The Nanny/Trivia

• Acting for Two: One episode had Bobbi Flekman appearing. Another episode had Fran Drescher acting as herself and as Fran Fine simultaneously.
  • In "Not Without My Nanny", Charles plays both Max and the Sultan.
• Actor Allusion: Happened often with guest stars.

Fred (played by Donald O'Connor): Let's face it, Fran, I'm just never going to be known for my dancing.

• • They also constantly mentioned that Grandma Yetta was played by the same actress who was Millie Halper on The Dick Van Dyke Show.
  • During the closing credits of "The Gym Teacher", as Fran and Miss Wickavich (nee Stone) are looking through a yearbook at a picture of Fran's old boyfriend, Miss Wickavich tells Fran "A boy like that, who'd kill your brother. Forget that boy and find another. One of your own kind, stick to your own kind!", which are lyrics from West Side Story. Rita Moreno, who played Miss Wickavich, sang those very lines in the film adaptation.
• The Danza: Fran Fine is played by Fran Drescher.
• Dawson Casting: Done intentionally for laughs in S3 Ep 12, "The Kibbutz". Fran and Val play teenage versions of themselves in a flashback.
• Fake Nationality / Fake Brit: Daniel Davis as Niles, who is from Arkansas. He is good at it though, to the point where Charles Shaughnessy (Maxwell Sheffield), an actual Brit, was told by some critics that he should take lessons from Davis in order to get his "fake" accent right.
  • Lampshaded in a late episode, where Niles has a bit part in Gracie's play and does very badly. Citing a review, he asks Max, "Do you think my accent sounded fake?"
• Hey, It's That Guy!: Multiple times, one example being the episode "Kissing Cousins" where Fran's date(who she later finds out is her cousin) is Jon Stewart.
  • James Marsden was Eddie, Maggie's first boyfriend during the first season.
  • The boy in Kindergarten Cop who told Ahnuld "Boys have a penis. Girls have a vagina." is the bratty son of Maxwell's client Fran has to watch, as mentioned in Badly-Battered Babysitter.
  • Babu Bhatt is one of the representatives of the Professional Butler's Association in "The Nanny, the Butler, the Wife and Her Mother".
  • Danny Imperialli was played by Jonathan Penner, who placed seventh in the Cook Islands season of Survivor.
• Mean Character, Nice Actor: Lauren Lane as C.C. Babcock.
• The Other Darrin: Maxwell's sister Jocelyn was played by actress/model Twiggy Lawson in "Stop the Wedding, I Want To Get Off", but played by Sophie Ward in all subsequent appearances.
• Reality Subtext: Twiggy Lawson playing Jocelyn, Maxwell's sister in "Stop the Wedding, I Want to Get Off" is a nod to the fact that the whole show was inspired by Fran Drescher's experience in taking care of her daughter.
  • In "The Butler, the Husband, the Wife and Her Mother", Fran criticizes Maxwell for wearing bright yellow rain boots with his suit, saying "Normally, you're so GQ. Now, you're the Gorton's Fisherman?" Charles Shaughnessy, who plays Maxwell, had shown up to his original audition wearing those same exact boots.
• Real Life Relative: Joseph Bologna (Renée Taylor's husband) guest starred in two different episode, one as a Small Name, Big Ego actor and the second as a man wooing Sylvia.
  • Chester the Pomeranian was Fran Drescher's real-life dog, which is why he was always so excited around her.
  • Fran Drescher's real life parents Morty and Sylvia appeared on the show in several roles, later on as Uncle Stanley and Aunt Rose.
  • Lester, Jocelyn's chauffeur in "Stop the Wedding, I Want to Get Off", was played by Twiggy Lawson's real-life husband Leigh Lawson.
• Unintentional Period Piece: Aside from the fashion sense (Maggie's babydoll dresses, especially), the earlier seasons made quite a few pop culture references to things like the O.J. Simpson trial and the Menendez Brothers that date the show to the Nineties.
• What Could Have Been: Originally, there were just two Sheffield children: Brighton and Gracie. The executives suggested that a shy teenaged daughter would serve as an amusing contrast with Fran, which eventually became Maggie.

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