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Supernanny

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This article is about the TV show. For the Drawn Together episode, see Super Nanny (Drawn Together episode).
Supernanny
StarringJo Frost
Narrated bySeries 1 (UK) = Anthony Green, Series 2 (UK) episodes 1 - 3 = Mark Heap, Series 2 - 5 (UK) & USA Series = Nick Frost and Series 6 onwards (UK) = Bob Marsden
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series6
No. of episodes35
Production
ProducerRicochet & Outline
Running time60 minutes
Original release
Release7 July 2004 (2004-07-07) – 8 October 2008 (2008-10-08)
and 9 February 2010 (2010-02-09) –
present

Supernanny is a reality television programme which originated in the United Kingdom about parents struggling with their children's behaviour. The UK version has aired on Channel 4 since 2004.

The show features professional nanny Jo Frost, who devotes each episode to helping a family where the parents are struggling with their child rearing. Through instruction and observation, she shows the parents alternative ways to discipline their children and regain order in their households. Frost is a proponent of the time out and "naughty chair" theories of discpline and is strictly opposed to spanking.

The series has since inspired a number of international versions. The US version, which has aired six seasons on the ABC Network since 2005, is also hosted by Nick Frost. The show's US debut took place just weeks after a competing series Nanny 911 began airing on the Fox network.

History

Supernanny starring Jo Frost was originally broadcast in the UK on Channel 4 on 7 July 2004, following the success of Channel 4's Cutting Edge programme "Bad Behaviour". Supernanny is one of Channel 4's most popular shows, reaching nearly 5 million viewers in the first series, with consistently high ratings throughout the series. Supernanny USA is also shown on Channel 4 (and its sister channel E4) with respectable viewing figures. The premiere episode for the third series attracted 3.1 million viewers with a 14% audience share. These values are half of those from the previous two series.[1] Series 2 (UK) episodes 4 to 12 and Supernanny USA etc. is narrated by Nick Frost. The theme song is "Be Good Johnny" by Men at Work (though the show's version is a cover, and beginning with US Season 6, the song was discontinued). The fourth series of Supernanny began on 29 August 2007 at 8pm with "Beyond The Naughty Step" following straight afterwards on E4. The fifth run, broadcast over a year later on Channel 4, began on 24 September 2008. The sixth, seventh and eighth run and so on of Supernanny in the UK begins from 2010 onwards starting from 9 February 2010 as Jo Frost: Extreme Parental Guidance. Supernanny UK Series 6 onwards is now narrated by Bob Marsden. Season 6 will be the last season of the USA version of 'Supernanny' as stated on jofrost.com in her May 2010 newsletter. Jo Frost will be hanging up her cap as Supernanny and will be instead doing her Jo Frost: Extreme Parental Guidance, a show that she states looks into bigger family issues. Jo Frost's Extreme Parental Guidance will be shown in the UK while there will still be re-runs of the Supernanny episodes on ABC and the Style Network.

Format

The USA shows begin with a short introductory clip of highlights from the episode; after the title segment, Jo is featured riding in a British-styled taxi with the vanity plate "SPRNANNY", where she shows a DVD player with the family's submission video. The submission video introduces the parent(s), children, and in some cases other important family members, as well as the parent(s) occupation(s) (including if one parent stays at home with the children) and the specific issues the family is facing, concluded by a final call for help.

Jo spends the first day in observation mode, taking mental notes to assess the situation and to devise a plan of action. However, if a situation is especially serious, she will point out the matter for immediate action. After the first day she holds the (dreaded) parents meeting (with clips showing the parents initial reaction, often fearing what Jo will say), where she praises the family for their beautiful children and then mentions the problems noted. (Earlier episodes had the meeting at the end of the first day; later episodes have it the following day.)

Jo then returns with tools designed to assist the parents in child-rearing. For example, if Jo determines that the children are misbehaving due to a lack of scheduled activity time with the parents, she will bring in a set schedule (customized for the family's needs). She also will frequently devise "house rules" for the family (sometimes the rules are predetermined by Jo, other times she provides a blank paper and has the family devise them). Frequent issues on the show involve discipline (as Jo does not endorse spanking as a means, she introduces the family to the "naughty (something)" timeout) and sleep separation.

After a time, Jo will leave the house to allow the family to implement her actions on their own. However, the parents' actions are still being filmed, and upon her return Jo will call another (dreaded) parents meeting to praise them for doing well and/or show them where they went wrong. She will then provide reinforcement as needed.

