Can anyone doubt that sitcom moms have had to be a little tougher with each passing decade? It’s not that the sitcom dads are giving them more to do, but there was something about sitcom moms in the 80s that made it clear that things were changing in a big way. A lot more of them were going to work in high-powered jobs for one thing, and it was a shift that was kind of interesting since it showed that they could take on a much bigger workload and somehow still find a way to be mothers or could find ways to raise their children by affording help or juggling their work with their family life somehow. In any case, it happens to be seen that sitcom moms were doing more, becoming more and changing the narrative of the average sitcoms at times in a way that was very different and had a lot of people wondering just what had happened. The traditional roles were changing, and while it wasn’t a negative thing it was something to get used to. But with a sitcom, it was very easy since the transition was often helped by humor, which was a great medium when presenting said shows to the public.
Here are some of the best sitcom moms from the 80s.
5. Angela Bower
Angela was a bit of a workaholic and couldn’t take care of her home and her son at all times, so it was kind of necessary to get a housekeeper and she ended up with Tony. Over the course of the show, she and Tony managed to get to know each other better and it appeared as though things were going to work out for them, but as of now a lot of people are still guessing at what happened. There’s been a rumor that the show could be coming back, but it won’t feature the same characters as before, which makes it feel kind of pointless. Angela was a decent mom, but she was a basketcase at times that couldn’t always manage her time between home and work.
4. Sophia Petrillo
Sophia was one of the coolest moms to ever come along and the fact that she was an old woman didn’t matter a bit since she could stand toe to toe with anyone and exercise her wit with a precision that could shred just about anyone. This is the kind of mom we all hope our mom might grow to be at one point since she’s intelligent, she’s sassy, and she doesn’t take anything off of anyone. While on the show it was often hilarious to see her match wits with the rest of the Golden Girls and harangue her daughter from time to time simply because it did feel as though she needed to be brought down a peg every now and then.
3. Norma Arnold
Norma was definitely a return to tradition since she was the housewife that took care of her family and didn’t do much else since this was her life. But she had her moments throughout the show and it was well known that the house was her domain and one didn’t mess with it if they wanted to avoid seeing her upset. The one thing about people that have a long fuse is that sometimes the BOOM is that much bigger since it takes a while for them to really get mad enough to blow up at someone. She was a very sweet and caring mother on The Wonder Years but there were times when it was best not to cross her.
2. Claire Huxtable
You didn’t talk back to Clair Huxtable, you just didn’t do it. She was a sweet and very kind mother figure and she carried this over to her time in the Creed movies, but she also had a sharp tongue when she needed to and didn’t take anything off of anyone when it came to attitude. Her persona was one that was easy to get along with and enjoy, but she also had a side that a lot of kids that have sweet, caring mothers know about since it’s a dark side that we don’t want to reach, especially considering that getting there means that a person has really screwed up and is about to get the full wrath of said dark side. Beyond that, however, Clair was the type of mom that a lot of people could get along with.
1. Elyse Keaton
Elyse was another mom that eventually started to work more and had to balance her duties at home and at work just like anyone else, and if anyone has seen the show it’s obvious that the Keaton’s had a pretty easy time of adjusting since at one point everyone pitched in and it was easy to see that they learned how to work as a team when they needed to without too much fuss. As moms go, she was definitely one of those that just tried to keep up with her family a lot of the time.
Sitcom moms in the 80s were getting a little more complicated, but they were still easy to like as a fan.
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