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ABC and Ricochet productions, the company that produces the TV reality series "Supernanny," bill Jo Frost as a "modern-day Mary Poppins," and they're not far off. Frost doesn't sing in the show, but she does exercise a kind of magic as each week she enters the life of a frustrated family rife with naughtiness, puts an enchanted finger on the problem, then bucks up the parents with no-nonsense advice about creating loving new boundaries for their kids.
Frost and her production crew were in Evansville this month to film a segment about a "young family with three children, including twins," said Frost, who (after politely offering her interviewer a cup of tea in her production trailer between takes) added that she couldn't give particulars about the locals, or exactly why Supernanny was called in to save the day.
"Like a lot of relatable families, they need structure and consistency so that they can work together and resolve the issues that are breaking down the family dynamic," she said. "At first I found it extremely tough, and they plowed on through. It was tough for them to hear the truth, but they both really want the change, so I'm halfway there."
Single and 38, Frost -- who does not have children of her own -- got her start babysitting as a teen and became a professional nanny after college.
In Britain in 2004, she wowed producers of a new TV concept and was crowned TV's Supernanny; by the following year the show expanded to the U.S. She also has written three books on parenting.
Frost and her crew don't consider their trans-Atlantic project entertainment; they consider it a mission.
"This is the realest' reality show there is," said on-site producer Tommy Corriale, watching as three cameramen filmed Frost's taxi arrival at the Evansville home on a rainy morning. "We don't script it. The teaching is all hers. It's totally documentary-style. It's really cool."
Initially, said Frost, the reality-TV label "made a lot of Americans really quite skeptical."
Over time, "the audience has been able to judge for themselves and recognize the good work that's being done. I think after four years of doing this show, people really have had the opportunity to see for themselves the work we do out here.
"I'm in the house with the family, but obviously it's a big production that supports the work that I do," she added. "Families have come forth now in recognizing this is what I do, and it's OK for them to actually call and say, yes, we could do with some help as well."
Families can apply to be on the show via a questionnaire on the ABC Web site, with questions like "Do your children exhibit extreme physical behavior (i.e. hitting, scratching, spitting)? Do they engage in behavior that destroys the house/toys/car, etc.?"
The hour-long "Supernanny" airs at 8 p.m. Fridays. The episode featuring the Evansville family will air sometime before next May, the network said, but no date has been set.
Shows already in the can this season address a host of new real-life issues for "Supernanny": out-of-control teens, hearing children who are being raised by a deaf couple, parents on the verge of divorce.
And infants. "A lot of people don't know that I started looking after babies as a nanny," said Frost. "So there's plenty of babies on this season."
In both British and American families (they're not that different, said Frost, "although American reporters would love me to say they are"), the most common problems are a "breakdown in communication; lack of consistency, so there's no follow-through; lack of structure; (and) events that may not have been foreseen, and the impact of that can be very overwhelming.
"Certainly on a whole, society's evolving and changing, and I've certainly recognized in America there's a lot of uncertainty of how families survive and keep their head above water," she said. "I feel that outside influence as well as inside influence.
"As parents we've got to do as much as we possibly can in the home, and we hope that our governments support us in being able to give us the aid we need as well."
Occasionally, Frost has referred her TV families for therapy, "because the reality is I'm only working with a family for a certain amount of time," she said. "So if I think they need more support beyond myself after I've finished the fundamentals, that is something that Ricochet offers to the family."
Though in real life she lets her hair down and dispenses with the eyeglasses, people still recognize Frost in public.
"Some days I have quiet days and some days they're not so quiet. Everybody's very receptive and supportive, and very lovely actually, everybody across the board. They come over and give you a hug, or say you've made a difference here and there. It's nice to get that positive feedback. Everybody's got a story."
