Mom in the Media

[possibilities]

I think if she was going to be in it, they'd be teasing it in the promos, for the ratings boost.

[Mr. Meatball Man]

https://www.vulture.com/amp/2021/05/the-12-best-episodes-of-cbss-mom.html

It's crazy how much publicity the show has gotten in less than one year, first for Anna Faris leaving and then for being cancelled. 

I think it’s a solid list, but there are some episodes I would have taken out and replaced. Also, I don't think there are any essential episodes from the last two seasons (other than the debut of Aunt Cookie), but they're still relatively new, so they need more time to blend in with the rest of the show.

[MaryMitch]

19 hours ago, Mr. Meatball Man said:

https://www.vulture.com/amp/2021/05/the-12-best-episodes-of-cbss-mom.html

It's crazy how much publicity the show has gotten in less than one year, first for Anna Faris leaving and then for being cancelled. 

I think it’s a solid list, but there are some episodes I would have taken out and replaced. Also, I don't think there are any essential episodes from the last two seasons (other than the debut of Aunt Cookie), but they're still relatively new, so they need more time to blend in with the rest of the show.

My favorite episode is when Bonnie and Tammy go visit their former foster mom. I don't like the B plot (Christy and Jill going on a double date with 2 guys from their AA meeting), but I love the scenes with the foster mom and the scene in the car where Tammy realizes that Bonnie knows that Tammy's father killed her mom.

"My mom was so pretty...."  I cry every time.

[Bastet]

That's one of my favorites, too.  I always enjoy seeing Lois Smith on my screen, and she was great as always as the foster mom.

And that final scene with Bonnie and Tammy.  Wow.  When Tammy realized Bonnie had learned what happened, I knew the episode was about to close with a powerful line, but I was not prepared for what came next.  Kudos to the writers for coming up with the exact right thing for Tammy to say, and Kristen Johnston's delivery - tone of voice and facial expression - is absolutely perfect.

[SunnyBeBe]

Allison Janney was featured on CBS Sunday Morning today.  It was very interesting.  She says she’s worn a wig on the show every season.  Lol

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/whats-next-for-allison-janney/

 

 

Edited May 10, 2021 by SunnyBeBe

[SunnyBeBe]

The hair and makeup that they provide Allison on Mom takes at least 20 years off her actual age, imo.  Since, she doesn’t bother with it in her personal life, I suppose she doesn’t care about that.  

[LadyIrony]

Not surprised it's getting cancelled. Without Faris' character it is a bit like Laverne without Shirley. 

The eps have been depressing and the characters are hopeless. I guess that might be funny for some people but I find it to be meh. Actually the guy in the wheel chair provided some relief but as the show is built around women he wasn't given the time he deserved. 

 

[treeofdreams]

I think they made a huge mistake when they switched to centering around Bonnie.  She is just not a likeable character.

My opinion: they should have stayed focused on Christy and her kids and related characters, and given more thought to the other women.  Wendy could have had some good storylines, but they didn't use her.  Marjorie could have had some good storylines, but they kept her one-dimensional.  Jill was also an unlikeable character, but like Bonnie they gave her center stage too much.  Adam was highly underused.

They started out the series well, but it went downhill when they switched to Bonnie-centric.  I wonder why they did that.

 

Edited to add:  Oops, forgot about Tammy,  How could I do that, when she was the one bright spot in the show for me??  Thankfully, they did well with her character after a rocky start.

Edited May 12, 2021 by treeofdreams

[illdoc]

11 hours ago, LadyIrony said:

Without Faris' character it is a bit like Laverne without Shirley

Which they did, for a season or two. Still called the show "Laverne & Shirley" though.

[chitowngirl]

1 hour ago, illdoc said:

Which they did, for a season or two. Still called the show "Laverne & Shirley" though.

Didn’t they tack on & Co? So even though it was Laverne & Shirley, the logo on the opening was Laverne & Shirley & Co.

[iHateAmpersands]

2 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

Didn’t they tack on & Co? So even though it was Laverne & Shirley, the logo on the opening was Laverne & Shirley & Co.

That was the title used when the show went into syndication while it was still airing new episodes (something that was done with some shows until sometime in the mid to late 80s; I remember seeing Happy Days in syndication as Happy Days Again).

