Images by Hiltron Bailey for Steed Media Service
The TV mom is an American institution. From Phylicia Rashad’s sassy but level-headed Claire Huxtable on “The Cosby Show,” to “The Brady Bunch’s” Florence Henderson as the perpetually cheerful Carol Brady, the matriarchs of our favorite TV families have become a big part of our weekly lives and are an indelible part of the American pop culture landscape. In the 21st century, the CW Network has provided a new generation of moms that are quirky, funny, beautiful, and the backbones of the sitcom resurgence.
On “Everybody Hates Chris,” TV vet Tichina Arnold brings her own brand of no-nonsense tough love to her character, Rochelle, and initially drew upon the strong women in her life as inspirations for the role. “Rochelle is my mother, my grandmother, and my aunts all rolled up into one, no-nonsense, strict in her own way — but very loving and caring,” Arnold recalls with a laugh. “I think she is [indicative] of most black women raising kids out here — not only in the ‘80s, but now as well.”
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“Aliens In America” star Amy Pietz has real-life ties to her sitcom mom character as well. Pietz stars as Franny Tolchuk, the similarly strict but well-meaning mother of high-schooler Justin and his siblings. But where Rochelle’s quirks stem from her high-strung and censorious demeanor, Franny can be hilariously neurotic. “She’s really struggling to maintain control of everything around her,” explains Pietz. “She’s deeply passionate about life and absolutely loves her children and her husband. [But] I think she projects a lot of her fears onto them … I think she’s got a little bit of the showbiz bug and she’s a dreamer.”
Pietz grew up in Wisconsin, where the show is set. “A lot of funny people come out of Wisconsin,” she admits, chuckling. “The language patterns are different. They’re not unlike Canadians in the way that they express discomfort with something — they say the opposite of what they feel — they put on a good face. But if you piss them off, they have a real fire to them. It takes a lot to get them to say that they’re angry about something but once they do, it’s like you can’t get them to stop.” Though they’re both from the Badger State, Pietz points out that there are many differences between herself and Franny. “I live a very different lifestyle than Franny,” she says. “I live in SoCal, do yoga, take intensive workshops and I have a very active dating life. I’m definitely a single gal with a very youthful edge.”
Conversely, Arnold’s life experiences since “Everybody Hates Chris” have actually made her more like Rochelle in many ways. Since becoming a mother shortly after the show began its run, Arnold relates to Rochelle on different levels now compared to when the show started. “Any mother wants the best for her children and I think that’s why she’s a lot sterner and doesn’t take any mess from her kids, because she’s saving them from the world,” she notes thoughtfully. “Being a mom definitely enhances my Rochelle character because it allows me to identify with what’s in the script.”
Both actresses are committed to growth in their characters, and as they have progressed, each has tried to add layers and nuances to the mothers they portray. Pietz, having had to step away from the character a bit during the Writer’s Guild strike, is looking forward to pushing Franny’s growth. “I [felt] a little bit of fear that I will only be seen as [Franny], and at the same time I also looked forward to going back and deepening this character.” Pietz earnestly adds, “I see now, with some distance, some of the ways that I missed the mark. As an actor, you feel the need to go deeper. On television, there’s a necessity to adhere to a character that kind of does the same function every week and even though you want to go deeper, the show forces you to not do that. What I love about this show is that people actually change and grow and can develop. My character changed a lot from the pilot to the end of the season, and I suspect we’ll [learn] a lot more things about her in the second season as well.”
Arnold echoes Pietz’s sentiments regarding character development and the commitment that is required of an actor to facilitate that development. “I think that every time you see a character, you should learn something new about the character, you should be able to engage [the audience] with the character,” she says. Life experience is again crucial to Arnold’s trade, as her experiences with her own mother are a part of how she approaches Rochelle’s relationship with each of her three children on the show. “My dynamic with the children is very important because they’re three separate individuals. So every time you see me — I’m still Rochelle, but I treat them differently. That’s how I was raised. My sister was three years younger than me, but she was actually a little more responsible than me as we got older. And that’s how my mom treated us. My mom knew that I was the creative one and that my sister was the book-smart one, so that’s how she [nurtured] who we are today.”
Pietz’s childhood experiences helped her development creatively also, albeit in a different fashion. “I found [Wisconsin] a really interesting place to grow up [in] and try to do theater and art,” she confesses. “The arts are not supported as much as they are in other urban areas that I’ve lived in. I found that sort of ‘creative oppression’ … stimulating. I’m sure it’s not true for everybody in Wisconsin — there’s a lot of sophisticated people there who’ll come forward to [remind] me that everybody in Wisconsin is not an uncultured hick. When I talk about the experience, I’m talking through the eyes of a teenager — it’s very familial what I’m recounting. My parents were farmers and my father was a truck driver, so it’s that niche of people that I’m bringing forth in the role.”
As these actresses strut their stuff on Sunday nights on the CW, joining the ranks of the Roseanne Barrs, Florida Evanses, and June Cleavers in the canon of great small screen matriarchs, the reality of motherhood, both in real life and on the telly, is that it is a driving force in our development as people. Whether it’s the life lessons our own moms pass down to us, or in the perfectly scripted nuggets of wisdom offered up in primetime, nobody does it quite like Mom. “Motherhood is intriguing, it’s exciting, it’s scary, it’s fulfilling, [and] it’s exhilarating. Motherhood is amazing,” gushes Arnold. “It’s a challenge every day — every minute.You are no longer the same. I’ll always be Tichina but I have another element of Tichina, and that is I am ‘Mom.’ Those are big shoes to fill — for any mother. And I accept it.”
