The 1990s was a real golden age for television. The small screen landscape was a widely varied, culturally rich and diverse one that offered viewers not just something in just about every genre you can imagine, but those offerings became iconic and definitive of that decade thanks to the rise of cable networks, boundary-pushing shows like The X-Files, and wildly popular blocks of entertainment, like NBC’s Must-See TV. In particular, the 1990s was a great decade for sitcoms, many of which not only continue to entertain all these years later but in retrospect serve to encapsulate just about everything cool about those years — and one of the best is making its way back to streaming.

The Nanny originally ran for six seasons on CBS from 1993 to 1999. The Fran Drescher-starring series, which Drescher also created alongside Peter Marc Jacobson, followed a fashionista cosmetics saleswoman from Flushing, Queens who ends up hired as the nanny for a Broadway producer’s three children. A fish out of water story, the series was a critical success with a dedicated and passionate fan base and while it’s bounced around various streamers here and there since first arriving on HBO Max in 2021, the full series is making its way to Hulu on March 18th.

The Nanny Is a ‘90s Icon (And It Almost Ended Too Soon)

The Nanny is considered by many to be not only one of the best sitcoms of the 1990s but one of the best television shows of that decade as well. It’s even considered by some to be a contemporary version of I Love Lucy, a badge of praise given to the series for its comedy and its performances by Dresher along with Charles Shaughnessy, Daniel Davis, Lauren Lane, and even the young cast of Nicholle Tom, Benjamin Salisbury, and Madeline Zima. However, while The Nanny is a wildly popular and beloved series now, it almost ended after just one season.

While The Nanny had the highest-tested pilot for CBS in years and was met with hugely positive critical reviews, ratings didn’t exactly follow for its first season. The low ratings led to the network nearly cancelling the series but a network executive took up for the show. The network kept the show going and it paid off. It would go on to run for six total seasons and even racked up various award nominations — even winning an Emmy. The show’s popularity also extended outside the United States, where it was not only a highly rated television show in its own right, but has spawned various foreign adaptations as well.

Given how big The Nanny became and how iconic the show remains to this day, it’s kind of wild to think about how it almost ended after just one season. However, it’s even more interesting to consider how The Nanny is an example of something we just don’t see much of in television anymore in the streaming era: a series that the network allows the time and space to develop and find its audience. If The Nanny were introduced today, it isn’t hard to imagine that it would have ended after its first season because of low viewership, no matter who critically well-received or how much potential it has. That The Nanny was championed for and allowed to become the great television and beloved classic it has really makes one wonder how many great television series we’ve been deprived of in recent years that might have been all-timers had they just been given more time.

You can check out all six seasons of The Nanny for yourself when the series arrives on Hulu on March 18th.

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