TV Talk: TV’s most memorable moms reflect American eras
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TV show characterizations, like all popular culture, simultaneously reflect the times and push the envelope. It’s how “The Brady Bunch” got away with its blended family concept in the late 1960s without mentioning that Carol Brady got divorced.
One can track the changes in American culture through the roles of TV moms over the past 70 years in television, from the understanding perfection of June Cleaver on the 1957-63 comedy “Leave It to Beaver” to the imperfect but fiercely devoted Rebecca Pearson on NBC’s recent family drama “This Is Us.”
By the era
Since the dawn of television, each decade had its share of TV moms, but some stood out and most typified the era.
In the 1950s, June Cleaver (Barbara Billingsley) on “Leave It to Beaver,” wearing her pearl necklace and frequently fretting about her youngest son, “the Beav,” was kind but firm, the matriarch of a seemingly idyllic — but to some modern eyes, repressive — American family. She didn’t think twice about vacuuming in high heels.
The late 1960s gifted American TV viewers “The Brady Bunch” and mom Carol (Florence Henderson) who brought her three girls into a blended family with new husband Mike (Robert Reed). She had assistance in homemaking from Alice (Ann B. Davis) the maid, allowing Carol more free time to enjoy her coffee and reconsider that mullet flip hairdo.
The 1970s offered viewers Florida Evans (Esther Rolle), the stern but devoted-to-family mom on “Good Times” and divorced single mom Ann Romano (Bonnie Franklin), who tried to help her daughters manage many crises on “One Day at a Time.”
TV moms became even more plentiful in the 1980s as the family sitcom gained a greater foothold in prime time, largely following the success of “The Cosby Show.” Clair Huxtable (Phylicia Rashad) managed a successful career as a feminist lawyer while still guiding her five children; she really did have it all.
That wasn’t the case in the ’90s for the title character on “Roseanne” (Roseanne Barr), a cranky, blue-collar mom who served as a sarcastic truth-teller often exasperated by her teenage daughters.
When “Modern Family” became a hit in 2009, Claire Dunphy (Julie Bowen) was a mom who was wealthier than Roseanne and less serene than Mrs. Huxtable, but that also made this modern mom more relatable. A type-A, anxiety-prone mother, Claire was the mom who let it all hang out, unafraid to display her foibles and eccentricities.
Even within these different eras, some subcategories of TV moms emerge.
Married to the slob
Moms who look even better compared to their spouses became a staple of TV particularly from the 1970s forward.
Archie Bunker (Carroll O’Connor) may have called Edith (Jean Stapleton) “Dingbat,” but she was the emotional glue that kept a fractious clan together on “All in the Family.”
Jill (Patricia Richardson) was clearly the more put-together spouse compared to her husband, Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor (Tim Allen), from the beginning of “Home Improvement” in 1991, the first modern example of the smart wife/idiotic husband dynamic.
A raft of family comedies followed with the mom character superior to the dad, most notably the early 2000s sitcom “According to Jim” where Cheryl (Courtney Thorne-Smith) was way out of her husband Jim’s (Jim Belushi) league.
Even ABC’s recently concluded “black-ish” depicted Dr. Rainbow “Bow” Johnson (Tracee Ellis Ross) as the more positive, upbeat adult in the household compared to husband Dre (Anthony Anderson).
Fierce moms
Scowling, quick-tongued Mama (Vicki Lawrence) on mid-’80s sitcom “Mama’s Family” clearly loved her children — she gave so many of them room and board well into adulthood! — but she also was eager to keep them in line and tell them what was best for them.
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On mid-’90s hit “Everybody Loves Raymond,” Ray’s mother, manipulative Marie Barone (Doris Roberts), could be overbearing and judgmental, much to the dismay of her daughter-in-law, Debra ( Patricia Heaton), but Marie was always looking out for her No. 1: Raymond.
In 2000, mom Lois (Jane Kaczmarek) on “Malcolm in the Middle” was the definition of harried impatience, attempting to create order in a messy, chaotic household.
Jessica Huang (Constance Wu) on mid-2010s comedy “Fresh Off the Boat” wanted what was best for her kids, but she usually thought only she knew what actually constituted “best.” Although aspects of her personality fell into the “tiger mom” stereotype, Jessica got away with it because she was based on one-time University of Pittsburgh student Eddie Huang’s actual mom. Jessica always got the show’s funniest dialogue (e.g. “Children are never too old to be controlled. It’s just like chess: Children are the pawns, and you are the queen.”)
Best friend/mom
The competition is not even close for the top spot in this subcategory: Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) of “The Gilmore Girls,” premiering in 2000, is not only closer in age to her child than any other notable TV mom — they’re just 16 years apart — but also the most friend-like. Their lives in spritely named Stars Hollow, filled with its quirky characters, provided the ideal backdrop for this super-chummy mother-child vibe, which made their conflict even more pronounced when it happened.
Tami Taylor (Connie Britton) proved to be an excellent caregiver, not only to her own kids but to students at the school where she worked as a guidance counselor, all while supporting her football coach husband (Kyle Chandler) on “Friday Night Lights.”
Partially Pittsburgh-set “This Is Us” gave viewers two excellent moms: the lifelong caretaker exemplified by the complex Rebecca Pearson (Mandy Moore), from young mom to grandmother, and the uber-cool, no-nonsense mom of Rebecca’s daughter-in-law, Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson).
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Worst moms
And then there are the duds; mothers — more in dramas than comedies — who maybe would have been better off not having children.
Livia Soprano (Nancy Marchand) tops the list as the withholding, overbearing mother to Tony (James Gandolfini) in the first season of HBO’s “The Sopranos.” She even tried to have him killed.
Perpetually dissatisfied wet blanket Betty Draper (January Jones), wife of Don (John Hamm) and mother to poor Sally (Kiernan Shipka), lasted for the entirety of AMC’s “Mad Men,” almost always miserable.
And finally, there’s Lucille Bluth (Jessica Walter), the hilariously awful mother of the “Arrested Development” gang. Always day drinking a cocktail, manipulative Lucille insults her children frequently. She’s the worst, but watching her be dreadful in the show’s early Fox seasons was the best comedy entertainment early aughts TV had to offer.