THE 25 GREATEST TV MOMS, PART 2

Welcome back to Part 2 of my list of the 25 Greatest TV Moms!  Without further ado, let's get to the list...

15. Phyllis Lindstrom
Show: The Mary Tyler Moore Show

Long before Amy Poehler played the “cool mom” in Mean Girls, there was Phyllis Lindstrom.  Phyllis was an enlightened 70s supermom: she had her daughter Bess call her by her first name, talked openly about their feelings, and even let Bess perform in a middle school production of Hair (they played the nude scenes with their clothes on).  But the real joke was that behind her efforts to play it cool Phyllis was as neurotic and overprotective as any other mother.

Episode to Watch: “The Birds…and…um…Bess”  
Phyllis turns to Mary when it comes time to tell daughter Bess about the facts of life.

14.Thelma Harper
Show: Mama’s Family & The Carol Burnett Show

After posting her picture online in honor of Mother’s Day, I was thrilled to discover how much people still love and remember Mama.  Spinning out the popular Carol Burnett Show skits, Mother Harper (played by the significantly younger and uber-talented Vicki Lawrence) ruled the roost.  She was constantly putting her children, daughter-in-law and nephew in their place but when the chips are down who wouldn’t want Mama on their side?  Her particular brand of crotchety common sense reminds me of another icon of mine: Judge Judy!

Episode to Watch: “Mama Gets Goosed”
Mama plans on killing a live goose for Christmas dinner, much to her family’s dismay.

13. Endora
Show: Bewitched

If I was doing a list of TV’s greatest mother-in-laws Endora would have to be number one.  While she gave her son-in-law hell, Endora was actually a great mother to daughter Samantha.  She always challenged Samantha to aim higher and not to abandon her magical heritage.  Think of what a boring show Bewitched would have been without Endora causing trouble! She was also separated (divorced?) from Sam’s father Maurice, making her something of a feminist TV pioneer: a powerful, liberated, single mother.

Episode to Watch: “Trick or Treat”
On Halloween Endora transforms herself into a trick-or-treater (played by a young Maureen McCormick!) and curses what’s-his-name.

12. Aunt Bee
Show: The Andy Griffith Show

Aunt Bee is the second “mom” on the list who isn’t biologically a mother, but anyone who watched The Andy Griffith Show knows just how wonderful a surrogate mother she was to Andy, Opie and even Barney.  Slightly ditzy but full of heart, Bee was the beating heart of Mayberry.  I for one would kill to be invited to one of her Sunday suppers… minus the pickles, of course.

Episode to Watch: “The Pickle Story”
Aunt Bee’s loved ones can’t bring themselves to tell her that her homemade pickles taste atrocious and go to great lengths to protect her feelings.

11. Lorelai Gilmore
Show: Gilmore Girls

Lorelai Gilmore is the cool mom that Phyllis Lindstrom longed to be.  Of all the moms on this list Lorelai is probably closest to her kid; their relationship was more like that of sisters than mother and daughter.  At times Lorelai’s expectations and attempts to keep others out of their lives bordered on the pathological, but at the end of the day she’s a model single mother who got her daughter to the Ivy League and simultaneously became a successful businesswoman, and she did it (mostly) on her own terms.  

Episode to Watch: “Road Trip to Harvard”
After ditching her fiancé Lorelai takes daughter Rory on an inspirational trip to Harvard.

10. Lucille Bluth
Show: Arrested Development

Don’t get me wrong: Lucille Bluth is a terrible mother.  She’s monstrously selfish, hard-drinking, and highly critical.  Her adult children are a mess of neuroses, insecurities, and resentment as a result of her “style” of parenting.  Still, Lucille makes for some damn good TV, as she’ll stop at nothing to get her way and her children are her favorite pawns.  The most recent season of Arrested Development hinted at some growth for Lucille, but I personally hope she keeps up her evil ways in the future.

Episode to Watch: “My Mother the Car”
In which Lucille exploits her own son’s head injury to guilt him into getting closer to her and turn him against his siblings.

9. Charlotte Pickles
Show: Rugrats

Rugrats showed us several different modes of motherhood, as displayed by child-psychology addict Didi and feminist bruiser Betty.  However workaholic Charlotte will always be my favorite.  Charlotte always had her cell phone glued to her ear, barking orders at beleaguered assistant Jonathan and doing her mothering in short, concentrated bursts.  She left the majority of the parenting to her husband, which I always thought was rather neat.  Plus she wore a really killer blazer-skirt combo that Ally McBeal herself would lust after.

Episode to Watch: “Mommy’s Little Assets”
Charlotte brings Angelica and the babies to work with her, with both disastrous and surprising results.

8. Kate Gosselin
Shows: Jon & Kate Plus 8 & Kate Plus 8

Okay, I know Kate Gosselin is probably going to my most controversial choice, especially at #8.  I’m not endorsing her televised exploitation of her children or her bitchy behavior, but I also just can’t get enough of watching of her.  I’ve written before that Kate’s brand of suburb bitchery is right up my alley and no one can deny that when it comes to motherhood or her marriage, Kate makes for some memorable not-so-guilty pleasure TV.  I can't wait to see her on Celebrity Apprentice (I'll feel actually guilty about watching that one, but I can't stay away!).

Episode to Watch: “Shopping for Ten”
Kate memorably emasculates then-husband Jon while Christmas shopping at Toys’r’Us.

7. Sophia Petrillo
Show: Golden Girls

If Kate Gosselin’s inclusion on this list proves controversial, Sophia Petrillo not making the Top 5 may also rub some people the wrong way.  Despite her tiny frame Sophia dominated her daughter Dorothy; she was the ultimate truth teller, and her little old lady appearance let her get away with saying and doing a lot of otherwise shocking things.  Despite being described as a “vindictive little sea monkey” by her own daughter, you never once doubted the fierce maternal love that lay beneath Sophia’s acid disposition.  

Episode to Watch: “The Housekeeper”
Sophia is actually absent for most of this episode, which shows that things can go quickly go off the rails without her around.  When she does arrive back home she quickly cuts through the bullshit.

6. Helen Morgendorffer
Show: Daria

Like Charlotte Pickles, Helen Morgendorffer does not have a good work-life balance.  Also like Charlotte, Helen is usually seen on the phone or on her way out the door, heading to her job as a lawyer (maybe she worked at one point with Clair Huxtable?!). Unlike Charlotte, however, Helen makes more of an effort to connect to her two teen daughters, whether it’s mandated family dinners (with frozen lasagnas or husband Jake doing the cooking) or concentrated interrogations.  At the end of the day, however, Helen really was a great mom who genuinely cared for her family and managed to be there for them when it counted, despite her heavy workload. 

Episode to Watch: “Psycho Therapy”
Up for partner at her firm, Helen drags her family for a weekend of psychoanalysis, where she must own up to some of her failings as a mother.

Check back tomorrow when I reveal the Top 5!