Women’s History Month Spotlight – Fabulous TV Moms

Both of my parents are now entrepreneurs. But before they were bit with the I-wanna-determine-my-own-income bug they both worked at factories in the small town I grow up in. So my early years were spent watching TV sitcoms at the babysitter’s apartment. That was over a decade ago. Now we are forced to be entertained with the drama and chaos of Reality TV. But there was a time not so long ago when the sitcom mom ruled the world of millions of viewers, and raised a few in the process.

We all rushed home to do our homework because you dare not miss the new episode of The Cosby Show. Or watching Tootie and the crew attempt to solve their own daily issues all under the watchful eye of their “den mother”, Edna Garrett. It made boarding school seem kinda fun right?

Since it’s Women’s History month and I desperately long for a good tv sitcom, check out 3 of my favorite TV moms and tell me if you agree.

CLAIRE HUXTABLE, The Cosby Show (Phylicia Rashad): I need to ask Bill Cosby where in the world he got the name Huxtable (I will have to Google that). For 8 years the Huxtable family were our life muses. And what Claire wore and said was always a topic in our house. Claire was stylish, she loved and respect her husband, but still found balance to be a career woman and mom — and it’s that’s not enough she brought good values and a witty clever sense of humor into our living rooms.

FLORIDA EVANS, Good Times (Esther Rolle): Florida Evans was such a refreshing character. Her smile, her constant side eye to JJ, or even her knack for assuring 3 kids from the projects that everything would be OK made for some great TV. Growing up I can only remember watching the reruns of Good Times but even to this day I will stop what I’m doing to catch an episode on BET or Centric. 

EDNA Garrett, The Facts of Life (Charlotte Rae): The Facts of Life was a spinoff of A Different Strokes. When I think about it Edna Garrett managed her time pretty well. She was the maid for those 3 Drummond kids and served as the housemother of 4 at a boarding school. Is that even possible? I guess while Tootie and the girls were at school Ms Garrett was over at the Drummond’s cooking and cleaning? Either way Ms Garrett made me believe boarding school might not be as bad as they say.

Q: A slew of TV moms have sat in on our lives over the last 50 years, which ones are your favorite?