Supernanny

Supernanny (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Supernanny is a reality TV programme which originated in the United Kingdom about parents struggling with their children's behaviour. The UK version has aired on Channel 4 with E4 showing repeats since 2004. The programme returned in 2010. 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 "naughty chair" theory of discipline and is strictly opposed to spanking. Its competing series was Nanny 911.

In the U.S., it aired on ABC and Style 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. Series 2 (UK) episodes 4 to 12 and Supernanny USA etc. is narrated by Nick Frost (no relation to Jo Frost). The theme song is "Be Good Johnny" by Men at Work (though the show's version is Colin Hay's version that appears on the album Man @ Work, 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 was supposed to be the last season of the USA version, as stated in the May 2010 newsletter on jofrost.com; but ABC brought it back for a seventh season. Jo Frost later confirmed that will be the last season. The final episode aired on 18 March 2011.

Lifetime developed new American version of the series, licensing the concept from program producer Shed Media. Titled America's Supernanny, the series will be "the first true U.S. version of the hit global format that will feature Deborah Tillman".

Format

The USA shows begin with a short introductory clip of highlights from the episode; after the title segment, Frost is featured riding in a London TXII 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, with their ages, and in some cases other important family members, as well as the parents' occupations (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.

Frost spends the first day in observation mode, taking mental notes to assess the situation and to devise a plan of action. If a situation is especially serious, she will point out the matter for immediate action. After the first day she holds the parents meeting (with clips showing the parents initial reaction), 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.)

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

After a time, Frost will leave the house to allow the family to implement her actions on their own. The parents' actions are still being filmed, and upon her return Frost will call another 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 Frost; later episodes feature the family at a later time showing how well her techniques have worked, along with (after the credits, often featuring a blooper segment) a teaser segment for the next week's episode.

Frost has called in outside assistance on more than one occasion:

One family was dealing with an autistic son; Frost 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; Frost 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); Frost called in a social worker with expertise in abusive behaviour, 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 an alcoholic, Frost located a nearby Alcoholics Anonymous support group for him to attend.
One family had deaf parents; Frost called in an interpreter to help with communication.
One family was dealing with a son who has type 1 diabetes, so Frost compiled a chart of celebrities living with diabetes and called upon a professional snowboarder who was a diabetic as mentioned on the video and runs snowboard camps for children who are diabetic.

DVD releases

A DVD Release of Supernanny entitled When Little Kids Cause Big Headaches was released in the UK on 12 April 2010.

A DVD Release Of Supernanny USA was Released On Region 1 in The US on 16 May 2006.

Episodes

Main article: List of Supernanny episodes

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 RT"? 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 and Twist TV.

Katharina Saalfrank was the Supernanny in the German version, aired on RTL in a docufiction format, known to depict unreasonable family violence.

Cris Poli (born in Argentina) is the Supernanny in the Brazilian version, broadcast by SBT.

Dorota Zawadzka is the Supernanny in the Polish version, aired on TVN, and a co-host of the talk-show I Ty mo?esz mie"? 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.

Cathy Kalthoum Sarrai was the Supernanny in the French version, aired by M6, until her death on 19 January 2010.

Rocio Ramos is the Supernanny in the Spanish version, broadcast on Cuatro. Another version with teenagers called S.O.S. Adolescentes is also aired on Cuatro. In the Spanish regions of Catalonia and Basque Country, the original version is broadcast by TV3 with Catalan dubbing and by ETB 1 with Basque dubbing respectively.

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.

The Italian version is called S.O.S. Tata. Aired on La7.

The Singaporean version network on MediaCorp TV12 okto.

The Malaysian version network on Ntv7.

The Indonesian version network on MetroTV.

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.

The Chinese version of Supernanny features supernanny Wo Yao Yige, and is soon to be broadcast on CCTV.

Wendy Bosmans is the Supernanny in the Belgian version aired on vtm.

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.

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 behaviour ends up driving her to a mental institution and eating her own excrement yelling "From hell, it's from hell!".

The movie Iron Man 2 also mentions the show. When Tony Stark is expected to remain in his residence under threat of violence, he is told by his keeper, Agent Coulson, that if he tries to escape: "I will taze you and watch Supernanny while you drool into the carpet."