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Friday, May 9, 2008
Happy Mother’s Day to TV’s troubled moms
With Mother’s Day just around the corner, our thoughts turn to TV moms, right?
OK, maybe not. Maybe our thoughts turn to the flowers we forgot to send or the dinner we meant to plan but didn’t.
So maybe it’s only my mind that turns to TV moms of today — none of whom remotely resembles June Cleaver on “Leave It To Beaver” or Marion Cunningham on “Happy Days.”
No, today we have the polygamist moms on “Big Love” and the mom on “Reaper” who sold her son’s soul to the Devil the day he was born.
Marge Simpson might be the closest mom we have to the old-fashioned traditional matriarchs. She bakes cookies, takes care of her kids and lump-headed husband Homer and she wears those eternal pop-bead necklaces.
Peg Hill, with her secret size 12 shoes, is a fairly traditional homemaker, too, on “King of the Hill.”
So maybe the only traditional moms on TV these days are cartoon characters. What does that say about motherhood on the tube? That the only route to a good mom on TV is fantasy and animation?
Felicity Huffman’s Lynette Scavo on “Desperate Housewives” certainly does her best with her gazillion kids, including the always troublesome twins. She’s fought cancer and the wacky business dealings of her husband while keeping her family together. We’ll give her an honorable mention.
Probably one of the more realistic moms on TV today is Dr. Bailey on “Grey’s Anatomy.” This hard-working mom recently became a single mom when her husband left her. The good doc clearly loves her little boy, but she’s juggling all manner of complications vying for her time at Seattle Grace Hospital.
Allison Dubois on “Medium” sees creepy dead people (especially murder victims) all the time, so she’s a bit distracted from domestic duties as mom to three daughters.
And then there’s Nora Walker on “Brothers & Sisters,” a semi-neurotic character with five grown children, none of whom apparently has been able to cut the umbilical cord. One twentysomething son still lives at home, and the rest of the adult kids drift in and out of the house as if they’re all still in high school.
Isn’t the mark of successful parenting to have kids who become independent?
It’s a pretty sad lot, but we wish them Happy Mother’s Day anyway.
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