WTF? No one alerted me to the fact that the cast of "The Nanny" is doing a live table read?

Bump ... so no one watched this?

This was so lovely!

CC Babbcock seemed like she got younger, oddly. Fran's gay producer husband (Peter Marc?) looks good, as well, he's 62! His skin is amazing. I'd do him.

Madeline Zima was there? Wasn't she cunting off about Fran making lots of money off the show while she did not?

Daniel Davis looked like he should have been wearing all black and singing Hurt.

Did Benjamin Salisbury’s giant dong make an appearance?

It was quite fun to see everyone together again-except James Marsden as Eddie. They all look good, too. Mostly. Benjamin has aged the worst, giant dong nothwithstanding.

Peter Marc Jacobson looked hot - and he's 62!

Lauren Lane and Nicholle Tom could be mother and daughter (or sisters.)

Still need to watch it. That cast had such great chemistry. I remember when I watched it first I thought how outdated and conservative the premise of the show was, even back then in the 90s. But the acting, the chemistry, the charme of Drescher and the zings between Niles and CC made it all worthwhile. Still love the show.

The cast really was tremendous. It took a few minutes to adjust to the aging, but it all felt comfortable by the end.

That was James Marsden?

Ann Hampton Calloway just through on any old thing I see.

It was fun but I wish they had done a classic episode from the show's high point, not the ok pilot.

[quote]That was James Marsden?

No. Marsden was the only cast member from the pilot who wasn't there.

R15 Understandably. He has like 3 lines in the pilot. And he's James Marsden

Back in 1995, Fran and her husband were attending the APLA Benefit honoring Gianfranco Ferre at the Century City Hotel. I was working media and saw them standing over to the side. Went up and inquired if they needed anything. She is teeny but looked stunning that night in a Grecian style gown with wrap and her hair down up with ribbons intertwined. He was in a tux.

Did you sense he was gay, R17?

I loved this. It really made me miss the show. I know there's been talk of a reboot with a different cast but I'd rather see a sequel series. The chemistry is still there.

And when Nichole Tom did the quick change with the hair and the sequin something, I couldn't stop laughing. I think no one knew she was going to do that. Very funny.

This as fantastic! They all have such chemistry. One of the best sitcoms. Renee Taylor still makes me laugh out loud

r20 I laughed when it slipped off and she made the face at the camera! I found myself sort of impressed with her acting. She turned on the watery eyes pretty quickly and she seemed really into it.

I think they wanted to avoid doing other episodes because the absence of Yetta would have been depressing.

R4 Was she there? Yeah I’m an old interview she did bitch about how much money Fran made and how the show was not enjoyable. So WTF did she do this if it was so awful (if she was there)?

r23 Yes, she was there, surprisingly. I think she gave an interview a few years ago stating that the kids were treated like props on the set of The Nanny. I sooooo wanted Fran to say something at the end like, "So Madeline, did we treat you better that time?"

She toned it down a few years later

R25 Talk about doing a 180. What a flip-flopper.

No R18, aside from her how stunning she looked, my encounter with one-on-one moment with Liza in the Hotel's closed kitchen stands out the most.

Thanks for sharing. I loved this.

Loved loved loved it. Last time I saw Lauren Lane was when she was a guest on Fran’s talk show. She has since lost a lot of weight and looks great. Fran also looks fantastic and yes Peter is looking very handsome and a decade younger though I wouldn’t be surprised if that was him upthread fishing for a compliment haha

Anyone else think Niles and Mr Sheffield had great chemistry in their last scene? I thought it was really touching. Daniel Davis had the accent down pat too, impressive.

Renee Taylor was a delight as always and I love the tag at the end.

I always thought the song was sung by a black woman. Oops. So fun to see it performed live and a blast seeing the lady who played the bride. I can’t remember her real name but she’ll always be Donna “the double Ds” from The Comeback (that Palm Springs episode is everything). And Rachel Chagall yaaay - always loved Val.

Did anybody hear the rumors about Daniel Davis being difficult? Is that true? I think I heard about it in regard to his work in theater. It's hard to believe that he would be difficult on The Nanny. It doesn't sound right, considering this was a sitcom where you need to spread fun to the cast, crew and audience.

No one is ever difficult on a sitcom set. Thoroughly unprofessional.

Lol R31

It seems to me that lot of sitcoms actors do let egos get in the way when it’s still on the air. I’ve watched those archive of television interviews with actors, directors, writers and I’m often amazed at the amount of pettiness and fighting that happens and how seriously everyone takes their jobs, like it’s brain surgery. Getting paid a great salary to play make believe isn’t enough for you people lol. Too much money at stake, too many egos, too much network politics, too many old wounds from years struggling to make it....

But once it’s off the air and the years pass I think most of the cast and crew develop an appreciation for what they had and they mellow out.

I heard Renne on a podcast say her issue with The Nanny was they wouldn’t pay her enough. For many of her appearances she was on scale.

I don't know if Davis is difficult or not but I did find it strange he wasn't present for the reunion they did all those years ago. They replaced him with Danny Bonaduce.

I also remember Madeline Zima saying she'd rather not think about the show in one of those "Where are they now?" VH1 specials.

As far as egos go, TV people said it's because you're working everyday with these people and eventually things go cross. Like a married couple moving in together, they grow to resent every little thing and it becomes a battle.

Wow Peter Jacobsen is hot!

[quote] I always thought the song was sung by a black woman. Oops.

If may have been. The woman in this video was just introduced as the one who WROTE the song, even though she sang it for us here.

[quote]I don't know if Davis is difficult or not but I did find it strange he wasn't present for the reunion they did all those years ago. They replaced him with Danny Bonaduce.

Think he was in NY working.

Peter needs to lay off the eye surgery. And fillers

The next CHILLER autograph show in Jersey was supposed to be at the end of this month. So far it's postponed until June and there is a big "The Nanny" re-union. Madeline Zima was scheduled but hasn't confirmed the June show yet. Hope Fran decides to come and she can promote Cancer Schmancer.

r35 Ann Hampton Callaway both wrote and performed the song on the original series.

Anyone have a good clear video/picture of Peter when he was younger? I can only find ones where’s he’s blocked by Fran or angled away from the interviewer. He’s a very handsome man still but I’m wondering if he went a little too crazy with eye lifts or if he had those features in his youth.

Renée Taylor is a scream. I love how prepared she was with the props! She was married for decades to the very handsome Joe Bologna. They were Oscar nominated for Lovers and Other Strangers which is a delightful little movie. If I’m not mistaken she sold their Los Angeles home. I saw her in Sardis about 2 years ago with some little kids so didn’t disturb her. I think she might be back east with her son. She and Ann Guilbert made The Nanny for me. The episodes with Yetta and Sylvia are the ones I’ll go back and rewatch when I want a laugh.

[quote]Peter needs to lay off the eye surgery. And fillers

And the teeth bleaching. He’s pushing it with the enhancements and need to stop now.

How do we know Benjamin Salisbury has a big cock?

He's a Sheffield. He grew into it.

Surprisingly cute and Mr. Sheffield is still super hot. So is Fran’s gay ex-husband.

What kind of money did Fran and Peter make off the show? I think Fran lives in Malibu, what does Peter do without himself these days? Would they have made enough to both be rich and set for life do you think. On the one hand you hear people complain about TV money and on the other hand you have Carsey/Warner worth 500 million each and the Friends creators the same so it’s hard to judge what The Nanny would have done for them financially.

Great show

Was on the show

R45 Fran and Peter have created another 2 shows since. I know one was on TV Land for a while. I can’t tell you where Peter lives or if he does anything else. Fran still lives in Malibu. She was married to an Indian tech guy for a second a few years ago. I would think they made a lot of money from the show. Probably not hundreds of millions because the people you mention either had several hits (MC) or a megahit like Friends but I don’t think either of them are hurting for money.

It was THEIR show....they produced it with their own production company so unlike the Friends cast, they actually OWN the show (well, a piece of it with what ever studio/network produced it). It was never a Friends level hit but....it ran for years, went into syndication and it's still shown all over the world. They shouldn't be hurting for money.

The only one I recognize in OP is the Tom girl.

Yes thank you I meant the friends creators David Crane and Martha Hoffman (?) who are each worth over 500 million. Tom Warner of Carsey Warner who created Roseanne/Grace Under Fire/Cybill has invested in football teams here in Europe and is reported to me also with close to 500M. I wasn’t sure about Fran’s lifestyle if they would have made hundreds of millions or just a few million. Good to know they made out well. I travel to Italy (well, used to ) to visit family often and it is on TV all the time there. It is hugely popular still even though the Jewish element is kind of erased by how they translate the Yiddish words.

I still wish you men would talk about how great Anne Hamptom Callaway looks./

Did you notice that when Fran made her toilet paper joke near the end

everyone laughed but Benji?

Peter Marc got really in shape lately. His Facebook has lots of shirtless photos. He has a 6 pack at 60!!

Peter lives up in the bird streets and I think he also has a place in NYC. Speaking of The Nanny and houses Renee Taylor sold her and Joe's house in BH recently for over 7 million and she also has a place in One Lincoln Plaza. Lucky son!

I really loved this reading. It was nice to see them all together again as Daniel didn't participate in that reunion they did and he also didn't appear on Fran's talk show. I still love the show and often stream it before bed. It's a nice harmless nod to classic sitcoms and it's held up better than some of the critical darlings of the 90s. Fran looks fantastic for her age, gaining some weight really helped her I think and she doesn't look done. Peter is handsome but he does look too done especially around the eyes. He has great bone structure and should stop now while he's ahead. Lauren looks much better than she did when she appeared on Fran's talk show. She was very heavy then.

I saw a recent picture taken at Renee's one woman show of Fran. Charles, Lauren and Ben. I though Charles had thinner hair in it . I think he's wearing a piece for the table read.

Oh no Mista Sheffield has serous hairloss in those pictures (and Fran looks stunning) He scrubbed up very well for the Youtube video. Great rug and great lighting.

How do we know about Benjamin's dongage?

Looks like Charles wears one of those partial pieces like Billy Eichner that covers the front. I really thought he had still had that thick head of hair and I was thinking what great genes he got because that fullness is so rare at his age. The piece looks good though, very natural.

Balding or not, Mr. Shaughnessy can fuck me to death!

R28 APLA guy - Is your name "Michael?"

[quote] Balding or not, Mr. Shaughnessy can fuck me to death!

MARY!

[quote] Daniel didn't participate in that reunion they did and he also didn't appear on Fran's talk show.

You're dead wrong. He totally appeared on the Fran talk show and said he couldn't go to the reunion because he was doing a play and there was no Skype back then.

Here's Daniel's appearance on her talk show, enjoy.

The original Nanny reunion aired in December 2004; the Broadway revival of La Cage Aux Folles that he starred in started previews in November, and rehearsals likely in September or October, so if they filmed the reunion around then, he was understandably unavailable.

I've never heard stories about him being difficult on the set of The Nanny, but the stories about him being hell on wheels to deal with in various theater productions have been widespread around here. Not to mention he was fired from that production of La Cage...

Looks like he was in another Broadway show in the summer of 2004 right up until he started La Cage, so that explains why he couldn't make the reunion.

BTW isn't Daniel gay? Anyone has stories about him? Anyone had him?

This is a nice watch. I also notice Lauren Lane’s showreel was put on YT last year and she was in La for Renee’s show and she’s looking great. Could she be trying to get back in the business. Maybe her kids are grown and gone now and she has more time to pursue it.

[r40], Here are some photos of Peter with Fran when they were younger. He was really handsome. I actually bought Fran's first biography back in the 90s when I was a teenager, and there were some personal photos included, one of which was them on a beach, with Peter in a speedo. Baby gay me thought he was so hot. (I can't find the photo online.) His body now is even more ripped (he looked like a normal fit guy back then), but yeah, he's had too much work done on his face. Looks a little too much like a wax figure facially, which is a shame.

Madeline Zima showed her tits in the first episode of Twin Peaks: The Return. It was...unsettling.

[quote]BTW isn't Daniel gay? Anyone has stories about him? Anyone had him?

He's gay. I remember reading an interview with him (don't remember where, so I can't link it) before the opening of "La Cage" that mentioned that both the leads in that revival were gay (Davis and Gary Beach).

Davis got fired from that La Cage, didn’t he? I remember hearing that he was a total asshole to everyone backstage.

Peter now reminds me of the P90X guy even though they weren’t similar looking in their youths. They’re both early 60s so I guess men who get work done get a generic look alike result just like women. Peter’s face hasn’t been feminized though and he’s still very handsome. They were such a striking couple. I remember when they were on Joy Behar’s show Fran said he was well endowed.

Another

I prefer Peter’s house to Fran’s house in Malibu. Then again Malibu gives me the willies after being stuck in traffic on the PCH twice for hours. When I hear Malibu I get a vision of being trapped in the sun with that rental car plastic smell. I’m sure it’s lovely if you don’t have to commute to work everyday. Peters house looks fabulous from the outside. I bet he did a great job decorating.

Fran’s house is all white and looks very cold like a hotel suite rather than a home. I don’t think I could live there all the time but it would be a beautiful holiday home.

I want Peter inside me quite deeply.

R76 I find that’s true of most celebrity houses or at least the pictures they release. There’s never any ‘stuff’ or signs of a life being lived. As you say it looks like a 5 star hotel rather than someone’s home and for some reason that can look quite depressing to me. I enjoy the “tasteful friends” threads here but don’t think I’ve ever seen one I would want to live in, I’d move into the set of Roseanne any day over them.

It’s such a shame that Yetta is no longer with us. I’d give anything to see a table read of the episode that had this fantastic bit.

Mrs. Joan Sheffield- played by Joan Collins: Where did you find this delicious shrimp?

Yetta: Oh, I came with her.

Mrs. Joan Sheffield No dear, I meant the crustacean.

Yetta: Oh, she's my daughter.

So glad we still have Renée Taylor. She was born to play Sylvia. I thought she’d fade away when she lost her beloved husband Joe but I think she just went into denial. I’ve seen her on tv a few times since and she says he’s still with her and talks to her and writes to her. Don’t think she’s accepted it which is probably for the best, she’s 87, here’s hoping she enjoys this time with her family, has good heath and gives us a little more Sylvia in some way.

Renée was on Judy Gold’s podcast and she did nearly die after Joe. She was in hospital and not doing well when she made a decision to live and carry on without him.

My favorite Yetta/Sylvia exchange. Yetta: Frannie, you can't move in here. Then I would have to move out and go to a home! Sylvia: Ma, we put you in a home ten years ago. Yetta: You bastards!

Loved Lainie Kazans character too and she’d be a good one to bring into a future video. I loved her first visit to the Sheffield house. She looks around and says “wow if I knew this place was so fancy I would have slipped on the step outside” Also loved the visual gag of her house- she had every inch of the home covered in gaudy tchotchkes, she has covered the expensive wood carved walls in tacky wallpaper, there isn’t room to swing a cat and then she says “don’t worry Franny this place won’t look so bare when I get my furniture out of storage” I knew women like her growing up. I also felt that people who accused Fran of misrepresenting working class Jews were not working class Jews! Sure they were exaggerated for comedic effect but I knew a these people and they existed across ethnic lines in working class communities.

Can I add Frans parents are still alive and well in Boca! I remember them both appearing on the show and was sure they would have passed already. How great is that.

This made me laugh

I came across an article about one of the anti vaxx, Trump fanboy protesters and it says ex-husband of France Drescher. Whaaaat? What on Earth was she thinking. I knew he was the guy who claimed he invented email which sounded nutty but who knew he was he a crazy right wing loon. What an odd choice. He’s also running for the senate in Massachusetts (as a Republican).

Fran is big into alternative medicine and homeopathy and all that stuff. She doesn’t reject Western medicine but she’s a big advocate for questioning it and finding alternative therapies and generally not trusting “the system”. She was misdiagnosed for years before they found her cancer and that started her down that road.

