Britainology 92: Supernanny
Added 2024-10-23 19:16:03 +0000 UTCFor this month's first Britainology, Milo subjects Nate to the early-2000s British reality TV show Supernanny, with an episode featuring a particularly unruly 9-year-old girl named Meghann. It's famously "iconic" British TV with more than a few ethical dilemmas, and frankly we're undecided on its value. But you can watch the episode in question here and react in the comments.
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Comments
The few scared straight type clips I've seen have always struck me as way over the top. The way the inmates get in the kids' faces and start cussing and threatening. I can't help and think that when the guy behind the camera says cut they're just like: "did I do that right? was I mean enough?".
Serkles
2025-01-07 16:40:35 +0000 UTCi’m WAY too excited for someone who quit nicotine 19 years ago
Shivvy
2024-11-01 02:32:24 +0000 UTCCame for the laughs, didn't expect to go hug my kids after. Also not to be too parasocial but as a dad of two of them who seem to be turning out okay, Nate you seem like you're doing a good job.
dase
2024-10-28 10:48:28 +0000 UTCSo sorry about what happened to your wife, Nate. A little bummed that I'm finally moving to Albion just as you are (wisely) fleeing.
Andrew Davis
2024-10-28 08:21:26 +0000 UTCMY WIFE FOUND THE SAVIRY VAPE IN AMERICA!! GARLIC AND ONION CARTS ARE ON THE MENU BOYS
Opened Door
2024-10-26 01:10:24 +0000 UTCGreat episode, and I’m excited to join The Provisional Giffgaff
Ben Yardley
2024-10-25 16:57:31 +0000 UTCo7
Trashfuture
2024-10-25 13:06:12 +0000 UTCOn Nate's point about show that send misbehaving children to military boot camps for TV, the UK defiantly had something like that. On CBBC in the late 2000's and early 2010's I remember there being 2 shows, one was called 'School of Scilence' and the other was about sending misbehaving children to a military school where I think they would get yelled at by army officers and have military discipline used to make them try to behave. The mention ofn this jogged my memory. But these were both kinda fucked vibes, as from what I remember the kids were mainly not white, had learning/ behaviour issues there weren't being addressed, or probably had something going on at home.
E. F. Reed
2024-10-25 12:01:22 +0000 UTCWatching it during puberty did things to me
Toasty Waffles
2024-10-25 11:24:19 +0000 UTCHoly hell that's so bad... like every stereotype the US right has about socialized medicine except our system would have likely been more nightmarish to deal with (months to get an appointment followed by having to pay out the ass for the "privilege, " and likely not being believed about her symptoms because she's a black woman on top of all that). Hate seeing the playbook of "defunding public services, then telling everyone 'see, this public service isn't working, so let's privatize it'" in action.
Page Chase
2024-10-25 10:26:27 +0000 UTCMegan has her own TikTok where she talks about supernanny. https://www.tiktok.com/@meghannhelaina?_t=8qptEmjZ29o&_r=1
StudentChow- Will Cowley
2024-10-25 10:10:39 +0000 UTCThis is terrifying Nate; hoping the Missus is quite well now! And that you remain safe from the stateside flavors of medical horror until absolutely necessary
Shivvy
2024-10-25 04:49:14 +0000 UTClads do you think someone using the postal system to distribute contrerband is putting a return address incase the parcel can't be delivered?
Maggie+Al
2024-10-25 01:47:26 +0000 UTCas a former undiagnosed autistic kid with a similar profile including the unceasing pedantry: that kid's autistic
Zygaenidae
2024-10-25 01:06:49 +0000 UTCcame here to say the same. solidarity!
Zygaenidae
2024-10-25 00:57:25 +0000 UTCThe subjects who appeared on Intervention were much more likely to die of overdose or suicide in years after their appearence on the show than addicts who weren't on Intervention. But that show killed less people than The Biggest Loser.
Ben Schwabe
2024-10-24 23:22:49 +0000 UTCHonestly I think having kids on reality TV shows should be illegal. Kids should have privacy, and parents who consent to this shit are really sus. I think they did Supernanny in the USA with the British lady and also a rip off show the name of which I can't remember that was basically the same thing. Then they did shit like Wife Swap, which absolutely was child abuse.
