Nanny and the Professor

For the 1972 film, see Nanny and the Professor (film).
Nanny and the Professor
Genre Situation comedy
Created by AJ Carothers
Thomas L. Miller
Starring Juliet Mills
Richard Long
David Doremus
Trent Lehman
Kim Richards
Opening theme "Nanny", written and sung by The Addrisi Brothers
Composer(s) Charles Fox
Arthur Morton
Country of origin US
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 3
No. of episodes 54
Production
Producer(s) Charles B. Fitzsimons
Camera setup Single-camera
Running time 30 min.
Production company(s) 20th Century Fox Television
Distributor 20th Television
Release
Original network ABC
Audio format Monaural
Original release January 21, 1970 (1970-01-21) – December 27, 1971 (1971-12-27)

Nanny and the Professor is an American fantasy situation comedy created by AJ Carothers and Thomas L. Miller for 20th Century Fox Television. During pre-production, the proposed title was Nanny Will Do.[1]

Premise

Playing upon the popular successes of Mary Poppins and other magical nannies of literature, this TV series posited another ostensibly magical British nanny taking care of a family in need of direction. Unlike the candid "magicality" of its forebears, this Nanny's paranormal nature was less overt and only implied. The Nanny's young wards, as well as the audience, were left intentionally unsure of the nature of Nanny's "powers," if any.

Nanny and the Everett Family.

The series starred Juliet Mills as Nanny Phoebe Figalilly, Richard Long as Professor Harold Everett, and Elsa Lanchester in the recurring role of Aunt Henrietta. Figalilly was apparently psychic, and had regular flashes of what was often more than intuition; she frequently knew who was ringing the doorbell before the bell even rang. There was the vague suggestion that she may have been at least several hundred years old and more than human, which the children thought they discovered in an episode after they saw a photo of Phoebe that looked like it was taken a century earlier.

Figalilly watched over Professor Everett and his three children: Hal, the intellectual tinkerer, played by David Doremus; Butch, the middle child, played by Trent Lehman; and Prudence, the youngest, played by Kim Richards. Patsy Garrett had the recurring role of nosy neighbor Mrs. Fowler, whose daughter Francine had a crush on Hal. Midway through the brief first season a yellow 1930 Model A Ford, "Arabella," was added to the series.

In character, Mills sometimes wore a navy blue Inverness cape and cap that resembled a deerstalker; the program's opening titles showed animations of both.

In 1972/73 two animated adaptations of the series (Nanny and the Professor and Nanny and the Professor and the Phantom of the Circus) aired as part of "The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie". Members of the original cast provided voices for their respective characters.

Characters

The first five named appear in all 54 episodes.

Episode list

Season 1, 1970

  1. "Nanny Will Do" (1970-01-21)
  2. "The Wiblet Will Get You If You Don't Watch Out" (1970-01-28)
  3. "The New Butch" (1970-02-04)
  4. "The Scientific Approach" (1970-02-11)
  5. "The Astronomers" (1970-02-18)
  6. "Spring, Sweet Spring" (1970-02-25)
  7. "Nanny on Wheels" (1970-03-04)
  8. "Strictly for the Birds" (1970-03-11)
  9. "The Tyrannosaurus Tibia" (1970-03-18)
  10. "I Think That I Shall Never See a Tree" (1970-03-25)
  11. "The Games Families Play" (1970-04-01)
  12. "An Element of Risk" (1970-04-08)
  13. "The Philosopher's Stone" (1970-04-15)
  14. "A Fowl Episode" (1970-04-22)
  15. "Nanny and the Smoke-Filled Room" (1970-04-29)

Season 2, 1970–71

  1. "The Human Element" (1970-09-25)
  2. "The Haunted House" (1970-10-02)
  3. "Star Bright" (1970-10-09)
  4. "E.S. Putt" (1970-10-16)
  5. "Back to Nature" (1970-10-23)
  6. "A Letter for Nanny" (1970-10-30)
  7. "The Great Broadcast of 1936" (1970-11-06)
  8. "The Masculine-Feminine Mystique" (1970-11-13)
  9. "The India Queen" (1970-11-20)
  10. "The Visitor" (1970-12-04)
  11. "My Son, the Sitter" (1970-12-11)
  12. "From Butch, with Love" (1970-12-18)
  13. "The Humanization of Herbert T. Peabody" (1970-12-25)
  14. "A Diller, a Dollar" (1971-01-08)
  15. "Separate Rooms" (1971-01-15)
  16. "The Human Fly" (1971-01-22)
  17. "The Man Who Came to Pasta" (1971-01-29)
  18. "The Art of Relationships" (1971-02-05)
  19. "The Balloon Ladies" (1971-02-12)
  20. "The Prodigy" (1971-02-19)
  21. "How Many Candles?" (1971-02-26)
  22. "The Unknown Factor" (1971-03-05)
  23. "Kid Stuff" (1971-03-12)
  24. "The Communication Gap" (1971-03-26)

Season 3, 1971

  1. "Oh, What a Tangled Web" (1971-09-13)
  2. "The Flower Children" (1971-09-20)
  3. "Sunday's Hero" (1971-09-27)
  4. "South Sea Island Sweetheart" (1971-10-04)
  5. "Aunt Henrietta's Premonition" (1971-10-11)
  6. "Cholmondeley Featherstonehaugh" (1971-10-18)
  7. "Aunt Henrietta and the Jinx" (1971-10-25)
  8. "Nanny and Her Witch's Brew" (1971-11-01)
  9. "The Conversion of Brother Ben" (1971-11-08)
  10. "Aunt Henrietta and the Poltergeist" (1971-11-15)
  11. "Professor Pygmalion Plays Golf" (1971-11-22)
  12. "The Great Debate" (1971-11-29)
  13. "One for the Road" (1971-12-06)
  14. "Good-bye, Arabella, Hello" (1971-12-13)
  15. "Whatever Happened to Felicity?" (1971-12-27)

The Nanny's relatives

From time to time, some of the Nanny's relatives dropped by the Everett home for a visit. They include:

Ratings and cancellation

The series first aired as a mid-season replacement on January 21, 1970, on ABC, and was last telecast on December 27, 1971. The series enjoyed initial success due to its Friday night timeslot when it was scheduled between The Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family, which were similar shows, aimed largely at young children and pre-teens. Ratings suffered in the third season when ABC moved the series to Monday night opposite Gunsmoke and Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. After it was canceled, the show had a brief run in syndication.

The first two seasons are presently available for viewing on Hulu, but three episodes of season two are not included. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, which produced the show, has not released the series on DVD.

References

  1. Weiner, Ed; Editors of TV Guide (1992). The TV Guide TV Book: 40 Years of the All-Time Greatest Television Facts, Fads, Hits, and History. New York: Harper Collins. p. 174. ISBN 0-06-096914-8.

External links

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