Submission reel
[some footage of the highlights of Tallahassee, Florida and its attractions: the Florida State Capitol, recreational signs in honor of the city, another view of the Capitol with the US flag hanging vertically, a local farmers' market selling fresh produce and also firewood, and an area of a recreational park in the capital city with a couple people walking by]
[cut to the shiny black "Supernanny" car as it travels through the neighborhoods in Tallahassee, Jo Frost in her signature nanny attire, complete with glasses and her hair tied in a bun, riding in the backseat has her portable clamshell DVD player handy] Jo: "I'm in the Sunshine State, Tallahassee, Florida. Let's take a look at the family that needs my help this week."
[Jo plays the DVD and on the screen appears a beautiful woman with long orangish-brown hair, sitting in the living room on the sofa, the dining room in the background. Initially, the woman appears to be smiling as she introduces herself.]
Blythe: "Hi, I'm Blythe Newsome, and I'm a single mom for six kids. Loughlin is 13."
[footage of a brunette haired teenage girl in the kitchen looking in the fridge for something to eat] [footage of Loughlin sitting on her bed in a rather messy bedroom with her laptop handy as she confronts her younger sister Moira for touching her belongings without her permission]
Loughlin: "Moira, stop messing it up or you'll break it."
Blythe: "Aidan is 12."
[footage of a redheaded tween girl riding on the swing while she eats her ice cream in a cone, half-way done until she's ready to take a bite into the cone]
Blythe: "Aidan, go in your room."
[footage of Aidan in her bedroom being confronted by her mom to stay in there, then picks up a hairbrush and hisses at her mom, and it appears Aidan wants to whack her mom in retaliation for discipline. The mom on the other hand has an electric toothbrush in her hand as she closes the door, and Loughlin in the backtround is sitting at the computer as if she's babysat by it.]
[footage of Daly laughing hysterically and rubbing his hands like a maniac]
Blythe: "Daly is 9."
[footage of Daily stepping back into the walk-in closet to defy his mom's orders]
Blythe: "Just walk down the stairs."
[ignorant, Daly then slams the door on his mom and laughs compulsively over his mom's demands. Blythe grabs onto the doorknob, only for Daly to keep a full grip of the door and bar his mom from yanking him out of his "hiding place" in an attempt to try avoiding her]
Blythe: "Daly!"
[Blythe then pushes open the door in retaliation to "banning" her]
Blythe: "Moira is 8."
[footage of a younger redheaded tween girl who resembles Moira by appearance, and eating RITZ-brand crackers and is chomping on them instead of chewing with her lips closed and places a pair of them over her eyes like they're lenses]
Moira: [in protest] "Ahh, I'm swinging!"
[Blythe has her hand gripping one of the ropes to stop her daughter like she's had enough freetime, but Moira protests and insists she's not done]
Blythe: "Elspeth is 5."
[footage of Blythe restraining an angry young brunette-haired girl, the little girl's audio is barely heard and interrupted by Blythe's narrating but it sounds like the little girl is threating her mom. Then in the next shot, the young girl Elspeth yells into the camera, her obnoxious attitude and behavior getting the better of herself.]
Blythe: "And Finn is 3."
[footage of Blythe in the kitchen carrying a dishwater blond-haired toddler boy in the kitchen as her youngest child opens the microwave door and attempts to get inside but Blythe yanks him down and begins to close the microwave door. In the next clip, Finn attempts to open the fridge doors but his mom blocks the doors to prevent him from doing so and then cries over being denied access.]
[footage of Finn in the living room littered with cards and throwing some cards at the camera while in a fit of rage]
[Jo looks at the camera with a vexed expression about what she saw in the Submission Reel]
[footage of Elspeth and Finn in the living room playing tug-of-war over a pair of winter goggles whilst squealing. Daly who is also in the living room barely intervenes on the altercation in an attempt to separate his two youngest siblings from nearly breaking it. As Daly loses his grip from an attempt to break Finn from his grasp, Elspeth reaches further to try strengthening control of the goggles in a further attempt to outwit Finn.]
Blythe: [she loses her blitheness hence her name and her expression becomes progressively gloomy as she continues to speak] "In the last 18 months, my husband and I...we've been married almost 13 years. We got divorced. Because of the divorce, we sold the house."
