30 Mom TV Shows That Every Mama Should Watch

Parenting is a lot. It’s so central to the ways we arrange our lives that there are tons of mom TV shows out there that tell stories about parenting and the agony and ecstasy that comes along with it. From broadcast sitcoms to artful Euro drama’s we found mom TV shows from every corner and for every taste.

Below you will find our list of the best mom TV shows we’ve seen in recent years along with some classics that are always a delight to return to. You’ll find Emmy-winning crowd pleasures and a couple of obscure picks that might be flying just below your radar! Let’s take a look at some of the best mom TV shows from around the world!

Watch These Brilliant Mom TV Shows About Parenting.

Breeders

Darkly funny, Breeders just completed its second season run on FX and is currently streaming on Hulu. The show stars Martin Freeman (The Hobbit) and Daisy Haggard (Episodes) as two parents trying to care for their children in this hectic world. Haggard’s character, Ally decides to move to Berlin for her career and leaves the majority of the parenting duties to her husband, Paul back in London. Hilarity and heartache ensue in this sometimes sad mom TV show.

Great News

If you’re a big fan of Tina Fey, you probably already know about Great News, otherwise, the show might have flown beneath your radar. The main character, Katie (Briga Heelan) lands a new job producing a TV news program. Things are going great for her until her mother, Carol (played by the legendary Andrea Martin) gets an internship for the same program. Hilarity ensues. This lighthearted mother-daughter comedy is a joy to watch and you’ll zip through the short, punchy episodes with ease. Great News feels like 30 Rock‘s peppy little cousin and will definitely make you laugh.

#BlackAF

If you loved Blackish, you definitely need to give #BlackAF a shot. It takes on a more cynical and TV-MA worldview and mixes it with the now cliché video testimonial format (popularized by Modern Family) to new heights. Kenya Barris might be the lead of the show but its star is Rashida Jones (Parks and Recreation).

Jones plays the character, Joya, a high-profile lawyer who took time away from her career to raise the family’s five children. She’s hilarious and over-the-top and the kind of mom you’d want to grab a drink with. This is another mom TV show you’ll want to enjoy with your mature kids. Netflix renewed it for a second season but no details have been released about a premiere date.

I’m Sorry

I’m Sorry is a little gem of a show that we’ve written about before. The creator and star of this mom TV show, Andrew Savage is a treasure who mines motherhood for comedy gold in a way that feels so right. Savage plays a comedy writer who can’t leave the jokes out of her everyday life. If you love cringeworthy, awkward comedies, this TV show is full of those moments. The horrific parenting scenes feel so personally uncomfortable and real that you’ll be thankful they’ve never happened to you. Find this mom TV show on Netflix.

Catastrophe

Comedian, writer, producer, and actor Sharon Horgan’s (Pulling, Divorce) brand of comedy is not for everybody. It’s dry, fast, and deeply unsettling if you think about it for too long. Horgan plays a character who accidentally gets pregnant after a fling and she and the child’s father decide to raise the baby together. What could go wrong? A lot. This dark and gritty take on parenthood felt very refreshing when it came out in early 2015. It gets bleak at times, but so does motherhood. But, overall we loved this mom TV show from the UK.

Jane the Virgin

Jane the Virgin is one of our go-to feel-good mom TV shows. This family-friendly show features a cast of hilarious characters that appear and reappear of the course of five seasons in the most expected ways. The show borrows its format from telenovelas and it runs with it! The show’s star, Gina Rodriguez is phenomenal as the titular Jane. The show follows Jane who is accidentally impregnated at an OBGYN visit and chaos ensues. Funny and full of heart, binge-watching Jane the Virgin will warm your heart. It’s streaming on Netflix.

Little Fires Everywhere

Want to feel better about your own parenting? Watch Little Fires Everywhere. While the majority of the mom TV shows on this list are comedies, this show is only funny when the melodrama gets cranked to 100. Soapy, messy, and absurd, Little Fires Everywhere is a show best enjoyed if you’re not taking it too seriously. Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington are fantastic as two very different moms with very different parenting styles. As their worlds collide things start to fall apart. It’s wild! Find it on Hulu.

The Letdown

Australian import, The Letdown is a very funny mom TV show about how silly parenting can feel. Alsion Bell plays Audrey a woman who’s determined to not let motherhood define her professionally or personally. As she grows into the role, so too does motherhood begin to consume her every waking moment and thought. No one sets out to fit neatly into a category, but circumstance often shapes us into it. The Letdown explores this beautifully and never takes itself too seriously. Find two seasons on Netflix.

