TV reboots have been springing of late, bringing to life hit knockouts ready to delight new audiences. But for the standout situation comedy, The Nanny, which premieres in the Philippines on HITS Channel (Channel 137) on SKYcable on March 25, no reboot will be able to replace the original just yet. Its star, Fran Drescher, in a press interview reminds audiences why it’s going to be just as popular today.
“I think that there are some universal aspects to it. Everybody can relate to that two-class household, with the upstairs-downstairs, the working class meets the aristocracy,” Drescher said.
The ’90s hit show features Drescher in the role of Fran Fine, a woman from Queens who had just been dumped by her boyfriend and becomes the unlikely guardian to the three children of Broadway producer, Maxwell Sheffield, played by Charles Shaughnessy. Her unusual way of caring for the kids would prove to be effective that even the stiff upper lip Maxwell would eventually find her endearing.
The offbeat pairing added spice to the dynamics of its characters. “It’s truly a laugh out loud funny show,” Drescher said.
It’s also very friendly to audiences composed of families. “It’s the only show that I can sit down with my family and we all enjoy it together, we look forward to that half hour every week,” Drescher added.
Asked whether the show would find new audiences, Drescher said “I think that the laughs that show brings you, the journey that the character makes in finding who she is and being fulfilled, the relationship she has with her mother and the kids, is kind of juvenile and really funny, and trying to meet Mr. Right, it is as current today as it was then.”
The show highlights Fran’s influence on the children Maggie (Nicholle Tom), 18, Brighton (Benjamin Salisbury), 16, and Grace (Madeline Zima), 11 who all overcome their own teenage and coming-of-age troubles.
It also of course helped that The Nanny was ahead of its time in terms of fashion. “It’s a visual feast, the clothes were amazing. Women’s Wear Daily just wrote a big article about how The Nanny ’90s costumes are in vogue today as much as they were in the ’90s,” she said.
The newly married Drescher has since stepped into numerous other roles outside television. She is involved in advocacies and is, in fact, busy with her own health organization cancerschmancer.org, of which she is also the president.
Without a doubt, she has successfully molded her character into an iconic persona that it’s no longer hard to imagine her inviting audiences to watch the show in that famous Queens accent, “Hi, I’m Fran Drescher. Please watch The Nanny on SKYcable,” before trailing off in that signature laugh.
The Nanny is being featured exclusively on Hits Channel on SKYcable. HITS is a channel available only on SKYcable and Destiny Cable which broadcasts the most popular and critically-acclaimed series in TV history. Included in the line-up that even younger viewers can enjoy are M*A*S*H, The Golden Girls, MacGyver, Seinfeld, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Grey’s Anatomy, and The X-Files.
SKYcable subscribers in Metro Manila, Rizal, Cavite, Laguna, and San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan can catch HITS on CH 137; while subscribers in Baguio, Cebu, Bacolod, Iloilo, Dumaguete, Davao and General Santos can catch it on CH 620. Destiny Cable digital subscribers can tune in on CH 137.