A Masterpiece!

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I have enjoyed Nanny and the Professor since I was about eleven years old. It's a wonderful show with a touch of magic. Richard Long who played the professor was wonderful as the father of three children who tested the housekeepers before Nanny arrived. After Nanny came they loved her and she them. The show never grows old and I hope that someday that it will be issued out on DVD for a new generation to enjoy. Richard Long was known to many as the oldest son on The Big Valley, a western starring Barbara Stanwyck. He began his career as the young son of Claudette Colbert and Orson Wells in Tomorrow is Forever. I will enjoy the show as long as I can because in my mind it never ages. It is truly a classic.

This show was a mid-season replacement in January of 1970 (15 episodes), picked up in the fall of 1970 for a complete run thru March 1971 (24 episodes) and picked up again in the fall of 1971 where it ran until December (15 episodes). During those three seasons ABC had another wholesome entry in the magic sitcom genre (that already included Bewitched and The Flying Nun) this time inspired by the success of Mary Poppins whereas we find a magical nanny (think ESP to the max power) who comes to help a widower raise his children. Whereas shows like Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie frequently played on the romantic relationship or sexual tension between the two leads (there was even some sexual tension between The Flying Nun's novice nun Sister Bertrille and playboy Carlos Ramirez!), Nanny and the Professor had virtually no character development and the plots began to repeat themselves. Wheras Mary Poppins had a mother in the household the TV show wisely dealt with a father only. While this left the door open for romantic involvement and possible marriage (think Eight Is Enough), this simply was not to be.Charming as the characters were, they just didn't grow as a family. Bewitched kept interest over the years first by watching the newlywed couple cope with their differences, having their first child, and eventually raising two children.. I Dream of Jeannie moved from sexual tension to engagement to marriage. The big dilemma that was built into Nanny was that the show had two young attractive adults living together under the same roof with young impressionable children. Any sign of sexual tension would have been taboo in 1970 (Jeannie at least lived in a bottle) so they kept the character of Phoebe "Nanny" Figalilly uninterested in Professor Harold Everett and kept a goofy look on the Professor as he got ready with dates uninvolved with the show or his character. The show eventually played to its only audience that could care less in the social aspects of the plot, young children, when it finished off it's run as a Saturday morning TV cartoon in 1972 (original cast members providing the voices). When shows got canceled in those days that's where they went, funny as it may seem now. From Gilligan's Island to Welcome Back Kotter from Happy Days to Punky Brewster and even TV favorites Mr. T and Gary Coleman animation was the ghostly graveyard of sitcoms. ESP Note: Juliet Mills wasn't the only actress from this show to play a role where the character has ESP. Six-year-old Kim Richards who played the young Prudence Everett had a long run in television as a child actress but is best known as Tia, the girl with ESP, in Disney's Escape to Witch Mountain (1975) and Return to Witch Mountain (1978). She also played a young woman with ESP in her self-produced film Escape (1990).

I liked this show as a variation of the popular "magic" sitcoms. Nanny never performed outlandish or obvious feats of prestidigitation, but it was obvious that paranormal things happened around her. The most common was Nanny saying "I'll get it," BEFORE the telephone or doorbell rang. In fact, it was never completely clear to the family that she had any powers, a la Gladys Kravitz on "Bewitched," for lack of a better comparison. As the theme song goes "Since the day that Nanny came to stay with us, fantastic things have been happening. Is there really magic in the things she does, or is love the only magic thing that Nanny brings?"Once it was hinted that although she appeared to be a young woman (20s to 30s) she may have been hundreds of years old. However, this as most things about her background, were never resolved. This was a clear ripoff from the first season of Bewitched. The show had a cute simple animated opening and memorable theme song, as was de rigeur for the decade's magic sitcoms, and of course the 1990s unrelated Fran Drescher vehicle "The Nanny."I also loved the family's big shaggy dog. I haven't seen this since the reruns in the late 1970s, except for the premiere which was shown once on TV Land around 2000, so I won't comment on the overall writing and production quality. I just remember enjoying it as a kid, and was upset that it was only rerun for a short time.

I had almost forgotten about this show from my early teen years, until i downloaded the TV theme off the net... and I was transported back immediately. Another fine ABC show that I recall, from approx the same era, was called the Smith Family (NOT Family, with Kristy McNichol), starring Henry Fonda... Seems like ABC had a good run of luck with many good shows during that era.