The Durrells in Corfu

The Durrells in Corfu is a sun-kissed charmer set on a friendly Greek island. Keeley Hawes (Bodyguard) slays as Louisa Durrell, a single mother who moves her four children from England to the ‘exotic’ locale in the mid-1930s. While the house they inhabit doesn’t have electricity, Corfu proves to be an earthly paradise for the family. This mom TV show is wholesome and very funny, featuring a quirky cast of characters and some great life lessons to boot. Although this show might not thrill your kids (unless they love animals!), you can watch it with the entire family. Find it on Amazon Prime.

Better Things

Pamela Adlon (Californication) writes, directs, and stars in this emotional comedy about being a single mother in Hollywood. On the surface, Better Things is a comedy that pokes fun at the absurdity of parenting. Underneath, the show is a profound meditation on the special bond mothers share with their daughters. There are four seasons of the show available and each season is better than the last. It’s one of the best mom TV shows ever made and one of our very favorites about motherhood. Watch this supreme mom TV show on Hulu.

Workin’ Moms

The Canadian import, now streaming on Netflix, follows a group of four moms as they balance work and life. The moms initially meet at a parenting group, bringing very different personalities and parenting styles to the table. The series was created by working mom Catherine Reitman, who also stars in this fantastic mom TV show.

Black-ish

The TV comedy, starring Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross, follows several upper-middle-class families as they juggle parenthood, relationships, careers, and friends. Additionally, the show focuses on how to find a “cultural identity” for your family and managing how to give your kids more than you had without giving them everything. The show, which is currently airing its eighth season, airs on ABC and streams on Hulu. This is like a cousin TV show of #BlackAF.

SMILF

Based on creator and star Frankie Shaw’s short film, the show follows Bridgette Bird as she navigates single motherhood. Bridgette lives in South Boston with her “unconventional family” and, at times, struggles to make good decisions for herself and her son. SMILF also stars Rosie O’Donnell and airs on Showtime. It’s one of the most subversive mom TV shows on this list that deals with three different generations.

Single Parents

Single Parents follows a group of single parents as they manage raising seven-year-olds, jobs, the PTA, dating, and more. The group, including Leighton Meester and Brad Garrett, all have different parenting styles but open up to one another as they encounter life’s various hurdles. This mom TV show airs on ABC and streams on Hulu.

Good Girls

Good Girls follows three suburban moms who rob a grocery store in order to get some much-needed cash. This mom TV show begins with the heist but then follows the three moms as they deal with the aftermath of what they’ve done, all while trying to keep peace on the home front. Good Girls has three seasons streaming on Netflix.

The Good Wife

After her husband, the state’s attorney is caught up in a sex/corruption scandal, Alicia Florrick, played by the incredible Julianna Margulies, is forced to return to practicing law to provide for her family. What ensues is a personal revolution that sees Alicia transform from being a “good wife” into one of the most powerful attornies in the city of Chicago. She manages all of this while also raising her two, clever children. Find this mom TV show streaming on Paramount+. There are seven seasons to enjoy!

Happy Valley

Woo! Happy Valley is one of the most intense crime dramas we’ve ever seen. The protagonist, Catherine Cawood, played by Sarah Lancashire, is a police sergeant who stumbles into a crime with implications for her own dysfunctional family. This tough cop literally kicks butt and will stop at nothing to ensure the safety of her orphaned grandson. Although she cannot always put into words how deeply she feels for members of her family, her actions speak louder. Find it streaming on AMC+.

The Americans

Elizabeth Jennings’s relationship with her daughter, Paige has tremendous highs and lows over the course of the show’s six-season run. Elizabeth is a Russian spy, posing as an American whose missions often put her odds with her Americanized children. And boy, can she rock a disguise! Elizabeth rarely loses sight of a mission which makes it hard for her to convey her deeper feelings to Paige until Paige is an adult herself. Elizabeth Jennings is one of the greatest spy characters ever! The show is available to stream on FX.

7.

Never Have I Ever is as hilarious as it is heartfelt. The show is loosely based on its creator, Mindy Kaling’s childhood as a first-generation Indian American teenager. The main character, Devi played by Maitreyi Ramakrishnan is magnetic. Devi is prone to bad decisions, but she’s always got a joke up her sleeve to balance the seriousness of the consequences. It’s one of the best mom TV shows that is actually centered on the main character’s relationship with her mother.

