How To Watch:
What ‘Mom,’ a sit-com with Allison Janney in the role of Bonnie Plunkett
When: 9:30 p.m. Mondays
Where: Channel 7, WHIO-TV
How to Watch:
What: ‘The Fosters,’ a family drama with Sherri Saum in the role of Lena Adams
When: 9 p.m. Mondays. Season 2 will begin on June 16.
Where: ABC Family Network
What are the odds that two famous actresses who grew up in the Miami Valley would concurrently be portraying unconventional moms on national television?
Allison Janney, who grew up in Oakwood, stars in the CBS sit-com, “Mom.” She plays a no-holds-barred parent dealing both with her own addictions and with a daughter who’s a recovering alcoholic and a single mom. Daughter Christy is played by Anna Faris.
For that mothering role, Janney has just recently won a Prism Award for “best performance in a comedy series.” Presented by the Entertainment Industries Council, the award honor writers, producers, directors and actors for their depictions of mental illness and substance use issues in movies and television.
Saum, who grew up in Kettering and attended Fairmont High School, stars as Lena, a lesbian mom in an interracial relationship who — along with her partner played by Teri Polo — is mothering a blend of biological, adopted and foster children in 'The Fosters.'
In real life, Saum and her husband, Kamar de los Reyes, are expecting twins due today — on Mother’s Day.
Her own mother, Lois Saum, compares mothering to cooking.
“You try to put in all the right ingredients and follow the recipe, but there’s never any guarantee how it’s going to turn out,” she says. “I never was the best cook in the world, but I prayed a lot and was richly rewarded.”
Mother’s Day seemed an ideal time to talk with both celebrities about their roles as unqiue television moms and the Miami Valley mothers who reared them and still live in our area.
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