HKP

Have now watched 2 episodes of this program and have 3 questions:

1. It apparently is based on a British series. True? Anyone know how similar the two are?

2. The kids and families I've seen so far are outrageously screwed up. The nanny is much kinder and more patient than many would be, but I have doubts about whether the parents will stay the course for very long. Can there be such horrific brats and such clueless parents in the UK as there apparently are in the US?

3. What sort of accent does the Nanny have? She pronounces "acceptable" and "techniques" with no "k" sound in either word ("asseptable" and "teh'neeks"). Is this her idiosyncrasy or an actual accent?

highledge

Hard for people in the UK to know what you're viewing in the US. From the previews I saw while in the US at christmastime, the series are quite similar.

I would bet that the UK families are more screwed up! (my opinion of "tv families").

can't help with the accent.

ThinGorjus

First of all, darling, always remember that there is NOTHING real about reality TV. Editing turns the real into a complete fantasy. A daft nanny can be made (edited) to SEEM kind, a good child can be made (edited) to SEEM horrid. I always wonder why people watch these ridiculous TV programmes.

The parents on this show are edited to seem clueless. The nanny is edited to seem like Florence Nightengale/Mother Teresa.

I have seen ads for SUPERNANNY, and the woman portraying the nanny has an "Estuary" accent. She does not have what we in Britain would call a "PR" accent. That would be an Oxford/Cambridge accent.

henneth

Supernanny sounds like shes from "dahn the East End o'Lahndahn" or somewhere east of St. Pauls.
There wasn't a British series exactly like this one but the Americans have remade Wife Swap, How Clean is Your House, Fit Club, Pop Idol and other reality shows based on improving your own home, so maybe I just missed the U.K version of Supernanny.
To be honest she seems to get the results, but I'm still one to give misbehaving kids the benefit of the back of my hand whether Supernanny agrees or not.

Dr_DoGood

John - I realise it's been a while since you lived this side of the pond but we say RP - Received Pronunciation - not PR which means asking a minor celeb to shout loudly on your behalf and hope some unsuspecting consumer will be won over by their eloquence.

Dr D.

Christina

I've seen a couple of those shows, and actually think they are pretty good. This is the only reality series I have ever been able to stomach, but I think it can give a lot of people some good tips and advice. Even if it is edited a little, most of those kids are simply awful, and they are too little to be acting. I agree the parents are just clueless, but that's what the show is about. I have a relative who I think should watch this, they sure need it. I think this is a good show in comparison to all the other nonsense about people marrying blind dates or those people who do stupid tricks to earn money or the ones who have their entire faces and bodies cut up.

Anyway, I like Jo Frost, the main character, and the show's info says there was an exact same show like this in the UK with the same name, and she was on that, also. She was born and still lives in London.

ThinGorjus

Yes, darling, I meant RP, not PR. I have studied linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania. You are just too funny. I don't know what is wrong with me as I age. What I see in my head is not what I actually see with my eyes, hence the spelling errors. Yesterday I drove right into a curb. I think I have Alzheimer's.