Top 11 TV Moms

By CJ Tiernan

In the immortal words of John Mulaney, “We’re all on board. We all love mom.” Our moms are almost universally meaningful to us. Caring, nurturing, steeped in unconditional love, the mother is the quintessential symbol of familial love. All that said, it’s fun to watch a show that plays on the troupe by showing the other side of motherhood or taking love and adoration too far. Below is a list of my Top 11 Favorite TV Show Moms I’ve ever seen and, as you will notice quickly, the rankings reflect their entertainment value and do not necessarily require them to excel at the role.

1. Lucille Bluth - Jessica Walter - Arrested Development

Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The matriarch of the Bluth family is one of my favorite characters. She is consistently a terrible mother, sowing seeds of jealousy between her children and utilizing affection transactionally. But she’s there. She continues to be a part of things while her husband is in prison for embezzlement and fraud (and maybe some light treason). Matched against that, adopting a child performatively doesn’t seem as bad.

2. Jessica Huang - Constance Wu - Fresh Off the Boat

If you haven’t seen Fresh Off the Boat, do yourself a favor and get on it. There are so many reasons to watch. It takes place in the ‘90s and has the wardrobe to boot. Randall Park plays the patriarch and he’s hilarious in everything. The kids are wonderfully cast and fantastically precocious. But Constance Wu, as a no-nonsense head-of-the-household mother, is the best. If you combined Julie Andrews with Marie Kondo you’d get a rough approximation of Jessica Huang.

3. Moira Rose - Catherine O'Hara - Schitt's Creek

The late Catherine O’Hara had a knack for being remarkable regardless of the size of her role. In fact, she often played the straight “man” while others fired off the crazy all around. Not here. Nope, she really sank her teeth into this one. She formulated a one-of-a-kind accent of manufactured elegance and sophistication and bathed in false opulence all the way through the series. She’s like the embodiment of that optical illusion the has the old lady looking forward and the young lady looking away.

4. Maya DiMeo - Minnie Driver - Speechless

I feel like after Good Will Hunting and Grosse Point Blank in the late ‘90s, I didn’t see Minnie Driver for a long time. Where did she go? I don’t know, but I sure was delighted when she popped up in this family comedy back in 2016. The cast that rounds out the DiMeo family is brilliant all around. Driver plays a Type-A personality mother of a child with cerebral palsy and operates as his advocate constantly (along with Kenneth, the aide). She also uses her real British accent, which I didn’t even know existed.

5. Beverly Goldberg - Wendi McLendon-Covey - The Goldbergs

Beverly Goldberg is a “smother” (a smothering mother). She is a lot to handle. While her sweaters are eye-catching, her parenting is louder. She has catchphrases like, “I have failed as a mother” and “how could you do this to me.” She cares about her children so much but is also a big me-monster that makes situations about her. Highly entertaining. Plus, Patton Oswalt does the voice-over during the episodes so what’s not to love, Schmoo?

6. Linda Belcher - John Roberts - Bob's Burgers

You know that phrase “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade?” If that were a real thing that happened and not just an axiom uttered to the downtrodden, Linda Belcher would have made the most lemonade in history. She would have stores of it in her basement like my High School history teacher did with pennies. Linda is on board with any scheme and takes every hit and keeps on coming. She is creative, funny, sympathetic, unyielding, and voiced by a guy named John.

7. Jane Villanueva - Gina Rodriguez - Jane the Virgin

First of all: watch Jane the Virgin. It’s one of the greatest shows of all time (It’s currently positioned at #21 on my all-time list). It is part rom-com, part telenovela, with a sprinkle of fantasy fairy dust on top. Jane became a mom accidentally and the whirlwind journey begins there. The story has many twists and turns (as you’d expect from a soap opera-esque show) and a lot of heart and the best narration in the history of TV.

8. Claire Dunphy - Julie Bowen - Modern Family

This is one of the utmost ensemble casts ever assembled. There are heavy hitters all over the map and yet, Julie Bowen stands out. She rules the Dunphy roost with a cool poise. While the Dunphys have three kids, Claire is in charge of four because of the grown-child presence of her husband, Phil. Realtor Magician (Phil’s social standing) sounds like a class you could choose in Dungeon Crawler Carl.

9. Kitty Forman - Debra Jo Rupp - That '70s Show

Be honest: was the first thing you thought of when you saw the name Kitty her high pitched voice? Her laugh? The constant presence of alcohol options? She is an iconic character in a show where her kids have a gruff, war veteran father and constantly mess around anyway. She is caught in the middle of two very different generations and responds with the 2 Ls: laughter and liquor.

10. Kristina Braverman - Monica Potter - Parenthood

Much like Maya DiMeo, Kristina Braverman spends a lot her time advocating for her son with special needs. She is constantly seen trying to connect with Max and to fight for him. The show Parenthood is fantastic. If you haven’t seen it, think A Million Little Things and This is Us vibes. It’s got a powerhouse cast, and follows a family through three generations (like Modern Family, but more dramatic). If I was re-ranking this list on ability to be a good mother, she may be moved to number one.

11. Dr. Rainbow Johnson - Tracee Ellis Ross - Black-ish

In 2018, my mom got her doctorate. I can (and sometimes do) now call her Dr. Mom. Rainbow (Bow, as she’s known in the show) is a medical doctor with five kids. She has her hands full and yet she manages it all (and man-child Anthony Anderson), seemingly with ease. She can be passionate, serious, professional, and fun. She is a remarkable character with hippies for parents (hence the name Rainbow). Tracee Ellis Ross may be the daughter of Diana Ross but you can stuff your nepotism claims in a sack, mister, she crushes this role.

Final Thoughts

Moms on TV are, at times, exactly what we want and need in our lives in low moments and at other times we’re completely thankful they’re not real because: yikes! As you may have noticed, the list I assembled doesn’t have any shows that began airing prior to the release of the first Backstreet Boys album. There’s no June Cleaver, no Wilma Flintstone, no Clair Huxtable. I only included the shows that I’ve seen and those are largely before my time and I’ve only ever seen a few episodes of each. Please feel free to chastise me in the comments for my botched list. Like a mother, I hope you’ll love me even if I have failed. Thanks! Have a great day!