Ben Schwabe
2024-10-24 23:19:55 +0000 UTCfor lack of an ability to get a GP appointment at our local GP surgery, my wife got so sick she wound up having a stroke. So tbh if Switzerland hadn't happened we'd probably have had to take our chances with going back to the US
Trashfuture
2024-10-24 19:33:28 +0000 UTCSorry Nate that the UK wasn’t for you! Hope you like Switzerland better.
Alex
2024-10-24 19:23:47 +0000 UTCHaving done “British reality TV show of the early 00’s that might have done some good for the participants”, you will now have to do one on Gillian McKeith to restore balance to the cosmos
Cat Mara
2024-10-24 18:37:19 +0000 UTCI have a few friends who’ve been on adventure/survival type reality shows, and they all said there’s tons of contrived situations and reenactments of things that happened that the camera couldn’t catch. But the pay is nice for seasonal dirtbags.
Breakaway
2024-10-24 17:43:17 +0000 UTCThe wild trivia that always throws me about Maury Povitch is he was married to Connie Chung. A&E in the aughts had a bunch of particularly gawky self help shows like “Intervention”, I dated a producer on that show that handled the guest recruiting and she had a Kentucky accent and was from the mine country, so she was automatically considered the most relatable to the subjects and was the one who had to convince them not to flee when they discovered what the show was about.
Diego Corazón
2024-10-24 15:53:54 +0000 UTCsnilf
Martin Clarkson
2024-10-24 13:52:02 +0000 UTCThe joke about Italian super nanny fucking the dad completely destroyed me and I had to rewind the episode to catch up
Chris
2024-10-24 13:20:32 +0000 UTCNot good enough I want more
Killa Bea Arthur
2024-10-24 13:09:39 +0000 UTCnow they *did* show the Young Ones in the US unaltered, and the University Challenge episode was my first impression of class differences in Britain (before that, Kenny Everett, the Goodies, MPFC, not so much)
MI
2024-10-24 12:28:07 +0000 UTCYoung Ones when?
Killa Bea Arthur
2024-10-24 11:45:42 +0000 UTCOh shit, Supernanny? This gon b gud. We had it syndicated on Swedish cable when I was a kid, my parents loved to watch it as cringe entertainment. We also had our own version much later, which I never saw. Most of what I know about that one is that the Supernanny herself later became a real cryptofascist culture war freak, and her favorite self victimization was complaining that every article that ever mentioned in any way that she used to lead Supernanny (because that's the only context 98% of people would be familiar with her) were misogynistic since she was also a PhD of pedagogy. She loved aiming this at specific articles that actually centered her academic credentials way more than the TV appearance, the only common line between the articles targeted was that they were critical of her conspiracy theory babble.
Elaine Åhlfeldt
2024-10-24 10:53:37 +0000 UTCI mean neither was I, but in the moment I realized I was about to unintentionally quote that song verbatim in describing the overall tenor of the TV show "Cops"
Trashfuture
2024-10-24 10:44:56 +0000 UTCAh, the boring option I left out 😢
Michael Hopwood
2024-10-24 10:37:57 +0000 UTCMy wife works for a Swiss software company and in order to accept a promotion we had to relocate. Which lol not exactly a hard decision to make given everything
Trashfuture
2024-10-24 10:36:20 +0000 UTCBanking? Chocolate? Political asylum? Precision enigneered running shoes?
Michael Hopwood
2024-10-24 10:31:51 +0000 UTCYes I live here now
Trashfuture
2024-10-24 10:29:57 +0000 UTCWait, what? Geneva?!
Michael Hopwood
2024-10-24 09:57:46 +0000 UTCI know they're playing shows again but I was not expecting a Blood Brothers reference
Nah
2024-10-24 09:45:54 +0000 UTCI can confirm that SOS Tata means SOS Nanny in Italian (no connections with Tata Steel btw) and yes she would 100% fuck the father within the first 15 minutes in an Italian remake
Freshprince_of_rualis
2024-10-24 09:07:04 +0000 UTCAlso yes fat families would be seriously worth an episode
Erin Taylor
2024-10-24 08:41:42 +0000 UTCI had a colleague tell me of an IRA bomb threat to my work and the curator literally poked the suspect device with a stick
Erin Taylor
2024-10-24 08:28:14 +0000 UTCSuper Nanny is kind of a Milf, ngl.
