Five Troubled TV Moms

Remember how good things were for June Cleaver and Harriet Nelson? Yes, those TV moms had the good life, and troubles were easily solved without much muss or fuss. Sure, that was another century, and the mothers on today's television shows, even the sitcoms, don't have all the answers. Some, in fact, are quite troubled. Here's a look at a few current TV moms who definitely can be called troubled. Troubled in their daily lives with themselves and their families. For these five ladies, Mother's Day may be the one day of the year when things go right. Maybe ...

1. Tara Gregson, 'United States of Tara' There is no more trouble mother on this list than Tara, and her united states are not particularly united at all. She suffers from dissociative identity disorder and has a group of altars who take over her life without warning. This makes it pretty hard for Tara to be the loving wife of Max and mom to Kate and Marshall. The fact that they all adore her and try to live with Tara and the others -- Alice, T, Buck, Gimme, Shoshana -- is a testament to the love that this family enjoys. But that doesn't mean they're not dysfunctional or that Tara's disease has taken its toll on all of them. There's no telling whether Mother's Day is even something the Gregsons can imagine in a traditional way.

2. Madeline Westen, 'Burn Notice' It's taken a long time for Madeline to come to terms with the fact that she wasn't a very good mother to young Michael Westen and his brother Nate. She looked the other way when their father abused the boys, and Michael was forced to grow up fast to become the man of the family in his father's stead. Now, with Michael forcibly relocated to Miami -- thanks to the burn notice -- Madeline's been able to rebuild her strained relationship with Michael ... and he's come to appreciate that his mother wasn't totally to blame for what they all suffered. The scars will never truly go away, but things are getting better between mother and son.

3. Jackie Peyton, 'Nurse Jackie' On the job as the most capable and in-the-know nurse at All Saints Hospital, Jackie is everybody's mother. She's the go-to gal. At home, with Kevin and her two daughters, Fione and Gracie, Jackie tries to be just as capable and loving, but she's spread too thin and they're suffering. Compensating for her stress by popping prescription drugs, which she steals from the hospital, doesn't make the situation better.

Then there's Jackie's infidelity with Eddie, which has now blossomed into him threatening to tell Kevin, his new best friend, all about Jackie's double life. Jackie will get the Mother's Day treatment from Kevin and the kids, but she would probably prefer to be left alone, perhaps in a morphine haze.

4. Skyler White, 'Breaking Bad' When the series started, the roof caved in on the life of the White family when Walt was diagnosed with fatal lung cancer at the same time that Skyler was having an unplanned, later in life baby. That was the catalyst for Walt's decision to make a lot of money by becoming a meth producer. Skyler knew Walt was keeping secrets and the truth of his criminal activities destroyed their relationship and she threw him out of the house.

Skyler believes she's protecting her children from Walt, but Flynn resents her because he doesn't know the whole story, and Holly is still just a baby. Skyler was so angry at Walt that she fell into an empty affair with Ted. Soon after, Walt gave up and signed the divorce papers, leaving Skyler to pick up the pieces and try to keep her children from suffering from the danger Walt has brought to their doorstep. For Skyler, Mother's Days will not be a happy time.

5. Jinx Shannon, 'In Plain Sight' Much like Madeline Westen, Jinx made a lot of mistakes raising her daughters Mary and Brandi. The girls' father ran off when Mary was just seven, leaving her to become the responsible one in the family. Jinx's delusional dreams of a career in show business and her disappointments when she never succeeded, contributed to her drinking too much.

Mary had to become the parent in her relationship with Jinx, but recently, Jinx has straightened up. She went to rehab and stopped drinking. And after Mary nearly died on the job, Jinx has gotten more serious about caring for her girls. She's even landed a job teaching ballet to little girls. As proof of her improved relationship with Mary, when Rafe and Mary called off their engagement, it was Jinx that Mary turned to for a shoulder to cry on. This year should be a good Mother's Day in the Shannon household.