Like it Friends, New girl also went big on stunt casting: Let’s Hear It for Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything everywhere at once) as Joan Day, mother of Jess (Zooey Deschanel); Nora dun (Saturday Night Live) as Louise, Schmidt’s mother; and Margo Martindale (Justified) as Bonnie Miller, mother of Nick (Jake Johnson).
Since her breakthrough role as Gabi in the soapy dramedy Desperate housewives, Eva Longoria leans further towards comedy. In front of the camera, she plays in the sitcom Telenovela and repeated Brooklyn nine-nine. She has also worked behind the camera in comedy, as a director and/or producer Jane the Virgin, The Mike And Blackish. And she’s done comedy on productions where she might never be near a camera, to voice roles The proud family: louder and prouder, The Boss Baby 2: Family business And Bo Jack Rider.
Longoria’s role in the last of these is even less child-friendly than the average BoJack: She plays Mrs. Buenaventura, mother of Yolanda (Natalie Morales). Yolanda is dating Todd (Aaron Paul), and it’s time she introduces him to her family. She has yet to reveal to them that she is asexual, and asks Todd to pretend to be sexual with her. What possible reason could bring up their sex life at a family dinner? Well, her father has written sex books, her sister is a sex columnist, and her mother is an accomplished adult movie star. So…it does.
Ever since I was cast as George’s wife Angie The George Lopez Show, Constance Marie has rarely left our TVs or streaming services. Her (initially) ABC Family show Switched at birth premiered just a few years after the end of The George Lopez Show; then she had a recurring role on Elena of Avalor; then a regular role in an adult animation show, Undone; and is about to return for the second season of With lovea Prime Video romcom series of One day at a time creator Gloria Calderon Kellett. This year Marie also made time to come by How I met your father and the role of Raquel, Long Island real estate magnate and mother of Val (Francia Raísa), was born. Facing Mark Consuelos as Val’s father Juan, Marie must convince the audience that she’s in such a horny couple that even late twenties (like Hilary Duff’s Sophie) are ready to make out with one or both. Spoiler: they nail it down.
Laurie Metcalf, ‘The Big Bang Theory’
Longtime colleagues and roommates Leonard (Johnny Galecki) and Sheldon (Jim Parsons) had very different origin stories. Leonard was raised by Beverly (Christine Baranski), a neuroscientist with multiple PhDs. Sheldon was raised by Mary (Galecki’s former Roseanne co-star Laurie Metcalf), an East Texas woman so born-again that she used to work as a church secretary. Mary may not fully understand science in general, or Sheldon in particular, but as this compilation of her best moments shows, her capacity to love her son and his friends is as infinite as her range of folksy expressions:
When CBS greenlit the single-cam prequel series Young Sheldonthe show found the perfect performer to play young Mary: Zoe Perry, aka Metcalf’s daughter.
Rita Moreno, ‘Jane the Virgin’
Netflix’s beloved 2017 cult hit remake of Norman Lear’s 1970s and 1980s sitcom One day at a time introduced Rita Moreno — already an Oscar winner for West Side Story — for a whole new audience as Lydia, mother/overbearing roommate of Justina Machado’s new divorcée Penelope. It’s an iconic role, but two years earlier, Moreno made her debut in another much-loved TV comedy. On An other worldMarion showed the audience how a character like Whitley could honestly get through her extreme self-righteousness thanks to the influence of a narcissistic parent, and on Jane the VirginJane’s father Rogelio (Jaime Camil) makes a lot more sense when we meet his mother Liliana (Moreno), who is quite obsessed with him.
Moreno expanded her string of stunt-cast sitcom matriarchs this year as Dolores, George’s (George Lopez) grandmother, in a January episode of Lopez vs Lopez — although she’s technically playing Dolores’s ghosthaunting George’s house, it’s unclear if you should expect any more appearances.
