Has Another TV Mom Fallen Victim to the Lethal Write-Out?

Say it isn’t so. Did the producers of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” really kill off Buffy’smom?

Maybe she just looks dead, but is actually hovering in another dimension. Hey, this is Sunnydale, where stranger things have happened. Take the newest addition to the show, Dawn, Buffy’s “sister.” Portrayed by Michelle Trachtenberg, she appeared out of nowhere this season alongside Buffy’s Sarah Michelle Gellar. It turns out Dawn is not exactly human, but was created to be the “key” (I never understood to what) by some monks.

So maybe Buffy’s mom, Joyce (Kristine Sutherland), could be brought back to life as a spare key.

Something needs to be done, because she definitely looked dead in the last episode when Buffy found her on the couch. CPR didn’t help, and neither did the paramedics, who could only offer Buffy that line made famous in “NYPD Blue”: “Sorry for your loss.”

Adding to the impression that Joyce is a goner were the facts that they put her in a body bag and took her to the morgue, where an autopsy was performed. The doctor soberly informed Buffy that her mother had an aneurysm, from her recent brain-tumor surgery. We should have known Joyce was doomed, because she finally met a nice guy who didn’t turn out to be a demon or robot. (He even sent her flowers after their first date. The shock no doubt killed Joyce.)

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Buffy’s loss is our loss, because Joyce was cool, and cool moms are an endangered species in TV shows and movies. It seems that “Buffy” is following that time-honored Hollywood tradition of writers looking for a good hook along the lines of--”Let’s get rid of mom!”

Think of Cinderella and Snow White. If their mothers had been alive, things would have been a lot different. Forget the prince; Mom would have encouraged the girls to go after the butcher’s son. He’s not so bad to look at, and you’ll never starve.

Dead moms have been behind the premise for TV shows like “Full House.” Those three fun-loving guys would have had a lot less fun and loving if they had to share the house with a mom. How do we know that? After Jesse got married, moved in his new bride and had kids, the show was canceled. The Olsen twins went from that show to another sitcom with the dead-mom premise, “Two of a Kind.” Lots of fun was had by all, because mom’s gone, leaving professor Dad to lust for the new spunky nanny. Everyone knows spunky nannies are a lot more fun than moms.

An absent mom allowed TV’s “Blossom” to have all those very special moments (although I’m pretty sure her mom was in Paris, actually). I also don’t think the mother is dead in “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” but she’s in another realm, leaving Sabrina in the care of two wacky aunts and a cat. Everyone knows wacky aunts and a cat are a lot more fun than moms.

Getting rid of both parents also is a story-starter. A car crash killed mom and dad, creating the once-watchable show “Party of Five.” Sometimes parents are removed without killing them. When Brenda and Brandon’s parents got in the way on “Beverly Hills 90210” they were shipped off to Hong Kong. That left Nat, owner of the Peach Pit hangout, as the only parental figure on the show. On “Buffy,” Giles, the watcher, has assumed the Nat role. If I were him, I’d watch my back, because he’s the closest thing to a parent left on the show.

Characters young and old in TV shows and movies generally find life much more meaningful without mothers. On “Providence” the mom died in the first episode, but still pops up in the main character’s dreams, dispensing annoying advice and insights. Fortunately, her daughter can banish her simply by waking up. In the 1999 movie, “10 Things I Hate About You,” teenager Julia Stiles and her sister don’t have a mother, so they get meaningful life lessons from their wise and funny dad. And then there was the 1996 film “Fly Away Home” in which young teen Anna Paquin moves in with her dad and flies around with a bunch of Canadian geese. All because her mother died. (Even the geese were orphans.)

There are exceptions to the absent-mother syndrome. This is the absent-father syndrome, which allows for really cool mom characters to take over. In fact, all the cool moms on TV are either divorced, widowed or never married. Traditional married moms on shows like “Everybody Loves Raymond” exist so we can laugh at them for having PMS and other uncool problems. Really cool single moms, who never get PMS, can be found on “Judging Amy,” “Once and Again” and the new “Kate Brasher.”

Buffy’s mom was certainly in the cool category. She was divorced, had an art gallery, and never once suggested that Buffy might want to wear something a little less revealing when she went out slaying. She didn’t nag Buffy or Dawn to clean their rooms, get off the phone, or help out with the laundry. Who would want to get rid of a nice lady like that?

So what’s going to happen now that Buffy is in charge of Dawn? Buffy would be wise never to act mom-like to Dawn, who is sure to become a major player on the show. As my own teen daughter pointed out, Dawn may be the “key,” but that’s not the real reason she was created: “Buffy’s getting old; they needed someone younger.”

If Buffy sticks to being a cute older sister, she should be all right. After all, everyone knows that cute older sisters are a lot more fun than moms.

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* “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” airs tonight at 8 on the WB. The network has rated it TV-14-LSV (may be unsuitable for children younger than 14 with special advisories for coarse language, sexual situations and violence).

Emily Dwass writes the “Kid Health” column for The Times’ Health section.