Mom (TV series)

Synopsis

Episodes

Cast and characters

Main

• Anna Faris as Christy Jolene Plunkett: an easily-wounded single mother who has gone seven years without drinking and is still struggling with sobriety and a concurrent addiction to gambling. Now sober, she strives to be a good example to her son Roscoe, and regain the trust of her daughter Violet, who is revealed to be pregnant herself in the pilot episode. In addition, she is trying to iron out the rough edges in her relationship with her mother Bonnie, who she still struggles to forgive after a tumultuous childhood and long estrangement. Christy later finds out that her biological father, Alvin, ran out on Bonnie after she was discharged from the hospital on Christmas Eve after giving birth to Christy. She locates Alvin and finds out that he is a married father of two sons and runs an auto repair shop. Christy eventually develops a bond with Alvin, whom she introduces to her family, and comes to see him as the father she needs in her life. Like her mother, Christy also became a teenage mother when she had Violet at age 16–17. Violet's father Butch was horribly physically abusive to Christy, who tried to leave him on numerous occasions, only to get cold feet. Christy finally worked up the courage to leave him in order to protect Violet. A former stripper, Christy is mostly seen working as a waitress. She is briefly promoted to manager, but eventually goes back to being a waitress, where she isn't that good at her job but does bring home a lot of food for herself and Bonnie. Christy later decides that she wants to go back to school to eventually become a lawyer, and she takes a second job working as an assistant for Steve Casper, eventually earning her bachelor's degree and then being accepted to law school. Near the end of season 6, Christy begins an internship with a law firm, while still working her waitress job. In Season 7, Christy has unpleasant experiences at work, isn't doing very well at law school, has no social life to speak of, confirms she has little or no contact with either of her children, and out of desperation kisses another woman in the season finale.
• Allison Janney as Bonnie Plunkett: Christy's self-centered mother, a joyful if cynical recovering addict. She tries to regain the love and trust of her daughter, whom she was unable to properly nurture as a child. She was given up for adoption at age four and was in the foster care system, being passed around from house to house where she eventually ran off with Alvin at age 15. She ended up pregnant and had Christy at age 17. Alvin abandoned both of them at the hospital on Christmas Eve. Bonnie has said that she almost aborted Christy and wanted to put Christy up for adoption. A pleasant Jewish couple was going to adopt her, yet Bonnie could not go through with the adoption. From that point on, she attempted her best to raise Christy. However, Christy wound up raising herself as Bonnie preferred to party and drink rather than stay home. With time and much therapy, Bonnie managed to find the balance and now wants to catch up, revealing to Christy her past, including who her real father is and how to find him, as well as her past side career as a drug dealer. She suffered a relapse in season 1 after losing her job and apartment and had to move in with Christy, Violet, and Roscoe. After Christy reconnected with her biological father Alvin, Bonnie slowly realized that she still had feelings for him, and the two began to date at the beginning of season 2. This was cut short after Alvin suffered a heart attack and died, leaving his family shocked. After suffering from a back injury, Bonnie became hooked on pain medication prescribed to her, which led to another relapse. In season 3, she met her biological mother, and in season 4 she met her half-brother Ray after their mother died. She currently manages the apartment building where she and Christy live. In season 6, she was diagnosed with ADHD and began seeing a therapist to deal with it.
