“The Nanny” is the only one of the 1990s sitcoms to be what others are remembered as: Jewy. Overtly, unlike “Seinfeld” and “Friends.” “Friends” atrocious so we will skip but “Seinfeld” is a Balzacian exploration of the full richness of human experience. But it’s evasive and awkward on the Jewishness front. There’s George Costanza, ostensibly Italian on at least his father’s side, but also the Jewiest character ever, as in he makes Alvy Singer look Episcopalian. This is not even getting into the Elaine Benes as “shiksa” plot, which is approximately like if there had been an episode of “The Nanny” where Fran Fine’s allure was gentile-ness. Which there never would have been, because “The Nanny” wasn’t like that.
The only Jewish sitcom
The only Jewish sitcom
The only Jewish sitcom
“The Nanny” is the only one of the 1990s sitcoms to be what others are remembered as: Jewy. Overtly, unlike “Seinfeld” and “Friends.” “Friends” atrocious so we will skip but “Seinfeld” is a Balzacian exploration of the full richness of human experience. But it’s evasive and awkward on the Jewishness front. There’s George Costanza, ostensibly Italian on at least his father’s side, but also the Jewiest character ever, as in he makes Alvy Singer look Episcopalian. This is not even getting into the Elaine Benes as “shiksa” plot, which is approximately like if there had been an episode of “The Nanny” where Fran Fine’s allure was gentile-ness. Which there never would have been, because “The Nanny” wasn’t like that.