Supernanny is an American reality television program about parents struggling with aspects of raising their children. The show, featuring professional nannyJo Frost, is an adaptation of the British series of the same name. Frost devotes each episode to helping a family where the parents are struggling with their child-rearing. Through instruction and observation, she shows the parents alternative ways to discipline their children and regain order in their households. Frost is a proponent of the "naughty chair" theory of discipline and is strictly opposed to smacking. It aired on ABC from January 17, 2005 to March 18, 2011. A spin-off of the show was produced and was titled America's Supernanny. On March 27, 2019, it was announced that Supernanny would return for a 20-episode season that premiered on January 1, 2020 on Lifetime with Frost as host again.
Format
The show begins with a short introductory clip of highlights from the episode; after the title segment, Frost is featured riding in a London TXII with the vanity plate "SPRNANNY", where she shows a DVD player with the family's submission video. The submission video introduces the parent, children, with their ages, and in some cases other important family members, single parents, as well as the parents' occupations and the specific issues the family is facing including clips, concluded by a final call for help alongside a reassuring statement from Frost telling the family she's "on her way!" Frost spends the first day in observation mode, taking mental notes to assess the situation and to devise a plan of action. If a situation is especially serious, she will point out the matter for immediate action. After the first day, she holds the parents' meeting, where she praises the family for their beautiful children and then mentions the problems noted. Frost then returns with tools designed to assist the parents in child-rearing. For example, if she determines that the children are misbehaving due to a lack of scheduled activity time with the parents, she will bring in a set schedule, customized for the family's needs. She frequently devises "house rules" for the family. Sometimes the rules are predetermined by Frost, and other times she provides a blank paper and has the family devise them. Frequent issues on the show involve discipline and sleep separation. After a time, Frost leave the houses to allow the family to implement her actions on their own. The parents' actions are still being filmed, and upon her return Frost calls another parents' meeting to praise them for doing well and/or show them where they went wrong. She then provides reinforcement as needed. The ending shows the family saying goodbye to Frost. Later episodes feature the family at a later time showing how well her techniques have worked, along with a teaser segment for the next week's episode. Frost has called in outside assistance on more than one occasion:
One family was dealing with an autistic son; Frost called in a clinical professor with expertise in autism to assist the family in communicating with their son.
Another family had a son showing signs of disrespect and future juvenile delinquency; Frost called in Chicago native and NBA superstar Dwyane Wade to speak with him.
A third family had the father exhibiting classic signs of abuse ; Frost called in a social worker with expertise in abusive behavior, as well as a woman who was abused by her father and, as a result, made poor decisions in relationships.
In another case, the father was an alcoholic, and Frost located a nearby Alcoholics Anonymous support group for him to attend.
One family had deaf parents who were being taken advantage of by the younger children, who were not deaf; Frost called in an interpreter to help with communication.
One family was dealing with a son who has type 1 diabetes, so Frost compiled a chart of celebrities living with diabetes and called upon a professional snowboarder who is diabetic and runs snowboard camps for children who are diabetic.
One family was dealing with a daughter who had Down syndrome; Frost called in the professor from the segment with the autistic boy to help the girl and enlist the family in speech therapy.
During the latest series Jo took the mother to review her medication with a doctor to support her anxiety.
Home media
A DVD release of Supernanny was released in Region 1 in the USA on 16 May 2006.
