TV Embraces Reality of Single Motherhood

On the new CBS drama “Family Law,” 40-ish attorney Lynn Holt (Kathleen Quinlan) juggles a sick son, a nanny with the flu, an important trial and a soon-to-be ex-husband too busy to get involved. Meanwhile, on NBC’s sophomore sitcom “Jesse,” the title character’s young single mom (Christina Applegate) is so exhausted from running between nursing school and a job that she forgets to pick up her 11-year-old from school.

As the just-divorcing Judge Amy Gray (Amy Brenneman), of CBS’ “Judging Amy,” puts it in a telling conversation with her young daughter: “I know you want a normal family, but the trouble is, nobody knows what that is.”

Though TV families have been slowly shedding the quiet suburban comforts experienced by Ward and June and Ozzie and Harriet for some time now, increasingly when it comes to prime time, it’s mother who knows best.

The range of plots driven by single moms travels across drama and comedy, veteran shows and new. ABC’s first-year drama “Once and Again,” for example, is essentially the story of a single mother who finds a second chance at love, and on TV’s top-rated long-running “ER,” Nurse Hathaway (Julianna Margulies) will bear twins during November sweeps--without the presence of father-to-be George Clooney.

Indeed, in the case of the Lifetime sitcom “Oh Baby,” the show is built around Tracy’s (Cynthia Stevenson) decision to become a mother with the help of a sperm bank, rather than a living, breathing guy. Last season’s pregnancy has evolved into this season’s single motherhood. As Tracy coos over her newborn on Saturday nights, a loyal audience of fans has returned to see how mom and baby fare on their own.

For a while, TV’s fascination was focused on single dads--from the long-running “Full House” to last season’s “Two of a Kind” and “Brother’s Keeper,” all of which have since departed the prime-time scene. Even the idea of unmarried motherhood is more widely accepted now, helped along by high-profile single mothers by choice such as Madonna and Jodie Foster.

Producers and network executives also suggest that the emergence of shows built around single mothers is a reflection of what is happening in society at large. Although teen pregnancy is on the decline in this country, women of all ages are grappling with solo parenting in record numbers, according to USC sociology professor Judith Stacey, who notes that 85% of all single-parent homes are run by women.

“The fact is, these programs are playing to a reality,” says Stacey, who has also written a book on the evolution of family values.

“There’s something in the air [about that] theme,” says “Family Law’s” co-creator and co-executive producer Anne Kenney. “First of all, having someone be divorced [or otherwise alone] and also a mother obviously adds complications about things like dating.”

“And the more conflict you put on the characters,” adds the show’s co-creator and executive producer, Paul Haggis, “the better the drama you have.”

Marshall Herskovitz, who created and executive-produces “Once and Again” with partner Ed Zwick, theorizes that TV’s new wave of single moms may reflect that “with the equalization of men and women in society, we’re now more interested in stories of women [left alone] with children.”

“It’s permissible now to push the envelope on the subject,” suggests “Judging Amy’s” executive producer, Barbara Hall. “We can no longer afford to ignore the issue; people want to see their own lives played out on screen.”

TV’s single moms this season come in all shapes and sagas. ABC’s new sitcom “Odd Man Out” features Markie Post as a widow left to handle a household of hormonal teens, and NBC’s hit drama “Providence” as well as “Frasier” depict new moms who consciously decide to have babies sans fathers.

“Entertainment provides a cathartic experience,” says actress Paula Cale, who plays “Providence’s” single mom, Joanie. “And there are all these single mothers out there who can laugh at what’s happening to Joanie. Our show is like ‘The Waltons’ of the ‘90s, and that means drugs, death . . . and unwed mothers.”

If the single mother is becoming the new stock character, there’s an easy explanation: Statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau indicate that in 1997, 41% of U.S. mothers had never been married, up from 33% in 1990.

It was just such real-life instances of single motherhood that inspired the creators of “Judging Amy,” “Jesse” and “Oh Baby” to tackle the subject.

“I wanted to do a show about someone who has the weight of the world on her shoulders,” explained writer-producer Ira Ungerleider, who conceived “Jesse” but is not now involved with the show. “And one of my best friends and my cousin are both single moms.”

Certainly neither “Jesse” nor “Oh Baby” sparked the kind of public and political firestorm that “Murphy Brown” did in 1992, when Murphy’s decision to go it alone as a parent triggered a national debate about Hollywood’s role in maintaining traditional family values. Far from creating controversy, “Jesse” snagged two People’s Choice Awards last year.

Forget the Comparisons

With ‘Murphy Brown’?

Although Candice Bergen’s Murphy may simply have been ahead of her time, mention of her name still has the ability to make TV producers and actors nervous.

“[My character] is not Murphy Brown; she’s an everywoman,” Stevenson says of her “Oh Baby” character, a slightly zany marketing executive in her mid-30s who was artificially inseminated. (Stevenson adds that one of the reasons she took the role was that she was raised by a single mother. “Jesse’s” Applegate is also the product of a single-parent home.)

“We’ve made tremendous inroads since ‘Murphy Brown,’ ” says “Oh Baby’s” creator and executive producer, Susan Beavers. “I haven’t heard anything other than, ‘Good for you!’ There are so many single moms on TV because, slowly but surely, TV is catching on to the idea that there is no normal family.”

Or, perhaps, what constitutes a typical family unit has changed, and TV is finally catching up. “In the ‘90s, people understand that you can forge a family from a number of different people and sources, and it can work out,” says “Judging Amy’s” Hall, whose show depicts Amy’s mother (Tyne Daly) helping in caring for Amy’s daughter.

Besides being socially relevant, single motherhood is rarely dull, meaning that the potential for meaty plot lines comes with the concept. “Jesse’s” Ungerleider said that his young protagonist’s burdens--money troubles, career ambitions long delayed by motherhood--make for stories that are quite different from the lighter struggles of unencumbered professionals such as the various decorating crises encountered by the inhabitants of “Will & Grace.”

“It would be much less interesting if Jesse was a woman who could afford three nannies,” says Marta Kauffman, part of the producing trio behind “Friends” that is also responsible for “Jesse,” who has stepped in as the show’s co-executive producer this season. “And because she’s a single mom on a tight budget, it means we get to bring in a lot of other [characters] to help her.”

“There’s a tremendous amount to be mined in being a single mother,” says Beavers, the single mom of a 2-year-old who based “Oh Baby” on her own life. “Right now my child is here in the office, sick, while a casting session is going on, and it’s hard for me to be professional. Single motherhood is good [for material], it’s funny--and it’s everywhere.”