The Nanny: Season 01 (1993)

Season one of The Nanny begins as the cheerfully abrasive Fran Fine (Fran Drescher) is fired from her job at her ex-fiancé's bridal store in Queens. Taking a new job selling cosmetics door to door, Fran ends up in the foyer of the lavish Manhattan town house owned by British-born Broadway producer Maxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy). Mistaking Fran as an applicant for the job of nanny, Sheffield's haughty butler, Niles (Daniel Davis), escorts our overwhelmed heroine into the house -- and before you can say "Oy gevalt!," Fran has accepted the nanny position, tackling the not inconsiderable task of caring for Maxwell's children: 14-year-old Maggie (Nicholle Tom), ten-year-old Brighton (Benjamin Salisbury), and six-year-old Grace (Madeline Zima). Although both Maxwell and Niles are aghast at Fran's manners -- or lack of same -- Niles would rather have Fran in the house than Maxwell's bitchy, predatory business partner C.C. Babcock (Laura Lane). Quickly establishing the series' predilection for guest stars, season one of The Nanny finds Cloris Leachman cast as Maxwell's former governess in the episode "The Nanny-in-Law," Andy Dick in a dual role in "Maggie the Model," Rita Moreno as the title character in "The Gym Teacher," and even Fran Drescher's real-life mother, Sylvia Drescher, who shows up in family home movies in "I Don't Remember Mama." Also, allowing for the fact that Maxwell Sheffield is a major showbiz mover-and-shaker, a handful of celebrities appear as themselves during The Nanny's maiden season, among them Carol Channing and Patti LaBelle. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi