Life

It’s time to binge-watch “The Nanny” on HBOMax & realize just how LGBTQ-friendly it was

Fran Drescher at the Women Empowering Women - The Unstoppable Warrior event on October 16, 2018 in Los Angeles, CA
Fran Drescher at the Women Empowering Women - The Unstoppable Warrior event on October 16, 2018 in Los Angeles, CA Photo: Shutterstock

With the ‘90s sitcom The Nanny hitting HBOMax in recent weeks, it’s a great time for a re-watch of the series that had heart, style, and great jokes — and also a surprisingly inclusive queer sensibility.

The early ‘90s was a pretty rough time for queer inclusion on sitcoms. On one hand, TV shows were starting to acknowledge gay and lesbian characters more than in previous years (though still ignoring bisexuals, to say nothing of the awful depictions of trans people). But on the other, most sitcoms were terribly awkward about queer content. If a gay character appeared, it was usually for one single episode; and they were presented as that episode’s problem that needed to be resolved, so they could disappear by the end.

But The Nanny did things differently.

Related: Elliot Page tells Oprah Winfrey about the “joy” transitioning brought him

In the episode “A Fine Friendship,” for example, Fran meets a man who works as a nanny and assumes that he’s gay (because he’s attractive and knows a lot about musical theater). To her, it’s no big deal; she’s casual and comfortable around him… until she discovers that he’s actually straight, and then she panics.

That’s a clever turn-around from the normal ways that TV shows tended to handle the “gays as complication” trope. Most TV shows that introduced gay guest characters would show the main characters freaking out about homosexuality — on The Golden Girls, Rose becomes concerned when she realizes that a lesbian-of-the-week is interested in her; on Designing Women, a man living with HIV prompts “very special episode” music. On Friends and Frasier, the main characters are wide-eyed and aghast when they’re mistaken for queer.

But on The Nanny, the problem isn’t that there’s an unexpected gay character; it’s that there’s an unexpected straight character.

Also interesting is a season four episode called “Oy Vey, You’re Gay,” in which Fran learns that a woman whom she thought was a romantic rival is actually a lesbian, and interested in her. On any other show, that might lead to a sputtering denial, and a flabbergasted “Why would you think that???” But Fran’s different. She pauses and asks if the queer character is Jewish, casually joking that they came close to making her mother very happy.

It’s kind, it’s inclusive, it’s affectionate — and for an American network TV show of the ‘90s, The Nanny is one-of-a-kind with its nonchalant acceptance.

Don't forget to share:

Support vital LGBTQ+ journalism

Reader contributions help keep LGBTQ Nation free, so that queer people get the news they need, with stories that mainstream media often leaves out. Can you contribute today?

Cancel anytime · Proudly LGBTQ+ owned and operated

Mike Pompeo mocked for bizarre story involving a “female analyst” & her “sexuality”

Previous article

Out Major General Tammy Smith retires after 35 years of service

Next article