Prompt Images
The kids crying, the incompetent husbands, the delivering witty one-liners or emotional support that ties everything neatly up at the end of an episode. Even when it’s scripted, it’s not easy being a mom.
We asked our writers to nominate their choices for Best TV Moms of all time. Here’s who they picked:
Picked by Josh Bard
One of the hardest jobs in the world is being a mom. It takes love and selflessness and understanding and putting together a last-minute pancake social when your family forgets.
Y’all, obviously my favorite TV mom of all time is Tami Taylor of Friday Night Lights. Tami Taylor has an uncanny ability to know when to get stern, when to kill ’em with kindness, and when to roll her eyes and call BS on her husband and daughter. Not only is she bawse of the Taylor household, she’s the school’s guidance counselor, the football team’s matron saint, the best birds-and-the-bees talk giver, and an amateur sommelier. All while smashing the macho Texas football patriarchy.
Plus, she SLAYS in aviators.
Picked by Meg Kearns
“Tell him his mother’s here, and she loves him. But not in a queer way.” This one short line perfectly encapsulates what makes Colleen Donaghy such a perfectly imperfect TV mom. The old-fashioned Irish-Catholic single mom was, and is, tough on her son Jack(ie) because she has to be, to make sure he succeeds in life by having more opportunities than she did. We learn about Colleen slowly, across her nine appearances on the show, as the adult Jack finally comes to realize it himself.
And fortunately, because Colleen is written by Tina Fey and portrayed by Elaine Stritch, we arrive at this potentially-saccharine conclusion without sacrificing any jokes, creative insults, or jaunty hats. Colleen makes me howl with laughter (the layers of “my unmarried son knocked up a Protestant!”), but also moves me to tears every time she sings at the piano with Jack in “Christmas Special.”
Picked by Jillian Conochan
10 years ago, my cousin and I invented a game, “You Know You’re Old When…” Examples include:
“…you think The Bucket List looks charming and relatable” and
“…you call someone ‘young man’ and mean it.”
Now that we’re truly old, Danny and I can both agree that Pamela Adlon* is the coolest, funniest, most crush-worthy person in entertainment.
Wait, you don’t know Pamela Adlon? That’s OK, neither did I, even though she’s showbiz royalty, has a career spanning 3 decades, collaborates often with Louis C.K., and earned herself a little gold statuette known as an Emmy. It is her semi-autobiographical portrayal of Sam Fox, actress and single mother of 3 on FX’s Better Things that put her top of my list of TV moms.
Sam navigates the challenges of an unpredictable career and even more unpredictable teen, tween, and young daughters with—did you think I was going to say aplomb? Sam takes on this chaos with the opposite of aplomb, choosing instead honesty, nonchalance, love, and loyalty. Adlon’s mannerisms infuse Sam with such life for maximum believability.
At 5-foot-nothing, Adlon will never appear on a Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover. She’s not the face of a luxury perfume brand, like Charlize or Julia. Her jeans are too long and her expressions are too dour. But her embracement of her Hollywood flaws are what make Adlon so refreshingly authentic, and it’s gorgeous.
You Know You’re Old When you don’t want Sam Fox/Pamela Adlon to be your mom, you want to be her as a mom.
*For Father’s Day, simply do a find-and-replace for Bob Odenkirk
Picked by Dennis Mersmann
For my selection for Best TV Mom, I chose the matriarch of a non-traditional family. She is co-parenting four adopted teenagers with the help of a grandfather-type who spends all day in a robe. Yet she still maintains a high profile career in the field of TV journalism. That’s right, the saint of whom I speak is April O’Neil (1989 to 1996 edition. I cannot vouch for mother qualities of any other versions of April). 
This woman, with a blossoming career and the ability to pull of yellow jumpsuits, had four teenagers who were monsters pumped full of chemicals (but aren’t they all—HAHAHAHA) stumble into her life. And rather than turn her back on them, she helps them navigate the aboveground world. Fellow Prompter Mike Stiriti pointed out that in some versions of TMNT, the Turtles lust after April. I remember that being more in the live action movies than this version of the cartoon show. But either way, that Oedipal layer will only help me turn this off the cuff analysis into an MFA thesis about cartoons.
Picked by Kelaine Conochan
OK, so I know there’s lots of controversy about which Aunt Viv is better (the first one). And I know that technically, Will’s mom still lived in Philadelphia. But there are no technicalities that can truly disqualify Vivian Banks. Not only did she raise four pretty successful kids of her own (didn’t we all almost forget about Nicky?), but she still had the time and space to bring Will into the Banks mansion and keep him in check.