[LadyIrony]

7 hours ago, treeofdreams said:

I think they made a huge mistake when they switched to centering around Bonnie.  She is just not a likeable character.

My opinion: they should have stayed focused on Christy and her kids and related characters, and given more thought to the other women.  Wendy could have had some good storylines, but they didn't use her.  Marjorie could have had some good storylines, but they kept her one-dimensional.  Jill was also an unlikeable character, but like Bonnie they gave her center stage too much.  Adam was highly underused.

They started out the series well, but it went downhill when they switched to Bonnie-centric.  I wonder why they did that.

 

Edited to add:  Oops, forgot about Tammy,  How could I do that, when she was the one bright spot in the show for me??  Thankfully, they did well with her character after a rocky start.

They way she treated her boyfriend was always so cruel to me. 

I found the cast of women to be quite droll overall but Bonnie was the worst and without Christy there was nothing to balance her anymore. 

I didn't like Jill either, she was also very self centered and was given too much screen time. 

I would say they knew Christy was going to leave/be sacked in advance and started planning for the shift.

4 hours ago, illdoc said:

Which they did, for a season or two. Still called the show "Laverne & Shirley" though.

Yeah that is why I mentioned it. Season 8 for L&S was the last as it wasn't the same without Shirley. 

2 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

Didn’t they tack on & Co? So even though it was Laverne & Shirley, the logo on the opening was Laverne & Shirley & Co.

Not originally, they stuck with the Laverne & Shirley title even though Shirley wasn't in the credits. 

 

[Spunkygal]

I miss the blind guy neighbor who had (prostate?) cancer who had such pithy comebacks to Bonnie and also the other lady neighbor, can’t remember her name but I will when one of you mention her. Bonnie stole her cat’s pills out of the medicine cabinet. They added good comedic relief to the usual characters.

[treeofdreams]

1 hour ago, Spunkygal said:

I miss the blind guy neighbor who had (prostate?) cancer who had such pithy comebacks to Bonnie and also the other lady neighbor, can’t remember her name but I will when one of you mention her. Bonnie stole her cat’s pills out of the medicine cabinet. They added good comedic relief to the usual characters.

Yes, they missed a good opportunity for using Bonnie's position as manager of the building.  So many potential storylines!  After the earliest part of the series, I don't remember them ever showing Bonnie actually doing anything as manager.  Did I miss something?

[nodorothyparker]

 

[treeofdreams]

The TV Guide blurb about tonight's episode:

"Bonnie gains a new outlook on her sobriety after dealing with difficult news; Jill and Andy take a big step in their relationship."

From that and Kristen's tweet, the finale looks like a real cheery episode.  

[Kiddvideo]

5 hours ago, nodorothyparker said:

 

And they even let Wendy play their reindeer games!

[nodorothyparker]

‘Mom’ Will Sign Off With a Message About ‘Hope and Redemption’

Quote

 

Heading into the finale, the creatives continue to use the term “hope and redemption” not only to describe the overall show, but the series finale itself. The writers were five episodes out from scripting the season ender when they got word of the “Mom” cancelation. From there it was a sprint to wrap up the series.

Christy’s journey was made complete offscreen when her character moved to Washington to pursue a legal career in the season premiere; Faris won’t return for the final episode. Instead, the storyline focuses on Bonnie receiving a new perspective on her sobriety after she is dealt some “difficult” news, while also celebrating how far characters, such as Pressly’s Jill, who learned she was pregnant in the penultimate episodes, have come.

 

 

[treeofdreams]

 

15 minutes ago, nodorothyparker said:

Instead, the storyline focuses on Bonnie receiving a new perspective on her sobriety after she is dealt some “difficult” news, while also celebrating how far characters, such as Pressly’s Jill, who learned she was pregnant in the penultimate episodes, have come.

Blah.  The two characters I am least interested in.

[txhorns79]

Gemma Baker discusses the finale and, kind of says Anna Faris was not asked to participate in the final episode.  (Baker doesn't actually say she was not asked to participate, but her wording suggests that is the case.) 

