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The Nan Show

How Nannies Rewrote the Rules on TV Parenting

Article by Summer Wood, Illustrated by Erin and Kelly Carty, appeared in issue Fun & Games; published in 2005; filed under Broadcast; tagged childcare, children, class, gender roles, mannies, motherhood, nannies, parenting, race, stereotypes.

In this era of social conservatism, the so-called mommy wars, and renewed cultural clashes about gender, work, and “family values,” it’s hardly surprising that nanny narratives are making a comeback. Faster than you can say “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” nannies have popped up in movies (Uptown Girls) and bestselling novels (The Nanny Diaries, I Don’t Know How She Does It), as characters on tv shows (Friends, Kevin Hill, Desperate Housewives), and even as a subgenre of reality tv (Nanny 911, Supernanny).