Fran Drescher has a polarizing nasal voice: you are either a fan or hate it. She stars as Fran Fine, who becomes a nanny with no experience to Maxwell Sheffield's three kids. Everybody loves Andrew Lloyd Webber, except for his rival producer who lives in Andrew's shadow Maxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy). Daniel Davis is the butler Niles who is constantly eavesdropping. Niles also likes insulting Max's publicist C.C. Babcock (Lauren Lane). Max's three kids are Maggie (Nicholle Tom), Brighton (Benjamin Salisbury), and adorable Grace (Madeline Zima). Fran's relatives are often around: her mother Sylvia (Renee Taylor) and Grandma Yetta (Ann Morgan Guilbert). Fran's best friend is Val Toriello, played by Rachel Chagall. The Nanny aired six seasons on CBS from 1993-1999.

Cheers won many Emmys, and its series finale with over 80 million viewers was second only to M*A*S*H all time for scripted shows. It launched two spin-offs: The Tortellis which was a flop, and Frasier which tied its parent show's 11 seasons. Cheers aired from 1982-1993 on NBC, it anchored their Thursday night comedy block helping launch shows like Night Court and Seinfeld. Set in a bar starring Ted Danson as former baseball player Sam Malone. Shelley Long was the female lead snooty Diane Chambers for the first five seasons. Starting in season 6 Kirstie Alley replaced her as Rebecca Howe. Rhea Perlman played Sam's hot headed bartender Carla Tortelli. George Wendt played alcoholic Norm Peterson and John Ratzenberger played his best friend know-it-all Cliff Clavin. Kelsey Grammer was brought in for a 6 episode arc at the start of season 3 playing Dr. Frasier Crane. That arc quickly turned into a series regular role for the rest of Cheers, then his own Frasier spin-off. Kelsey holds a record for 20 years playing the same character, also for being Emmy nominated as the same character on three different shows (Wings from the same producers was the third show). Later on Bebe Neuwirth was added to the Cheers cast playing his wife Dr. Lilith Sternin-Crane. For the first three seasons Nicholas Colasanto played Coach Ernie Pantuzo, who followed Sam from baseball to the bar. Nicholas died irl, so Coach was killed off as well. Woody Harrelson replaced him at the start of season 4 as Woody Boyd, a young bartender from my home state of Indiana.

Cheers in a squash match. Cheers was great, The Nanny was finger nails on the chalkboard bad.

The Nanny was great (very funny), but Cheers was the better show, and this is easily proved: nearly every line on The Nanny was designed as a set-up for a wisecrack from Fran (or her mother or grandmother), the only exceptions being the back-and-forth banter between Niles and CC. The Sheffield family members were almost entirely "straight men". Not so with Cheers, where the humor could come from nearly every member of the ensemble.

Cheers

Cheers defeats The Nanny 13-4 and will advance to the 2nd round.