There are a ton of dramatic and funny stories that come from the lives of single parents. Movies and TV shows have often leaned into relationships like this across basically every genre. Sometimes they are fun and funny, and sometimes, just like real life, they are serious or heartbreaking. This list doesn't separate them, as it all adds to the rich tapestry of life. Here's our list of great movies and TV shows about the lives of single parents.
Jerry Maguire
Jerry Maguire is a movie that kind of defies genre, but at its heart, it's certainly a romance story. One of the best parts of the movie is the performance of child actor Jonathan Lipnicki, who plays an only child living with his single mother (at least at the beginning of the movie). Renée Zellweger, of course, plays his mother, whose faith in Jerry (Tom Cruise) pays off big time for everyone.
Diff'rent Strokes
In Diff'rent Strokes, Mr. Drummond (Conrad Bain) is already a widowed parent of two kids when he takes in two more kids, Willis (Todd Bridges) and Arnold (Gary Coleman). The two kids upend the lives of the rich family on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, much to the delight of audiences of the Gen X classic.
The Sound Of Music
If all you know about The Sound of Music is that the hills are alive, you might not realize that it's about a single father raising his seven children in Austria. Maria, played by the legendary Julie Andrews, is hired to help Captain von Trapp (Christopher Plummer), and she brings so much more to the table.
Gilmore Girls
One of the most popular TV shows about a single mom and her relationship with her daughter is unquestionably Gilmore Girls. The show gained a very loyal following over its seven-season run, and it remains incredibly popular with the people who were drawn to it in the first place.
Mom
There are really two kinds of family sitcoms in TV history, one side is the idyllic family with perfect relationships, personified by shows like The Cosby Show and The Brady Bunch, and the other is more dysfunctional families, like Married with Children. Mom, starring Allison Janney and Anna Faris, definitely falls into the latter category. Still, at least until Faris left the show, it was hilarious.
Sleepless In Seattle
Rom-coms like the '90s classic Sleepless in Seattle are always fertile ground to explore single-parent/child relationships. In the movie, Tom Hanks is a widower raising his son who grabs the attention of a journalist (Meg Ryan) after his son calls a radio talk show looking for a partner for his dad. It's a sweet story, of course, and the dynamic between father and son is so darn wholesome! It helps make it one of the best rom-coms of all time.
The Single Moms Club
The Tyler Perry joint The Single Moms Club is a unique take here. It doesn't follow one single mom, but five. The five, who have little in common beyond their marital status, find themselves thrown together planning an event at their kids' school because all of their kids keep getting in trouble. It plays out pretty much as you expect, but it is charming at times.
Forrest Gump
I'll be the first to admit that I don't care for Forrest Gump. I think it's overwrought Boomer nostalgia (albeit with a great soundtrack). However, the one piece of the story I do think is well done is the relationship between Forrest (Tom Hanks) and his mother, played by Sally Field. Forrest's mom's determination to give Forrest as normal a life is actually inspiring, despite all the silliness that follows in Forrest's life. D- movie, A+ relationship.
Arrested Development
The dynamic between Michael (Jason Bateman) and his son George Michael (Michael Cera) is one of the key components that makes Arrested Development one of my favorite sitcoms of all time. Bateman plays the straight man in the show, surrounded by completely ridiculous family members, and George Michael is definitely among them, even if he is trying a little harder than the rest of the family to be a good person.
Erin Brockovich
Julia Roberts plays the real-life Erin Brockovich in the movie of the same name, and while her status as a single mother is only tangentially explored in the movie, it's the whole reason the character (and the real woman) ended up in a position to do what she did. Never underestimate a determined single mother!
Stranger Things
I have a complicated relationship with Stranger Things. I think the plot is brilliant and I love the stories, but I am on record as a Gen Xer who is annoyed with Gen X nostalgia. Obviously, the show, available with a Netflix subscription, fits the bill for this list, no matter how I feel about it.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
"Single Parent" might not be the first thing that pops into your head when you think about the Terminator franchise, but the relationship between Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) and John (Edward Furlong) is critical to the series, and no more so than in the second installment, Terminator 2: Judgment Day. It's certainly not a traditional mother/son relationship.
Julia
You might not be familiar with the ABC sitcom Julia, but it was one of the most groundbreaking television shows of all time. Diahann Carroll, who played Julia, a single mother of a son, changed TV forever, both as a female lead in a sitcom and as an African-American actor as the lead in any show. The fact that she was a single mom is yet another way she broke new ground.
Mamma Mia!
Like a few other movies on this list, Mamma Mia! might not jump off the page as a single-parent story, but, of course, it is. Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried play mother and daughter, and, like others on this list as well, it's about the daughter hoping to set up the parent with a new partner.
The Parent Trap
I just had to include The Parent Trap. It's not about one single parent, but two! Sure, they were once married to each other, and sure, the plot, when you really look at it, is, frankly, disturbing. Like, why were two twins separated at birth and never told of the other one? How was this the deal that the demented parent came up with? Still, whether it's the original or the remake, everyone loves the movies, including me.
