For a while, it was “How I Met Your Mother”. Then, it was “Friends”. Along the way, I have fancied “New Girl”, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”, “Full House”, and “Fuller House”. 

But during Spring Break, I discovered a show that hands down, no doubt about it, pushes the rest of them to second place. 

“The Nanny”, starring Fran Drescher and Charles Shaughnessy as the nanny from Flushing, Fran Fine and British Broadway producer Maxwell Sheffield, originally aired from 1993 to 1999. It follows the lives of Fran, Maxwell, his three children, butler Niles, and business partner C. C.

From her antics to his accent, the entire show is filled with humor that makes you laugh until you cannot breathe and romance that gets steamy until Fran and Maxwell cannot breathe. I love the hate-love relationship between Niles and C. C., their passion driven by their necessity to squash each other’s ego and self-esteem. And the kids, Maggie, Brighton, and Gracie, each with their own problems and personalities, are adorable, kind-hearted, quirky, and human. 

I also love that there is a certain predictability that captures the plots as happens with sitcoms that run for so long, but the show utilizes this predictability as another means of humor. Well into the second or third season, we know the moment Maxwell yells “Miss Fine” and steps out from behind his desk, he means to chase her for something she fucked up, but this does not stop the show from showing this regardless, and it does not stop us from laughing. 

But Maxwell does his fair share of fucking things up which makes the show even more palpable. This is not about perfect meeting imperfect in a couple but instead perfect meeting imperfect within individuals who come together and love each other not in spite of but because of their faults. Her high-pitched voice and loud laugher, his predictability and strictness. All good things even if somewhat annoying for us and them.

Meanwhile, excellent additions in supporting roles are Fran’s mother Sylvia, grandmother Yetta, and best friend Val. Overdramatic, senile, and kind of low-IQ, in that order, these women add loads of reasons to laugh, shake our heads, and wonder ‘Why on god’s earth would you do that?’ 

But perhaps, that which I love the most about this show, more than anything else is the love that we see. Not just romantic love, but familial love. Whether that be Sylvia being worried for her daughter’s future, Fran embracing Maggie, Brighton, and Grace as her own, Maxwell and Fran being worried about Niles and C. C.’s future, or even Niles missing C. C. when she leaves work for a short time. The love between these characters and their makeshift family is the best thing about this show. 

So sad it is over but, in a year, or two, when I remember a little less about it, I can always rewatch it. In the meantime, I highly encourage you, Beacon Readers, to join in on the fun and watch “The Nanny” today.