Beverly Hillbillies - man lives with daughter, nephew(?), mother-in-law(?)
Full House - man lives with brother-in-law(?), friend(?), two daughters, and half of a twin
Great, I have to admit I watched this show…oh well. On Sabrina The Teenage Witch, Sabrina’s parents are divorced (she goes to see them in different episodes, so they’re definitely alive), and she lives with her aunts.
I think that one reason why there are so many widows and widowers in TV Land is because they don’t want the missing parent to be thought of in a bad light. Think of Blossom’s mother. Or Will’s deadbeat dad on the “The Fresh Prince of Bel Aire.” Often, the non-custodial parent isn’t even cast, and the audience never sees him or him. This is especially problematic if the missing parent is the mother; how do you explain the fact that she isn’t the least bit involved in her childrens’ life? Either she’s a heartless bitch, or she’s in jail, or she’s dead.
Well, as others have noted, the “off screen” explanation is probably that making a male character a widower (or occasionally a divorcee) is “When you come right down to it, what we’re really talking about here, guys, is a cheap plot device that enables young, swinging bachelors to mix it up with a hot, young lady and still have adorable kids that they can dispense folksy, homespun advice to.” In the words of the giants. (The cast and writers of MST3k, during episode 506, “Eegah!” to be exact. They go into the subject in more detail.)
The usual “On screen” reasons for a missing mate seem to be: Car Accident, Cancer/Leukemia, Divorce/Parental Abandonment, Medical Complications after Childbirth, and Plane Shot Down during The War. Roughly in order of occurrence, although Divorce is rising on the list, being more socially acceptable these days.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Buffys parents, Hank and Joyce Summers are divorced. Joyce moves to Sunnydale with Buffy and Hank moves to Spain with his secretary. And never bothers to contact Buffy when Joyce dies, the scum!
In Blossom’s mother, she left to find her own career after being overshadowed by her husband.
Will’s deadbeat dad was played in on episode by Ben Vereen. What was never explained is that his mother’s birth name is “Smith,” yet his father’s name is “Lou Smith.” But I guess it’s a common name.
Well, “A Very Brady Sequel” was a parody, and is probably not considered canon (yes, I realize how ridiculous this sounds). Besides, she would have THOUGHT he was dead, and would probably have had to have him declared legally dead to marry Mike.
I dont know if anyone already mentioned it, but I would say Boy Meets World definitely qualifies. Sean who lives in the trailor park is constantly being dumped by both his parents who are away from him for months at a time, and then later he finds out that the woman he thought was his mom, is actually not
What, and she was still completely incommunicado with her daughter, for years? Icy…but if so, it probably wasn’t really a big loss on Blossom’s part.
Actually, she was shown in several issues, played by Melissa Manchester. Blossom spent one summer with her in Paris.
There was a short-lived series on ABC, I think, with Jere Burns with multiple divorces between him and his wife. His wife was from Thirtysomething, I think. I never saw the show, but I remember the promos.
Law & Order, Lenny Brisco has been divorced once or twice, but Van Buren is in a stable marriage with children.
Mom’s in rehab, not jail. If she’s even still there. In the second-season finale, the kids were supposed to visit, but she wasn’t in her room when they arrived; then she kept promising Vanessa, by phone, that they would meet, and kept not-showing. Unless someone mentioned something in the “family reunion” episode a few weeks ago, that I didn’t see :smack:, it’s not clear if she went back to the rehab center, or is simply adrift.