Oliver Cant
2024-10-24 07:55:57 +0000 UTCI did watch this episode, and seeing this kid be allowed to physically assault her younger sibs completely unchecked was more than I was able to sit with. The whole thing just seems focused on the parents egos with no one doing the immediate harm reduction of intervening to protect the other kids, especially the youngest. . For a study of n=1, my older brother with behavioral problems liked to punch me in the stomach at random as a very young child. I was never taken to a doctor while he remained the focus of all of our parents’ attention and energy. As an adult, I now have a severely retroverted uterus that would normally be consistent with blunt force trauma from a car crash or multiple pregnancies. So psa, young parents, you might want to make sure your difficult little handful isn’t also inflicting life-altering physical trauma on the smaller ones.
MI
2024-10-24 07:46:57 +0000 UTCTo an extent this feels a lot like the show came from the same place as why they try to subtly put PSAs in EastEnders. Showing what parenting failure looks like to the public and then showing how it can be fixed nonviolently and calmly seems like a public good for any parent watching. Nate's reaction of sympathy to the parents especially shows that this can be a productive use of reality TV. Shame about the producers who didn't get the memo I suppose
itspaddyd
2024-10-24 07:14:42 +0000 UTCEpisodes like this are the reason why
BrunchMonster
2024-10-24 05:20:30 +0000 UTCI always kind of thought the Springer/Maury stuff was more honest because it was so obviously fake and staged and one step removed from Professional Wrestling. I knew a couple that got recruited at a mall to be on a house-flip show entirely cause of how they looked, they where told what to say, what to object to, etc and the result is I have Aunts who watch that and think that's an actual way to make a living that real people do and lo and behold theres a unch of youtube people ready to sell a guide or talk or program on how to do it - Its just scams all the way down. . There was a recent New York magazine thing on how all the Real Housewives train on how to sound unscripted on camera and deliver shocking lines or what kind of insults land better.
John Leavitt
2024-10-24 05:17:37 +0000 UTCGrowing up in Australia we got a lot of British reality TV often at odd hours late at night. I remember a show that was just footage of drunk teenagers in Spain that lead me to the theory everyone in Britain was legally required to be on a TV show once in their life like a kind of BBC national service. The 16 year old being filmed getting a tattoo while passed out was actually making a sensible and rational decision because he knew he couldn’t then be press ganged into Embarrassing Bodies or The Weakest Link.
Jacob King
2024-10-24 01:59:51 +0000 UTCMy uncle was on springer for a paternity test, he indeed was cheated on. And I know a kid who was on “worlds strictest parents”, guy with the huge stretched ears. they swapped a bad kid with a tough parent lol he told me it was all fake and his parents and him got along great.
michael dees
2024-10-24 00:34:53 +0000 UTCGay patrol? I think you mean the fashion police….. The whole all male teen heartthrobs are secretly gay thing must have been doubly hard on Jonathan Taylor Thomas who ….was gay at the time - always felt bad for him for working at like the last time that would ruin your career as a young actor
John Leavitt
2024-10-24 00:18:20 +0000 UTCMy grandma's best friend was fired for calling in a bomb threat to get a day off work. She was caught because a) they suspected the kwik-save in Burnley wasnt a high-priority target and b) they recognised her fuckin voice.
Martin Clarkson
2024-10-24 00:13:31 +0000 UTCAlso re: judging other parents it changes after you have one because being around your own kid and riding herd on others means you can translate kids crying or screaming to a degree from "lol feed that kid" or "someone has been out to long" or "someone is pissed at not getting their way" or on occasion "OH FUCK THAT KID JUST HURT THEMSELVES AND SOMEONE, POSSIBLY ME, NEEDS TO GO NOW". Good times
Winson Paine
2024-10-24 00:12:30 +0000 UTCNate as another dude who was the primary caregiver house spouse for five years it is hard and sucks sometimes but also is an experience I would not trade for anything on earth. Hang in there, it sounds like you are doing a hell of a job even if it is frustrating and so on.
