Loveday Writing

This new series will explore the premise of television shows and how they evolve over a series run. The first part of the series will explore how the premise of the U.S. show, Mom, evolved over its eight-year run.

Mom’s premise:

Mom’s premise is described on its Wikipedia page as follows:

“Mom follows Christy Plunkett, a single mother who, after battling alcoholism and drug abuse, decides to restart her life in Napa, California, working as a waitress and attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Her mother, Bonnie Plunkett, is also a recovering addict. Christy’s daughter, Violet, who was born when Christy was 17, has also become a teen mother by her boyfriend, Luke. Christy also has a young son, Roscoe, by her ex-husband, Baxter, a deadbeat but likeable pothead.

“Christy eventually returns to school and pursues her dream of becoming a lawyer, while Bonnie develops a romantic relationship with a retired stuntman, Adam, whom she eventually marries. Through it all, Christy and Bonnie rely on their support system from AA, including the wise Marjorie, wealthy and materialistic Jill, submissive and sometimes overly-emotional Wendy, and loudmouthed but sweet Tammy. Collectively, they help each other stay sober in the face of conflict.

“Following the departure of Christy, who moves to Washington, the show delves more into the personal lives of her friends she left behind.”

This description of the show’s premise does a good job of describing how the premise evolved over its eight-year run and this analysis piece will go into further detail on where it evolved.

Season 1:

The season and series kicks off with Bonnie and Christy reconnecting in their shared AA meeting after years of estrangement, and establishing Christy’s life as a waitress having an affair with her married boss, a single mother of two children (and that she became a mother when she was a teenager), and that she has been sober for 118 days (a little over three months). The pilot ends with Bonnie informing Christy that Violet thinks she’s pregnant.

The first season goes on to focus on the story arc of Violet’s pregnancy, where she initially decides to keep the baby, only to change her mind and decide to give the baby up for adoption, just before the season ends. This season also explores the different aspects of Christy’s newfound sobriety, from dating sober for the first time, dealing with injuries and pain management, temptation, and helping others, to establishing a strong friendship group within her AA meetings. This season also shows Bonnie relapse after two years of sobriety, which leads to her revealing her struggles as a foster kid and that Christy’s father abandoned them shortly after she was born.

The second-half of the season focuses on Bonnie and Christy reconnecting with Alvin, Bonnie’s ex-boyfriend and Christy’s father, as well as being there for their AA friend, Regina, who goes to prison after embezzling millions of dollars, and Violet’s decision to give up her baby for adoption. The season ends with Violet giving birth to a baby girl and Christy reaching one year of sobriety.

Season 2:

This season kicks off with Bonnie, Christy, Violet, and Roscoe being evicted from their house after Christy gambles away the rent money (which establishes that Christy also has a gambling addiction), and dealing with the aftermath of Violet giving up her baby for adoption.

The adoption-aftermath and eviction story arcs come to a quick close, with Violet visiting her baby girl and seeing for herself that she made the right decision and needs to get on with her life, and Bonnie getting a job as an apartment building manager, respectively. This season then moves on to story arcs focusing on Baxter getting his own life together when he enters a new relationship with the wealthy Candace (who constantly belittles Christy), Christy becoming a sponsor to the wealthy but emotionally unstable Jill, and Christy starting her journey to achieving her dream of becoming a lawyer.

The second-half of the season focuses on Alvin’s unexpected death, Violet’s relationship with a college professor, Gregory, who is 13 years her senior, and Bonnie relapsing after being prescribed pain medication for a back injury. The AA friendship group develops with the additions of Jill, Wendy, and occasionally Regina, who was released from prison early. Interestingly, this season has slightly religious undertones with Regina becoming a born-again Christian, and Bonnie dreaming about Jesus when she struggles with Alvin’s death and her relapse.

The season ends with Bonnie and Christy mending fences after a few episodes of tension and conflict following Bonnie’s relapse, and Christy reaching her second year of sobriety.

