Mommy dearest: The good and bad of our favorite TV moms

January 21, 2015 at 9:17PM
On "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet", the family is, from left, Ricky, David, Harriet and Ozzie Nelson. The family's TV name and real name were the same.
From left, Harriet Nelson as herself, Barbara Billingsley as June Cleaver, Florence Henderson as Carol Brady, Phylicia Rashad as Clair Huxtable and Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

On television, the spectrum of motherhood ranges from complete angel to very complicated villain.

Harriet Nelson: Rarely left the kitchen except to greet the kids after school with a plate of warm cookies on "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet."

June Cleaver: Mom extraordinaire who somehow kept everything together in her very perfect suburban family on "Leave it to Beaver."

Carol Brady: Became America's favorite perfect mother during her matriarch reign on "The Brady Bunch."

Elyse Keaton: One of TV's first working mothers, playing a hip architect with three children on "Family Ties."

Clair Huxtable: A strict but loving mother, wife and lawyer on "The Cosby Show." She shared child-rearing and household duties with husband Heathcliff.

Roseanne Conner: The working-class mom who led her family through good times and bad with her wisecracking, brash and unapologetic ways.

⊳ Marge Simpson: The well-meaning and extremely patient mother of "The Simpsons" family. She is the moralistic force and tries to maintain order.

Peggy Bundy: Gave motherly advice to her dysfunctional children on "Married With Children," but her favorite pastime was sitting on the couch in spandex while eating bonbons.

Lucille Bluth: The drunken, scheming matriarch on "Arrested Development" alternated between smothering and ignoring her adult children and grandchildren.

Livia Soprano: The manipulative, abusive mother to Tony, Barbara and Janice on "The Sopranos."

Cersei Lannister: In a show filled with brutality, this conniving puppet master has been behind many of the most dastardly deeds on "Game of Thrones."

Aimee Blanchette


THE SIMPSONS: Marge SImpson on THE SIMPSONS on FOX. THE SIMPSONS ™ and ©2006TCFFC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Marge SImpson (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
FILE - In this Jan. 20, 1977 file photo, actress Farrah Fawcett-Majors, right, joins her husband Lee Majors in a television appearance together in the sit-com "The Brady Bunch," Jan 20, 1977. At left are actors Geri Reischl, Robert Reed and Florence Henderson. Fawcett died, Thursday, June 25, 2009, at a hospital in Los Angeles. She was 62. (AP Photo/George Brich, file)
FILE Florence Henderson as Carol Brady on “The Brady Bunch.” (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
GAME OF THRONES episode 25 (season 3, episode 5): Lena Headey. photo: Helen Sloan, HBO
HBO Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister in “Game of Thrones.” (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Barbara Billingsley, actress, is known for her role as June Cleaver on ABC Television series "Leave It To Beaver" in the 1950s and 1960s. Handout file photo, received 1958.
File Barbara Billingsley as June Cleaver on “Leave It To Beaver.” (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
The Cosby Show / Phylicia Rashad (center) and Bill Cosby (right) starred as parents Clair and Heathcliff Huxtable in the 1980s/ early 1990s television show "The Cosby Show." File photo.
File Phylicia Rashad as Clair Huxtable in “The Ccosby Show.” (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
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Aimee Jordan

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