Winson Paine
2024-10-24 00:09:19 +0000 UTCThere Are Two Hens Now is gonna rattle around my brain for a bit
Shivvy
2024-10-23 23:21:11 +0000 UTCplease please please! i have a friend who’s fam was on!! (she was not a minor and out of the house)
Shivvy
2024-10-23 23:20:26 +0000 UTC“We’re not saying what it SHOULD be part of” that’s right, Milo #unitedireland2024
Shivvy
2024-10-23 23:11:57 +0000 UTCYay! strapping in w 0 knowledge about this particular topic 🇬🇧
Shivvy
2024-10-23 23:11:10 +0000 UTCJust wanted to say Mariana trench- you're gorgeous AF!! Your outfit and makeup are incredible and I hope you have a lovely day!
BrunchMonster
2024-10-23 22:53:16 +0000 UTCIf you want to talk about weird American reality tv, you gotta watch I Wanna Marry "Harry" from 2014. It's basically The Bachelor but the bachelor in this case is an actor hired to pretend to be Prince Harry, and crucially he does not look like Prince Harry and is doing The Prince Harry Voice only ok. It was so bad it was cancelled only after four episodes, and the last four episodes were not aired in the US.
chris
2024-10-23 21:55:55 +0000 UTCVS American Reality TV: LOOK AT THESE BEAUTIFUL STUPID SLUTS
12345
2024-10-23 21:52:26 +0000 UTCClassic British TV: LOOK AT THESE UGLY FAT POORS AND HOW STUPID THEY ARE
12345
2024-10-23 21:51:16 +0000 UTCMilo's normal southern guy voice is exactly my boss's voice - who is a normal southern guy who works in IT!
Cat Kendall
2024-10-23 21:51:00 +0000 UTCNate absolutely skewering my soul by describing "British man so traumatised by bullying he has no personality", just *oof*
David Graeber
2024-10-23 21:15:11 +0000 UTCI'm not a doctor or a medical/mental health professional BUT as somebody with ADHD who wasn't diagnosed until I was 23. As a kid I was angry, so frequently furious with everything around me, and now I'm able to recognise that I was overwhelmed or overstimulated and that manifested as rage. I would bet money on Meghann being some flavour of neurodivergent. I will also bet money at some point around the age of 18/19 she was misdiagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder.
Mariana Trench
2024-10-23 20:55:16 +0000 UTCSpeaking of gay patrol check out Gay Army- “Gay Army is a Danish comedy reality television series. It centers around nine effeminate gay men put into the hands of a drill sergeant who puts them through military training exercises.”
Joe Wakefield
2024-10-23 20:47:19 +0000 UTCThe horrible cruelty of early to mid 2000s British reality TV was so gross growing up through! It was the era where TV thought "something about Miriam" was a good idea
Angel-of-Deadlifts
2024-10-23 20:45:46 +0000 UTCI'm having 90s flashbacks. My mom was constantly trying to apply child care tips from these shows to us, then grouching at us when they didn't work.
Jon W
2024-10-23 20:41:58 +0000 UTCI'm an older millennial parent and I can tell you fully and factually: smartphones and social media have fucked us up as people and it's showing in our kids. Gods help us.
Alistair SM J
2024-10-23 20:15:37 +0000 UTCthe hog hivemind is real
Rory Fagan
2024-10-23 19:50:04 +0000 UTCHell yeah
Joe Wakefield
2024-10-23 19:46:13 +0000 UTCUnasseptable
Rob Fletcher
2024-10-23 19:46:07 +0000 UTCGot to do the show Wife Swap for a midwestology episode
Kapjak
2024-10-23 19:38:28 +0000 UTCwatched the fuck out of this as a kid
L
2024-10-23 19:35:28 +0000 UTCThis notification came though AS I WAS WATCHING SUPERNANNY HAHAHAHA
Chris The Fist
2024-10-23 19:18:31 +0000 UTC
