Mother’s Day Names: Remembering TV Moms
By Linda Rosenkrantz
Once upon a time—let’s say pre-Roseanne—the TV mom was the paragon of domestic motherhood, as exemplified and epitomized by the Beaver’s understanding mom, June Cleaver, who famously did her vacuuming in high heels and pearls and pencil-slim skirts on Leave It to Beaver. This idealized image persisted via later near-perfect parents like The Cosby Show’s Claire Huxtable, who was able to effortlessly combine high-powered career with being the wisest and most compassionate of moms, never losing her cool.
Of course there were blips over the years, such as vibrantly vulgar characters like Roseanne Conner and Married with Children’s Peg Bundy and later cranky (older) moms like Marie Barone and Estelle Costanza, but for the most part television moms set a pretty high—if not unattainable—bar.
So here’s our Mother’s Day salute to those Margarets and Marions, Harriets and Helens of TV Momdom past– and their perfect period names.
ALICE Mitchell—Dennis the Menace
CAROL Brady—The Brady Bunch; CAROL Walsh—Beverly Hills 90210
CAROLINE Ingalls—Little House on the Prairie
CLAIR Huxtable—The Cosby Show
DEBRA Barone–Everybody Loves Raymond
EDITH Bunker—All in the Family
HARRIET Nelson—The Ozzie & Harriet Show; HARRIET Winslow—Family Matters
JILL Pembroke, Charles in Charge, Jill Taylor—Home Improvement
JUNE Cleaver—Leave It to Beaver
KATE Bradley—Petticoat Junction; KATE Lawrence, Family
KITTY Forman—That 70s Show
LAURA Petrie—The Dick Van Dyke Show
LOIS Wilkerson—Malcolm in the Middle
LOUISE Jefferson—The Jeffersons
MAGGIE Seaver—Growing Pains
MARGARET Anderson—Father Know Best; MARGARET Williams—Make Room for Daddy (The Danny Thomas Show)
MURIEL Rush—Too Close for Comfort
NATALIE Lane—The Patty Duke Show
NORA Walker—Brothers and Sisters
PEG Bundy—Married, With Children
SHIRLEY Partridge—The Partridge Family
WINNIE Gillis—The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
So, do you think most of these are pretty much still Mother/Mom/Mama/Ma names, or are some of them ready to go into reruns?
And, of course, HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to all you momberries !!!