Boy, do we have news for you: our favorite Queens-bred bridal shop employee turned childcare provider is finally coming back into our lives. That’s right, after a long, long wait (it’s been 22 years since the show went off the air), all six seasons ofThe Nannyare nowstreamingon HBO Max.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been anticipating this moment foryears,maybe decades?! At least since I first got a Netflix membership in the early 2010s. And now it’s here, and right in the middle of Passover, too — some television mana from heaven for us Jews.
If you’ve never watchedThe Nanny在那之前（那是偶数吗可能吗? !), the show starsFran Drescheras Fran Fine, a nasal-voiced, impossibly fashionable, very-much-loveable, and yes, incredibly, loudly Jewish bridal consultant from Flushing, Queens. After Fine gets fired from her job by her ex-boyfriend, who runs the bridal shop, she accidentally lands a gig nanny-ing for the three kids of Maxwell Sheffield, a handsome British widower, and Broadway producer.
The show aired between 1993 and 1999, and, aside from being a widely adored hit internationally (including in my home country of Israel), it was also groundbreaking when it came to Jewish representation, in many small and big ways. The show was Drescher’s brainchild, along with her then-husband, Peter Marc Jacobson. It was based on Drescher’s own life experiences in Queens, and many of the characters were named after relatives and friends — including Fine’s parents, Morty and Sylvia.
Drescher absolutely insisted that her character had to be Jewish, despite pushback from studio execs. Drescher recounted that entire story onLA Magazine’sThe Originals podcast:
“When we got green-lighted to write the pilot forThe Nanny, I guess the network was already talking to major sponsors like Procter & Gamble, who said, ‘It sounds great — we’ll buy the show outright. But the nanny has to be Italian, not Jewish,’” Drescher told host Andrew Goldman.
But Dresser said she knew that “this character needs to be written very close to me and all the rich and wonderful characters that I grew up with.’
“Peter and I have a brand of comedy that’s rich in specificity, and not only couldn’t we have written it that way — if the character were Italian — but I couldn’t have performed it that way,” she explained. “So we kind of mustered up our chutzpah and said, ‘No, Fran Fine must be Jewish.’”
The Nanny最终成为第一部以一个犹太女人为中心的情景喜剧，一个虽然没有太多的宗教观察力，却对自己的犹太性毫不避讳的人。其他女演员则把头发拉直，或试图掩盖自己的口音，甚至改名。弗兰德雷舍没有做这些事，事实上，她靠拥抱甚至强调这些来谋生。
弗兰·菲恩比生命更伟大，从她的大卷发到她的意第绪语，再到她对生命的永恒的爱Barbra Streisand, to her outfits — each one a technicolor masterpiece (to this day, there is nothing I want more than to own all of Fran Drescher’s outfits). Did some people call her a Jewish caricature? Sure. But for many young Jewish girls like myself, Fine was something to aspire to — confident, colorful, and authentic. She felt cut from the same cloth as so many of the Israeli women I grew up with (well, minus the Queens’ accent). She was real and endearing because her character was so true to Drescher’s own essence.
Drescher also surrounded Fine with other amazing Jewish characters, often played by wonderful Jewish actresses. From the delightful Renee Taylor who played her mom, Sylvia Fine, to futureGLOWstar Jackie Tohn, who played Fine’s cousin in a guest episode. Drescher’s own parents, Morty and Sylvia (Drescher, not Fine!) also made their appearances in the show, as extras and relatives.
Then of course there was Yetta, Fine’s grandmother, all purple big hair and huge spectacles, who was played by Ann Morgan Guilbert, who is forever an icon.
今天看这个节目，经过多年的怀旧追忆，我惊喜地发现它能撑得住。人物仍然是令人愉快和熟悉的，甚至犹太笑话仍然土地。
It’s hard to say which episodes ofThe Nanny你是最犹太化的-节目很少有五分钟没有犹太调侃！但一些亮点包括以布里斯为中心的一集，名为“最无情的切割”，“Kibbutz”，其中罚款回忆她在以色列的时间，并在“光明节的故事”，其中罚款记得光明节的她年轻的时候，期待她第一次光明节与谢菲尔德先生。
当然，还有很多令人难以置信的犹太客人。在这部由犹太演员扮演的剧中，从理查德·金德到杰森·亚历山大，甚至乔恩·斯图尔特，芬恩都有很多追求者。许多令人难以置信的犹太传奇在剧中扮演自己的角色，来自《木偶特警》，谢里刘易斯，献给传说中的伊丽莎白·泰勒和Bette Midler.
So yes, while we’re still hoping for aNanny重新启动主演卡迪B, and while we’re still anticipating the premiere ofThe Nanny百老汇音乐剧(by showrunner Rachel Bloom, no less!), this return of the flashy girl from Flushing sounds like exactly what the doctor prescribed!
Image viaRon Galella/Contributor / Getty Images
