Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 5, 1993 TAG: 9311060192
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SCOTT WILLIAMS ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
So why is her character also named Fran? So why are they both from Flushing? ``You've got to write about what you know,'' said Drescher, who's
one of the show's writers, co-creators and co-producers, and whose Flushing accent rises and falls with the conversational tides. ``That's why it rings so true.''
In ``The Nanny'' (Wednesdays at 8:30 p.m. on WDBJ-Channel 7), she'll emerge as the heartbeat of the household of suave widower Maxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy), a theatrical producer, and his three kids (Nicholle Tom, Benjamin Salisbury and Madeline Zima).
Fran will be the crony of the arch, sarcastic butler Niles (Daniel Davis) and a thorn in the side of Lauren (C.C. Babcock), Max's icy blonde colleague. In this world, however, everybody listens to Fran. Sometimes unwillingly.
Drescher, lapsing into an accent thick enough to spread on pizza, demonstrated with a bit of shtick she did about the Pilgrims:
``I don't know how they came off wearing a big hat, a big collar and a big buckle,'' she said. ``Very few people look good in that.
``And how did they know what to pack?
``It's a New World. Is it hot? Is it cold? Is it rainy? There are no brochures!'' Drescher acknowledges that playing a nice Jewish girl straight out of Flushing is not such a great stretch for her as an actress.
``I should say I'm more sophisticated than Fran Fine, the character I play, but there's still a lot of Fran Fine in me,'' she said.
``It's the people I grew up with, my family, the world I lived in when I was still in high school, living at home in Flushing,'' she said.
``I try to project myself back and remember what it was like, just to keep tapping into that reality and that view of things, so I can really successfully contrast with these people and be a fish out of water.
``Or, as we like to say, a gefilte fish out of water.''
New Yorkers will appreciate that Fran's accent is not the butt of humor. ``We're not doing an ethnic stereotype,'' Drescher said. Fran is a very down-to-earth, uncomplicated woman, she said. ``But within that simplicity, she harbors a great capacity for love, and an earthy quality that brings an element of warmth into this household.
``You just know this family needed her, and she's going to help them to find each other again,'' Drescher said.
Don't look for the relationship between Fran and the widower to heat up anytime soon, Drescher warned.
``They're worlds a part for many different reasons. We're going to very gradually travel through all those worlds before we could even consider it,'' she said. ``I don't think my character even thinks it's a possibility.
Drescher got her first series last season in CBS' short-lived ``Princesses,'' where she played a smart, saucy Jewish-American princess from Long Island opposite Julie Haggerty and Twiggy.
``Princesses'' flopped after a rift emerged between Haggerty and the producers. But Drescher was determined to try it again. This time, however, she would have a producer title and be more involved in the creative choices.
That control made the work of preparing the pilot and initial episodes somewhat easier. She also credits Peter Marc Jacobson, one of three co-executive producers, with helping the creative direction.
Jacobson, in addition to his producer credit, is the series' co-creator, one of its writers, Drescher's acting partner since the 10th grade and - awwww, somebody told you - her
Elsewhere in television
A Time of AIDS: The 12-year history of the AIDS epidemic is the subject of the Discovery Channel's four-part documentary miniseries, ``A Time of AIDS,'' airing Nov. 14-15 from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m., Eastern and Pacific time.
It makes a fascinating companion piece to HBO's drama, ``And the Band Played On,'' because it features interviews with some of the actual people depicted in the cable movie.
by CNB