Shiva Ayyadurai presents his anti vaccine stance as “questioning the medical establishment” and “finding the truth” That probably appealed to Fran. At one time he was an independent, I’m almost sure he ran for some other seat as an independent. I saw something the other day and he was saying Faludi was part of the deep state. He still calls himself the inventor of email in his bio. They are the strangest match ever unless there’s another side to Fran she hides from the public.

[quote]and it says ex-husband of France Drescher.

Fran's Gallic identical cousin?

R84 maybe he gave Fran the food dicking Marc stopped doing long ago during marriage. She must like his entrepreneurial, go-getter, make it (up) happen for yourself spirit. Dubious as his email achievement is...

They broke up a few years ago

Fran has said her new checklist for a man includes another S - sane. So she knows now he’s crazy. She was on Marc Maron’s podcast last week and she doesn’t mention him much. She called him “the Indian” and said they would fight and he’d disappear for weeks and she had enough. They were “married” but not legally so no divorce needed. The podcast is interesting because she’s not ‘on’ the way she is in ten minute talk show segments and she’s really nothing like Fran Fine. I think Fran Fine is an invention and alter ego of her ex husband Peter. Drescher is drier, more brittle, not very witty, a little kooky and not very down to earth. I still really like her though.

Charles is a silver fox now.

It’s a rug but he does look great.

Fran has done stand up in recent years but with Petah backstage writing her material and coming up during the show to feed her questions and let her hit the punchlines he’s written. Without him I think she could have made a career as Bobbi Flekman. She was great in that role.

[quote]They were “married” but not legally so no divorce needed.

Then why the fuck did she bother saying they were married at that time if they were really just playing house?

In any case, I think everyone but Fran knew that relationship was never going to last. Something about him just seemed cold and unlikeable in pictures. She was obviously desperate.

She’s like Lucy

I'm still waiting for my comeback!

They married in a spiritual ceremony at her home so she considered that married even though it wasn’t legal. In fairness, she said that both of them had businesses and careers and it was too messy to marry legally. I know there’s some disadvantages but I couldn’t help think that a lot of Americans remarrying where both have property and kids from other marriages should just do that.

Fran talking about her years of fashion, for those that care. At least she admits in a roundabout way she ain't no real actress.

"Indebted" stinks, would she ever acknowledge that?

Not as long as the checks clear...

Her recent ex husband mentioned her briefly in an interview he mentioned his time living in Malibu and mixing in Hollywood circles. He used it as a comparison to relationships between academics and scientists. He said celebrities were deeply insecure because they usually didn’t have much ability or talent yet were the face of their industry and the ones who got the press while actors just plugged away doing honest work with no fanfare and more confidence that they had a talent. I love Fran and her work on The Nanny and Spinal Tap but she always struck me as the type that would be hard work to be around. She‘s been in the industry forever. The Nanny was no overnight success as she painted it. The head of CBS conversed with her and offered her a pitch meeting on that plane because he knew her and was familiar with the work she had done with the network over the years! I always stay clear of people who have never worked a day outside the industry because I find that with very few exceptions they are needy, detached from reality, shallow and have very little to say for themselves and are not very interesting people. It comes with the territory and probably happens in other industries that suck up a lot of energy and leave little time for outside hobbies and interests. My friend dated a tech whizz kid who was hired into a big bucks demanding job right out of college and he had the same traits.

The first 2 seasons of The Nanny are on Roku. I have been watching again and I cannot believe how many episodes were blatant ripoffs of other sitcoms. They did the same storyline as the Golden Girls once almost verbatim. Fran meets a successful man but he tells her he’s quitting to become a clown! The guy even pulled out the red nose and blew up a balloon animal just like they did in the GG episode! They were better at writing the plots for her mother Sylvia and grandma Yetta. Also Niles and CC sometimes got good material but now as I watch most of the Mr Sheffield/Fran plots are just ripoffs of I Love Lucy and other shows.

Thats what made it a fun show. Just like when they would reference characters from past sitcoms whose actors were playing different roles on the show...i.e Ann Guilbert as Yetta, looking in a mirror and seeing Millie whom she played in The Dick Van Dyke Show. The show was very blatant with their winks and nods to other shows and celebrities.