They say mama knows best, but television has shown us time and time again that isn’t always the case. Whether it’s a show as sinister as Sons of Anarchy or one as innocent as Modern Family, there’s no shortage of moms who don’t give the best advice. I’m sure there are plenty of dads as well, to be sure, but that’s not what we’re here to talk about today.
Moms make the world go round, but they’re not infallible. The following are some shining examples of mothers who aren’t always giving the best advice, though I’ll concede that some give worse advice far more often than others. Let’s dive in!
Roseanne
The point of Roseanne was that the Conners weren’t picturesque parents, but they somehow made it work anyway. Pull up any old episode with a Peacock subscription, and you’ll hear Roseanne giving some ill-informed advice. Her heart is always in the right place, though, and that’s what matters.
Cersei Lannister
If Cersei Lannister hadn’t told her son Joffrey that anyone outside their family was an enemy, he wouldn’t have turned into the despicable monster we witnessed on Game of Thrones. Cersei’s twisted mindset ultimately led to Joffrey’s death, and I don’t think I need to bring up her other two children that didn’t survive the series, either.
Connie Tucker
Better known as Meemaw on Young Sheldon, some might not know that Connie Tucker’s daughter is Mary Cooper even if they saw them side by side. Between her underground gambling operation in the backroom of the laundromat, and the time she got her grandson Georgie arrested while bootlegging cigarettes across the border, she’s not the best role model.
Linda Belcher
Linda Belcher has her own issues she picked up during her upbringing, and she’s instilled some of those values in her children. Encouraging Tina and Louise to cheat in school rather than do the work is a great example, and a hilarious lesson that makes this one of the best animated shows of all time.
Norma Bates
I think it’s possible that if your son turns out to be a mass murderer, you might’ve had a couple of missteps in instilling some advice. Norma Bates certainly had an unhealthy relationship with her son, and her general advice not to trust other women not only led to their deaths, it eventually led to her own.
Lucy Ricardo
I can’t even imagine the shenanigans Little Ricky got up to having Lucy Ricardo as his mother. The I Love Lucy character was always getting into hijinks, and landed herself in quite a bit of trouble with her various schemes from time to time. It’s hard to imagine she didn’t cook up some shenanigans with her son, and landed him in some trouble as well.
Bonnie Plunkett
Bonnie Plunkett being an imperfect mother was more or less the point of Mom, as the recovering addict helped her daughter, Christy, work through her own recovery. She wasn’t the best mother during Christy’s upbringing, and she made her mistakes during the series, too. That said, she does love her daughter, and the family she helped raise.
Lois Griffin
You don’t need to see more than ten minutes of a Family Guy episode to see that Lois Griffin isn’t the best parent. That said, she’s definitely changed throughout the series, and become almost as unhinged as Peter in recent episodes.
Skyler White
Skyler White gets a lot of flak, considering Walter White was the true villain of Breaking Bad, but it’s hard to not fault her from taking Walt Jr. and getting out of the drug ring operation the moment she became aware of it. Other than that she was a good mother, but that one mistake is pretty hard to overlook.
Kitty Forman
Whether it was That ’70s Show or That ’90s Show, Kitty Forman had a knack for instilling some bad to occasionally twisted advice to teenagers with a heavy dose of sugar. It’s hard not to love her anyway, despite that, and the characters were so iconic that it’s always worth keeping tabs on what Debra Jo Rupp and the rest of the That ’70s Show cast is up to now.
Cookie Lyon
I can honestly say that Cookie’s decision-making and advice is no worse than any other member of the Lyon family in Empire, but they all make some terrible decisions. Between her spitefulness and scheming, she landed her sons in some sticky situations, some of which were more than a little dangerous.
Betty Draper
Mad Men‘s Betty Draper might have the worst maternal instincts of any other TV mom on this list. Unfortunately, a lot of the ways she brought up their children was likely inspired by her own childhood, and gave many viewers the impression she disliked them or didn’t care about them.
Marge Simpson
I would say that, for the most part, Marge Simpson is a great mom. The Simpsons‘ matriarch does have her moments, however, and in those chaotic times can impart some bad advice. Perhaps the worst was telling her children to aim low in life as to not disappoint others, which seems like terrible advice for Bart, in particular.
Joyce Byers
Joyce Byers has had a rough number of years, so it feels unfair to judge her based on the last time we saw her in Stranger Things. With that said, she was barely holding the homefront down and seemingly only had bad haircuts to hand out to the teens as they all dealt with life.
Catelyn Stark
The Seven Kingdoms takedown of the Stark family was pretty wild, but Catelyn’s campaign to avenge her husband might’ve led to some tactical missteps on her own end. Let’s not forget the trauma we all endured watching the Red Wedding, which she had a part in.
Jessica Huang
Jessica Huang is a fantastic tv mom, but she also has a way of getting things done that may not always be the best way of doing things. She can be crafty and devious, but almost everything she ever does is out of love for her sons and family.