Season 3:

This season kicks off with Bonnie and Christy meeting Bonnie’s birth mother, Shirley. Shirley’s appearance provides more backstory on Bonnie, with the reveal that Bonnie’s birth father, Henry, died in a motorcycle accident, Shirley lost jobs because she had to take Bonnie to work with her, and that she eventually abandoned her at four years old because the man she was dating didn’t want children. The group encourage Bonnie to forgive Shirley for her sake, not Shirley’s, and she does so reluctantly.

The AA friendship group changes again with the introduction of teenager, Jodi, in the second episode, and Regina’s last appearance in the series in the sixth episode. Regina’s last appearance is crucial, as she reveals she has started drinking again in moderation and the group struggles with this revelation. The group throws an intervention at Jill’s house but Regina immediately leaves, insulting and telling them that maybe they shouldn’t be friends anymore on her way out. The revelation also leaves Christy questioning whether she can drink again in moderation, only for Baxter to harshly shut this idea down when she confides in him. The group manages to make amends with Regina, but she doesn’t join them at a Christmas sober dance, instead choosing to stay in her new home alone and drink a glass of wine.

The season goes on to have Violet and Roscoe start distancing themselves from Christy. Whilst Violet initially wants to repair her relationship with Christy, it ends up falling apart when Christy inadvertently reveals to Gregory that Violet had a baby before, when he mentions his desire to become a father. Violet and Gregory eventually break up in the penultimate episode, and Violet leaves town to work in Lake Tahoe as a blackjack dealer. Meanwhile, Roscoe wants to live with Candace and Baxter, especially as his grades have improved with Candace’s assistance and Baxter plans on marrying her, with the reveal that they are engaged in the eighth episode.

As well as the changes in the AA friendship group, and Violet and Roscoe leaving Bonnie and Christy’s household, the season also has Christy briefly enter into a relationship with Candace’s father, Bonnie engaging in a casual relationship with Steve (from their AA meeting) and running into her ex-girlfriend, Jeannine, and Bonnie dealing with a cancer scare. The halfway point of the season has Marjorie marrying Victor (Christy and Bonnie’s former landlord) and Jodi dying of a drug overdose in the same episode.

Towards the end of the season, Bonnie meets Adam, a retired stuntman, over the phone and they enter into a relationship, and Christy makes the Dean’s List at her college.

The season ends with Christy getting a college scholarship and reaching her third year of sobriety.

Season 4:

The fourth season kicks off with Bonnie and Adam’s relationship progressing, albeit hitting a few bumps along the way when Adam temporary lives with them and almost breaks up with Bonnie when he feels he doesn’t get a say in the relationship. The start of the season also has Christy questioning whether she should become a lawyer as she is struggling with her studies and Jeanine offers her a job at her real estate firm, as well as struggling with the discovery that Roscoe has been drinking and using drugs.

The season goes on to have Jill deciding to have a baby and falling pregnant through IVF, only to miscarry, and later become a foster mother after she deals with her grief, Bonnie and Christy attending Al-Anon meetings as a way to deal with each other being alcoholics, and Bonnie and Adam breaking up briefly after Bonnie connects with a handsome sober man and kissing him.

The second-half of the season has Bonnie discover that she has an African-American gay half-brother, Ray, after Shirley passes away and subsequently learning to let go of her anger towards her mother, Marjorie taking a break from sponsoring and the friendship group after her own sponsor relapses, and the reveal that Christy was raped when she was younger after she sees her rapist attend one of her AA meetings.

The season ends with Jill’s foster daughter, Emily, reconnecting with her mother, Natasha, who is revealed to be an old stripper colleague of Christy’s, Bonnie having to ask for Ray’s help in dealing with an IRS audit, Ray revealing he is an addict himself, and Christy reaching her fourth year of sobriety.

Season 5:

The fifth season kicks off with Adam proposing to Bonnie and her saying yes, albeit after saying no unintentionally multiple times due to her insecurities, and the reveal that Jill has gained a large amount of weight due to comfort eating (this was written in to accommodate Jamie Pressly’s pregnancy).

