| Have a love/hate relationship with your favorite TV show and how the working mom characters are portrayed? Loathe the so-called "mommy wars" on which the news media love to focus? Each week, Meredith O'Brien's Working Moms in Pop Culture & Politics column provides a reality check on how TV shows, movies, books and the media depict working moms. A longtime journalist and mother of three, Meredith O'Brien teaches journalism at the University of Massachusetts, is the author of A Suburban Mom: Notes from the Asylum and writes the Picket Fence Post blog for GateHouse Media. |
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Mom Crushes.
As we recover from the overly saccharine frilliness that surrounds Mother’s Day – where everyone who has a living mother supposedly tells her how much her sacrifice (of her body, her time, her sanity and her original hair color) meant to him or her, we revert back to the usual state of affairs when it comes to the media’s discussion of modern parenting . . . the one in which the media delights in panicking parents -- about the impact of their every move and how they’re likely negatively affecting their children -- and telling them that they suck as role models, and then giving them marching orders from a cadre of “experts” on how exactly they can do better at this child-rearing thing. more
Mother's Day: Bah Humbug.
It’s hard to avoid that nasty little fact that Mother’s Day is precariously close (at an insanely early May 11 for those who haven’t yet checked their calendars and/or live under a rock). Virtually every form of media – TV, newspapers, magazines, etc. – are nearly screeching with sheer delight and are overflowing with advice on how mothers should be treated on “her” special day in May and, the most important part, to what she should be treated.
Baby Mama: Does it Deliver?
Tina Fey knows where it’s at. An award winning TV writer and comedian, she’s also the mom of a 2-year-old. So when my gal pal and fellow Fey fan Gayle and I to see Baby Mama on its opening weekend, we had very high hopes that the movie would make us – moms with six kids between us -- laugh out loud. more
A Recipe for Disaster.
It’s hard out there for a gal. A political gal. On the campaign trail. Even if the gal isn’t the one who’s running for elected office.
Ode to Thirtysomething.
I was a freshman in college when thirtysomething began its four-year run. And even though I was only 18 at the time, there was something about this show that drew me in. It was unlike any program I’d seen before and I remember thinking that when I eventually became a mother, I’d want to revisit thirtysomething to see how its storylines resonated with me.
Random Thoughts & Gripes.
My working mom’s Pop Culture & Politics notebook this week is filled with random notations, gripes mostly because it has been a lousy week. Among my early April complaints:
Baby Mama & More.
Have you been wandering aimlessly through the television abyss, feeling entertainment-deprived, wondering when all the new programming (delayed by the writers’ strike) will return? As we patiently await new episodes of our favorite shows, I’ve created a list of my currently-airing favs – yes there is still good programming airing right now – in addition to the spring programs and films I’m eagerly anticipating. more
Secret Live of Soccer Mom, Revisited.
Whoa Nelly! Who would’ve thought that a tiny, little reality show on TLC would stir up so much angst?
Secret Life of a Soccer Mom: Surprise Reactions.
Among the books I’ve adored reading to my three children over the years has been Rosemary Wells’ “Bunny Planet” collection. In each of the three books in the set, a child-bunny is having a bad day, falls asleep and has a dream about visiting the “Bunny Planet” where a benevolent Bunny Queen named Janet shows the youngin’ the day that “should have been,” a day that exists only in the little one’s dreams.
