The relationship between a mother and a daughter can be a complicated one, and Chuck Lorre and Eddie Gorodetsky seem to be making comedic use out of that dynamic with Mom, a comedy which has Anna Faris and Allison Janney playing one of the two mother-daughter relationships showcased in this new series, which is fittingly set to air immediately after the female-skewed comedy 2 Broke Girls on Monday nights.
Substance abuse - or rather, sobriety - plays a role in this family story, as hinted in the preview above and further elaborated in the description below.
MOM is a comedy from executive producer Chuck Lorre starring Anna Faris as a newly sober single mom raising two children in a world full of temptations and pitfalls, and multiple Emmy Award winner Allison Janney as her critical, estranged mother. Christy (Faris) is a waitress at a posh Napa Valley establishment who is four months clean and doing her best to be a good mom and overcome a history of questionable choices. Her sobriety is tested when Bonnie (Janney), her recovering alcoholic mom, reappears chock-full of passive-aggressive insights into Christy’s many mistakes.Bonnie joins Christy’s already complicated circle of relationships: her handsome, married boss – and lover – Gabriel (Nate Corddry); the restaurant’s hot-tempered chef, Rudy (French Stewart); her pretty, 16-going-on-25-year-old daughter, Violet (Sadie Calvano); her sweet but overly honest son, Roscoe (Blake Garrett Rosenthal); her irresponsible ex-husband and Roscoe’s father, Baxter (Matt Jones); and Violet’s clueless boyfriend, Luke (Spencer Daniels). Christy tries to remain positive as she pursues her new path in life, but she faces an uphill battle, surrounded by a dubious support system – and a copious amount of dysfunction. Chuck Lorre and Eddie Gorodetsky (“Two and a Half Men” and “The Big Bang Theory”) are executive producers for Chuck Lorre Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television. Pamela Fryman directed the pilot. Gemma Baker co-wrote the pilot with Lorre and Gorodetsky.
My appreciation for Allison Janney and Anna Faris conflicts with my general lack of appreciation for Chuck Lorre comedies (Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang theory). Though, by the ratings of those shows, I'm clearly in the minority. Anyway, Mom looks like it could be funny, so I'll definitely give it a chance when it debuts this fall. Also among the cast is Matt Jones, who's set to appear in The Office finale this Thursday, and is also well known for playing Badger in Breaking Bad. Sadie Calvano (J. Edgar) plays Faris' daughter, and French Stewart plays the boss at the restaurant. So, quite a few familiar faces here.
CBS has Mom set to air Mondays at 9:30 p.m. ET starting this fall. View CBS' full 2013-2014 line-up here.
