TV’s original “Supernanny” is back — and this time she’s throwing a lifeline to the entire family.
In “Family SOS With Jo Frost,” premiering next month on TLC, Frost, back on TV after a two-year absence, will not only be dealing with unruly kids as she did on “Supernanny.”
“The difference in the format of this show is that I’ll be helping the whole family,” says Frost, on the phone during a break in shooting “Family SOS.”
“ ‘Supernanny’ was a format that was geared toward parents who had troublesome kids and didn’t know how to cope with their behavior,” she says. “For me, it was very important to create a new format that also follows the adults — aunties, grandparents — who have relationships with each other in the family.
“This is not just about [disciplining] young children who have unruly behavior,” she says. “What I do here encompasses the whole family unit.”
And, this time around, Frost will, at times, be helping families in topical situations — including same-sex marriages and military families dealing with a parent back from overseas duty.
“I’m a firm believer that sexuality does not define a family and we could absolutely be looking at a same-sex situation and raising [their] children,” Frost says. “We’ll also be looking at situations where parents have come home after being deployed and how they reconnect as a family — relationships with family members after having gone through post-traumatic stress disorder from war, and how a mom or dad reconnects with their kids after being away.”
Frost, 41, was dubbed “The Kid Whisperer” during her run on ABC’s trailblazing “Supernanny,” which aired for eight seasons starting in 2004. She left the show in 2010 under murky circumstances, with producers claiming she wanted to marry and start a family — and Frost reportedly calling that a “Disneyfication” of the real story.
With the passage of time, she’s softened her stance on what really happened. (Frost’s last “Supernanny” episode aired in March 2011.)
“I made a decision to move on at the end of my contract and knew . . . it was time for me to be able to evolve and create this new format,” she says. “I couldn’t control what people put out there in the press . . . and it wasn’t the truth.” After leaving ABC, the British-born Frost didn’t marry or have kids, but she did move to the US — buying a house in California — and found an American boyfriend (who’s also in the TV business).
“I found love, and I’m in a relationship,” she says. “He’s a great man and is incredibly supportive, and we have fun together. I was literally living out of a suitcase [during ‘Supernanny’] — it’s nice to be able to come back home, put the kettle on, make a cup of tea and sleep in my own bed.”
“Family SOS With Jo Frost” premieres Tuesday, May 28.