[photograph of Blythe and her kids circa two summers previously during their "happy days" enjoying themelves, smiling, kids lying belly-first all on the hammock, and Blythe is proudly looking at them. The photograph appears to be taken in the backyard of the former house. The other people in the background appear to be the Newsome family's neighbors then or some friends of the kids.]
[footage of Blythe driving her family SUV]
Blythe: "The neighborhood we lived in, it was so great."
[Blythe thinks about her family's larger former house that has red brick-and-mortal wall siding surrounding the base exterior, white clapboard siding at the rafter areas, white faux window shutters and other details with white as the secondary color, a veranda on the front, and a hedge adorning the entire veranda and trees and bushes and other plants adorning the property]
Blythe: "We lived four houses away from my mom and dad. [her voice gradually starts breaking] The kids could walk down to their grandparents'. It was big, it was spacious, they had their rooms, they had a playroom."
[footage inside Blythe's SUV where the kids say they're on the same page over the move]
Moira: "Why did we even move from that house? That house was perfect."
[the camera then pans to Blythe, the driver]
Blythe: [under her breath] "Okay..." [she rubs her open hand against her face, giving in to her kids whom were unhappy to move out of there]
Blythe: [morosely] "I want my house back!" [sobs and wipes the tears]
Jo: [annoyed by Blythe's homesickness and voicing her honest opinion about Blythe] "My word. I'll tell you. This lady needs to concentrate on the present, not live in the past."
[photographs with the now-deceased Nana, including with Blythe and her kids]
Blythe: "Nana was part of our life, forever. She was my nanny growing up, and the nanny for my children. She was with my family for 30 years. About ten months ago, Nana found a lump in her breast."
[Jo shows an expression that she's aware how Blythe feels over a loved one suffering, then moves her finger off of her forehead]
[footage of Finn in a mourning pose]
Blythe: "It was breast cancer. Nana passed away."
[Jo shakes her head in disbelief]
[footage of Blythe mourning over her loss of Nana at the stairs and then walks off]
Jo: [following up with her comments on Blythe and her life] "You know, this is so sad. This woman has so much to deal with. And it's destroying her and her kids."
[footage of Moira and Finn playing with toys and feeling regretful and resentful in the living room of their present house, Elspeth is seen from the legs lying on her back]
Blythe: "The home we're in now is very small."
[footage of Louglin and Aidan's bedroom being cramped and with a bit of clutter, and the two girls joking with each other]
Blythe: "Children are in rooms 2 x 2's. [gesturing the living room] This is actually my room."
[footage of Blythe lying on the couch in the living room with only a pillow and a queen size comforter, and struggling to sleep]
Blythe: "I get...maybe four hours of broken sleep a night."
[footage of Blythe tossing and turning on the couch as a consequence for insomnia]
Blythe: "That really takes its toll."
Jo: [stating her opinion about where Blythe should sleep] "Why are you even on the couch? She seriously must need sleep."
[footage of Elspeth belching after drinking a bottle of water and then laughing at her own satisfaction for her lack of friendly manners]
Blythe: "There's no discipline in the house."
[footage of Blythe in the living room and a few girls as she attempts to discipline]
Blythe: [to Moira and pointing to the couch] "I need you to sit down for a minute. Calm down."
Moira: "No! No! NOO!" [gestures to her mother that she doesn't want to sit down]
Blythe: "No......"
[footage of Blythe trying to enter one of her kids' bedrooms, only for the door to be slammed in her face]
Blythe: "There's no order."
[footage of Finn placing a couple of strawberries in front of his eyes making a weird face)
[footage of Elspeth growling straight into the camera with a menacing expression]
[footage of Finn and Elspeth wrestling each other and screaming]
Blythe: "It's just pure chaos."
[footage of Blythe and her son Finn in the kitchen]
Finn: "I want a slice of butter!"
[footage of Blythe and her kids in the cramped dining room adjacent to the kitchen, Elspeth plays with her dinner tray like it's a toy and Finn is playing with a firelighter as Blythe intervenes and grabs the latter in time to prevent the fire hazard, while Aidan's focus goes on Elspeth's disturbance and the other kids worry for their safety]
[footage of Elspeth and Finn at the fridge, Elspeth sneaks inside while Finn smashes some type of pastry on the door]
[footage of Blythe sitting on the kitchen floor cleaning up crumbs, sandals off of her feet, and then attempting to hold back tears]
Blythe: "Supernanny, I need you to help us...be a family again."