The season goes on to have Ray come back into Bonnie’s and Christy’s lives twice, the first time claiming to be clean and fresh out of rehab only for it to be quickly revealed that he is still using, and the second time needing to be bailed out of jail by Adam and refusing to deal with his addiction, which leads to Bonnie letting him go. Jill’s foster mother story arc from the previous season comes to a close with Emily going back to a newly-sober Natasha, after she gets an apartment and a job with Bonnie’s and Christy’s help respectively, only to move to Los Angeles when she secures a record deal.

The season also has Christy enter into a relationship with Adam’s brother, Patrick, Victor having a stroke, Jill going to a retreat to lose the weight she gained, Jill relapsing multiple times upon her return from the retreat, and the introduction of two new characters: Tammy and Nora, Bonnie’s foster sister and Christy’s new sponsor, respectively.

Towards the end of the season, Bonnie and Christy are almost evicted when Bonnie locks horns with the new apartment building owner, and Christy’s gambling addiction worsens when she gambles away bail money for Bonnie (who is arrested after the police approached her about Christy’s car not having licence plates) and a pair of diamond earrings the girls gave her as a college graduation present.

The season ends with Christy graduating from college and celebrating five years of sobriety, but also attending her first Gamblers Anonymous meeting and finding out that she got into law school, despite multiple rejections from other law schools.

Season 6:

This season kicks off with Christy starting her first day of law school and almost quitting because she finds it too hard and overwhelming, only to be reminded by Marjorie and a new AA member in their meeting of how far she has come.

The season then moves on to further explore Christy’s gambling addiction and her time in Gamblers Anonymous. In the second episode, she gets her 90-day keychain and meets an older gentleman, Ned, who quickly becomes her sponsor, and finds herself questioning whether she needs GA as gambling has never been as big a problem to her as drugs and alcohol were, however Bonnie disagrees. This episode leads to the reveal that Christy’s gambling is a problem when she has large amounts of money in her possession, which is rare, which is consistent when the problem arose in previous seasons, such as when she gambled away rent money in season two and Bonnie’s bail money at the end of the previous season.

Christy also clashes with Jill over the debt she owes her from the previous season, Jill initially lets her off the hook so it doesn’t affect their friendship, only for Ned to convince her to keep paying off the debt as it makes her accountable. Christy also struggles further when she discovers online gambling, and again Ned forces accountability on her by constantly checking in on her, and telling her she needs to start over when she indirectly benefits from the online gambling of others, as she helps men at Adam’s bar make bets and they tip her heavily when her suggestions literally pay off. Ned then kindly reminds her that handling temptation with her gambling addiction will take time as she is a newcomer to GA, in contrast to her lack of temptation to drink despite working at Adam’s bar, due to her then-five years of sobriety and going to AA.

As well as Christy’s gambling addiction, this season sees another addition to the friendship group when Tammy is released on a parole. While Tammy initially struggles with a lack of structure that prison provided, as well as dealing with pain management when she has oral surgery, and almost going back to prison when she loses her fast-food job, she goes on to develop strong friendships with everyone (even going on to move in with Marjorie at Bonnie’s suggestion), a career as a contractor as she took multiple trade classes in prison, and a romantic relationship with Uber driver, Yuri.

The season also goes on to have Adam buy a barrel factory and turning into a bar, which becomes successful after some initial struggles, Victor passing away, Christy gaining a summer job at a law firm after initially going for an internship, and Christy developing a smoking habit which causes tension in the friendship group. The eighth episode of the season also saw the first appearance of Violet in two seasons, when Christy discovers that Violet has developed a podcasting career using stories of Christy’s past and the problems it caused Violet growing up. Bonnie urges Christy to try and make amends and they go to see Violet. Violet allows Christy to tell her side of the story and how much she has changed, which Violet acknowledges, however she also tells Christy that the damage has been done and she doesn’t want Christy to be a part of her life anymore, as her life has been healthier and better without her.

The second half of the season focuses on Bonnie being diagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADD) and processing it through therapy, Jill meeting a new love interest, Andy, and Bonnie and Tammy visiting their old foster mother where it’s revealed that Tammy witnessed her father murder her mother.

The season ends with Christy reaching six years of sobriety, Nora moving away and Marjorie going back to being Christy’s sponsor, and Bonnie and Adam getting married.

