# They're not making TV meemaws like they used to. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 9, 2018, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-making-tv-meemaws-like-they-used-to/808493 "2018-02-09T03:49:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a87d85/32.png) [@A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Dodgy_Dude)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-making-tv-meemaws-like-they-used-to/808493/1 "2018-02-09T03:49:24Z")
What happened to grandmothers on television show? They used to look like actual grandmothers. Not any more. Annie Potts plays Young Sheldon’s grandma and if she was to invite me into her bed I think I’d say, “Scooch on over, meemaw” and I’d hop in with her. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-making-tv-meemaws-like-they-used-to/808493/2 "2018-02-09T03:57:38Z")
Ummm, we’re just getting old. I see teenage girls at the beach and I look around to see if they have a cute mom. Oops, still too young for me… “Hey, sweetie, ya got a hot meemaw?” (A nickname I’d never heard before… Yiddish? Serbo-Croat?) ---
**Author:** ![Grumbacher\_Red](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Grumbacher\_Red](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumbacher_Red)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-making-tv-meemaws-like-they-used-to/808493/3 "2018-02-09T03:59:41Z")
I recall seeing an episode of All in the Family a few years ago when I was around 45, and the episode centered around whether Archie was 49 or 50. I was fairly perplexed, as I would have easily pegged him for 60 or 65. None of my contemporaries even remotely resemble the Bunkers. When I was a teenager and AITF was in its’ original run, I certainly considered Edith and Archie old, and they looked it. I think people a few decades back followed more closely to norms about how people of a certain age should dress and act, or even things they should be interested in. I think we can thank the baby boomers for changing all that. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-making-tv-meemaws-like-they-used-to/808493/4 "2018-02-09T04:01:22Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Ummm, we’re just getting old. > > I see teenage girls at the beach and I look around to see if they have a cute mom. Oops, still too young for me… “Hey, sweetie, ya got a hot meemaw?” > > (A nickname I’d never heard before… Yiddish? Serbo-Croat?) Alabama. 😉 How old is Rita Moreno? ---
**Author:** ![Grumbacher\_Red](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Grumbacher\_Red](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumbacher_Red)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-making-tv-meemaws-like-they-used-to/808493/5 "2018-02-09T04:09:41Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Ummm, we’re just getting old. > > I see teenage girls at the beach and I look around to see if they have a cute mom. Oops, still too young for me… “Hey, sweetie, ya got a hot meemaw?” > > (A nickname I’d never heard before… Yiddish? Serbo-Croat?) Yeah, this is probably part of it, too. When I was a 16 year old girl, a 17 year old boy seemed like a “man” to me. It didn’t take too many years before I considered that a boy, then a child, and now, I consider a 17 year old boy a baby. These female teachers who prey on teen age boys make me want to vomit. A grown woman shouldn’t see anything remotely enticing about a teen age boy. It is all in who you see as your contemporaries, what you find attractive changes with age. TV Grandmothers reflect women’s changing attitudes about aging. I always had a problem with TV couples where the wife, or TV Mom, was always way more attractive than the TV dad she was supposed to be married to. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-making-tv-meemaws-like-they-used-to/808493/6 "2018-02-09T04:14:03Z")
> [@Grumbacher\_Red](#): > > I think people a few decades back followed more closely to norms about how people of a certain age should dress and act, or even things they should be interested in. > > I think we can thank the baby boomers for changing all that. You’re welcome. I have a photo of my grandmother taken around the time I was born. She was 48, but she was completely in grandmother mode (hair and clothes mostly) and looked 60 or more. I don’t think my mother ever looked that old, at least not if she could help it. She dyed her hair and refused to wear old lady clothes. Now I’m 68 and look every day of it, so I can only react against my age by not acting it. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-making-tv-meemaws-like-they-used-to/808493/7 "2018-02-09T04:39:50Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Alabama. 😉 > > How old is Rita Moreno? I was gonna say, meemaw, mamaw, mawmaw and etc. are all southern. We called Grandma , Big Momma.(???) Personally I am Nana, I am trying to break cycle in my own little way. It’s a struggle. Burpo, Rita may be in her 80s, just saying! ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-making-tv-meemaws-like-they-used-to/808493/8 "2018-02-09T08:50:14Z")
To be exact, Rita Moreno is 86, since she was born on December 11, 1931. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-making-tv-meemaws-like-they-used-to/808493/9 "2018-02-09T11:32:53Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I was gonna say, meemaw, mamaw, mawmaw and etc. are all southern. We called Grandma , Big Momma.(???) Personally I am Nana, I am trying to break cycle in my own little way. It’s a struggle. When my mom died a few years ago (my dad was already gone) I realized I was the elder in the family (my parents were both only children). That was a shock. I pointed this out and told everyone to call me "Pappy’ _as a joke_. My nephews and sibs have stuck with it, though. Fuckers. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/22080_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-making-tv-meemaws-like-they-used-to/808493/10 "2018-02-09T12:00:58Z")