Jo: [immediately closes the DVD player hatch before implying if Blythe will continue breaking down in tears, the nanny then turns her attention to the camera and speaks out an ultimatum for Blythe and the kids] "You know, this mum needs my help desperately. But more than anything, these six kids need my help, too. [nods slightly] I'm on my way."
Observation Begins
Jo: "I was only there about twenty minutes when I started to see exactly how chaotic this house was."
[Finn thows blocks as Moira and Elspeth run through the house]
Jo: "Daly started to run for cover and he hid himself in the closet."
Blythe: "Daly, Daly."
[No response]
Blythe:"The doorknobs are coming off."
Jo: "And it drove Elspeth nuts."
[Elspeth attacks the door with a hairbrush.]
Daly: "You can't get me!
Blythe: "No, Ellie, no!"
Elspeth: "Open the door."
Blythe: "Is Finn in there?"
Aidan: "Yes."
Blythe: "Don't do that, you will hurt yourself."
Dinner
[Elspeth pulls Moira's shirt] Blythe: "Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Stop. you sit right here Elspeth."
Elspeth: "NO!"
[Elspeth pulls Moira's hair]
Moira: "MOM!"
Blythe: "That is enough."
Elspeth: "I'm not sitting there."
Blythe: "Okay, then you can sit-"
Elspeth: "NO!"
Blythe: "Uhm...eh...she's there."
Elspeth: "No I want to sit there!
Jo: "Well mom just gave in the Elspeth's temper tantrum and Moira had to move."
[Elspeth is now seated and being served spaghetti]
Elspeth: "Now give me some. I want the meatballs."
Blythe: "I know."
Aidan: (Talking with her mouth full)
Aidan: "Can I have more pasta?"
Loughlin: (Talking with her mouth full)
Loughlin: "This pasta is so sticky."
Daly: "Ew, mine's cold."
Blythe: "Who wants sauce?"
Blythe: "Yes sir can"
Blythe: " I am getting drinks right now."
Jo: "Now I've seen people speak to waitresses better than what these kids were speaking to their mom. Give me this, Bring me that. I mean where are the kids' manners?"
Parents Meeting
Blythe: "There's so much that I'm doing all the time that I can't...I can't do it all, I can't follow through."
Jo: "Why is Finn still having bottles like a three week old baby?"
Blythe: "Cause it's easier than hearing him scream. And it's just one battle that I don't have to face."
Jo: "But from where I stand you're not prepared to face any battle. Let's talk about house here. House space, okay? You lived in this big house that you loved and over the years you build up memories in that home. And now you're in this home that not ideal for you cause you have been used to things a certain way. You're sleeping on the couch, not getting a good nights sleep which is crazy to me because you've lost all pride and self respect."
Blythe: "Yes. Oh yes."
Jo: "Seriously. Why won't you clean your home?"
Blythe: "I'm vaccuming a couple times a day."
Jo: "There's no way."
Blythe: "It's the-the, we couldn't find- we couldn't find the vaccum cleaner for three days."
Jo: "Oh no, please."
Blythe: "That's not fair."
Jo: "What is the point in me being here right now? You tell me. What's the point in me being here right now Blythe?"
Blythe: "I don't know."
Jo: "Tell me why you asked for my help. Because right now, I need a woman opposite me. I need a woman, okay?"
Blythe: "??????"
Jo: "And a mother."
Blythe: "???? Nana??"
Jo: "Blythe, let me tell you something."
[Blythe gets up to leave]
Jo: "No, sit back down, I'm talking to you. Blythe, sit down please."
Blythe: "It is 1.15. My children need to be picked up."
Jo: "She just got up and walked out of her own home. Made me realize just how difficult it is for her to even listen and here what I've got to say."
Getting rid of Finn's bottle
Finn [crying]: "I want my baba."
Blythe: "Finn started crying. Saying that he wanted a bottle."
Jo: "There was gonna be no great time to get rid of the bottle.
Blythe: "Finny, we're gonna throw our baba's away and drink out of a big boy cup. Okay?"
Finn: "NO! NO! NO! NO!"
Blythe: "Finn went into this whole, huge fit. And then that let to a total meltdown. I thought I'm ruining his life."
(Finn continues to cry)