Words Seem Out Of Place

I’ve always thought Fran Drescher was the bee’s knees. That voice . Love it. Love her. She’s a true survivor—of Hollywood, rape, cancer, and more. She’s been memorably great in so many movies that left an impression on me growing up, like Cadillac Man, or Saturday Night Fever, or The Hollywood Knights . Plus, there’s The Nanny . Winter, 1995 was close to the nadir of late-teen angst for me. That would all change for the better , that spring, but those dark, gloomy Northeastern winter days were a struggle. Roommate from hell had succeeded in forcing my escape down the hall and into a single room, and for that I actually owe the SOB a small amount of gratitude. But not much. Dude had a Brett Kavanaugh-esque entitled white man’s rage about him, barely concealed under a similarly arrogant scowl. Even after I wriggled out from under that stress, I was still miserable. It's obvious to me now that I was, at the very least, mildly depressed. I didn’t talk to many ...

This series looks back at the 1990s and its influence on the generation of people who came of age during the decade. For six seasons in the 1990s, The Nanny made many of us laugh. At times, it could be downright hilarious . At others, well, not so much . This isn't a review of a '90s sitcom staple, though. No. This is simply an excuse to come clean about something I've kept buried deep inside for over two decades now: I had a secret crush on The Nanny herself, Fran Drescher. The unadulterated nineties-ness of this is practically blinding. And I love it. While The Nanny was sometimes quite funny, thanks largely to Drescher's spunky charisma and wholehearted commitment, the show was never considered hip. People my parents age seemed to love it, but my friends preferred, well, Friends . That smile! Those legs! That dress! It's all overloading my circuits. I watched Friends with my friends, but I also thoroughly enjoyed The Nanny , to...