• Sadie Calvano as Violet Plunkett : Christy's daughter and older half-sister of Roscoe. A senior in high school at the beginning of the series, Violet is hardworking, smart and sure of herself, though upset with her mother, who never had time to take care of her children and failed to fulfill a true motherly role despite now being sober for some time. After having her boyfriend Luke's baby, Violet made the decision to place her baby for adoption because she felt that this was the best way to break her family's repeated cycle of poor life choices and give her child a better chance than herself, her mother, or her grandmother ever had. Violet's father was physically abusive to Christy, and Christy has lied to Violet concerning his whereabouts, taking her to a random man's grave and telling Violet that her father is dead. During season 2, in a brief downward spiral of bad behavior, Violet cheats on Luke and he breaks up with her. She later gets engaged to Gregory Munchnik, a much older psychology professor at her university, but he breaks the engagement after she begins to party too hard, leaving her mother and grandmother wondering if she was just experiencing young life or developing a problem. Violet moves back in with Christy and Bonnie after her break up and after demanding that she get a job, Violet moves to Lake Tahoe to become a blackjack dealer at Harrah's. Violet, yet again, moves back to her mother and grandmother after wrecking her life in Lake Tahoe and gets back together and moves in with Luke after seeing that he has improved his life. Violet returns in Season 6 as the host of a successful podcast called "The Mother of all Problems" where she outlines in great detail all of Christy's terrible past actions; it is revealed that Christy and Violet haven't talked in over a year, and while Violet lets Christy on her podcast and gives her credit for turning her life around, she bluntly says that the past can't be changed and she thinks it's healthier to have no relationship with Christy in the future. In Season 7, Christy sadly confirms to Bonnie's new sponsee that she still doesn't have a relationship with Violet.
• Nate Corddry as Gabriel : the manager of the restaurant where Christy works. Married to a domineering woman who scares him somewhat, Gabriel and Christy are carrying on an affair which Christy later ends but which Gabriel himself frequently and desperately tries to renew: they briefly resume their affair in season 2 when Christy is promoted as his replacement. He is a hardworking, competent manager, but often put in his place by his subordinates, particularly Chef Rudy.
• Matt Jones as Baxter : Christy's ex-husband and the father of Roscoe. Sweet and charming, but very unstable, he is unable to maintain a serious relationship or steady work for much longer than a month. Loves easy life and frequently gets into fraudulent deals to make money. Despite his flaws, he is a loving father who usually comes through for his son. During season 2, under the influence of his wealthy new girlfriend Candace, Baxter gives up his slacker ways and becomes a car salesman at a dealership owned by Candace's father. Despite occasionally sneaking away to smoke pot and expressing a desire to return to his old ways, Baxter seems mostly content to be an ersatz "trophy husband".
• French Stewart as Chef Rudy : the head chef for the Rustic Fig restaurant, where Christy works as a waitress. A dominant and difficult self-made man, Rudy acts superior in his relationships with others. He sells drugs out of the freezer and is boastful and arrogant, often yelling at his subordinates without mincing words, and will not hesitate to humiliate anyone who opposes him. He is secretive about his past and distant from people, but briefly dates Bonnie and is revealed to be a bisexual fetishist with expensive tastes and hobbies who steals food from the restaurant. Tammy is his most recent love interest.
• Spencer Daniels as Luke : a young student who loves to enjoy life and adventure. He had been dating Violet for a little over a year and got her pregnant. Luke is considerably airheaded, smoking marijuana often, but always tries to prove to Christy that he is not as crazy as he appears: he seems to genuinely love Violet, staying beside her and supporting her throughout her pregnancy, and he is often more sensitive towards Christy than her own children are, perhaps because his parents are religious fundamentalists with whom he does not connect. In season 2, Violet, during her downward spiral, cheated on Luke and he broke up with Violet. By season 4, Luke has apparently cleaned himself up and got a high-paying job with a video game company, driving Violet to get back together with him. Violet reveals in season 6 that she and Luke have ended their relationship.
