This is the week television’s “Supernanny” puts her behavioral stamp on South Whidbey.
The episode in which Britisher Jo Frost meets and works with a young Clinton family with three rambunctious young boys will air Friday, Dec. 3 at 8 p.m. on ABC TV, local Channel 4.
The episode, teased only as involving “the Young family” on “a remote island near Seattle” was promoted at the end of the last episode aired this month. The upcoming episode was filmed here during the first week in February.
“Supernanny” works with families to help modify disruptive behavior involving children. Families are chosen based on videos submitted to producers.
On the show, Frost arrives in a black London taxi and, using common-sense techniques, works with the children and their parents to correct behavior detrimental to family life. Most episodes depict outstanding results.
According to TV Guide, Frost helps the couple who have trouble sticking with a consistent disciplinary plan for their three boys since they relocate often, including four moves this year and another looming, due to the father’s job in sales.
The website TVLinks identifies the family at Rikki and Jenye Young, and their children Nicco, 6, Makai, 4 and Crew, 21 months. The family has since moved from the island.
TVLinks says that at the time of the filming, the children are out of control, and the parents “are at their wits’ end.”
“The boys run wild in and out of the house, and sometimes their safety seems in jeopardy,” the website says. “Rikki can’t sleep because little Crew consistently wants in his parents’ bed. And when Dad occasionally tries to inject some discipline into the boys’ lives, the result is explosive tantrums.
“Mom’s first instinct is to comfort her children, not to stand firm with her husband…. Rikki and Jenye increasingly worry about the long-term effects of the family frenzy on their sons’ lives,” TVLinks says. “Can Jo provide some much-needed lessons about structure and stability?”
During filming of the episode, the 20-member cast and crew of the show were catered by Maurlee’s Take-Out & Catering in Langley, which provided one meal a day. Co-owner Maureen Cooke said meals included lasagna, chicken, homemade meatloaf, roast turkey, roast-beef sandwiches and chicken piccata.
Cooke said she was precluded by her contract from identifying the family, but did reveal that they no longer live on Whidbey.
She said that during the filming, the family’s house had been for sale. In fact, there was a tentative contract on it at the time, and the prospective buyers had difficulty getting in to inspect the house, Cooke said.
“But everything turned out,” she said. “The house finally sold, and the family has moved off-island.”
She said that when word got out in February about the filming, people would follow her catering van to try to find the location. Sometimes, they followed her home.
“There was a lot of traffic around my house,” she said.
Cooke said the film company’s production manager would call in the morning with the day’s order, and with the time it was to be delivered, which varied depending on the day’s shooting schedule.
In all, the whole thing was a hoot, she said.
“It’s very exciting to be showcasing the island,” Cooke said of the episode. “I don’t know if we’ll appear in the credits, but it was a fantastic gig to have. We still get lots of comments.”
Asked if she thinks the Supernanny was successful in taming the behavior of the children in the family, Cooke said: “I’m not privy to that information. I guess we’ll have to watch the episode to see.”
“It was all great fun,” she added.
