Nanny 911 is an American reality television series that originally aired on Fox from November 3, 2004, to February 23, 2007, and on CMT from April 18 to June 6, 2009.

Premise

Nanny 911 is loosely based on the British television program Little Angels, in which American families with unmanageable children are reformed by British nannies, including one who served for the royal family. The introduction features montages of several clips of unruly children (and the nannies' surprised reactions), whereupon stock footage shows a "call" being made to Nanny 911 where "Head Nanny Lilian" (Lilian Sperling, featured as "Nanny to the British Royal Family") answers "Hello, this is Nanny 911" (on an old rotary dial phone). After the intro the selected family is featured on a separate clip. Head Nanny Lilian and the other nannies – "Nanny Deb" (Deborah Carroll), "Nanny Stella" (Stella Reid), and "Nanny Yvonne" (originally Yvonne Shove, later replaced by Yvonne Finnerty for unspecified reasons) discuss the clip, whereupon Lilian announces (based on the major need; each nanny specializes in one area, such as proper etiquette or controlling temper tantrums) which nanny will visit the family. The nannies are featured visiting the family in traditional nanny dress (similar to that worn by Mary Poppins). The nanny's first day is spent solely in observing the family dynamics in order to determine a suitable plan of action for changing the children's behavior; at the end of the day the nanny discusses what needs to be done. The remainder of the week shows the plan being implemented, along with the parents' reactions (which can be quite negative, especially when the nanny mentions how the parents' actions have resulted in the problem). At the end of the week, the nanny generally compliments the family for the changed behavior. The last segment shows the family receiving a substantial gift from the nanny (such as a new car or a home renovation). The families that are eligible for the show usually have four or more children and have multiples i.e.: triplets, twins, quadruplets (though some episodes show homes with fewer children and singletons), and the children are usually younger than 9 years of age (though also not always the case). The parents usually have an income that allows them to be upper middle-class. After Season Two, the gift portion was removed. In Season Four, Nanny Yvonne did not appear due to budgetary reasons and the format changed. Rather than showing a clip to the nannies then deciding which one would go, Lillian just called one of them and sent them to the family. In some episodes this season, the nanny observes for two days rather than one.

Move to CMT

On February 27, 2008, Fox announced that it sold the rights to Nanny 911 (as well as its partnered Fox show, Trading Spouses) to CMT.

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2004–05)

NOTE: The King Family was also featured on the spin-off Marriage 911 to help their marriage.

Season 2 (2005–06)

NOTE: Episodes 12 and 13 are also Season 2 but were added to Season 3.

Season 3 (2006–08)

NOTE: Episode 14 and 15 were previously unaired episodes that premiered during CMT's reruns of the show.

Season 4 (2009)

International versions

Nanny 911 has been broadcast or slightly adapted in other countries.