• Blake Garrett Rosenthal as Roscoe Plunkett : Christy's son by Baxter and half-brother of Violet. He experimented with marijuana at age twelve. He has not appeared since season 4, and it is stated he went to live with Baxter and his new wife Candace. However, in "Beef Baloney Dan and a Sarcastic No", it is heavily implied that Christy still has an on-going relationship with her son, as it is revealed that he still texts her.
• Mimi Kennedy as Marjorie Armstrong-Perugian : Christy's and Bonnie's AA sponsor who is something of a cat lady. She had problems with alcohol and drugs in the past, was a groupie, was briefly involved with the Black Panther Party, spent some time in prison, was homeless for a period of time, and is a mother to a son whom she had no relationship or contact with for years, until Christy convinced him to reconnect with Marjorie following her cancer diagnosis. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in season 1, and after extensive treatment finally beats it at the end of season 2. Through Christy she meets Victor Perugian, Christy's former landlord, whom she eventually weds and then cares for after he suffers a stroke. When Victor dies, her vulnerable side is revealed, and the women do their best to help Marjorie cope with being widowed for the second time.
• Jaime Pressly as Jill Kendall : A wealthy, divorced socialite and alcoholic. Christy first met her at an AA meeting and decided to sponsor her. Jill suffered several relapses before becoming sober. Her mother had struggled with depression and alcoholism before committing suicide when Jill was a teenager. Jill carried this pain with her throughout her life, culminating in season 4, when she was overcome with grief on the anniversary of her mother's death. Jill is from North Carolina, and worked hard to lose the thickness of her Southern accent upon moving to California to be with her then-husband, James. After trying to become pregnant and miscarrying, Jill decides to adopt a foster child. She is eventually given a teenage girl named Emily, but Christy helps her mother become sober at the start of season 5, leading to Emily leaving Jill. This caused Jill to overeat and gain weight. After an extended stay at a health spa, she returns in the later half of season 5 and suffers another relapse. Despite being vain and obsessed with how her peers view her, she is shown to genuinely care about her friends and use her experiences to help them with their own problems. In season 6 she began a relationship with Andy, a police officer and former Marine who provided private home security services at Jill's home after it was broken into. At the end of season 7 Jill consults a fertility doctor to freeze her eggs but she gets a call from the doctor saying that she has no viable eggs leaving her extremely devastated by that news
• Beth Hall as Wendy Harris : A member of the AA group, often subdued and prone to constant crying. She is a member of Mensa, works as a registered nurse, was raised by a lesbian couple in Florida, is implied to be in witness protection, and is the subject of a recurring joke in the series where no one, including her friends, listens much to her or wants her around more than minimally possible. In "A Pirate, Three Frogs, and a Prince", Wendy was revealed to be both bisexual/pansexual/bicurious, and attracted to Bonnie.
• William Fichtner as Adam Janikowski : Bonnie's latest love interest and later husband, a wheelchair-bound ex-stuntman whom she met over the phone after he dialed the wrong number. He is supportive of Bonnie's recovery, though does not always fully understand it. In season 6, he uses his life savings to open a bar called AJ's Barrelworks.
• Kristen Johnston as Tammy Diffendorf : an ex-con who was Bonnie's foster sister for a short time in their teens. They reconnect after Bonnie comes across Tammy while visiting a women's prison, and Tammy joins the group's AA meetings upon being released from prison in season 6. After temporarily living in Bonnie and Christy's apartment, she moves in with Marjorie. When she returns to her old foster home where she lived with Bonnie, it is revealed that her father killed her mother and she went into the system after that. Tammy is extremely handy at home improvements and similar light construction work, and has helped Bonnie with her apartment manager work while also doing remodeling at Adam's bar and the restaurant where Christy works. As of the end of season 7, she is working toward being a full-fledged contractor, and is no longer on parole after doing superb work at readjusting to society post-prison.