Aunt Viv had to deal with very different kids, too, and that’s not easy. Carlton was a corny ass Republican. Hilary was a vapid weather reporter. Ashley was a naïve R&B singer. Nicky was… not Raven Simone? And Will was a wildcard. And despite their differences and flaws, Aunt Viv made sure they all turned out well—in 22 minute increments—because it was the 90s. You simply can’t overlook Aunt Viv’s matriarchal influence and deadly stank eye.
Picked by Mike Stiriti
Without a doubt the best mom in television history is the actress versatile enough to play the matriarchs at the center of Sons of Anarchy AND Married… With Children. Nothing as badass and being ale to pull off both Gemma Teller and Peggy Bundy. Also possibly the cause of my first boner.
Picked by Erin Vail
Kirsten Cohen is an aspirational mother. She’s a working mom who supports her entire family. She’s open-minded when it comes to adopting teen criminals. She is one-half of the most trusting, dynamic TV couples of all time (shoutout to Sandy Cohen). She’s compromising in a good way: she lets Seth invent and celebrate Chrismukkah. She’s flawed: a bit of an uptight WASP and a recovering alcoholic. But Kirsten’s all about protecting the people who are closest to her: keeping her family intact through Jimmy Cooper’s bullshit, her dad Caleb’s nonsense, brother-on-brother-slash-Marissa shootings, and so much more. She does yogalates, making her such a cool mom. And Kirsten may like her Chardonnay, but she’s not going to die alone, and that’s more than she can say for you.
Picked by Jesse Stone
“Picture it: Sicily, 1912.” So often began the stories of Sophia Petrillo, the matriarch of The Golden Girls. Every Saturday evening, the nation gathered around the kitchen table with Blanche, Rose, Dorothy, and Sophia—the 1980s own take on the fireside chat. Blanche—the flirt, Rose—the ditz, and Dorothy—the pained voice of reason. And Sophia? She was the source of wisdom at the table. Episode after episode, she told us stories about her life back in Italy. At times her wisdom was cryptic, parables to be shared with her disciples. Like the time she told of the young Italian girl who discovered pepperoni swimming up stream in a river. Other times, her wisdom was delivered as a quick one-two punch: a jab of sage advice and a cross of cruel humor.
Jealousy is a very ugly thing, Dorothy. And so are you in anything backless.
Of course, Sophia was more than an oracle. She listened to the girls’ sob stories, fed them traditional Sicilian pasta, and even bailed them out of jail that time they were mistaken for prostitutes. On this Mother’s Day, then, let us all be thankful for the greatest lesson Sophia Petrillo ever taught us: You are never so old that you don’t need a mother.
Picked by Lauren McMahon and Jay Kasten
Lauren: Fans of Arrested Development know that while Michael Bluth was the protagonist of the show, Lucille was its true center. Through a mix of withering criticism and outright manipulation, she keeps her clan of dysfunctional offspring in a psychological chokehold. They loathe her, but they crave her approval, so they always come back for more. And more is exactly what they get when they file into her penthouse apartment, where she sits, clad in one of her many blazers, hair sprayed firmly into place, peering over her martini glass with disdain. Lucille may not be a good mom (she’s a terrible mom), but she’s great TV, which is what the Best TV Mom should be.
Jay: When I think of the “Best TV Mom” I think of who’s the best “mom on TV,” which is a distinction from the “best mom.” My mom’s the best mom, as I’m sure everybody would agree. But the best mom on TV is unequivocally Lucille Bluth. She’s crass, obstinate, selfish, alcoholic, racist, classist, and at times goes out of her way to just be generally rude. Lucille is a beacon of terrible in an ocean of purity filled with TV moms like Carol Brady, Beverly Goldberg, and Rainbow Johnson. The kind, loving, nurturing TV mom is almost a trope at this point, and Lucille defies that confine, raring to disappoint and ignore her children at every turn (particularly GOB). You may ask “Jay, why does all that make her the best mom on TV.” To which I’d say, “I don’t understand the question, and I won’t respond to it.”
Like one of ours or want to nominate your own Best TV Mom? Tweet us or comment on Facebook. Stay tuned for more Mother’s Day content tomorrow, AND DON’T FORGET TO SEND YOUR MOTHER A CARD.