A Tip Of The Cap To TV Moms

Every Mother's Day, the media always polls TV fans as to who was the best TV mom. It generally is divided among the usual suspects - June Cleaver of "Leave It To Beaver," Carol Brady of "The Brady Bunch," Claire Huxtable of "The Cosby Show," Harriet Nelson of "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet," and so forth.

Me? No disrespect to those ladies, but I like my TV moms with something of an edge to them. Besides, no mom is as perfect as the ones listed above (except my Mom, who is. Happy Mother's Day, Mom!)

So, in no particular order, a few of my favorite TV moms:

--Sarah Connor (Lena Headey), "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" - Listen, any mom who teaches you how to strip down an assault rifle and make bombs while you are still in your early teens has a certain amount of cool to her. On the other hand, it's probably a good thing John Connor is humanity's savior, because I certainly wouldn't want to be disciplined by a mother who could kill man six different ways while unarmed.

--Lois (Jane Kaczmarek), "Malcolm In The Middle" - Though often scary to her kids - and with those kids, she had to be - Lois was a brilliant creation as the mom from hell who did everything she did out of love. Together with Bryan Cranston as Hal, one of my favorite TV couples.

--Peg Bundy (Katey Sagal), "Married: With Children" - Arguably one of the worst, most self-involved mothers on TV, Peg was hilarious in her devotion to bon-bons and driving Al to an early grave.

--Marge Simpson (voiced by Julie Kavner), "The Simpsons" - Marge is forced to put up with quite a lot dealing with Homer and the kids, so it's no small wonder that Homer is always scared she will leave with someone else, from the French bowling instructor in Season 1 to a trophy husband after she became mega-rich by opening a gym this season.

--Bree Van Der Kamp (Marcia Cross), "Desperate Housewives" - I stopped watching "DH" a while ago, but it wasn't because of the magnificent Cross, who stole every scene she was in as the anal-retentive, Martha Stewart clone. Since Susan (Teri Hatcher) is always a disaster and Lynnette's (Felicity Huffman) holier-than-thou act wore thin long ago, Bree is the most interesting of the women who are actually moms.

--Joyce Summers (Kristine Sutherland), "Buffy, The Vampire Slayer" - It took a while for Joyce to deal with the fact that her daughter was The Chosen One, that lone girl destined to fight the forces of darkness. But once she did, things really picked up for Joyce, especially the time in Season 3 she comforted a heartbroken Spike. And of course, when Joyce died in Season 5, it was one of the best-written, most memorable episodes of the series, a testament to loss and how much it means having a great mom in your life.

Who are some of your favorite TV moms?

WEEKEND'S BEST BETS: Though she has no children, it's hard to argue that Pres. Laura Roslin (Mary McDonell) isn't a maternal figure to the remaining 40,000 or so humans left. Roslin is going to be a pretty critical figure over the next few episodes of "Battlestar Galactica" (Sci Fi, 10 p.m.), even moreso than usual. It follows new episodes of "The Sarah Jane Adventures" at 8 p.m. and "Doctor Who" at 9 p.m.

We learn Mick has a son, a pretty neat trick for a vampire on "Moonlight" (CBS, 9 p.m.) Hopefully, Mick's kid isn't kidnapped by his mortal enemy and taken to a Hell dimension, something that is wont to happen to the offspring of vampires. It follows a new "Ghost Whisperer" and is followed by a new "Numb3rs."

On Saturday, "Robin Hood" (BBC America, 9 p.m.) is all new as the Sheriff is set to deploy a new secret weapon against the Merry Men.

On Sunday, speaking of Marge Simpson, Homer's fugitive mom (Glenn Close) returns to Springfield once more on "The Simpsons" (Fox, 8 p.m.)

One of my favorite new TV moms has to be Franny (Amy Pietz) on "Aliens In America" (CW, 8:30 p.m.) Pietz steals every scene she's in on this overlooked sitcom, and should be an Emmy nominee. It follows a new "Everybody Hates Chris."

"Masterpiece" (PBS, 9 p.m.) continues with part 2 of "Cranford" with an all-star cast. Also new among period costume dramas is "The Tudors" (Showtime, 9 p.m.) as Henry meets Jane Seymour for the first time.