Meet local 'Super-Manny'

Chicago has a new media star, and it ain't in the tradition of Dick Butkus, Mike Ditka and William "Refrigerator" Perry.

It's Elmwood Park's Mike Ruggles, and he's "Super-Manny."

Ruggles, a degreed 16-year teacher and developmental therapist with a suburban office in Northbrook, won out over thousands of applicants to score the title role in ABC's gender-bending spinoff to its popular "Supernanny" family-fixing franchise. The show debuts as an hourlong special at 8 p.m. today on WLS Channel 7, but the intention is clearly to launch it as a companion program, if the eyeballs are there on the Nielsen ratings.

Tonight's special finds Ruggles traveling to Temecula, Calif., where he tries to rein in the three bratty daughters of Tracy and Doug Marko. The eldest, 7-year-old Gwen, tells her mom, "Leave me alone, woman!" Ruggles employs "whack-a-pillow" anger-management techniques and dons a Bears jersey to watch "game film," critiquing family behavior.

As a self-help rallying cry, it's gotta be better than Ditka's "Grabowski Shuffle" video, but it remains to be seen if Ruggles will outstay his 15 minutes of fame and unseat Oprah Winfrey as Chicago's top media star.