# The Nanny, One of the Great Sitcoms? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 19, 2006, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanny-one-of-the-great-sitcoms/357369 "2006-05-19T04:07:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2006, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanny-one-of-the-great-sitcoms/357369/41 "2006-05-20T19:22:07Z")
I thought it was pretty sucked. It took a lot of cliches and added some fake “edgy” and ended up being pretty insulting to the viewer’s intelligence. I think Fran Drescher is a scream; I like her a lot. I think the Nanny took advantage of the least of her talents; it was all LCD stuff. It pretended to take chances while taking, actually, none. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2006, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanny-one-of-the-great-sitcoms/357369/42 "2006-05-20T19:43:09Z")
My reaction remains “meh”. Very few sitcoms rise above “meh” level in my opinion, and _The Nanny_ was farther from it than most. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2006, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanny-one-of-the-great-sitcoms/357369/43 "2006-05-20T21:46:41Z")
[QUOTE=Patty O’Furniture] Yeah, no other sitcoms _ever_ to that! [/QUOTE] Just the crappy ones. > [@](#): > > The Nanny was filmed before a live studio audience. A live studio audience of automatons apparently programmed to guffaw every fourth line. **lissener** and **Priceguy** both nailed it. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2006, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanny-one-of-the-great-sitcoms/357369/44 "2006-05-21T06:34:22Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] Not according to her book “Enter Whining.” She took lessons to get rid of that distinct voice, but as her ex-husband once said “You’ve got a body out of Vogue and a voice like Selma Diamond.” They created The Nanny to take advantage of her natural abilities. [/QUOTE] Huh, that’s funny. I don’t remember her being nearly that nasal in _This Is Spinal Tap_. I wonder if she just got so used to speaking like that, that it leaked over into her private life, or if she toned it down for _Spinal Tap_. I’ll have to rewatch it this weekend and see if I still feel the same way. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanny-one-of-the-great-sitcoms/357369/45 "2006-05-22T13:39:47Z")
Once and for all: Fran Drescher’s normal speaking voice is the one she used as The Nanny. She took speech lessons to cultivate a normal speaking voice, which she used as Bobbie Fleckman in Spinal Tap and occasionally on the show (the wasbai incident and at Maggie’s party). That nasal voice is real, folks. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanny-one-of-the-great-sitcoms/357369/46 "2006-05-22T13:57:48Z")
I’ve seen her in interviews and her speaking voice there was definitely much more subdued. So she puts on the subdued voice for Serious Interviews? Maybe so, since she’s speaking about things like being a cancer survivor. Maybe it’s that even if she has a nasal voice, she doesn’t use the mannerisms in speaking that she does on the show. Fair enough, those mannerisms were the character’s. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanny-one-of-the-great-sitcoms/357369/47 "2006-05-22T20:15:56Z")
I liked it, but I thought Niles and C.C. were the funniest part of the show. ---
**Author:** ![Millit\_the\_Frail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@Millit\_the\_Frail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Millit_the_Frail)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanny-one-of-the-great-sitcoms/357369/48 "2006-05-22T20:42:16Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] Once and for all: Fran Drescher’s normal speaking voice is the one she used as The Nanny. She took speech lessons to cultivate a normal speaking voice, which she used as Bobbie Fleckman in Spinal Tap and occasionally on the show (the wasbai incident and at Maggie’s party). That nasal voice is real, folks. [/QUOTE] Maggie’s party! _“How now, brown cow?”_ That’s pure comedy gold. I was never a fan during its original run, but I’ll catch a rerun now and then and find myself laughing. Maybe I never got the cultural/NY/Jewish references when I was a kid living in Ohio, but I do now. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanny-one-of-the-great-sitcoms/357369/49 "2006-05-22T22:03:26Z")
[QUOTE=Dr. Rieux] I liked it, but I thought Niles and C.C. were the funniest part of the show. [/QUOTE] Hear, hear. I loved the running insult campaign that she was a witch: one day, she stormed in the front door just as Niles was sweeping, muttering. “I have to fax those contracts to London _right away!_” Niles held the broom out to her: “Why don’t you just fly over?” I loved Niles’ wedding-night advice to Maxwell, who was worried about how he’d do in bed, and Niles assured him, “Sir, it’s been so long since Miss Fine’s had sex, even an Englishman can satisfy her”. That joke got even funnier when I learned that the actor who played Niles (Daniel Davis) isn’t British: he was born in Arkansas! ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanny-one-of-the-great-sitcoms/357369/50 "2006-05-23T13:05:24Z")
Daniel Day Lewis can also sing. My favorite moment of his came in the episode where Fran ended up with a baby on the subway. Niles is holding a cloth when Fran asks “We got any old nipples around,” and C.C. walks in the front door. He proceeds to put the cloth in his mouth as a gag. Funnier by far than any dirty retort he could have made. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanny-one-of-the-great-sitcoms/357369.md?page=2)