The Miller Family

The Miller Family is the eighth episode of Season 7 of the American Supernanny show.

Episode summary[]

Jo visits the Miller family in Phoenix, Arizona, where Meshell (41) and David (40) have six wild kids: 13-year-old Kesley, 12-year-old Kendall, 10-year-old Meryn, 7-year-old Landon, 5-year-old Ainsley, and 3-year-old Avarie.

Meshell didn't have a lot of stuff, so she decided to spoil the kids by giving them stuff that she didn't have as a child. This results in the children acting out.

Only son Landon is the ringleader of the Miller gang. He talks back, aggravate his sisters, refuses to do chores or, listen to his parents, and enjoys picking on everyone. The girls don't act out as much as, but they're still a part of the gang. Meanwhile, youngest daughter Avarie constantly whines, cries, throws tantrums, and refuses to give up her bottle.

Mom deals with the kids by pacifying or tolerating bad behavior while Dad yells at them. Despite that, neither of the two ever disciplined them.

While the family has a chore board in their house, it's usually blank. In addition, Kesley is trusted to look after her siblings whenever her parents are out, yet she's not allowed to go out with her friends when it's only three or four in the afternoon.

Can Jo teach Meshell to put her foot down? Can she teach David to tame his temper? And can she teach David & Meshell to trust their oldest daughter?

Family members[]

Person	Age	Relation to Family
Meshell Rene Buckingham Miller	41 (born January 13, 1968)	Mother
David Miller	40 (born September 3, 1969)	Father
Kesley	13 (born June 14, 1996, died August 9, 2018)	Daughter
Kendall	12 (born October 10, 1997)
Meryn	10 (born September 17, 1999)
Landon	7 (born March 5, 2003)	Son
Ainsley	5 (born April 4, 2004)	Daughter
Avarie	3 (born May 19, 2007)	Daughter

The child was disciplined via one of Jo Frost's techinques.

The child was disciplined but not via one of Jo Frost's techniques. (she may or may not have approved of any of the methods)

the child was mistreated badly via one of their parents.

Fan Reception[]

The Miller Family is considered to be one of the most infamous episodes of Supernanny. As such, it has received a range of responses across a variety of platforms, all of which center around David's reaction to Kendall throwing a ball at Meryn.

Some fans, particularly those in this wiki, despised this episode and David in particular. They have considered him yelling at Kendall to be verbally abusive. They have gone as far as to equate his scolding to the abuse of Phil Davis or Chris Potter.

On the other hand, fans on more conservative platforms such as Facebook have had the exact opposite reaction: they actually praised David for yelling at Kendall. A small minority have insisted that David had not gone far enough and that he should have spanked her. Many have criticized both Jo and Kendall for being what they considered to be "too soft." Citing this episode, these viewers castigate younger viewers for being too sensitive.

However, most fans take a moderate stance: while they agree that he was too harsh when scolding Kendall, and while he certainly shouldn't have sworn, his behavior was not abusive. Some fans have pointed out that he slowly calmed down as he finished scolding Kendall, and the words that he did use (e.g. throwing the ball was a "crappy thing to do" and his disapproval of her "smart-ass attitude") was relatively mild- and he used those words to describe that action rather than her character, effectively separating her behavior from her personality. Many have also praised him for giving Kendall a heartfelt apology and committing to bettering himself.

Behind The Scenes[]

This was filmed in March 2010.

Trivia[]

Even though Avarie whined and refuses to give up her bottle, Jo never implemented the Bye Bye Bottle technique, for now, why she didn't implement it is unknown. This also happened in The Cantoni Family, where Gabrielle was seen drinking from a baby bottle, yet Jo never implemented the technique.
Meshell wears braces just like Donna from The Drake Family.
- Her daughter Kesley also wears braces in this episode.
Meshell's name is commonly misspelled as Michelle.
The car Meshell is driving when she drops Kesley off at the movie theater is a 2007 Honda Odyssey EX-L.

Events Post-Episode[]

Kesley gave birth to a boy named Asher on October 4, 2015, at 4:54 am.
Kesley died on August 9, 2018, from a drug overdose, making her the first child to have starred on Supernanny to die post-episode. She was followed by Nathaniel Hemingway-Clegg and Tanner Naszkiewicz.
Meryn got arrested in November 2018 for fighting.
Meryn later had a seizure, and fell into cardiac arrest on June 18th, 2022. Her current status is unknown.

Pop Culture[]

In one of the scenes during the DVD Meeting, a Nintendo Wii can be clearly seen. Mario Kart Wii was possibly being played in this scene, since the girls were using Wii Wheels
Kendall has a Bobby Jack poster in her room.

Gallery[]

External Links[]

Season 7
The Atkinson Family • The Peterfreund Family • The Swift Family • The Young Family • The Van Acker Family • The Fernandez Family • The George Family • The Miller Family • The Colombo Family • The Potter Family • The Merrill Family • The DeMott Family • The Froebrich Family • The Federico Family • The Evans Family