TheTVObserver: Memorable TV Mothers

We have compiled the most memorable mothers on TV. These are mothers everyone can identity with, either as having a mother similar or you just wished your mother could be as loving, caring, annoying or just as crazy. lol...... TheTVObserver selected only a few out of hundreds of mothers on TV. These TV mothers provided so much entertainment and reflection, that we thought it best to showcase them.

Stephanie Forrester played by Susan Flannery.

I love Susan Flannery and I think her contribution on B&B has been awesome, both as an actor and director. Stephanie is the type of mother you need to guard against the family, but I have to admit that sometimes she goes crazy and although we can't pick and choose our mothers. She has offered us many moments of entertainment and in the process, taught us that mothers fight for the family and they keep it together.

Stephanie is best known for her strength of character and her determination to protect her family. She thinks she clearly knows what is best for her family and doesn't hesitate to guide them in the right direction. She is a loving mother and has heart of gold despite her boldness and many characters turn to her when they need support.

Emily Gilmore, played by Kelly Bishop

At the top of the list of TheWB turned TheCW network’s Girlmore Girls is Emily Gilmore who is the mother of Lorelai and grandmother to Rory. Emily had very limited contact with her daughter for most of her adult life, and though they have gotten to know each other better as adults, they still have a somewhat strained relationship. Emily was raised by a strict social code and graduated from Smith College. Since her marriage, she has dedicated herself to furthering her husband Richard's career. As a result, she spends much of her time arranging charity events, and she is very concerned with propriety and appearances.

She is difficult to please, and is incapable of keeping a maid very long no matter how well she pays them. They quit or are fired in rapid succession for reasons like singing or walking too heavily. Many people have judged her to be a snobbish, haughty and highly opinionated woman. There is a softer, more caring side to Emily, but it is often obscured by her aforementioned snobbish persona.

Lorelai Victoria Gilmore, played by Lauren Graham

The only daughter of Richard and Emily Gilmore. She is the mother of Lorelai "Rory" Leigh Gilmore. She became pregnant at the age of 16 but refused to marry Christopher Hayden, Rory's father, so he could grow up and work for his dad even though her father insisted. Instead she ran away to the town of Stars Hollow, which is half an hour away from Hartford. In Stars Hollow she meets Mia, the owner of the Independence Inn. She begs Mia to hire her though she has no experience of any kind. Mia gives Lorelai a job as a maid and allows Lorelai and Rory to live in a converted potting shed behind the inn, where they live for most of Rory's childhood. Lorelai eventually becomes the general manager of the inn, which is the position she holds when we first meet her.

Lorelai "Trix" Gilmore, played by Marion Ross

But the best of the Gilmore Mothers is, Trix, Emily’s mother-in-law. I loved Trix and my favorite line from the shows:
Emily: Here are the nuts mum....
Trix: My Emily, for that announcement! How wonderful that you don’t need some sort of amplification system in order to announce to everyone in the area, about the arrival of the nuts.

She is the mother of Richard Gilmore, and is the one after whom his and Emily's daughter Lorelai is named. Richard's nickname for her is "Trix." During her visits, Trix strongly disapproved of her son's marriage to Emily and is extremely critical of her throughout the series, often making fun of her in front of the family. Ironically, the character whose personality is most like hers is Emily's. However, Emily is no match for Trix, to the delight of the other Lorelais. Unlike Emily, she is not as critical of Lorelai, despite her rebellious personality. It is even mentioned during the episode of her funeral that she keeps a picture of Lorelai around to show-off to visitors.