The ending shows the family saying goodbye to Jo; later episodes feature the family at a later time showing how well Jo's techniques have worked, along with (after the credits, often featuring a blooper segment) a teaser segment for the next week's episode.

On three occasions Jo has called in outside assistance:

  • One family was dealing with an autistic son; Jo called in a clinical professor with expertise in autism to assist the family in communicating with their son
  • Another family (from the Chicago area) had a son showing signs of disrespect and future juvenile delinquency; Jo called in Chicago native and NBA superstar Dwyane Wade to speak with him
  • A third family had the father exhibiting classic signs of abuse (especially toward the female members of the family); Jo called in a social worker with expertise in abusive behavior, as well as a woman who was abused by her father and, as a result, made poor decisions in relationships

In another case, the father was alcoholic, Jo located a nearby Alcoholics Anonymous support group for him to attend.

List of Supernanny episodes (United Kingdom)

Season 1: 2004

Episode Number Family Name Location
1 The Woods Family part 1

(Steve, Lucy, Caitlin (12), Billy (10) and Charlie (2).)

Grantham
2 The Steer Family

(Kelly, Sophie (5) and Callum (4).)

Crawley
3 The Charles Family

(Kevin, Amanda, Jacob (4) and twins Isabelle and Max (1).)

Unknown

Season 2: 2005

Episode Number Family Name Location
1 The Collins Family

(Jason, Karen, Ben (10), Lauren (9), Joshua (6) and Joseph (4).)

Northampton
2 The Hemingway-Clegg Family

(Bruce, Claire, Nathaniel (5), Craig (2) and Michael (6 months). (Nathaniel was born with diabetes mellitus.))

Yorkshire
3 The Pandit Family

(Suni, Caroline, Jamie (7), Jasmine (6), Jenna (4) and Tiny (3).)

Stevenage
4 The Douglas Family part 1

(Doug, Sandra, and twins George and Nicole (4).)

Staines
5 The Cooke Family part 1

(Paul, Denise, Meghann (9), Gabriella (6) and Erin (4).)

Bishop's Stortford
6 The Seniors Family

(Debbie, Bethany (5), Ruth (3) and Hannah (2).)

Coventry
7 The Bradbury-Lambert Family

(Stuart, Laura, Matthew (5), Tegan-Olivia (2) and Diesel (5 months).)

Swindon
8 The Agate Family

(Wendy, Marie (10), Amie (9) and Mary-Anne (7).)

Littlehampton
9 The Young Family

(Paul, Sue, Nathaniel (8), Caleb (7), Benjamin (6), Jacob (3) and Joel (8 months).)

Essex
10 The Ball Family

(Michelle, Ryan (3) and Kyle (1).)

South London
11 The Bixley Family

(Alex, Heather, Brandon (7) and Zak (4).)

Peterborough
12 The Woods Family part 2

(Steve, Lucy, Caitlin (13), Billy (11) and Charlie (3).)

Grantham

Season 3: 2006

Episode Number Family Name Location
1 The Hillhouse-Docherty Family

(Steven, Kerry, Ryan (9) and twins David and Declan (3).)

Ayr (Scotland)
2 The Howat Family

(Tara, Casey (8), Shannon (7) and Rhys (4).)

Shenley
3 The Brown-Smith Family

(Simon, Stephanie, Louis (7), Rhys (5) and Lucie (9 months).)

Warrington
4 The Bates Family

(Stuart, Sarah, Haydn (7), Callum (5) and twins Erin and Orla (3).)

Evesham
5 The Williams Family UK

(Martin, Natalie, Bethany (7), Tyler (6), Lori (5) and Tia (4).)

Birmingham
6 The Pollard-Morris Family

(Darren, Patricia, Luke (12), James (8), Matthew (3) and Francesca (1).)

Tadworth

Season 4: 2007

Episode Number Family Name Location
1 The Smith-Clarke Family

(Chris, Nicky, Cameron (4) and Mackenzie (1).)

Northampton
2 The Gormley-Brickley Family

(Steve, Ann, twins Aiden and Ella (5) and twins Ciaron and Louis (3).)

West London
3 The Wynne-Jones Family

(Ronny, Lin, Simone (13), Andrew (10), Ben (4) and Georgia (2).)

Llandudno (Wales)
4 The Cooke Family part 2

(Paul, Denise, Meghann (11), Gabriella (8) and Erin (6).)

Bishop's Stortford
5 The Douglas Family part 2

(Doug, Sandra, and twins George and Nicole (6).)

