The Nanny Complete Series

     The Nanny is an American sitcom that ran from 1993 to 1999 for a total of 6 season and 146 episodes. Produced by Fran Drescher and her husband Peter Marc Jacobson as a starring vehicle for Fran the show was a fish out of water story. Fran plays Fran Fine an about to be 30 year old who after breaking up with her fiancé is jobless, living with her parents (the amazing Renee Taylor plays her Mother), and selling cosmetics door to door. After a chance knock on a door in a swish part of New York City and the butler who answered the door mistaking her for the new nanny, she sees a better opportunity and tries to squeeze her way in with a chance, despite Niles (the butler, played by Daniel Davis) quickly realizing she is not the nanny they were expecting she ends up with the position as they are in a somewhat desperate position. British actor, Charles Shaughnessy plays Mr. Sheffield, a distant father who since the death of his wife has not found a way to connect with his kids and further threw himself into his work as a broadway producer. In a loose take of the sound of music Fran plays the Maria role and rides into save the day and the children (Nicholle Tom, Benjamin Salisbury, Madeline Zima) from this beige existence of grief and propriety.

     Over the first series we see the kids open up and really start to bloom and come to life as Fran manages to walk the line between honouring their mother and helping them move on with their life. As a result of the unconventional ways she goes about this we sometimes see conflict arise with Mr.Sheffield who seems to have never encountered someone with such chutzpah before (slightly unbelievable as he does work in theatre but we go with it). The push and pull relationship between them develops early on and a will they/won’t they element becomes a key element of the show. The chemistry between the two is undeniable but the plot and circumstances surrounding the two makes it something you know isn’t going to happen quickly as there are some excellent roadblocks set up around the two of them.

     Mr. Sheffield’s role as a Broadway producer provides excellent chance for gueststars over the course of the series, sweeps week/month was always extra special, and some of whom weren’t often doing tv spots at the time.

 

     The show is easily watched by children (I was young when I first watched) but upon rewatching as a adult there are a lot of jokes and innuendo packed into the episodes that went way over my head at the time (& I couldn’t quite believe when I watched more recently). Definitely layered comedy and something that you can enjoy as a adult while the kids are watching tv. (And I would say enjoy, even if you don’t have kids or just want to watch it on your own). The writing is strong and ahead of it’s time in how it dealt with lgbtq+ portrayals and issues (remember the aids epidemic was ranging when this show started airing), race, religion, and gender issues. They were not being jammed into the episodes willie-nillie but it was a show that lead with love on that front, and took the opportunities presented to reinforce positive stereotypes rather than negative.

     I made a video after the passing of Ann Morgan Guilbert last month talking more aboutsome of the ways the show impacted me, if you are interested you can see what I had to say here.

     Now onto the packaging... This is a Shout Factory release from 2015 and comes a the complete series and a disc of bonus features. Also included is a nice booklet on glossy, much heavier than usual paper, with extra pictures and the episodes and a brief description of each included.

booklet

     As I mentioned in my video, the outer box is the heaviest duty case I have ever seen. This is not going to bend or warp from being picked up or being left on your shelf.

     The seasons are packaged in three standard size DVD cases, each case holding 2 seasons. The discs are on front and back cover as well as interior flip trays. They are not stacked, so are easy to find and take out, an ideal situation for preventing damage to discs. The discs have pictures on them and are multi-coloured and easy to see and read. The season and disc number is written in the same spot across all season in bold writing with a high contrast background. The discs of each season have a different colour prominently featured, making it easier still to identify what season is what and where they belong as the disc colours match they case exterior. Making this a vision impaired friendly set on that front. Closed captioning is also provided for all episodes.

 

discs inside case holding season 1 and 2

     As for bonus features this set has an exclusive to the complete set extra disc with new interviews that tell the behind the scenes story of The Nanny and a Making of The Nanny feature. beyond that, select episodes have commentary provided by Fran and others involved with the show.

bonus disc

     Overall, this is one of my favourite sets. Shout Factory rarely disappoints but this has to one of my favourites from them so far. If you are wanting to revisit The Nanny or have been thinking about thinking about purchasing this set, I would say there is nothing in the packaging to worry about and the series is still a fun, enjoyable watch all these years later.

     What is a show you would like to see a complete set of/ Shout release? I’ve got a few still on my list Coach, Living Single, and Caroline in the City being high on the list. I would love to hear some that you would like to see out soon, so let me know in the comments below.

     Be sure to check out my Youtube channel if you haven’t before. I post new videos every Wednesday and often an extra one at the weekend as well. I’d love it if you’d subscribe and it’s definitely where I am most active.

     I hope you are having a great week!

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Here's Lucy: The Complete Series Packaging Information

This information is referring to the Here's Lucy complete dvd box set released in 2014 by MPI home video.

Here's Lucy was an American sitcom which ran for 6 seasons between 1968 and 1974 starring Lucille Ball, her real life children: Lucie & Desi Jr, and Gale Gordon.  This was Lucy's second sitcom since I Love Lucy ended and followed The Lucy Show (also excellent).

