Nanny Fine, Maxwell Sheffield and the rest of the gang are getting back together on April 6 — but not in the way you might think.
“The Nanny” creator and star Fran Drescher teased on her Twitter page last week, in response to a fan who wanted to watch the popular ’90s sitcom online, that there was a “surprise” in the works.
But the announcement was not that the CBS show’s six-season catalog would coming to one of the soon-to-be launched streaming services like HBO Max or Peacock, as some anticipated, or that there would be a revival of the series, which centers on a cosmetics saleswoman who is fired from her job at a bridal shop and becomes a caretaker to a Broadway producer’s three children.
Variety has learned that the original cast of the Sony Pictures Television-produced show is reuniting for a virtual table read of the pilot via Zoom, which will be posted on the Sony Pictures YouTube page the morning of Monday, April 6.
“Laughter is the best medicine! So, in these challenging times, Petah and I thought, wouldn’t it be great if we pulled together the original cast of ‘The Nanny’ for a virtual read of the pilot?” said Drescher in a statement, referring to the show’s co-creator, Peter Marc Jacobson. “It’s a once in a lifetime Pandemic Performance for our fans around the world who are currently stressing in isolation and could use a real upper! It sure has given each of us a lift and we hope it does for you as well.”
The reunion includes Charles Shaughnessy, Daniel Davis, Lauren Lane, Nicholle Tom, Benjamin Salisbury, Madeline Zima, Renee Taylor, Alex Sternin, Ann Hampton Callaway, DeeDee Rescher, Rachel Chagall and Jonathan Penner. (James Marsden is the only member of the original cast who will not be returning.)
Drescher, the founder and president of nonprofit Cancer Schmancer, currently stars in NBC comedy “Indebted,” which airs at 9:30 p.m. Thursdays. She is also developing “The Nanny: A New Musical” for Broadway.
“The Nanny” presently airs in the U.S. on The Roku Channel, Cozi TV and Logo TV. In tandem with the table read, Logo is scheduled to air a TV marathon of “The Nanny,” including the 1993 pilot and nine other fan favorites, beginning Monday at 8 p.m. ET.
Abroad, the show has a home on an array of channels, including Amazon Prime in Australia, New Zealand and Canada, the Disney Channel in Germany, Paramount Network in Italy, TFX in France, VTM Go in Belgium, Ziggo in Netherlands, Astro in Southeast Asia and StarHub in Singapore.
