MovieChat Forums > The Nanny (1993) Discussion > Maxwell was a little ridiculous...

Maxwell was a little ridiculous...

posted 9 years ago by just_jesss
16 replies | jump to latest

I love this show so much, it's funny, lighthearted and definitely has awesome sexy scenes between Max and Fran...With that said, watching the reruns I can't help but get irritated with Maxwell. It's been obvious since season one that he was painfully attracted to Fran...the actors had wonderful chemistry so their scenes of sexual tension were intense at times (imo), all three of his children absolutely adored her and looked at her as a Mom from episode one, she was not a gold digger (debatable to some buy I say no), they lived together, and he took a cruise simply because a psychic told her she would meet someone, he got severely jealous over all of her dates...wnd STILL took him 5 years to commit!....and his excuse was the children?

I know I know "well if they got together too soon it would've ended the show."...I just find him to be so much of an ass like when he sent her to therapy for her obsession with getting married and wanting him to commit yet he's still always leading her on and putting himself at arm's length to her, taking back the I love you even though he clearly did love her, and sending her to some middle eastern country so he can avoid talking about their relationship status, I love Maxwell don't get me wrong but I didn't like how he treated Fran in the last couple seasons before they actually got together.....STILL not as bad as waiting for Ross and Rachel though, lol.

[–] just_jesss 9 years ago

Sorry for the typos I am on my phone lol.

[–] MarblesLove 9 years ago

I totally agree. I love Maxwell and I love Fran but the way Max acted sometimes was just ridiculous. Like, you love Fran, so why not just get together?!?

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[–] just_jesss 9 years ago

Thank you! I think the main thing that bugs me is that he made her go to therapy to make her feel crazy when he was obviously every bit as crazy about her lol.

[–] andreea_raiciu 9 years ago

When i was a kid i was so mad that it took so long for them to be together.Now i think that it was really funny when Fran went on plenty of dates and how her family made fun of her for being single.But at least they got married at the end of season 5 and we still had the chance in season 6 to see them as a couple.Ross and Rachel, on the other hand, waited 10 seasons to realise that they should stay together.:)

[–] just_jesss 9 years ago

You're right it was still funny, I think it's hilarious how everyone made fun of her for being an "old maid"...don't even get me started on Ross and Rachel and ridiculousness that was their relationship until they finally decided to get together. I wish they would have been engaged for the final season and married in the final episode, or at least dating the final season and have him propose the last episode....but nooo they had to drag it out till the very last minute! OK sorry I started anyway lol.

[–] number9-4 9 years ago

They never really explored why Maxwell was so commitment-phobic with Fran, yet had been married to Sarah for God knows how long, did they? I mean, the obvious reason would be that he's a widower and therefore either feels like he's betraying his dead wife, or he's just afraid of getting hurt again; OR that Fran is so different from everyone in his posh family that he feared he'd be judged (though that's pretty much debunked in the episode where he actually proposes to Fran just to spite his judgmental mother). But it seems they never really delved into why he kept her so at arms' length, and it does, therefore, make Max seem like a bit of a weirdo.

[–] jajceboy 8 years ago

I think it was meant to be that classic "will they-won't they" scenario that many shows used as a premise back then. Like Friends. It was supposed to be drawn out, that's what the whole show was about.

That's why I thought it was a mistake to make a season where they were married. The show lost it's core during that season, there wasn't anywhere to go any-more. They should either have ended it with the wedding, or come up with something that deemed the wedding not legal. By then we could have the season focus on the relationship again.

[–] furienna 8 years ago

But they used the last season to let Fran and Maxwell have their babies and have Niles and C.C. end up together. Of course, you can still feel that the show lost its core. But it seems like the writers still had loose ends to tie up.

Intelligence and purity.

[–] eddiewinehosen 8 years ago

I don't get how she anyone could call her a gold digger. That is a term clearly reserved for a woman who only marries for money. Fran wanted a successful husband but she definitely wouldn't marry anyone she didn't love.

Just re-watching the show so my mind might be a little hazy but didn't it always feel like despite all those excuses, the attraction and how the kids loved her. What kept him back all that time was really the dual thing of not really being able to let go of his dead wife and maybe a sense of betrayal if he did. That's just IMHO though.

[–] number9-4 8 years ago

She definitely wasn't a gold-digger with Maxwell, but there are quite a few jokes about her being one with other guys (like when Aunt Frieda's ultra-rich fiance tells Fran he's in love with her and at first she says no, then grabs a bouquet and says "These will do" when he tells her how much money he has).

But there are other examples of her NOT being a gold-digger, like how she didn't want to be with Theo because he didn't value her mind, even though he was a billionaire who bought her everything under the sun. Still, even within that episode, it was only his money that convinced her to go out with him in the first place (she says no at first, then when Cathy Marie O'Malley starts detailing all of the fancy stuff Theo owns, Fran goes, "What am I, a bigot? It's not his fault he's rich!", clearly rationalizing to herself).

Personally, I think Fran wasn't a gold-digger and some of the occasional jokes suggesting she were are just inconsistent writing. It seems most likely a woman as gorgeous and outgoing as Fran would already have been married to a sugar daddy before she even met Mr. Sheffield if she wasn't holding out for true love.

[–] eddiewinehosen 8 years ago

Just re-watching the whole show and yes they used those joke but I always felt like they were very self deprecating. They were used like she had marriage Tourettes and with Sylvia as a mom who could blame her :D

[–] number9-4 8 years ago

They were used like she had marriage Tourettes and with Sylvia as a mom who could blame her :D

Ha! That's a very good way of describing it. It was like she was conditioned from Sylvia (and to some extent, her whole neighborhood in Flushing, since she frequently references how marriage-obsessed all the girls are) to try to be a gold-digger, but she still couldn't bring herself to really be one.

[–] Furienna (3320) 3 years ago

Right. She would have married Theo if she really had been a gold-digger.

[–] cafecitojst 8 years ago

Honestly I'm surprised she stayed with him and waited!

[–] Furienna (3320) 3 years ago

To be fair, it is not like Fran didn't date heaps of other men and even was briefly engaged to some of them.
She was even prepared to run off with Maxwell's brother and get married to him even though she hardly knew him.
Fran quit her nanny job too in one episode and temporarily worked at a department store instead.
So I guess that Maxwell was simply lucky that none of Fran's other relationships worked out and that she couldn't keep any other job either.

[–] leader (1689) 5 years ago

Well he had to be like that because it was great breeding ground for a lot of comedy. Like the parts where he took back saying I love you to Fran..lots of great jokes came from that.