A mother and child reunion for TV actors in mom´s day salute

By MICHAEL CIDONI
Associated Press Writer

Not every one of these Mother´s Day celebrants is really a mom _ but they play one on TV.

On-screen children honored their television mothers at "A Mother´s Day Salute to TV Moms," an event put on by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Attendees included Marion Ross ("Happy Days") and her TV offspring Erin Moran; Diahann Carroll ("Julia," "Dynasty" and "A Different World") and "World" co-star Jasmine Guy; Bonnie Franklin ("One Day at a Time") and Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli; and Holland Taylor ("Two and a Half Men") with Jon Cryer and Charlie Sheen.

Questions arose at the Tuesday night event about another show-biz mother _ Britney Spears _ who had scored greater access to her two sons in a custody proceeding earlier in the day.

"You know, I always say, ´If the camera followed you all of your life, we would think differently about you, as well,´" said Tishina Arnold, who plays the mom on the sitcom "Everybody Hates Chris." "There are certain things that we don´t need to see or know. But Britney´s always in our prayers _ that she will be a productive mother."

Productive, like TV moms such as Ross´ Marion Cunningham, Carroll´s Julia Baker and Franklin´s Ann Romano, whose go-it-alone character on "One Day at a Time" made for groundbreaking TV.

"She was the first one, who, on television _ since then, I mean, it´s all over the place _ a single mother raising two kids," Franklin told AP Television. "And it was reflective of what was happening in the country. I mean, I hear that, still, to this day: ´That was me. That was my mother. You were my mother.´"

"One Day at a Time," incidentally, was inspired by the life of the show´s co-creator, actor-writer-producer Whitney Blake, the mother of a TV mom, event attendee Meredith Baxter, who did her own matriarchal duties on TV´s "Family," "Family Ties" and recently on "Cold Case."

As in reality, not all TV moms are good ones, especially Taylor´s bawdy Evelyn Harper on "Two and a Half Men."

"I think that´s pretty accurate," Taylor replied. "I mean, if you think ´Antichrist´/´Anti-mom.´ I think what has trained me and prepared me for this role, as this particular mother, is that I have never had children. And not only have I never had children, but I didn´t even notice that I haven´t had children. So, with that in mind, I am beautifully equipped to play Evelyn Harper."