TV Tuesday: Begotten

[yourlibrarian]

Who are the best TV parents and what made them great/memorable? Do they have to be good parents to make interesting characters?

Comments

[marycuntrarian]

I hate what happened to Roseanne (the show and the person) but Roseanne and Dan always seemed like the realist, if not the best, parents.

[yourlibrarian]

Yes, they met their remit in breaking the sitcom family mold.

[flareonfury]

I have agree as well, as much as they were flawed through the series as well, they were the most realistic parents to me and were similar to my own than some of the "better" parents I often saw such as 7th Heaven (which takes such a darker tone now).

[yourlibrarian]

I definitely think that imperfect parents make for more interesting characters (especially for fandom purposes). But I do remember great parenting moments. For example, even though I have little memory of Glee after all this time, I still think that Curt's father was wonderful with his son.

As it happens I have been listening to a Buffy podcast these last weeks and they just discussed the Surprise and Innocence episodes, and said that the best moment of the whole thing was Giles' support of Buffy, particularly his ending speech. He wasn't her parent, but given the absence of her father (through some super difficult times later on) he was definitely her paternal stand-in in the canon text. In many ways this made their relationship more interesting than had he been her actual father, because they had to map out the boundaries of their relationship over time.

[flareonfury]

It's been ages since I saw Glee, but yeah I think Kurt's dad was the best in the whole series.

Giles was a great parental figure for Buffy and I always like that relationship between them although it does harder in the later seasons. But I also really enjoyed Joyce, minus of course the "don't come back" part (I want to say Season 2's finale, right?) Losing her every time I rewatch series still guts me.

[yourlibrarian]

I think Joyce suffered from not being used well on the show -- it seemed to happen when it was convenient to do something for the plot or affect Buffy. I liked Sutherland in the role but it was rather thankless.

It was much easier for Giles since he was a central character for so long and had a direct relationship to everyone in Buffy's life.

[rodo]

I like parents that are flawed and fleshed out characters in their own right, and I found Game of Thrones particularly good for this. Ned and Cat are my favorites, because they both do their best for their children but still fail them in some ways because they're not perfect, and they suffer their own biases and have trauma in their pasts that influences them.

[yourlibrarian]

Never saw the show but agree that characters who are not solely parents are the most interesting.

[rodo]

That honestly goes for most characters, to be fair! It's always good to have them exist as something more than in relation to one of the main characters, be that as parents, in laws, villains, children, friends or coworkers.

[jo]

I would have to go with a single parent: Deep Space Nine's Benjamin Sisco, for the following reasons:

• only captain in any series to balance both a family and his work with Starfleet


• Sisko and Jake actually had a healthy relationship, which might be related to the fact that Sisco and his dad had a great relationship (unlike everyone else in Star Trek -- they all seem to have major daddy issues). You could go as far as saying it's one of the healthiest, most aspirational father-son relationships in all of science fiction (and possibly other genres as well)


• always makes himself emotionally available to counsel Jake through his struggles


• they have a relationship based on mutual respect, trust, and emotional intelligence


• he was physically affectionate with Jake -- you don't see that a lot on TV between fathers and sons


• it's been lauded as a vital representation for Black fatherhood on television

[yourlibrarian]

Sisco is indeed a great example.

[goodbyebird]

This is such a good list <3

[impala_chick]

I loved Scott's mom Melissa McCall on teen wolf. I actually thought all the parents were great, because they were present in their children's lives and did direct the narrative at times, even though it was solidly a show from the teen characters' POV. That seemed more real to me, since parents do influence their teens IRL and a lot of teen shows have parents that are totally absent or very passive. I loved the way Melissa McCall modeled empathy for Scott and also managed her own career as a nurse while being a single mom. Scott's absent father loomed large in the background but it didn't define her or Scott. Plus she was a great contrast to the Argent family, because they were very bad at empathy. Oh and Stiles' dad was also great, very nuanced and changed by grief but also empathetic towards his son.

[yourlibrarian]

Yes! I knew there was some other father-son relationship I really liked but could not recall what it was, and it was Stiles Sr. and Jr. I agree that it was good to see the parents have actual roles on the show (as opposed to a lot of late 90s/early 2000s shows in which parents were either never seen for secondary characters or only occasionally around for the primary ones.

I never did see all of Teen Wolf because of growing disinterest, but it's a good example.

[flareonfury]

Oh yes Melissa McCall was great ♥

[flareonfury]

I'm going to have to say Boy Meets World's Alan and Amy Matthews - they were more grounded in reality than a lot of show although they got their silly moments as well, but rewatching it fairly recently and due to the podcast Pod Meets World last few years, I think they might be one of the best onscreen parents. They showed that they actually loved each other, and they showed they loved their kids (not perfectly, but no parent really is). They were supportive and was often there for their kids (and friends) throughout the years. I think one of the reasons why I dislike the later seasons as much as I do is the lack of them.

I think Lorelai from Gilmore Girls would be like the mom I would have loved to have (not that mine was bad or anything), and Lorelai did great as single mom for as long as she did.

[yourlibrarian]

Yes, Gilmore Girls really flew in the face of so many shows around then which made parents almost invisible and very secondary. Whereas GG was really all about parenting, either Emily's or Lorelai's.

[flareonfury]

It really was centered about parenting when I look back at it, parents did often take a back burner during the late 90s and early 2000s now that you mention it, and I didn't even really realize until I couldn't even think of other examples that people didn't already mention. Even if you look at the Disney Channel shows from the 2000s and 2010s, most often the parents were often played for jokes, maybe one or two heartfelt moments I could even think of.

[tinny]

Oh yeah, Lorelai was weird, and definitely not perfect in many aspects, but she cared and she tried to do her best. Which often is all you can ask.

[tinny]

I guess tv parents are optimized for entertainment, which is usually not the best for parenting. I thought about this for a while, and this is what I came up with:

My most recent example is Song Sanchuan's foster dad An Cong on Nothing But You. He always tries to help his son, not always in the best way, sometimes he just gives examples from his own life that don't really apply to his son, but I found him eminently realistic because of that. (Pretty much all the characters on Nothing But You are realistic.)

Similarly, I liked Violet Bridgerton, who wants the best for her children. Sometimes her idea of what's best for them isn't the same as theirs, but she steers them gently rather than forcing them into her desired direction.

I also liked Shaun's father on Psych. He was a bit harsh sometimes, but I think the dynamic between them explained/fit both their characters really well.

Nick's mom on Heartstopper. And Charlie's dad, come to think of it.

Hm, those are all parents of adult children. Lets see if I can think of some with younger children. Calvin's Dad on Calvin and Hobbes? Not a tv dad, though. Gru from the Minions franchise? Also not tv.

I liked Morgan on High Potential for how she tries to deal with her high-IQ son. I can't say I like the series overall, but those scenes were very poignant.

Also recently, I liked all the family relationship portrayals in North of North. Siaja is the only *good* parent, really, but the rest are also realistic, and I had a good overall impression from their interactions.

[yourlibrarian]

Such good examples! I agree that Violet does her best, and I know what you mean about Shaun's father. I only saw 2 seasons but I think there is a strong relationship there.

I like Olivia Colman so much in her work that I wonder if I could be objective about her as a parent! She seems to have such a natural warmth to her (which is why I thought she was miscast as Queen Elizabeth). But yes, she's great in Heartstopper.