Television series have long strived to both provide realistic representations of reality and heightened senses of reality as entertainment, and that's especially true in the best shows about single moms. While Disney used to get a lot of flack about not featuring parents at all in its fairy tale adaptations, television series across the board are ripe with depictions of blended families, single dads, and single moms. All types of family units can be seen on television, providing a great deal of representation in scripted series.
From an ordinary single mom dealing with the realities of a recent divorce and their teenage daughter's unexpected pregnancy on Reba to Raising Dion, a show about a single mom to a young boy with superpowers, there is no shortage of original and entertaining content about the power of single moms. Sitcoms and dramas alike paint pictures of motherhood in very different ways. These TV series are some of the best about single moms because they run the storytelling gamut while still depicting just what single motherhood is like.
15 Alice (1976-1985)
- Available to purchase through Amazon
Alice is an incredibly popular sitcom that ran for nine seasons and produced a spinoff series titled Flo. While the sitcom features some outlandish storylines, like the waitresses of Mel’s Diner crashing a hot air balloon into the building, overall, it’s a great depiction of a working mother putting her dream on hold to herself and her child.
Inspired by the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Alice (Linda Lavin) packs up from her home on the East Coast after the death of her husband, intent on taking her son to Los Angeles where she can pursue a singing career. When her car breaks down in Phoenix, however, she takes a job as a waitress to pay the bills and ends up staying, putting her son through school and sleeping on the couch, so he has the bedroom in their tiny apartment. Once her son has made it to college, the series ends with Alice finally getting the chance to pursue her own dreams. It might be a comedy, but Alice is one of the best shows about single moms to demonstrate the kinds of sacrifices mothers make for their kids.
14 Mom (2013 - 2021)
- Available to stream on Hulu
Television audiences are rarely graced with mothers who don't have it all figured out, which is what made the CBS Chuck Lorre sitcom, Mom, so special. Newly sober, Christy (Anna Farris) is trying to be a good mother to her two children, despite never having a good relationship with her own mother. To make matters worse, Christy's own mother (Allison Janney), also in recovery, has decided to reenter her life.
Mom truly explores the darker side of being a single mother in today's world, but one that is just as real and valid as the Reba-type single mother. It also proves that sometimes in order to be the best mom, one has to heal themselves, which makes Christy's journey extra poignant and relevant to many. Even with Anna Farris leaving the series near the end of its run, Mom still remains one of the best shows about single moms.
13 Better Things (2016 - 2022)
- Available to stream on Hulu
Better Things centers on Sam Fox, a single mother who is trying to raise her three daughters while working in Los Angeles as an actress. The series is based on the creator's life, Pamela Adlon, who channeled her real-life struggles of being a single mom to only daughters into her lead character of Sam.
Unlike some single mothers who are overly involved in their children's lives and put their own lives on hold, Sam takes on a more laid-back, "cool mom" approach to her parenting. She gives them room to make mistakes but is also there to reprimand them when necessary. Her single-mom parenting approach is very modern and one of the reasons the show was such a hit during its run.
12 Julia (1968 - 1971)
- Unavailable to stream
When Julia began airing in 1968, it made history by marking the first time a show featured a Black American woman in a non-stereotypical role. The sitcom centered on Julia Baker, a widow who is raising her young son in the city while also working as a nurse.
Given that the show ran during the '60s, it was extremely uncommon for audiences to watch single mothers, let alone single mothers of color. Throughout the series, Julia made it a point to teach her son about traditionally women-centered tasks, like cooking and cleaning. This made her a great mom because she was determined to raise her son in a new way, which was groundbreaking on TV at the time.
11 Ginny & Georgia (2021-)
- Available to stream on Netflix
This Netflix dramedy takes a comedic approach to some serious subjects in the life of both a single mom and a teen mom. Georgia (Brianne Howey) has her daughter at 15 in the middle of an abusive and tumultuous childhood. She tries desperately to make sure that Georgia (Antonia Gentry) doesn’t have the same teenage experiences she did 15 years later.