Megan Mullally, ‘Happy Endings’
At first, Penny (Casey Wilson) seems to be a bit on the whimsical side of the spectrum – although, compared to Jane (Eliza Coupe), almost everyone is. Then we meet Penny’s mother Dana (Megan Mullally), a thrice-divorced itinerant lounge singer who used to hire a young Penny for a mother-daughter cabaret act. Penny and Dana’s occasionally functional relationship is strained when Dana starts dating Big Dave (Michael McKean), the father of Dave (Zach Knighton), one of Penny’s best friends. . The women’s ability to process their emotions is also limited by a practice, started by Dana during Penny’s childhood, of only arguing with each other through improvisational songs. But maybe Dana was on to something if their conflict can bring us songs like this:
Debbie Reynolds, ‘Will & Grace’
One of the most enduring jokes of Will and grace is that the titular Grace (Debra Messing) is obsessed with gay men. So who better to play her mom than someone gay men have been obsessed with for nearly 50 years? As Bobbie Adler, a flamboyant stunner who is the toast of the Schenectady, New York theater scene, Hollywood legend Debbie Reynolds gets to show off all her talents: singing, dancing, impersonating Mae West, and the impeccable timing it takes to bring her daughter down. with Destructive effect. It’s a tour de force.
Again, Will and grace used parent casting to bring in top talent. Let’s give it up for Blythe Danner (Meet the parents) as Marilyn Truman, mother of Will (Eric McCormack); Veronica Cartwright (The Witches of Eastwick) as Judith McFarland, mother of Jack (Sean Hayes); Suzanne Pleshette (The Bob Newhart Show) as Lois Whitley, mother of Karen (Megan Mullally); Judith Ivy (Women talk) as Eleanor Markus, mother of Grace’s husband Leo (Harry Connick Jr.); and Ellen Albertini Dow (The wedding singer) as Syl, Karen’s mother-in-law.
Elaine Stritch, ’30 Rock’
Speaking of showbiz legends, the only one on this list who’s really in Reynolds’ league is Elaine Stritch. Her legacy was secured as soon as she appeared in the groundbreaking documentary Original cast album: Company (look at itlook Documentary Now!‘s parody, Original Cast Album: Co-op). Primarily a Broadway actor, Stritch had considered sitcoms: As she told itin a one-woman show in the early s, she got the chance to read in for Dorothy The golden girls, but the thought of “working with Betty White every day would be like taking cyanide.” (Having the final stars another memorybut it’s still a good story.)
Anyway: Dorothy might not have made it, but another caustic senior came along later, and Stritch was cast as Colleen Donaghy, bitter mother of Alec Baldwin’s Jack. A success in all aspects of his life, Jack can still be psychologically assaulted by a visit from Colleen, a relentless error-seeker whom the show’s producers deployed with admirable judgment.
More famous mothers could also be found in this long-running production: Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek) as Pearline, mother of Kenneth (Jack McBrayer); Patti Lupone (Broadway’s Evita) as Sylvia Rossitano, mother of Frank (Judah Friedlander); Maria Steenburgen (The last man on earth) as Diana, mother of Jack’s wife Avery (Elizabeth Banks); and Jan Haken (Saturday Night Live) as Verna Maroney, mother of Jenna (Jane Krakowski).
Rita Wilson, ‘Frasier’ and ‘Girls’
Famously, Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) lives with his father Martin (John Mahoney). A retired detective, Martin’s mobility is impaired by a gunshot to the hip, and he moves in with Frasier, initially for security reasons. Although Frasier’s psychotherapist mother Hester appeared in an episode of cheersthe show that introduced him – played by the future Sopranos star Nancy Marchand – by then Frasier is launched, she has been dead for a while. come the seventh season premiere, Frasier has a meet-cute at Cafe Nervosa with children’s book author Mia (Rita Wilson) and invites her on a family outing. So normal until now, until Martin and Frasier’s brother, Niles (David Hyde Pierce), meet and blanch her: it hasn’t occurred to the Freudian Frasier that his latest love interest looks exactly like his late mother; images from an old home video reinforce the casting retcon.
Years later, Wilson would come back as Evie Michaels, mother of Allison Williams’ Mia, in the HBO dramedy Girls; thanks to Frasiershe already had experience performing in a comedy full of characters who were only slightly able to handle their own mental health.
Sign up for the Cracked newsletter
Get the best of Cracked straight to your inbox!