsburgh. The Steelers actually did play the Detroit Lions that Thanksgiving, and they lost on a controversial coin flip, now forever infamous to Steeler fans.
22	** As the series ended, Maxwell moved to Hollywood and left the theater business. After that, it was announced in real-life media ''Cats'' would no longer be on stage. How to you think Max reacted to that news and the eventual bomb of [[Film/{{Cats}} the 2019 movie]]?
23	*** In addition after the closing of [[Theatre/{{CinderellaLloydWebber}} Cinderella]] on the West End, Andrew Lloyd Webber has been getting a lot of scorn from the theatre community due to his poor handling of it and his treatment of the cast. Maxwell's probably loving every minute of it.
24	** In an early season, while snowed in at Sylvia's house, Maggie begins to flirt with another boy in the building named Kenny. At the end of the episode, he says that after he graduates from medical school, he's going to go right into stand-up comedy as kind of a giant joke on his parents. Funny then, but since [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Jeong Ken Jeong]] did the same thing (although he did spend a lot of time as a doctor and did stand-up as a hobby,) it's even funnier.
25	** One of the show's {{Running Gag}}s was Maxwell sometimes being mistaken for Creator/PierceBrosnan. Creator/FranDrescher did ''Film/TheBeauticianAndTheBeast'', [[RecycledPremise a big-screen recycling of this show]], with Creator/TimothyDalton, Brosnan's immediate predecessor as Film/JamesBond.
26	** In season 4's "The Boca Story", Grace's experiment with a new figure via bra stuffing comes to an end at Disney World's Space Mountain, where, as Fran put it, "they blew off into a galaxy far far away". Keep in mind this was ''17 years'' before Disney ended up purchasing the ''Franchise/StarWars'' franchise.
27	** In the season 5 episode "Not Without My Nanny", Fran insisted shawarma would make a mint in America. After Film/TheAvengers2012 gave shawarma the ColbertBump, shawarma is a household name making loads of money in America.
28	* HoYay:
29	** Maxwell and Niles occasionally had some. Like when Maxwell revealed he was going to propose to Fran, Niles reacted as if ''he'' was getting proposed to.
30	* InformedWrongness: Happens several times when Fran will make a suggestion that goes wrong and Max starts yelling at her. The show seems to forget that ultimately Maxwell is the one who has the final say in what he does in his shows and it was his decision to follow Fran's advice, despite it not working out in the past. At many points, she was following his orders.
31	** One of the clearest examples is when Niles keeps proposing to C.C. Fran advised him to try and take her on a date, but is then blamed for "meddling" and "making things worse" when it turns out Niles blurted out another proposal before the appetisers had even come out. As she points out herself, she told Niles to slow down but Maxwell and Niles still act like she's the bad guy
32	* JerkassWoobie: C.C. She may be a horrible, greedy, selfish person, but all the crap she takes, you can't help but have a tiny bit of sympathy for her. Especially when she has a mental breakdown.
33	* LesYay:
34	** Fran and Val.
35	** Fran and C.C.
36	*** Fran once kissed C.C. and she was completely nonchalant about it.
37	** To make the circle complete, Val and C.C.
38	** Played with when Maxwell hires a lesbian promoter (he thought she was straight) and she mistakes Fran for being gay since Fran "is over 30 and she has no man in her life." Fran responds with [[NotThatTheresAnythingWrongWithThat "I'm not gay, I'm just pathetic."]] Immediately afterward:
39	--->'''Sydney:''' Well, that's a shame I would've asked you out.\
40	'''Fran:''' Great, a gorgeous professional asks me out and it's a woman! (''brief, thoughtful pause'') You're not Jewish, are you?\
41	'''Sidney:''' (''shrugs'') Sorry!\
42	'''Fran:''' Aw, that's too bad. We were ''this close'' to makin' my mother happy!
43	** Fran’s mom is angry about her daughter possibly taking Val as a date to a wedding. Well naturally she doesn’t care if Fran is gay (or bi) but she thinks her daughter can do way better than Val.
44	** Fran's obsession with Barbara Streisand would occasionally dip into a PsychoLesbian StalkerWithACrush territory as well. She had a wig like Streisand's hair, ''stole her shoe'' when she visited her house, and when her sister Rosalind Kind visited the house, she declared "Close enough, same DNA!!!" and began kissing her feet.
45	* MemeticMutation:
46	** Maxwell Sheffield's hate for Creator/AndrewLloydWebber became this. On the Website/LiveJournal gossip community Oh No They Didn't, it's pretty much obligatory to include "commentary" from Maxwell in Broadway-related posts in which he still has it in for Lloyd Webber, he's not particularly impressed with ''Theatre/SpiderManTurnOffTheDark'' either. In 2019 Patti Lupone in a [[https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/21/magazine/patti-lupone-broadway-company.html New York Times interview]] was...very blunt about her feelings about Lloyd Webber. Once it got shared on other social media sites, a few of the comments mentioned how Maxwell must be feeling vindicated after all these years. Imagine Maxwell's reaction to ''Cats'' first being made into a movie, and his reaction to the movie itself. We can only hope he had nothing to do with it.