Unfortunately for their family, that means they travel to start over frequently as Georgia tries to outrun abusive exes and bad circumstances to make sure her children are better taken care of than she was. The series chronicles a hectic life for Ginny, who wants stability, but also resents her mom for some of her choices. They finally have the chance for some stability as they settle in a small town and genuinely get the chance to start over during the events of the series.
10 Good Girls (2018 - 2021)
- Available to stream on Netflix
Good Girls is a show that follows three down-on-their-luck friends and mothers who decided to rob a local grocery store in the hopes of finally getting ahead of their debt. While the heist is successful, the women discover that the grocery store was being used as a front for a local gang and thus, they have stolen from the gang.
On the surface, Good Girls is a show about crime and drama, but it's also a show about motherhood and the lengths to which a mother will go to ensure their children are happy. As the only single mom on the show and the youngest, Annie faces some of the most authentic obstacles of parenthood. And yet, despite her terrible finances and new, dangerous life, she is always there for her child, especially during their most emotional moments and coming out storyline. Good Girls might focus a lot on the crimes, but it's one of the best tv shows to feature a single mom among its main cast.
9 Younger (2015-2021)
- Available to stream on Paramount Plus
Of the best tv shows about single moms out there, Younger might be the least realistic, but also the most fun. Sutton Foster stars as a woman who goes through a horrible divorce and has to restart the career that she put on hold when she got married. She tries to balance her life as a single mom with her new goals as a career, which is the most realistic part of the show.
What Foster’s Liza also does is herself off as a twenty-something to work her way up in the publishing industry, though she’s actually in her forties. That’s where much of the show’s comedy comes from as Liza has to adjust to the culture of the industry and the lifestyles of 20-year-olds. The comedy is balanced very well with the commentary on ageism in the workforce.
8 Big Little Lies (2017 - 2019)
- Available to stream on Max
When Big Little Lies premiered in 2017, it quickly became one of HBO's biggest shows at the time. Based on the book of the same name, the drama series centers on the lives of several mothers living in Monterrey, California, who become embroiled in a murder investigation/trial.
Unlike most of the mothers who are in relationships of some sort, Jane Chapman is the only one who is doing it on her own. She's also the group's youngest mother, which brings about a certain level of criticism from everyone around her. Despite her inexperience, Jane commits herself to being the best mom she can be and always put her son before everyone else -- even when it leads her to trouble. Jane's child being her driving force in the series is the reason Big Little Lies is one of the best series about single moms.
7 Reba (2001 - 2007)
- Available to stream on Hulu
Reba had an entire theme song about being a strong and devoted single mother, which is just one of the reasons why it's considered one of the greatest shows in the subgenre of single moms on TV. Unlike most single mom shows that pick up after the mom has been divorced or widowed, Reba began in the middle of the drama with her ex-husband.
And yet, Reba tries not to let her relationship with her ex tarnish how she raises her kids. In fact, she encourages them to have a relationship with their father, despite everything they went through and all while putting her kids' needs above her own. She even forms a friendship with the woman her ex left her for. Through all the obstacles put in front of her, and against all odds, Reba, her ex, and his new wife, create a family unit their children can depend on.
6 Raising Dion (2019 - 2022)
- Available to stream on Netflix
Netflix has many amazing sci-fi family shows available to stream, but one of the best and yet least talked about is Raising Dion. The series centers on Nicole, a single mother trying to investigate her husband's untimely death while raising their son, who has superpowers.
Like most single mothers in the real world and on television, Nicole has to juggle her time and responsibilities. However, unlike other single moms, Nicole is also dealing with real-world threats and will stop at nothing to keep her son and his superpowers safe and a secret from the rest of the world. Nicole is so serious about her role as Dion's mother that she learns how to box, so she can properly defend them, if and when the government tries to take Dion from her again.