European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 16, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Nurturing father figures abound in a full House a Bob Sagut right plays a widower who lives with David Coulier left John Stamos and three television daughters including Mary Kate Ashley Olsen pictured.1goodbye mom bumbling dads taking her Placebo Joy Horowitz the new York times a a t Hon the television producers Wiem Quot a a a a a casting their Abc situation come. My by Davis rules a Jonathan win. Ters and Randy Quaid As father a. T and son raising Quaid s three boys a a they find the right actress to play que id Swift. So they killed her off before the show began. Producer Danny Jacobson recalls that As they wrested with that decision co producer Norma Safford Vela walked. Quot is this going another dead mom show Quot she mothers in Case you . Noticed Are biting the dust in prime time comedies. Lately there has been a weird sort of post7fcm-Inist backlash in televisions depiction of the. American family and the message is hardly subliminal if momus not going to stick around Kitchen then a poof a lets dump her. Sometimes she has up and walked out As in. Blossom to pursue a singing career or As in wings to serve time in prison for embezzle mint. Usually though she a dead the victim of a car crash. And riotously or. Not a hapless dad a la or. Mom is left to fend for himself and the kids often with the help of a male in Law. In abcs full House a father his Boyish looking brother in Law and his pal do their heart. I warming Best to look after three girls. But Motherless families have Long been a Sta pie of american television. Think Back to the Ponderosa Days of a and 1 loss on Bonanza. And Here were my three sons Bachelor father and the courtship of eddies father. Then for a while to moved closer to mirroring reality with fatherless series most notably one Day at a time and Kate and Allie. A a so Why the resurgence now Why arc so Many television mothers missing is to reflecting the. Culture or offering ? could Marge Simpson be the next to go. Quot i shudder to think what would happen if Marge weren to there to keep Homer from killing the kids Quot says Matt Gorning creator of the Simpsons who has As keen an Eye As anyone in television for How dysfunctional families work. Quot in our culture fathers have schemed their Way out of familial duties a he says. Quot these sitcoms without mothers finally Force them to do the . A a a a a. in truth most american children Are still being cared for by their mothers not their fathers even though the majority of mothers work outside the Home a a a a a. A a a a v. But the current rash of shows without mothers can be traced to a Confluence of psychological a sociological and economic factors including the exploitation of every working mothers mos Basic guilt about deserting her children and the flip Side of that a a child a fear of abandonment caused by women a changing roles in society. Television says the child psychologist Judith a wallers Cin is simply ahead of the social sciences in reflecting an emotional truth,.if not reality. Wallerstein. Who is the co author with Sandra Blakeslee of second chances men women and children a decade after divorce explains that a rising interest in father child relationships has been sparked by the fact that the Mother s role Lias changed because of both divorce and work. Quot the children i see of divorces complain of this All the time thercy a nobody Home. I come Home to an empty these children Are full of compassion about How hard mom is working so their anger is inhibited by the compassion. But the sense of the Mother not being there acc rally reflects the psychological experience and. The longing and the anger. Quot what these to programs seem to be giving us a a she says Quot is a sense of the vanishing Mother a both symbolically and in reality. From the perspective of television writers and executives though the High stakes of prime Lime push for the concept of the nurturing lather simply because television is always looking for something different. The current trend comes on the heels of tvs so called new traditionalism exemplified by series like the show growing pains and family mutters depicting an intact nuclear family so the question is How Many variations can you get from mom. Dad and the kids says Bob Grcen Butl a Fox programming executive a a we done to sit around and try to figure out How to do a show with a Mother figure not us the scene. Its just a setup thai has inherent conflict in it a lot of Good comedy can pome out of it a. That said its still mostly men who arc writing these shows and not Only do men generally Leel More comfortable writing male roles sometimes their unconscious desires seep into their work. So moms get killed of f get exalted. 1 then there a the copycat a a a. ,. Movies have had recent Success with the Mot i Erless premise. The Box office draw of films like or mom and three men and a baby has spurred on television development executives. Quot front their perspective its a cute idea that men lire incredibly nurturing Loving gentle Erea 1 Tures which they re absolutely not Quot says Charles h. Eulce who produced the to series moonlighting. 1 another reason for the current High to mater Nak mortality Rale is that death on Tele vision is still More acceptable than divorce Many , a widowed father and his Brood Are More sympathetic from the Start than a divorced Parent. Also single moms Are not inherently. Funny they re the business of real life. Plus bumbling fathers Are better fodder than inept mums. Quot its easier to write about the Buffoon cry. Of men than women because men Are perceived As. The Power figures so it s easier to pull them Down. In rank a says greening. June 16, 1991 sunday a