I figured Christy would not be appearing, as Faris' departure before the season began was a big sign she had no desire to return to this show.

[Jaded]

12 hours ago, treeofdreams said:

They started out the series well, but it went downhill when they switched to Bonnie-centric.  I wonder why they did that.

For me at least it seemed like the show started to really focus in on Bonnie more around the time the movie I, Tonya started getting a lot of buzz and especially after Allison Janney won awards for it. It was Christy was progressively dumbed down and/or written in a way to annoy viewers so they hopefully wouldn't miss her as much if Anna was fired or left the show. 

[eel21788]

On 5/12/2021 at 7:02 PM, Spunkygal said:

I miss the blind guy neighbor who had (prostate?) cancer who had such pithy comebacks to Bonnie and also the other lady neighbor, can’t remember her name but I will when one of you mention her. Bonnie stole her cat’s pills out of the medicine cabinet. They added good comedic relief to the usual characters.

Didn't the cat lady die? I'm not sure where I'm remembering that from.

[qtpye]

The main thing I got from the finale...

Andy is Sargent Pepper and his brother is Dr. Pepper.

On 5/13/2021 at 11:25 PM, Jaded said:

For me at least it seemed like the show started to really focus in on Bonnie more around the time the movie I, Tonya started getting a lot of buzz and especially after Allison Janney won awards for it. It was Christy was progressively dumbed down and/or written in a way to annoy viewers so they hopefully wouldn't miss her as much if Anna was fired or left the show. 

I agree.

Original Christy was a good character with plenty of faults but definitely worth our time.  She had great chemistry with Janney.

Bonnie on her own is a horrible person.

My favorite characters were Adam, Tammy, Wendy, Chef Rudy, and that lady who was always sitting outside of Rain Wilson's apartment/office.

I guess Jill got the "happy ending" with the husband/baby. I guess I should be happy that she no longer has to live in her sprawling mansion by herself?

Farewell show...you deserved much more than this.

[Mr. Meatball Man]

Has anyone seen Anna Faris on the Empty Inside podcast with Jennette McCurdy? She appeared back in March and when she talked about Mom, she implied that she left because of the writing.

Apparently, she felt like Christy had changed a lot from season one to season seven, to the point where she felt like there was no delineation between her and Christy anymore. She also felt like because of the show's format, she was never able to dive deep into her character. She would run lines with Allison Janney and talk about it with her (she basically stated that Bonnie's character started resembling Allison more).

[possibilities]

That makes it sound like she's a compulsive person with multiple and ever rotating addictions, and Allison is a narcissistic bully. 

[Mr. Meatball Man]

1 hour ago, possibilities said:

That makes it sound like she's a compulsive person with multiple and ever rotating addictions, and Allison is a narcissistic bully. 

🤣

I don't know, that's what she said. That they were so close to their characters, they couldn't really explore them. I see her point because it does start to feel like you're putting more of yourself in the character, and the writers use more of the actor's mannerisms in the scripts. So they would write Christy based on Anna's strengths and weaknesses. It's like how with The Godfather, it was Michael Corleone being played by Al Pacino. By the third movie, it was Al Pacino acting like Michael Corleone, if that makes sense. 

I did think it was interesting that Anna was that critical of the show and felt restrained and unfulfilled when her co-star was an Academy Award-winning actress. 

[SunnyBeBe]

So, did Farris leave because she wanted to leave or was that decision made for her?

[DanaK]

3 Primetime Emmy Nominations https://deadline.com/2021/07/2021-emmy-nominations-list-1234791599/

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (Allison Janney)
Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series
Outstanding Multi-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series

Edited July 13, 2021 by DanaK

[Jaded]

I would have preferred that Kristen Johnston got that single acting nomination instead of Allison yet again.  Kristen did good work on the show after her character was toned down. and her character got to be the one I enjoyed the most especially in the last season. 

[illdoc]

Charles (Charlie) Robinson, who played the blind tenant, passed away. https://tvline.com/2021/07/12/charles-robinson-dead-night-court-mac-obituary/

 

[Bastet]

FYI for those who don't read the In Memoriam thread about celebrity deaths: Charlie Robinson, who sparred so well with Bonnie as Mr. Munson, died Sunday.