  Recurring

• Reggie de Leon as Paul : Chef Rudy's silent and often submissive sous-chef.
• Kevin Pollak as Alvin Lester Belitnikoff : Christy's father and Bonnie's ex-boyfriend who abandoned them when Christy was born. When Christy found Alvin he was married with two sons. Despite that, he loves Christy and does what he can to be in her life and help out, including fixing up a used car to give her and attempting to reach out to her children as a grandfather. He and Bonnie initially treated each other with contempt and hatred over the various mistakes each of them has made in their past, but they rekindled their relationship after his wife left him and he survived a heart attack. In season 2, Alvin suffers a second, fatal heart attack while in bed with Bonnie.
• Octavia Spencer as Regina Tompkins : A fellow AA member and money manager who embezzled from her clients and faces a long prison sentence. While a close if questionable friend to Christy, Regina and Bonnie typically hold each other in contempt, but beneath the surface, they bear some affection for each other. In the middle of season 2, she is given early parole and becomes a born-again Christian, eventually moving in with Jill. Regina drifts apart from her friends after she decides she is no longer an alcoholic, essentially choosing wine over her friends, and struggles alone with the dissonance after moving into her own apartment and out of Jill's mansion.
• Courtney Henggeler as Claudia : Gabriel's wealthy and snobbish wife, who takes over the restaurant from him and briefly appoints Christy as manager.
• Mary Pat Gleason as Mary : A fellow AA member who is frequently interrupted by Bonnie when she shares her problems with the group, as her anecdotes tend to be bizarre and creepy even by the standards of addicts. Mary dies in season 7 at the AA meeting from a brain aneurysm.
• Don McManus as Steve Casper : A fellow AA member, Steve is a competent but creepy lawyer and occasionally aids Christy, who becomes his intern and trainee in season 2. He has a casual sex relationship with Bonnie in season 3. In season 4, he is shown to be in Mexico, hiding from trouble with a drug cartel.
• Sara Rue as Candace Hayes : Baxter's wealthy new wife, whom she reformed. She delivers many subtle jabs at Christy's poverty in the form of backhanded compliments, and seems to be trying to force Christy aside to replace her as Roscoe's mother. The hostility becomes much more obvious in season 3, when Candace's wealthy father, Fred, briefly dates Christy and Candace accuses Christy of only being with him for his money. Christy breaks up with Fred because he openly insults and mocks Candace for doing nothing but living off his wealth. When Candace smirks that Fred dumped her, Christy gives Candace a hug and shuts her up by saying "I know why you're a bitch."
• Jonny Coyne as Victor Perugian : Christy's Armenian former landlord who becomes attracted to Marjorie, marrying her in season 3. Victor later suffers two strokes. The first in Season 5 leaves him largely incapacitated, and the second in Season 6 is fatal.
• Amy Hill as Beverly Tarantino : A tenant in the apartment building where Christy and Bonnie live. She dislikes Bonnie and is always trying to get her fired from the building manager position. However, she has been less harsh since she admitted to Bonnie that her own father was a hopeless alcoholic, and that she has projected some of her anger at him onto Bonnie due to her AA ties.
• Charlie Robinson as Mr. Munson : A blind tenant in the apartment building where Christy and Bonnie live. He is a Vietnam war veteran who is battling prostate cancer.
• David Krumholtz as Gregory Munchnik : Violet's older Jewish ex-fiancé, a psychology professor at the college she attends.
• Emily Osment as Jodi Hubbard : A young drug addict whom Christy and Bonnie try to help get sober. She later dies from a drug overdose.
• Lauri Johnson as Beatrice : A waitress at the bistro that serves as a recurring location for the cast.
• Missi Pyle as Natasha : Emily's biological mother, an alcoholic whom Christy knows from her stripping days. Christy helps Natasha get sober and regain custody of her daughter.
• Julia Lester as Emily : Jill's teenage foster daughter and Natasha's biological daughter.
• Leonard Roberts as Ray Stabler : Bonnie's gay half-brother who was a successful lawyer and who developed a cocaine habit.
• Steven Weber as Patrick Janikowski, Adam's younger brother and Christy's short-term love interest.
• Yvette Nicole Brown as Nora Rogers : Christy's no-nonsense sponsor who works as a TV weather anchor and finds herself violating her established rules about not interacting with sponsees outside of AA with Christy. In the Season 6 finale, she tells a devastated Christy she is leaving California to take a job at a TV station in Minneapolis.
• Sam McMurray as Ned, one of the Gamblers Anonymous members where Christy attends; he becomes her de facto sponsor.
• Susan Ruttan as Lucy, one of the Gamblers Anonymous members in Christy's group; she is good-hearted but constantly relapses and loses huge amounts of money.
• Will Sasso as Andy, Jill's love interest who is a police officer and former Marine.
• Rainn Wilson as Trevor Wells : Bonnie's therapist who helps her with her ADHD and has a completely awful personal life, due to a divorce and financial setbacks.

