Television Moms that Are Believable

Over the years there have been a number of television moms who made one think of a real mom. They had the type of communication skills that made them believable.

I have to bring up Patricia Heaton from "Everybody Loves Raymond" even though I've mentioned her in other articles. She does the work that needs to be done with no help from Ray. She has a good attitude and perspective about raising children and she doesn't take things personally to the point of stewing over them and she would have every right based on the attitude of her mother-in-law. Debra keeps her sense of humor and she makes sure their three kids are taken care of. She comes across as believable because she shows her frustration at time and loses her temper; she is not perfect just like the rest of us.

Back in the 1970's there was a show called "One Day at a Time" that starred Linda Lavin. She played a single mom that had gotten a divorce and moved with her two daughters out west. She was believable first because she was one of the first divorced moms. Next she had to work at a very menial job which was that of being a waitress. She was not able to watch everything her kids did they had to be responsible for themselves but she was there as support when needed. She also struggled with the touchy issue of dating.

There was a show called the "Partridge Family" starring Shirley Jones as a lead singer of a travelling family singing group. In addition to that reality of the problems on the road, the other main character was David Cassidy who played her son on the show and was her son in real life.

Same was true of Harriet Nelson of the Nelson family on the show "Ozzie and Harriet." She treated her real-life sons on the show David and Ricky in ways that you knew there was a reality to the relationship.

Finally the mother that was very "with it" was Marion Ross who played Marion Cunningham on "Happy Days." She was realistic because she reminded people of moms who were influenced by the social things that were going around with their children. For example she adopted the phrase "Sit on it!" which was a very popular phrase in the 1950's out West. It reminded me of my mom who would use some of my slang when I was growing up.

There was a problem with television parents being realistic. Sometimes kids thought "television perfection" was the way life was supposed to be.