Staines

Season 5: 2008

Episode Number Family Name Location
1 The Hancox-Smith Family

(Simon, Jenny, Cameron (8), Flynn (5) and Madison (3).)

Liverpool
2 The Porter Family

(Merrill, Hayley, Maddisson (9) and Harry (7).)

Somerset
3 The Tomlin Family

(Paul, Claire, Amelia (3) and twins Freddie and George (2).)

Portishead

Season 6 ExPG1: 2010

Episode Number Family Name(s) Location(s)
1 The Husain Family and The Phillip Family Leeds & Dorset
2 The Ward Family and The Wren-Campbell Family Blackpool & Glasgow
3 The Coughlan Family and The Dumbleton Family Middlesex & Manchester
4 The McCloud Family and The Griffin Family Nottingham & Birmingham
5 The ? Family London
6 The Singh Family Birmingham

Season 7 ExPG2: 2011

Episode Number Family Name(s) Location(s)

International versions

Supernanny has been broadcast or slightly adapted in other countries.

Other countries

  • The UK Version of Supernanny is shown on Channel 4 (and its sister channel E4) and in Ireland on RTÉ One.
  • The USA Version of Supernanny is also shown in the UK on Channel 4 (and its sister channel E4).
  • Reruns of the USA version of Supernanny is shown on the Style Network.
  • The USA version is shown in Canada on W Network.
  • Katharina Saalfrank is the Supernanny in the German version, aired on RTL.
  • Dorota Zawadzka is the Supernanny in the Polish version, aired on TVN, and a co-host of the talk-show I Ty możesz mieć superdziecko (You too can have a superchild), in which Supernanny analyses episodes from her series, talks to celebrity parents and gives her advice. It is broadcast by TVN Style.
Rocio Ramos in the Spanish series
  • Cathy Kalthoum Sarrai was the Supernanny in the French version, aired by M6, until her death on January 19, 2010.[2]
  • The Dutch version is called Eerste Hulp Bij Opvoeden. The name is a play on Eerste Hulp Bij Ongevallen, the Dutch term for first aid. Other similar programmes exist, such as Schatjes, which use a slightly different concept.
  • The Italian version is called S.O.S. Tata. Aired on La7.
  • The first Romanian nanny was Irina Petrea. The second was Raluca Iuga. The show aired on Prima TV.
  • The Israeli Supernanny is Michal Daliot. Aired on Channel 2, the show is also called Supernanny.
  • Greek version is aired by Skai TV, with the name Νtαntά Πpώtωn Βοhөεiώn (First-aid nanny).
  • The Chinese version of Supernanny features supernanny Wo Yao Yige, and is soon to be broadcast on CCTV.
  • There is a Swedish version also called Supernannys, where there was three nannys insteed of one. It was aired a few years ago on TV4.
  • A French Canadian version of Super Nanny also exists. It is called Dre. Nadia : Psychologue à domicile. (Meaning Dr. Nadia : Psychologist at home)

In other media

  • The US animated series Drawn Together spoofed the show in a 2005 episode. In the parody, Supernanny tries to use her powers of discipline to take over the world. She first takes care of Captain Hero (the superhero) by sending him to the Naughty Stool so he will not intervene, and then uses an army of mind-controlled children to invade the White House until Captain Hero re-appears. He stops her by stomping on her foot, which makes her curse out loud. For using profanity, he sends her to the Naughty Stool, at which moment the mind-controlled children break free and tear Supernanny to shreds.[3]
  • The US animated series South Park spoofed the show in a 2006 episode "Tsst", though unlike the Drawn Together episode, the Supernanny parody was not the focus of the show. In the episode, which also features parodies of Nanny 911 and The Dog Whisperer, Supernanny is one of the nannies called upon to discipline Eric Cartman but his behavior ends up driving her to a mental institution and eating her own excrement yelling "From hell, it's from hell!".[4]

Funding Chuck E. Cheeses (2009-Presernt) Rainforest Cafe (2009-Present) Wells Fargo (2009-Presernt) Bank Of America (2009-Presernt) Intel (2010-Presernt) Merrill Lynch (2010-Presernt) ExxonMobil (2010-Presernt)

See also

References

  1. ^ Deans, Jason (30 August 2006). "'Mrs O' sees off Richard and Judy". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
  2. ^ "Super Nanny est décédée" (in French). January 20, 2010.
  3. ^ Drawn Together: Super Nanny Recap - TV.com
  4. ^ Home News Tribune Online [dead link]
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