  Notable guests

• Jon Cryer and Lisa Joyner as themselves : customers at the Rustic Fig
• Justin Long as Adam Henchy : Christy's love interest
• Ed Asner as Jack Bumgartner : a tenant in the apartment building where Bonnie and Christy reside
• Beverly D'Angelo as Lorraine Biletnikoff : Alvin's ex-wife, who hates Christy and Bonnie
• Colin Hanks as Andy Dreeson : Christy's potential love interest whose idea of a fun night is not exactly what she expected
• Ellen Burstyn as Shirley Stabler : Bonnie's biological mother who put her in foster care when she was very young
• June Squibb as Dottie : a woman who, Christy thinks, might be the ideal grandmother
• Judy Greer as Michelle : a sloppy drunk that Christy and Bonnie meet in a bar and try to help get sober
• Linda Lavin as Phyllis Munchnik : Gregory's mother and Violet's would-be mother-in-law
• Harry Hamlin as Fred Hayes : Candace's wealthy father and Christy's brief love interest
• Rosie O'Donnell as Jeanine : an ex-girlfriend of Bonnie whom she and Christy lived with. She and Christy maintain an aunt-niece relationship.
• Joe Manganiello as Julian : a newcomer to Alcoholics Anonymous whom Christy takes under her wing
• Rhea Perlman as Anya Perugian : Marjorie's Armenian sister-in-law and Victor's sister
• Richard Schiff as Robert : Bonnie's Communications Director in a White House dream that she had
• Bradley Whitford as Mitch : Adam's friend who is a Hollywood director with a fondness for alcohol
• Nicole Sullivan as Leanne : Mitch's hard-drinking wife who was once involved with Adam
• Chris Pratt as Nick Banaszak : Marjorie's nephew, a charming horse-riding instructor whom Christy pursues, despite Marjorie declaring him off-limits
• Wendie Malick as Danielle Janikowski : Adam's ex-wife whose friendly relationship with him confounds Bonnie
• Michael Angarano as Cooper : Christy's younger classmate at college and romantic interest
• Kristin Chenoweth as Miranda : Jill's inner strength advisor who met her at the latter's weight loss retreat
• Patti LuPone as Rita Gennaro : the demanding owner of the building that is managed by Bonnie
• Constance Zimmer as Natalie Stevens : Christy's rigid professor at the law school who is also an alcoholic
• Lois Smith as Claire Dickinson : Bonnie and Tammy's former caretaker at the old foster home
• Kate Micucci as Patty : A single mother who is a member of the AA meeting Bonnie attends while on her honeymoon with Adam. Bonnie agrees to become Patty's sponsor.
• Reginald Veljohnson as Jim : A member of the AA meeting Bonnie attends while on her honeymoon with Adam
• John Ratzenberger as Stan : A member of the AA meeting Bonnie attends while on her honeymoon with Adam
• Paget Brewster as Veronica Stone : Christy's demanding new boss at a law firm
• Kathleen Turner as Cookie : Tammy's long-lost aunt who comes back into her life; it turns out Cookie lied about not knowing Tammy existed and that she let Tammy go into the foster system rather than take her in as a child, and really sought out Tammy in order to get her to agree to a life-saving kidney transplant.
• Peter Onorati as Wayne : Marjorie's love interest.
• Courtney Thorne-Smith as Sam : Adam's Al-Anon sponsor.

  Production

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Accolades