The Nanny/Characters

	This page needs some cleaning up to be presentable. Some or all of these characters need descriptions. A list of tropes is not a description.

Main Cast (in order of billing):

Alliterative Name
Big Eater: Though not to the same degree as her mother.
Christmas Cake
Cute but Cacophonic
The Danza: Played by Fran Drescher.
Deadpan Snarker
Hot Mom: after she and Maxwell get married. There's actually an episode that centers around Brighton getting in a fight at school because some boys were oggling her.
Magical Nanny
Mama Bear: Even before she actually became their mother.
Matzo Fever
New Yawk Accent
Pop-Cultured Badass: Fran is very much this trope. She has an extremely detailed knowledge of pop culture, has the TV Guide memorized, and in at least one case even used her knowledge of pop culture to successfully track down the guy who kidnapped CC's dog (It Makes Sense in Context). Arguably, Fran's ability to personify this trope was one of the reasons she was able to reinvigorate the dry Sheffield household when she moved in.

British Stuffiness: Both he and his entire family, with the exception of his brother Nigel, although he was considered the black sheep of the family and sort of the exception to the rule.
Celebrity Resemblance: It's a Running Gag that he is mistaken for Pierce Brosnan.
Deadpan Snarker
Embarrassing Middle Name: Beverly.
Hot Dad: Most certainly.
Only Sane Man
Overprotective Dad: Towards Maggie.
She Is Not My Girlfriend: Shares this relationship with Fran for most of the series.
Sitcom Arch Nemesis: Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Skunk Stripe / Locked Into Strangeness: It's been lampshaded a couple times that the gray streak came in around the same time as Fran.
Stiff Upper Lip

Belligerent Sexual Tension: With C.C.
Deadpan Snarker
Fake Brit: Daniel Davis is actually from Arkansas, but his accent is so good that when the show premiered in the UK, viewers thought that he should help Charles Shaughnessy (an actual Londoner) with his accent.
- Not just a Londoner, an honest-to-God Lord (he is the 5th Baron Shaughnessy).
The Jeeves
Legacy of Service: His father was the Sheffield butler before he was.
Only One Name: "It's just Niles. Like Cher.".
Platonic Life Partners: With Fran.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: He delivers one to C.C. after she begins mocking him for thinking he had a chance with her. Niles lays into her that at least he is trying to move on from his rejection, whereas she's spent a good chunk of her life chasing after a man (Maxwell) who has no interest in her and never will, and is still chasing after him even though he's now married and is having a child with his new wife. The thing is, rather than give a snappy comeback, this really hits C.C. where it hurts and she decides to resign from being Maxwell's partner. She doesn't, and C.C. and Niles really do get together.
Screwy Squirrel: He's at his happiest tormenting C.C. with tricks and pranks.
Servile Snarker
Shipper on Deck: For Fran and Maxwell.

Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Niles.
Butt Monkey
Catch Phrase: Often enters with "Hello, hello!".
Child-Hater
City Mouse
Deadpan Snarker
Defrosting Ice Queen: Towards the end.
Foe Yay: With Niles, and to a lesser extent, Fran.
Hide Your Pregnancy: Lauren Lane became pregnant during season 5, so it was written that C.C. got institutionalized after learning that Fran and Maxwell got engaged. In one episode, she lampshades Seinfeld's use of this trope on Elaine Benes, later entering the room with a large sign that said "BABY" over her body.
- Also a justified trope. It'd be out-of-character for her to be pregnant, since she's portrayed as hopeless at getting dates throughout most of the show.
Hopeless Suitor
It's All About Me: Even though she mellows out in the end, she still goes on and on about herself, even going as far as having a priest marry her and Niles while Fran's in labor.
- Although, that was Fran's idea. She bad been violently ill ever since Niles proposed, and Fran said that as soon as she said "I Do, her jitters would go away.
Mean Character, Nice Actor
Only Known by Their Nickname: Until the finale, revealed to be Chastity-Claire Babcock.
Playing Gertrude: C.C. is several years older than Fran, but Lauren Lane is actually 4 years younger than Fran Drescher.
Rich Bitch
Slapstick Knows No Gender: A unique example in that most of her slapstick is caused by a male character (Niles).
Small Name, Big Ego
Stalker with a Crush: Towards Maxwell, with borderline Yandere tendencies.

Deadpan Snarker
High School Hustler: He shows shades of this once he reaches high school.
My Name Is Not Durwood: Due to Grandma Yetta's senility, she calls him "Schmooey".

Daddy's Girl
Out of Focus: Seasons 3-6, probably to make room for Fran's growing romance with Maxwell, and more storylines involving Val, Sylvia, and Yetta (and possibly due to the fact that Madeline Zima was the only one still under age and subject to child labor laws.)
She's All Grown Up: Towards the end of the series.
Wise Beyond Their Years

Big Eater
Characterization Marches On: In an early episode, she actually took in the entire main cast during a blizzard and kept all of them well-fed. Later on, she was quick to snatch up any food someone else was about to sink their teeth into.
Deadpan Snarker
Jewish Mother
My Beloved Smother
No Indoor Voice
Shipper on Deck: For Fran and Maxwell.
- To be fair though, playing a stereotypical Jewish Mother who's daughter is over 30, Sylvia would ship Fran with just about anyone. Fran even commented once that her mother would have been thrilled with her hooking up with a successful, profressional woman if not for the fact said lesbian wasn't Jewish.

Breakout Character
Cloudcuckoolander
Must Have Nicotine
Playing Gertrude: Ann Morgan Guilbert is just five years older than her onscreen daughter Renee Taylor.

Dumb Blonde: As Fran puts it, "Val wasn't short for 'valedictorian'.".
Fake Nationality: Rachel Chagall is also Jewish, but plays an Italian-American.
Hide Your Pregnancy: TWICE! But since Rachel Chagall didn't have top billing it was much easier to hide her pregnancies and have her disappear for a while during maternity leave.

Back to The Nanny

This article is issued from Allthetropes. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.