47	** In 2023, as Creator/FranDrescher led SAG-AFTRA in the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strike against Hollywood studios pushing to use ArtificialIntelligence, potentially putting thousands of actors and writers out of work, there was [[https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=828142692009978&set=pb.100044427639794.-2207520000.&type=3 the meme]] "'The woman we all thought would lead the rebellion against the machines' and 'The woman who ended up leading the rebellion against the machines'", showing side-by-side pictures of Creator/LindaHamilton as Sarah Connor from the ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' films and Fran Drescher as Fran Fine from ''The Nanny'', [[ApprovalOfGod a meme that Drescher herself shared on social media]].
48	* NoYay: Niles and Nanny Mueller in "The Nanny-In-Law". That's not just {{Squick}}, that's NightmareFuel! Noted in-universe when Maxwell--after seeing them--stammers "I...I...I don't ever want to see that again!"
49	* RetroactiveRecognition:
50	** Fran's ex-boyfriend/ex-boss is [[Characters/SurvivorCookIslands Jonathan]] [[Characters/SurvivorPhilippines Penner]].
51	** Pamela Eells O'Connell wrote four episodes and served as co-executive producer. O'Connell is best known as creator and executive producer of ''Series/{{Jessie}}'' and ''Series/{{Bunkd}}''.
52	** Eric Cohen wrote three episodes and served as supervising producer. Cohen is best known as co-creator and executive producer of ''Series/SoLittleTime''.
53	** Creator/BillLawrence wrote two episodes.
54	** Tracy Newman and Jonathan Stark wrote an episode. Both are best known as creators and executive producers of ''Series/AccordingToJim''.
55	** Rob Lotterstein also wrote an episode. Lotterstein is best known as creator and executive producer of ''Series/TheWarAtHome''.
56	** Creator/JamesMarsden plays Eddie, the waiter/delivery boy Maggie has her first kiss with.
57	** Creator/LanceReddick briefly appears as a production assistant in “Fair Weather Fran”.
58	* SpiritualSuccessor:
59	** ''Living With Fran''. Also, yet ''another'' Spiritual Successor in ''Series/{{Jessie}}'' (on, of all things, the Creator/DisneyChannel) by way of Pamela Eells O'Connell, executive producer of both shows.
60	** In this way, ''The Nanny'' itself could be considered a Spiritual Successor to ''Series/CharlesInCharge'', another show O'Connell had previously wrote episodes for as a freelance writer.
61	** The 2014 Mexican telenovela ''Mi Corazon es Tuyo'' (based on a Spanish soap opera called ''Ana y Los 7'') also qualifies. The two series' plotlines and some of the characters' personalities are a lot alike; among the main differences include the fact that Isabela (who's a lot like C.C., but a more blatant ChildHater) is part of a full-fledged love triangle with her boss (the series' equivalent to Maxwell), Fernando, who in turn has a WillTheyOrWontThey situation with Ana (who is a pluckier Fran)... oh, and the fact that Ana leads a double life as an exotic dancer for much of the series, something Fran definitely didn't do.
62	** ABC's 2010 sitcom ''Melissa & Joey'' shares the same premise but inverts the roles, with the female part of the main couple being a rich and successful professional who hires the male as a nanny after he's fired from his job and publicly disgraced.
63	* StrangledByTheRedString: Despite a few moments of BelligerentSexualTension (like the kiss in the first season 3 episode), Niles and C.C. ''hate'' each other and Niles loves to insult and torment C.C. for most of the show... Until the second half of the last season when Niles suddenly reveals that he's actually ''in love with her'' and decides he wants to marry her. Then we only know that C.C. turns him down several times and after an argument Niles gives her a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech...[[spoiler:however at the end of the episode they are discovered in bed together without any explanation. After that, they almost never interact on-screen but it's implied they are having a secret relationship. In the last episode they get married in Fran's DELIVERY ROOM and in the same scene C.C. even learns that she is pregnant with Niles' baby]]. Even [[Creator/DanielDavis Niles's actor]] [[https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/flashback/daniel-davis-aka-niles-reveals-the-one-thing-he-didnt-get-about-the-nanny/news-story/47e81046e9bbd6dd1974518285816e88 never quite bought it]].
64	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
65	** Fran’s sister, Nadine, is frequently mentioned and seen in a few flashback scenes, but only appears in one episode. You would think that she and her husband and kids would have [[spoiler: appeared at Fran and Max’s wedding but none of them are seen.]]
66	** Maggie, Brighton, and Grace’s maternal grandparents are not seen or mentioned until the season six episode centered around them and that’s their only appearance. Since it’s implied that their daughter, Sarah, was an only child, and Maggie, Brighton, and Grace are their only grandchildren, its strange that it would take that long for them to appear on the show.
67	** The Christmas episode of season one, Max mentions his personal shopper, Edna, but she’s not seen or mentioned after that.
68	** Fran is shown to have a few friends that work as nannies, but they don't appear in any other episodes besides "Strange Bedfellows."