After learning of Lorelai's financial situation, she refers to her as a failure and blames the entire ordeal on Richard, then brings up his past mistakes, sparking an uproar. Trix dies two episodes later before being able to make amends with the family, which devastates Richard. After her death, Emily found out that the day before her wedding to Richard, Trix wrote him, telling him to call off the wedding. As a result, Trix manages to cause one last meltdown in Emily

Nora Holden Walker, played by Sally Field

One of the strongest yet vulnerable mothers on television currently, she is the matriarch of the Walker family. She had a difficult relationship with her mother, Ida, which may explain why she is such a loving and sometime too involved mother to her own children. Nothing like experience to reach how to be better, worse or average! Nora makes me laugh all the time. She is the super glue that is keeping the brothers and sisters together. There is nothing as awesome as coming home and finding pies, cakes and cookies in your mother’s kitchen. Nora’s kitchen is practically a mini-restaurant for the Walker army.

Debbie Novotny, played by Sharon Gless

If there was an award for the sweetest mother on TV, Showtime Network’s Queer As Folk Debbie Novotny would be a good contender followed closely by Nora Walker from ABC’s Brothers & Sisters. Debbie is fiercely proud of her son Michael's homosexuality, to the extent of making him embarrassed about it. She treats all the boys as her own family, especially Justin, who briefly lives with her after he runs away from home. She is also one of the people who sees past Brian's cockiness for what he really is.

Evelyn Harper, played by Holland Taylor

Two and Half Men’s Charlie and Alan's conceited and self-centered mother and Jake's grandmother. She makes the list because she is just entertaining and offers the option to cuddly mothers. She expresses a superficial fondness for her sons and grandson, but rarely lives up to her outsized image of herself as a devoted and misunderstood matriarch. Her sons and grandson generally return the favor and go out of their way to avoid interacting with her on most occasions.

Clair Huxtable, played by Phylicia Rashād

This has to be ultimate TV Mother for all generations and if you don’t know why, go and buy a DVD box sext of The Cosby Show. Clair Huxtable is the very eloquent, elegant wife of Cliff. Clair is playful, silly, yet very assertive. When it came to the Huxtable household, she was in charge, even though she let Cliff think he was in charge (although Cliff was known to lay down the law when he had to). She was the chief disciplinarian of the children, as shown in an episode where Vanessa and her friends sneak off to Baltimore to see a rock concert and Clair delivers a memorable and scathing diatribe to her. Clair is also something of a disciplinarian to Cliff, particularly in matters of Cliff sticking to a healthful diet and rationing his junk food intake.

Clair Huxtable was voted as television's "Favorite TV Mom" in a poll conducted by the Opinion Research Company in 2006.

Annie Camden, played by Catherine Hicks

Though she has chosen to be a stay-at-home mother, Annie is a jack-of-all-trades. She balances a family of nine on a minister's pay, is a plumber, builder, seamstress, cook, and much more. She also serves from time to time as the treasurer for the church. Annie is the backbone of her family. The mother of seven, she is often the one the children come to talk to, often over milk and cookies. A grandmother of six, she tries with her husband to instill strong morals in her children.

On one occasion, she reveals to her son, Matt, that as a teenager, she went through a phase in which she smoked marijuana with friends. But after one of her friends is killed in a car accident due to smoking, she decides never to smoke again.

Lucille Bluth, played by Jessica Walter

Okay, Lucille was a window to the crazy mother versions. She is the matriarch of the Bluth family, and mother of G.O.B., Michael, Buster, and the adopted Lindsay and Hel-loh "Annyong" Bluth, as well as wife to George Sr. Her grandchildren George Michael Bluth and Maeby Fünke call her "Gangy". She carried on an affair with George, Sr.'s twin brother Oscar.

Lucille is accustomed to an opulent and decadent lifestyle, which she funds with misbegotten Bluth Company money. She treats herself to repeated spa treatments and face lifts, and is known to abuse alcohol and prescription drugs and to mistreat her housekeepers. Lucille is domineering, and she emotionally abuses her children.

She has a tight grip on her youngest son Buster, who, as a result of his mother's dominance and sheltering, is unstable, socially inept, and prone to panic attacks. She also insinuates that her daughter Lindsay is fat and lazy.

To all the mothers who read TheTVObserver, Happy Mother's Day!

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