James Hibberd

ABC has ordered a pilot for a spinoff to its reality series “Supernanny,” sources say.

The project puts a gender twist on the familiar “Supernanny” format. This time, a male child-care worker will take a tough-love approach to fixing chaotic households.

The working title is, yes, "Supermanny."

The pilot was ordered from Ricochet, the U.K. company that produced the original series and last summer’s “Fat March” for the network.

ABC ordered “Supermanny” before the writers strike, so it wasn’t initially a move to replace scripted content. However, the work stoppage could arguably help any reality project to eventually receive a series order.

ABC has the largest stock of scripted inventory going into the strike. On the unscripted front, “Dancing With the Stars” is a reality titan whose ratings are bested only by Fox's “American Idol.” “The Bachelor” and “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” continue to perform well, with “Wife Swap” and “Supernanny” considered solid (the latter averaging a 3.5 rating last season among adults 18 to 49).

The network has struggled this past year to add new unscripted hits, however, trying out more than a dozen freshman reality shows, including “Fast Cars and Superstars,” “The Ex-Wives Club” and “Shaq’s Big Challenge.”