I was a bit disappointed when I opened my box to find 3 of the dvd cases were cracked and/or broken. Although I suspect this was down to shipping issues it is still quite disappointing.  Lately I have had numerous items (dvds and books) arrive damaged. It appears that online companies have greatly reduced the protective packaging in recent years at the same time as the post office seems to be treating packages far rougher than previously.Annoying at best.

But anyways, each season of Here's Lucy is packaged in a standard size dvd case with the discs inside on flip holders rather than stacked and are easy to access.  On the back of each cover is basic episode information for that season.

The 6 seasons are housed in a cardboard box of very simple and lightweight design that is not going to take much (any) abuse.  The packaging could use a bit more work on this one and I think is only worth purchasing as a box set if you plan on buying all the seasons and is cheaper than buying the individuals when totaled together as this set offers nothing special beyond that.

I hope everyone is having a great day!

Annie x

For more of me find me on twitter @ThymeAnnie
Youtube channel: www.youtube.com/c/anniethyme

Leave it to Beaver Complete Box Set Packaging Information

Leave it to Beaver was an American family sitcom which aired for 6 seasons between 1957 and 1963. It starred Hugh Beaumont, Barbara Billingsly, Tony Dow, and Jerry Mathers as the Beaver.  Leave it to Beaver has been consistently popular in syndication since going off the air, and it could be argued that it was more popular in the years after it went off the air as it was never a top 30 show during it's original run but was popular and beloved enough in the 80's to see a revival with the original cast and picking up to see where their lives had taken them over 20 years later,

Here I am providing information for the complete box set released by Shout factory in 2010.

Each season is packaged in a standard width dvd case.  Discs are on the front and back cover and on flipper holders inside.  There is a separate booklet with the episode list and description inside each case.

 A slimline case holds the bonus features disc and a board game (on poster style paper).  These cases are all contained in a nice box of sturdy and good weight cardboard to hold the cases required for the series.

Overall the packaging and production are excellent (as you can depend on from Shout!) and it is a well loved set set that has seen much use since it's purchase in 2010 but does not show it.

I hope this was helpful and that you are having a great day!
Annie  x

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Cheers Complete Box Set Packaging Information

Cheers is an American sitcom which ran for 11 seasons in the 80's and 90's. It starred Ted Danson, Shelley Long, Kirstie Alley, John Ratzenberger, George Wendt, Rhea Perlman, Woody Harrelson, Kelsey Grammer and Nicolas Colasanto.

  In this set they have split the series 1-6 and 7-11 which are respectively housed in large plastic containers (kind of like those pencil boxes from the 90's). Inside each one is a plastic insert that is similar to a book with one disc being held on each page.  You can easily flip through the discs to find what you are looking for and no discs are stacked on top of one another.

On the inner cover of each plastic box is a list of episodes and the disc they are on. Their are no episode descriptions but I am glad they at least included the episode  titles. As it is such a successful show it will not be difficult to find more information online if that is what you prefer.

These two plastic cases come housed in an exceptionally sturdy box that even has artwork on the inside!  This is something I haven't seen on a new set in quite some time and was a small touch that I really appreciated especially as the quality of everything else was also good.

The one thing I wish were different is the writing on the  disc itself. The discs are gray and silver and it can make them very difficult to read, a small irksome matter in an otherwise exemplary set! 

From what I can see several other recent releases are also packaged like this.  It looks like Fraiser, Matlock, and McGyver (mcG definitely is as I have seen it) and I'm guessing others might be as well. But for now these are the ones I'm aware of.

Here is a video of me displaying the set 'in action' if you are interested!  

I hope you are having an enjoyable day!

See you soon,

Annie.  x

My Mother the Car Packaging Information

     

     

My Mother the Car is an American Sitcom starring Jerry Van Dyke and the voice of Ann Southern that ran for 30 episodes between September 1965 and May 1966. It is sometimes referred to as the worst show ever made, but this is wildly untrue.  Overall I think the series stands up  well and if you ask me, much better than many. (It is of course showing a 'traditional' 60s family with a fantasy element etc but their was nothing that made me cringe and want to turn the show off in what would be grossly discriminatory  behaviour or what we now would consider to be bordering on rape which unfortunately isn't uncommon to see in some older shows.)  But this is all discussion for another post!

     This set which contains all 30 episodes on 5 single sided discs is housed in a box, much like a set of greetings cards might be purchased in. Inside are two regular sized dvd cases. One holds 3 discs, the other 2. None of the discs are stacked on top of each other so they are easy to access and remove without risk of damage. (The case is made of a nice solid plastic.)  A list of episodes is available on the back of the  corresponding case

     

The overall set is slightly over-sized, for me that means it doesn't fit on my regular shelves (or would need to be laid down on its side.) But it isn't something that I have found too bothersome and I only mention it because it might be something that others would like to know before purchasing. Overall this is a well produced set and was an enjoable show to watch!

I hope you are having a great day!

Annie

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