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Dueling "Nannies" for ABC, Fox
Sure, some parents let the TV do the babysitting. But this is getting ridiculous.
Hours after ABC announced its victory in a fierce bidding war for the rights to Supernanny, a U.K.-based reality show touted as an Extreme Makeover for woebegone parents, Fox said it's in final talks with Britain's Granada TV about launching the similarly themed Nanny 911.
And in related news, Mary Poppins is ready to come out of retirement to shop around her own reality series...
The Alphabet net's Supernanny will be created by Nick Powell, who executive-produced the British verison, which starred real-life nanny Jo Frost and just concluded a highly rated run on the U.K.'s Channel 4.
Frost will be imported for the Hollywood version. Billed by ABC as, yes, a "modern-day, tough-love Mary Poppins," Frost has 15 years of on-the-job experience dealing with parenting issues from potty training and rowdy kids' temper tantrums to messy homes. In ABC's series, she will be charged with taking care of an American household in major disarray, demonstrating, per an ABC press release, "her own tried-and-true methods" and provide frank advice for mom and dad viewers at home plagued by their own family problems.
The first part of the show will capture Frost in action; then camera crews will return to the household to see how the parents are faring. The network is currently casting and hopes to start production on the project soon.
"I don't think Jo will have a problem with American families, because she's worked in America before," Powell tells Daily Variety. "She's no-nonsense, she's tough-talking, but she's also got a tremendous empathy for people. She won't stop until those kids are behaving better."
ABC's head of alternative programming, Andrea Wong, says such a format was a "perfect fit" for the network.
Apparently it was also a perfect fit for the folks at Fox. The network, which has shrugged off accusations by both ABC and NBC alleging Fox swiped ideas for reality shows before they even make it to air, immediately announced it was doing its own au pair-themed series, Nanny 911, in partnership with Britain's Granada production house (Prime Suspect, I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!).
Fox says its concept is way different from ABC's. Unlike Supernanny, which focuses on one family caretaker, Fox says its version is more akin to Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, in which one nanny is chosen out of several nannies to help get a house in order.
"It's a sort of Justice League of nannies," Fox reality guru Mike Darnell tells Variety. Once a nanny fixes up a household, Darnell says, "the other nannies will then assess how she performed."
Casting for the series is underway and may feature both American and British au pairs.
No word exactly when Granada and Fox began negotiations for Nanny 911. But Darnell disputes the notion that Fox is copying ABC. "This is yet another example of the fact that there are multiple pitches of ideas out at the same time," he says.
Maybe a spoonful of sugar would help it go down better.
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