Happy Mother-in-Law Day: Who's Your Favorite TV MIL?

Happy Mother-in-Law Day, people! Yes, Oct. 24, is the big day which means, thank goodness for e-cards, so you can make sure you mark the occasion for your own MIL. Because, let's face it, you do not want to give that woman another thing to complain to your spouse about ...

Of course, despite the old cliches, maybe your MIL is a peach. Pop culture portrayals of moms-in-law haven't been very kind, and nowhere more so than on TV (we direct your attention to a classic made-for-TV movie called 'Mother Knows Best,' in which 'Growing Pains' sweetie of a mom Joanna Kerns plays an MIL who tries to have son-in-law Grant Show murdered!). Here, our list of five great TV MILs, as well as five rotten ones ... guess which list was easier to compile?

Five Great Ones:

Marion Cunningham (Marion Ross)
'Happy Days'
Not only was Mrs. C a great wife and mom (and pseudo-mom to The Fonz, of course), but she was a great MIL to son Richie's wife, Lori Beth, and daughter Joanie's husband, Chachi. She even went on a TV game show to try to win airfare for Lori Beth to fly to Greenland and marry Richie, though, in true Mrs. C fashion, she ended up giving her winnings to her game show competitors, who she felt needed the cash more than she did.


Edith Bunker (Jean Stapleton)
'All in the Family'
As much of a jerk as her hubby Archie (Carroll O'Connor) could be, that was how sweet Edith was, especially to son-in-law -- and frequent object of Archie's derision -- Meathead (Rob Reiner). In fact, given Gloria (Sally Struthers) and Meathead's sometime rocky marriage, there were times when Edith was the only member of the Bunker clan who was nice to Mike/Meathead.


Gemma Teller Morrow (Katey Sagal)
'Sons of Anarchy'
Technically, she's not Tara's (Maggie Siff) mother-in-law yet (okay, and given the on-again, off-again nature of Jax and Tara's relationship, maybe she never will be officially), but Gemma and Tara have not only bonded over grief in both of their lives, as well as their love of Gemma's son Jax, but Gemma has stepped in to help Tara unleash her inner tough chick time and time again. Season two's scene when Gemma taught Tara that a little (mostly) harmless gunplay could help her deal with her stress over Jax being around other women was the best instance of female bonding since Thelma and Louise took off in the T-Bird.


Ellie Ewing (Barbara Bel Geddes and Donna Reed)
'Dallas'
Yes, even with a daughter-in-law like the tortured, often drunk, Sue Ellen (Linda Gray), Miss Ellie managed to be a supportive MIL, whether encouraging wily son J.R. (Larry Hagman) to get his wife help or helping Sue Ellen see son John Ross when J.R. tried to keep him from her, and letting J.R. know she was hip to his tomcattin' ways.


Gloria Delgado-Pritchett (Sofia Vergara)
'Modern Family'
Even though her daughter-in-law Claire can be standoffish, and the idea that she is the mother-in-law of adults is, in itself, one of the funnier little asides of the show, Gloria tries to be a uniting force for her family, including arranging family gatherings for the Pritchetts and trying to get her sometimes stodgy hubby Jay (Ed O'Neill) to be more sensitive with his children and their spouses.


Five That Were a Pain in the, Well, You Know:

Olivia Jefferson (Zara Cully Brown)
'The Jeffersons'
Poor Weezie. George Jefferson's wife could simply do no right as far as Mother Jefferson was concerned, as the old battleaxe never missed an opportunity to make mean cracks about Louise's weight, cooking, cleaning and, in general, lack of worthiness for Mother Jefferson's baby boy.


Roseanne Conner (Roseanne)
'Roseanne'
Roseanne was actually a pretty understanding mom much of the time -- she even allowed daughter Darlene's (Sara Gilbert) abused boyfriend (and eventual hubby) David (Johnny Galecki) to move into the Conner home to escape his nasty mom -- but when it came to daughter Becky's slacker boyfriend-then-hubby Mark, Roseanne could be a scary, scary presence as she tried to protect her daughter from the guy she thought was going to ruin her kid's life.


Marie Barone (Doris Roberts)
'Everybody Loves Raymond'
She never tried to kill her daughter-in-law, Debra (Patricia Heaton), but that's pretty much the most you can say for Marie, who lived right across the street from son Raymond and Debra, but may as well have lived in the same house for all the buttinsky-ing, and undermining, of Debra she did, including, in the clip below, reacting jealously on the one occasion when notoriously bad cook Debra finally made a tasty dish.


Thelma Harper (Vicki Lawrence)
'Mama's Family'
To be fair, Mama was pretty crabby with everyone and everything, but no one drew her ire more than dunce son-in-law Ed (Harvey Korman) and the vampy Naomi (Dorothy Lyman), the tall, sassy woman who married Mama's son Vint (Ken Berry) and moved into Mama's basement, where they annoyed her with their frequent sexual escapades.


Lorelai "Trix" Gilmore (Marion Ross)
'Gilmore Girls'
Yep, Marion Ross has been the best and one of the worst MILs on TV. As Mrs. C, she was pure sugar, but as the first Lorelai, mother to Richard Gilmore, and MIL to Emily, she was pure evil. The hard-to-please Trix (Richard's nickname for his mom) was tough on everyone, but she saved her most biting zingers for Emily, and, on one occasion, her cruelty: After Trix's death, Emily took on the task of organizing her affairs, during which she found a letter Trix had written to Richard, on the eve of his wedding to Emily, in which she begged Richard not to marry Emily!



Any TV MILs -- good or bad -- we left off the list? Sound off in the comments.