Season 7:

This season kicks off with Bonnie and Adam on their honeymoon, where Bonnie struggles emotionally without her regular AA meetings. Both Marjorie and Adam suggest that she go to a meeting near their lodge, where she meets a young woman, Patty, who goes on to become Bonnie’s sponsee.

The season goes on to have Jill establish a solid relationship with Andy and freezing her eggs when she discovers she’s started perimenopause later in the season. The season also explores Christy’s dynamic with her new boss at her law firm, Marjorie experiencing money problems and getting a job, Bonnie helping Trevor (her therapist) through his divorce, Tammy getting early release from parole and establishing a successful contracting business, Marjorie reconnecting with her son, Jerry, and discovering she has a granddaughter, and Tammy giving her long-lost aunt a kidney.

This season was shortened from 22 to 20 episodes, due to the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down television productions. Because of this, the season ended without Christy reaching another year of sobriety (although she does mention in the unintended finale that she is closing in on seven years of sobriety), and the finale served as an unintentional farewell episode to both Christy and Anna Faris, who left the show.

Season 8:

This season is the show’s last and the only one to not feature Christy, as Anna Faris departed the show between seasons.

The season kicks off with Bonnie and Adam driving back home from the airport after saying goodbye to Christy, who has moved away to go to Georgetown Law School on a full scholarship. Later in the episode, the ladies celebrate Tammy’s birthday with a slumber party at Bonnie’s apartment, where it’s revealed that Tammy is struggling over whether to take a phone call from her father, and Marjorie has to get a stent put in her heart. The episode ends with Tammy taking the call and finding out her father is also sober.

The season goes on to have Marjorie enter into a new relationship, Bonnie reconnecting with an old flame and becoming his sponsor, Jill and Andy breaking up, Adam buying an RV without telling Bonnie, Bonnie creating a successful line of mocktails for Adam’s bar (which leads to her discovering that they threaten her sobriety), Adam making his first amends, and Bonnie and Tammy going into business together.

Towards the end of the season, Jill and Andy get back together, Bonnie helps Trevor reconnect with an old crush when she finds out he’s considering getting back together with his ex-wife who broke his heart, Marjorie getting a Community Hero Award after Jerry nominated her for it, and Jill discovering that she is pregnant.

The season and series ends with Jill and Andy getting married, Adam being diagnosed with lung cancer (although it is treatable), and Bonnie (and later the group) trying to help mother-daughter newcomers to AA, Jolene and Shannon, who are a clear reflection of who Bonnie and Christy used to be. The final moments of the season and the series have Bonnie sharing how she has grown to love herself and become a grateful alcoholic who is grateful for the family and friends she has and loves.

Where, When and How did Mom’s premise evolve:

The Wikipedia page on Mom’s fourth season stated that season four “marked the show’s full revolution away from storylines involving Christy’s children: daughter, Violet only appeared in a handful of episodes and son, Roscoe, would make his final appearance ever on the show early on the season’s run.”

I believe this statement is partially true as the children appearing in fewer episodes with less to do is noticeable, however I feel that this revolution didn’t truly start to take place until season five, as the children were removed from the show’s opening sequence and didn’t make any appearances in that season.

According to online resources, the show’s revolution, which led to the premise evolution, was due to the show’s creator, Chuck Lorre’s, desire to focus more on Bonnie, Christy, and the AA friendship group.

The premise evolved again with Christy’s departure between seasons seven and eight. Since Violet and Roscoe were written out in earlier seasons, there was no focus on Christy’s relationship with her children and on her as a mother, but with Christy being written out, there was no more focus on Bonnie and Christy’s mother-daughter relationship and Bonnie as a mother. In all honesty, naming the show Mom in hindsight was a bad choice, the title instead should have been more relevant to AA and addiction (obviously One Day at a Time would be a no-go).

Overall, while the show’s premise and focus dramatically evolved, it did maintain a good level of continuity in its characters and story arcs, and the antics of the AA friendship group were interesting enough to trigger such a strong evolution in the show’s premise, as Violet and Roscoe weren’t focused on that much outside of the first three seasons. 

What did you think of the TV show, Mom? Where do you think its premise changed? Feel free to share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.