Nanny 911 VS Super-Nanny

Fox and ABC have their respective versions of the Nanny reality TV show. Basically...families with clueless parents, and out of control kids get British Nannies (Americans are too crude to be nannies apparently) to help them. Of all the reality shows out there...these are actually interesting, and beneficial to the audience--Sheri and I always have discussions about what the parents should be doing and talk about how we will deal with the challenges we see them dealing with.

However...there's a clear quality difference. Nanny 911 (Fox) out-does Super-Nanny (ABC) in almost every way. First, N-911 has a variety of Nannies, led by a Nanny who served the Royal Family of Britain. So the cool factor is definately on the side of Fox. Secondly, while the N-911 nannies give instructions and rules but basically make the parents do everything for themselves so they finally learn, the nannies of SN actually do the work for the parents the first day. Though they DO actually leave the parents to the task the next day, the instruction is lacking--by doing it for the parents, the parents never have to figure out for themselves (suing the guidelines set out by the nannies) what was wrong with their previous approach. Instead, the parents essentially do none of the things the nanny did, because they just watched the nanny do the work--and the kids may respect the unfamiliar nanny, but the parent is not getting used to asserting authority. And finally...the nannies of N-911 wear proper English Nanny outfits and are very proper in their behavior and language. The SN nanny dressed like your average person...and was pretty coarse--was basically mocking the mother in her observation period.

Hands down, watch Fox's version on Monday nights. Its actually a really good show.