Dead to Me

Dead to Me is so unapologetically melodramatic, soapy, and at times, unhinged. Season three was the wildest yet. The show follows a widow who is trying to do right by her family who meets a stranger with a very big secret. How can you go wrong with a dramedy vehicle starring Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini? All three seasons are streaming on Netflix.

Sex Education

If you get uncomfortable talking about sex, you should most definitely skip Sex Education. There are three seasons available on Netflix and it’s been renewed for a fourth. We would have never given this show a second thought until we heard that Gillian Anderson stars in it. She plays Jean, a sex therapist and single mom to Otis, a boy who wins friends by helping them with their high school sex lives. It’s wild, funny, subversive, and surprisingly full of heart.

Frayed

Set in the 1980s, Frayed follows a wealthy, London widow who loses everything after the passing of her husband. Her dire circumstances find her traveling with her two children to her hometown of Newcastle, Australia. The audience quickly realizes why she left in the first place as the nutty cast of characters would make anyone want to run away and never return. There are two seasons of this amazingly funny series on HBO.

The Queen’s Gambit

Anya Taylor-Joy stars in The Queen’s Gambit, a show that really feels like a prestige drama with immaculate sets, gorgeous costuming, and performances that are simply unbeatable. Joy plays Beth Harmon an orphaned child and chess prodigy who struggles with addiction. Much of the story revolves around Harmon’s complicated relationship with her mother, Alice, from who Beth inherits some bad habits. Set during the Cold War, the show really transports you to a time when chess players really were superstars on the world stage,

We Are Who We Are

Come for the original music scored by Dev Hynes (Blood Orange) and stay for the truly remarkable performances from this ensemble cast. We Are Who We Are follows two queer teens in a challenging coming-of-age story set on a US military base in Italy. Each teen has a difficult relationship with their parents as is very evident with Jack’s same-sex parents played by Chloe Sevigny and Alice Braga. If you’re in the mood for a show that’s unapologetically artful and European, give this drama a shot.

Gilmore Girls

Set in a quiet Connecticut town populated by an eclectic mix of dreamers Gilmore Girls is a multigenerational drama about family and friendship that centers around Lorelai Gilmore and her daughter, Rory. Lorelai owns the town’s bed-and-breakfast, the Dragonfly Inn and Rory attends a prestigious prep school. The relationship between mother and daughter is the bedrock of this classic mom TV show.

Parenthood

Adam, Sarah, Crosby, and Julia Braverman are siblings who experience a lot of ups and downs on their parenthood journey. As their parents deal with life and marital issues, the four siblings lean on one another all while tackling the challenges of modern family life. Find this show on NBC or Peacock.

Mom

Mom follows Christy (Anna Faris), and her mom, Bonnie (Allison Janney), who are recovering addicts with a strained relationship. They experience many highs and lows over the many seasons of the show but one thing remains constant, forgiveness and understanding are the keys to any mother-daughter relationship. Over the many seasons of this show, we see the narratives and the characters evolve. It’s currently streaming on CBS.

Daughter From Another Mother

After discovering that their babies were switched at birth, two women hatch a plan to raise their children with an unconventional family unit. This Spanish language series has tons of drama and over-the-top scenarios. It’s a blast to watch and you can find it on Netflix.

Yummy Mummies

Are you ready for your next guilty pleasure? Yummy Mummies is a reality series set in Australia. It follows wealthy socialites who are embarking on motherhood journies. If you’re looking for a mom TV show that’s essentially Real Housewives, give this ridiculous series a watch. Two seasons are streaming on Netflix.

Maid

Probably the best show ever made about motherhood, domestic abuse, and poverty, Maid is one of the best TV series we’ve ever seen. Margot Qualley stars as Alex a mother who flees an abusive relationship with her young daughter. Unfortunately, Alex does not have anywhere to turn and she’s forced into homelessness with her daughter before she finds refuge at a women’s shelter. Qualley stars opposite her real-life mom, Andie MacDowell, and both give some of the finest performances of 2021. If you only watch one show on this list, please let it be Maid. Find it on Netflix.

There you go! We hope you discovered some new mom TV shows to enjoy. There are so many out there and we feel like this list of 30 mom TV shows has a little something for everyone. From soapy drama to over-the-top circumstances to romantic European fare, you’ve got all sorts of mom TV shows to watch! Happy binging!