Fran Drescher on being a showrunner for the American sitcom | American Masters | PBS

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On November 18, 1999, Fran Drescher sat down with director Pamela Mason Wagner to discuss how she consulted Lucille Ball’s playbook for showrunner-stars in the American sitcom while creating "The Nanny." Interview conducted for "Lucille Ball: Finding Lucy."

Chapters:

00:00 Finding inspiration through the success of Desilu productions
01:43 Constructing the “The Nanny” as platform to reach a wider American audience
03:09 Reversing the “Clown and Straight Man” dynamic in a traditional sitcom
05:52 Translating the archetypal 1950s domestic relationship for a modern audience
08:57 Lucy and Fran Fine using subversion to assert agency in their domestic partnerships
13:34 On grounding their characters’ flaws in their humanity and compassionate lightheartedness
18:08 The importance of incorporating glamour into domesticity
19:34 Placing a priority on the conflicts and contradictions and heart inherent to being human

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Now in its 37th season on PBS, American Masters illuminates the lives and creative journeys of those who have left an indelible impression on our cultural landscape—through compelling, unvarnished stories. Setting the standard for documentary film profiles, the series has earned widespread critical acclaim: 28 Emmy Awards—including 10 for Outstanding Non-Fiction Series and five for Outstanding Non-Fiction Special—two News & Documentary Emmys, 14 Peabodys, three Grammys, two Producers Guild Awards, an Oscar, and many other honors. To further explore the lives and works of more than 250 masters past and present, the American Masters website offers full episodes, film outtakes, filmmaker interviews, the podcast “American Masters: Creative Spark,” educational resources, digital original series and more. The series is a production of The WNET Group.