Who are the best single moms on prime-time TV? We've picked our Favourites.
- Lauren Graham, Gilmore Girls (3pm Saturdays on SABC2) Lorelai Gilmore showed us in abundance that it's possible for single motherhood to have no relationship whatsoever to wearing mom jeans and driving carpool.
With an enviably close relationship with her teenage daughter, a Rosalind-Russell-as-Hildy-Johnson
conversational style, a massive tolerance for caffeine and a relationship with her parents that doesn't even begin to be described by the word "difficult" she created a vivid picture of the complexities - and fun - of parenthood.
- Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine Christine Campbell is one in an ever-growing line of TV single moms with warm relationships with their ex-husbands - even when it means being referred to as "Old Christine" in relation to his girlfriend, "New Christine".
Julia Louis-Dreyfus broke the Seinfeld curse as the mom
Elaine Benes might have been, with a massive dose of growing up and a whole lot of therapy.
- Chandra Wilson, Grey's Anatomy (season six starts January 18 at 7.30pm on M-Net) It took most of a season for us to even find out that Miranda �The Nazi� Bailey was even married, and no one had a clue about how motherhood would change her. After the heartbreak of her marriage falling apart and the scare when baby Tuck became a patient, she struggled a bit with managing her dual roles. But she seems to have found her way with the paediatric fellowship and working with Arizona Robbins, and the kids on the ward - and we are better off for it.
- Cynthia Nixon, Sex and the City The all-business Miranda Hobbes wasn't exactly the first of the SATC quartet anyone expected to be strapping on a Baby Bjorn, and it takes her a while to warm to the idea when she learns she's pregnant in Season 4. Miranda is the picture of ambivalence about so many aspects of motherhood, and it was always interesting to watch how she fit it into her life and resisted becoming a different person. Her struggles are the struggles of every working mother - with her own home, a great job and a dedicated cleaning woman/nanny.
- Judith Light, Who's the Boss? Angela Bower's corporate shoulder pads carried a lot of work burdens, but she was smart enough to recognise when she needed help, both with her son (Danny Pintauro) and her crazy mother (Katherine Helmond) - even if it meant
introducing "Ay-oh. Oh-ay" into her life. Judith Light gave the buttoned-up Angela some room to breathe, and let her relax bit by bit without giving up her true Type-A nature.
- Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife (premiering on
M-Net on January 25 at 8.30pm) Technically she's not divorced, but Alicia Florrick is most definitely on her own, trying to raise two kids while dodging the limelight in the aftermath of the corruption and sex scandal of her husband, State Attorney Peter Florrick (Chris Noth).
While he's in the pokey, she's got to make a living, so she returns to work as a junior associate in a law firm, competing against smarmy associates. Margulies is great at letting Alicia be determined but not too plucky as her confidence grows bit by bit.
- Teri Hatcher,Desperate Housewives (Season 6 starts on M-Net on January 28 at 8.30pm) Susan Mayer began her tenure on Wisteria Lane as a loving mom with a great relationship with her daughter and a serious abandonment complex, courtesy of her ex-husband. Over the years she's run the gamut from cuckoo good, but hapless friend to misguided crusader - talk about a character arc.
- Candice Bergen, Murphy Brown As TV's original single-mom-by-choice, Murphy Brown is the queen, and to date, the only one mentioned by a real-life vice-presidential candidate. Though little Avery wasn't
exactly a cast regular for the rest of the show's run, we got to see - and laugh at - how even the most
accomplished of career women can find motherhood a little overwhelming. And Candice Bergen set the bar for showing how something transformative doesn't mean changing who a person is.
- Shirley Jones, The Partridge Family Shirley Jones made wrangling a brood of five kids, a manager, a thriving music career and an old school bus look wholesome and easy. If The Partridge Family were on
today, it would look more like Keeping Up With the Kardashians.
- Jada Pinkett-Smith of Hawthorne (M-Net,
Mondays at 7.30pm) When Christina Hawthorne (Jada Pinkett-Smith) hangs up her chief nursing officer coat and leaves Richmond Trinity Hospital at the end of a long day of life-saving, she knows her day isn't over yet.
Compassionate and headstrong Christina has the unenviable task of single-handedly raising her smart, rebellious teenage daughter, Camille (Hannah Hodson). It's no small feat (taking into account that Camille inherited her nature from her mother) yet Christina still manages to dish out the tough love with just the right
proportions of wisdom, tact and attitude (she's no walk-over) that her daughter can't help but love and admire her. Now that's great parenting under pressure. - Los Angeles Times