Selina Meyer
Veep‘s Selina Meyer progressively gets more unsympathetic throughout the series, but her parenting skills may make some people dislike her from the start. Pushing her daughter into ending relationships due to political optics for her own career is just one of many ways she was a bad parent to come to with a problem.
Wendy Byrde
When you loop your children into your operation of laundering drug money for the cartel, you’re bound to give a lot of bad parenting advice along the way. Wendy doles out plenty of bad advice throughout the course of Ozark, making her one of the worst offenders on the list.
Malory Archer
Malory Archer wasn’t the best mother to her child, Sterling, and her self-centered nature and skewed view of the world due to her extreme wealth made her even worse to come to for advice. With that said, it’s a bit ironic that her line “Do you want ants? That’s how you get ants,” is some great advice fans frequently reference.
Claire Dunphy
Claire Dunphy’s advice to her children, at times, could come off as controlling. There are definitely points in Modern Family where her advice is molded by what she would like her children to do, rather than what is best for them. Her advice to Haley about not living in the past when Dylan came back into her life feels like a great example.
Benny Lopez
George Lopez’s mother, Benny, often created more problems for him than not on The George Lopez Show, and from what we know about his upbringing, she wasn’t a great mother. Part of this was due to the fact Benny was also raised by bad parents, but fortunately, George was able to break the cycle and be able to overcome the mistakes of his upbringing despite his mother’s poor advice.
Sophia Petrillo
Sophia Petrillo doled out countless pieces of advice to her daughter and roommates on The Golden Girls, and I would say a good chunk of it was solid. Sophia is a wildcard, however, and occasionally, some of her advice was informed by her occasionally reckless lifestyle, which made it less useful to the women, but hilarious for viewers.
Francine Smith
Francine Smith gives out tons of bad advice, but given the kookiness that can go down on American Dad, it’s hard to fault her for it. Sometimes, you just gotta train your son to fight a school bully when you’ve had about two-hundred, or “two-fiddy,” battles of your own back in the day.
Dr. Beverly Hofstadter
The Big Bang Theory plays Leonard’s relationship with his mother for laughs a lot, but the fact that she treated her child more as a test subject and imparted advice that crushed his self-confidence and shaped his anxiety definitely makes her one of the worst mothers on the list. Despite that, they do reconcile, if only because she felt like him marrying Penny was something he did right for once.
Gemma Teller-Morrow
Gemma Teller-Morrow never had to drag her son into the life of motorcycles, guns, and crime, but every time Jax tried to leave she pulled him back. I think it’s more than fair to say Gemma was driven by her own interests and would actively work against any others, which led to quite a few times where she offered bad advice.
Evelyn Harper
Two And A Half Men‘s Evelyn Harper was a terrible mother, and in the small number of times she’d actually parent her sons, she had a litany of bad advice. Some would argue her upbringing is what led both Alan and Charlie to have such dysfunctional relationships with women, which I totally get.
Livia Soprano
Livia Soprano gave out her fair share of bad advice, and even worse, tried to push it off like she was innocent in it all. Her subtly pushing Uncle Junior to put out a hit on Tony is just one of the moments that makes The Sopranos one of the best shows streaming on Max.
Lucille Bluth
Neither Lucille or George Bluth were great parents when their kids were growing up, and that continued when they turned into adults. Whether it’s her business advice to her children or the coddling of Buster, it’s surprising the Arrested Development matriarch wasn’t treated like a child more than the actual teens.
Peg Bundy
Peg Bundy’s parenting style was just about as outrageous as her clothing choices, but there’s no denying she loved her kids. The mom from Married…with Children bucked just about every cultural norm of the traditional housewife, and wasn’t the best at giving out advice. In her defense, she owned it, and never claimed to be someone she was not.
Briana Barksdale
Not many mothers would convince their sons to not tell on drug dealers if it meant they’d spend a considerable time behind bars. Brianna Barksdale from The Wire isn’t most people, however, and was able to convince her son, D’Angelo, to do just that rather than to sell the operation out to the authorities. She also managed to pull him back into the business when he’d try to pull away, so she’s not winning mother of the year awards any time soon.
Marie Barone
Raymond’s mother, Marie, was number one at meddling, and would even use her advice as opportunities to conspire against her daughter-in-law, Debra. It seemed like Marie was always working an angle to get what she wanted, and she was not above doling out bad advice if it got her that much closer to the goal she ultimately had.
Monica Gallagher
Monica Gallagher wasn’t around her children often in Shameless, but did try to give advice with the best intentions. Unfortunately, someone in her position wasn’t really able to always give the best advice even if she meant well, and the children often ended up trusting themselves more than their mother.
As I mentioned before, some moms are better than others, and no mom is perfect. I’d reckon that, provided someone is at least making sure they aren’t in line with the worst offenders on this list, they’re doing a solid job.
