This paper examines a specific example of television adaptation that highlights the contradictions and problematic European TV programmemers face in their attempt to embrace globalization. The author analyzes the processes and implications of the translation and dubbing of a contemporary American television series, The Nanny, of Italian audiences, re-examining the widely accepted concept of globalization as a primarily homogenising force. The study addresses translations as creative narrative practices and relates these practices to issues of national and cultural identity.