69	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Given how the show ends as [[spoiler:Niles and C.C. get married and C.C. finds out that she's expecting their baby]], it probably would've made more sense to make [[spoiler:Niles and C.C. an expectant couple]] both as a way to write Creator/LaurenLane's pregnancy into season 5 and as a way to show Niles and C.C. relationship as parents with them possibly falling in love later. This, in turn, could also have been used to spur Fran and Maxwell into acknowledging their feelings for one another and officially become a couple.
70	* UnintentionalPeriodPiece:
71	** Aside from the fashion sense (Maggie's babydoll dresses, especially), the earlier seasons make quite a few pop culture references and current events references to things like the O.J. Simpson trial and the Menendez Brothers that date the show to TheNineties.
72	** Likewise many of the New York skyline shots have the Twin Towers in the background as well. The show ended in 1999, two years before 9/11.
73	** Many of the celebrities appearing on the show [[AsHimself as themselves]] are now dead or visibly older, not to mention one cameo by an obviously pre-presidential UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump.
74	** C.C. and Maxwell are both New York professionals but none of them are seen using cell phones or computers, placing this show in a time period before such technologies became mainstream. One gag, showing Fran struggling with the poor reception of a StatusCellPhone, could only work in the 1990s when cellular technology was still in its infancy.
75	* UnpopularPopularCharacter: C.C. wasn't well-liked by anyone in the main cast but Maxwell (and Niles, [[StrangledByTheRedString not that you'd know it]]) but she was a fan favorite. Fans loved it when she gave Niles as much crap as he gave her.
76	* ValuesDissonance:
77	** The first season's episode featuring Cloris Leachman as Clara Mueller has aged like milk in regards to the subplot between her and Niles being old lovers. Specifically because the episode goes out of its way to explicitly point out that the two were in a secret relationship back when Clara was Maxwell's nanny and Niles was a teenager... when she was 32. Meaning Clara essentially committed statutory rape. [[DownplayedTrope Or maybe not]]; Niles did point out that he had just begun in domestic service; presumably he was 18 at the time of his first job.
78	** Season 5's episode "Not Without My Nanny" (a send-off of ''Film/NotWithoutMyDaughter'', which itself suffers from this) has aged very poorly. Besides the egregiously stereotypical portrayal of Middle Easterners ([[{{Qurac}} even in a fictional Middle Eastern nation]]), the Sultan is played by Charles Shaughnessy in {{Brownface}}, a practice now frowned upon in Hollywood.
79	** Fran and (sometimes) C.C. are often chastised for being over 30 and not married with children. Fast forward to the 2010s where factors like the escalating costs of weddings, the 2008 Recession, more awareness about child abuse and emotional neglect of children, couples simply living together or practicing polyamory, and the rising cost of living have led to people putting off children (and sometimes marriage) until they have their economic situation together or put it off because they aren't ready emotionally to properly care for children of their own (Fran’s mom being extremely desperate for her daughter to be married and the lengths she goes to for that goal would be seen as signs of parental abuse today).
80	*** If the show was made today Fran could have a career, boyfriend and possibly children on her schedule, and the only person rushing her into anything would be her mother (which would be shown to be in the wrong).
81	*** Likewise C.C. could be able to be single without hassle (or wait until she finds a man she actually likes), her career would be seen as a huge achievement in its own right and she could still be desirable as not wanting kids isn’t a bad thing.
82	** Some of Niles' zingers against C.C. amount to him calling her UsefulNotes/{{transgender}}, which have aged very poorly as trans people and issues have become better known and understood. These remarks would make him much less of a sympathetic ServileSnarker in a modern context. Several other comments amount to fat shaming or slut shaming, both of which are treated much more seriously these days.
83	** One episode features C.C. and Brighton [[DatingServiceDisaster accidentally forming an online relationship and chatting each other up]]. While it's PlayedForLaughs, in the present day C.C. would be in some trouble for soliciting a minor, even though she did it accidentally.
84	** Many of the therapy jokes about clients being disturbed, therapy not being effective, and other characters reacting to it with unease, has not aged well, due to current better understanding of mental health.
85	* ValuesResonance:
86	** The show began due to Fran's boss[=/=]boyfriend Danny stringing her along for several years and then throwing her away when he got bored. With the objectification of women in the workplace more prominent of an issue, Danny comes across as an even bigger scumbag.
87	** The show's depiction of gay people who aren't single note jokes built around their sexuality has aged very well. Fran in particular, is shown capable of getting along great with gay men and women, and at one point seemed actually to consider getting together with Sydney Mercer (but didn't because Sydney wasn't Jewish). Sylvia's also made it clear she wouldn't care if Fran was gay; her only issue is that idea Fran would settle for someone like Val. With gay marriage legal nationwide in 2015, Fran forming a relationship, let alone a family, with a woman isn't nearly as stigmatized as it was in the 1990s.
88	** The show's premise, a lower-middle-class woman working for a wealthy executive, has gained greater pertinence since wealth inequality has grown exponentially, creating greater class awareness among people and sparking a surge in unionization movements and workers' strikes, with Creator/FranDrescher herself leading SAG-AFTRA in a strike along the WGA in 2023.

Context YMMV / TheNanny