Maid In Manhattan
The Jennifer Lopez hit Maid in Manhattan is one of the trope-ier movies on this list. It kind of checks all the boxes for a standard rom-com, yet somehow it is still incredibly fun. Lopez plays a single mom trying to make it in the big city and... well... there's a rich guy, and yadda yadda yadda.
Ginny And Georgia
Almost immediately, Ginny & Georgia drew comparisons to The Gilmore Girls, and it's easy to see why. The dynamic between teen daughter Ginny and her mother, Georgia, is very similar to the one between Rory and Lorelai.
Reba
Not only was Reba one of the best shows set in the South, it also firmly belongs on this list as a great show about a single parent. The show stars Country music icon Reba McEntire as a mother of three whose husband leaves her for a younger woman, and she is left to pick up the pieces.
Panic Room
One of the more underrated David Fincher movies, Panic Room is a true thriller about a mother and daughter. Jodie Foster plays a mother who moves into a new house with her young daughter after a divorce. On their first night in the new (very nice) brownstone, some burglars break in. Luckily, there's a panic room! Okay, it doesn't sound great when you break it down like that, but like most of Fincher's movies, it's actually pretty great.
Parenthood
While it's loosely based on the 1989 movie of the same name, the television show Parenthood is quite a bit different from the movie. On the show, Lauren Graham plays Sarah, the single mother of two working on a bartender's salary. There are other parents, of course, Sarah's siblings, who aren't single, but Lauren's story is key to the show.
One Day At A Time
One Day At A Time, which was later rebooted in the 2010s, starred Bonnie Franklin as a single mother struggling to raise her teenage daughters in a small apartment in Indianapolis. It was a cornerstone show for anyone who grew up in the '70s and '80s, as it was a staple of reruns in syndication after its nine-season run on CBS.
Full House
Well, you knew I had to include Full House on this show. Even though I was personally a little too old to get into this show when it was on, I certainly recognize the cultural impact of the Tanner family and the stars that this show produced, including Bob Saget as Danny Tanner, the widowed father of DJ, Stephanie, and Michelle.
One Fine Day
Just when George Clooney was really becoming George Clooney, he starred in the rom-com One Fine Day alongside Michelle Pfeiffer. Pfeiffer plays a single mom struggling with her ex to raise their child. Enter Clooney's character, Jack, who is also recently divorced, and after a series of hijinks, the two end up finding love with each other. Yeah, it's as cheesy as it sounds, but Pfeiffer and Clooney make it work better than it should.
Shameless
Shameless was never ashamed to show the dark side of a dysfunctional family, and no family in TV history has been as messed up as the Gallaghers. At the top of the heap of screwups is Frank, the hapless, drunk father played brilliantly by William H. Macy. You can't help but love this group of misfits.
Overboard
One of the most enduring relationships in Hollywood is the one between Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn. In the '80s, they teamed up a few times, and one of the best has to be Overboard. Hawn plays a snobby, rich woman with amnesia, and Russell plays a working-class guy who is raising his kids on his own. He devises a plan (that is quite disturbing in hindsight) to trick Hawn into living with the family. Hilarity ensues.
The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show is the quintessential show based in the South, and it's easy to forget, unless you watched it, that Andy was a single father raising Opie (Ron Howard). Sure, he had Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier) there to help out, but he was a single dad, and that was pretty rare on TV in the '60s.
No Reservations
Yet another rom-com on this list, No Reservations, is about Kate, a hard-charging chef played by Catherine Zeta-Jones, who becomes guardian for her niece (Abigail Breslin) when her sister is killed in a car crash. She finds a way through her grief with a new sous chef who threatens her job, but opens up her heart, played by Aaron Eckhart.
My Three Sons
One of the earliest examples of a TV show about a single parent is the 1960s classic My Three Sons, starring Fred MacMurray as a single dad with, you guessed it, three sons. It's all right there in the title!
Mommie Dearest
When I was a kid, my mom loved to make fun of Joan Crawford (hey, it was a thing), and that was in large part due to this movie, Mommie Dearest. While the movie hasn't held up, it certainly tells a disturbing story of a single mom (Crawford, played by Faye Dunaway), raising her two kids in terror. I watched it too many times as a kid, and I still hate wire hangers.
Who's The Boss?
There isn't just one single parent in Who's The Boss?, there are two. Tony Danza plays...Tony, a single father to Sam (Alyssa Milano), who becomes a live-in maid for Angela (Judith Light,) who is helped by her mother Mona (Katherine Helmond) in raising her son Jonathan (Danny Pintauro). It may not be one of the best sitcoms ever, but it's a classic show for anyone in Gen X.
Big Little Lies
Big Little Lies is filled with complicated family dynamics, including Shailene Woodley as a single mom to Ziggy (Iain Armitage).
We Bought A Zoo
I simply had to include this one. Most people don't really like the Matt Damon movie We Bought A Zoo, but I must have been in just the right mood for it's syrupy sweet vibe when I first saw, so I love it. It's not the best movie on this list, but I really do find it cute. And like every other movie and TV show on this list, it's about a single parent!
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