When I was about 5 or 6, I asked my grandmother how old she was. She replied: “I’m 22!” To my 6-y/o self, 22 sounded incredibly old!! In reality, she was in her middle 40s. At 64, I’m about to become a grandmother for the first time. My hair has not yet turned gray, and I’m not all wrinkly - exactly what does a grandmother look like? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![WildBlueYonder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WildBlueYonder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildBlueYonder)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-making-tv-meemaws-like-they-used-to/808493/11 "2018-02-09T13:31:53Z")
Is it our perception of what the “”“old”"" people look like or do we look younger because we can live longer (better health) than the average person 100+ years ago? I’ve seen plenty of older people thru my job and the women look so much older than the reported age. Its the way people live their lives. Smoking, tanning without SPF stuff, drinking and drugs. I know of that episode of All in the Family about Archie looking at least 65 at the age of 58-59. Crazy And one more thing, teenage pregnancies thru a few generations bring women of 40 to be grandmothers and 15+/- years become great grandmothers and beyond. However, one would think that by the 3rd generation, someone would have made a stop to that young teen fertility issue! :D:D ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-making-tv-meemaws-like-they-used-to/808493/12 "2018-02-09T14:57:00Z")
It’s not just TV. Have you noticed how Spiderman’s Aunt May gets progressively younger (and hotter) with each incarnation? Here she is as Steve Ditko originally drew her: > **[spider man aunt may steve ditko - Bing](https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=OiGjHtjp&id=4433B95DEB79614132A4F60EDB6BFA585D5821A4&thid=OIP.OiGjHtjpHFdibDaJK9BZuQHaHP&mediaurl=https%3a%2f%2fs-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com%2f736x%2fc7%2f76%2f8a%2fc7768a9889cae7a6707f17dbf351b2ff.jpg&exph=484&expw=495&q=spider%2Bman%2Baunt%2Bmay%2Bsteve%2Bditko&simid=608048370581703435&selectedIndex=5&qpvt=spider%2Bman%2Baunt%2Bmay%2Bsteve%2Bditko&ajaxhist=0)** > > Intelligent search from Bing makes it easier to quickly find what you’re looking for and rewards you. Here she is as portrayed by Rosemary Harris in the Sam Raimi films: > **[Spiderman Aunt May Rosemary Harris - Bing](https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=Nd5FulUz&id=C928FBD3B04EA2578513A44E19C2B4CCEBA32DC1&thid=OIP.Nd5FulUz8JollTMqRhsKUQHaKd&mediaurl=https%3a%2f%2fs-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com%2f564x%2ff5%2fc0%2fab%2ff5c0ab7082373d9527bb203cb2eb6f8c.jpg&exph=797&expw=564&q=Spiderman%2BAunt%2BMay%2BRosemary%2BHarris&simid=607997732893558888&selectedIndex=1&ajaxhist=0)** > > Intelligent search from Bing makes it easier to quickly find what you’re looking for and rewards you. Here she is as portrayed by Sally Field in Mark Webb’s films (It hurts me to even write this – Sally Field as Aunt May? Gidget? The Flying Nun?) > **[Aunt May (Sally Field)](https://spiderman-films.fandom.com/wiki/Aunt_May_(Sally_Field))** > > May Parker, commonly known as Aunt May, is a fictional supporting character from the Marvel Comics' Spider-Man series. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko in 1962. She was portrayed by Sally Field in the 2012 film The Amazing Spider-Man... And here’s Marisa Tomei. THIS is Aunt May? I think Tony Stark sees her as an AILF > **[Aunt May (Marisa Tomei)](https://spiderman-films.fandom.com/wiki/Aunt_May_(Marisa_Tomei))** > > You have a gift. You have power. And with great power, there must also come great responsibility.Aunt May to Peter Parker May Parker, commonly known as Aunt May, is a fictional supporting character from the Marvel Comics' Spider-Man series. Created... Rosemary Harris was 75 when she first played the role. Sally Field was 66 Marisa Tome was 53 when she first played the part in _Captain America: Civil Wart_. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-making-tv-meemaws-like-they-used-to/808493/13 "2018-02-09T15:10:50Z")
> [@Grumbacher\_Red](#): > > . . . > > I always had a problem with TV couples where the wife, or TV Mom, was always way more attractive than the TV dad she was supposed to be married to. If you have even seen photos of me and my Wife, you would know that some of us live that every day ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-making-tv-meemaws-like-they-used-to/808493/14 "2018-02-09T15:19:57Z")
> [@Grumbacher\_Red](#): > > I recall seeing an episode of All in the Family a few years ago when I was around 45, and the episode centered around whether Archie was 49 or 50. I was fairly perplexed, as I would have easily pegged him for 60 or 65. None of my contemporaries even remotely resemble the Bunkers. When I was a teenager and AITF was in its’ original run, I certainly considered Edith and Archie old, and they looked it. But they weren’t that old. Carroll O’Connor was 55 and Jean Stapleton was 56 in the final season of the series. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-making-tv-meemaws-like-they-used-to/808493/15 "2018-02-09T15:22:17Z")
I looked at an old high school yearbook from the 1930’s. The students all looked like they were in their '40’s!! The girls had very matronly hairstyles. I think that there wasn’t a big distinction between teenagers’ styles and adults back then. Not like there was, later on, starting in the '50’s. I’m a gramma and I sure don’t look or dress like Mama on Mama’s Family!!. My mom, who will be 78 this year, never looked like the typical granny either. Most of the women I know that are my age dress stylishly and don’t look grandmotherly at all. There are some, though that don’t seem to put a lot of effort into their appearance and because of that, they look dowdy and old. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-making-tv-meemaws-like-they-used-to/808493/16 "2018-02-09T15:34:49Z")
You know 50 is the new 30. Or some such rot. I am routinely described as 10 or 12 years younger than I am. I have struggled with the baby-face issue since I was a young adult. I actually have gray hair, but my hair is nearly white blond so no one believes me. I know, I know it is a anti-problem. But I feel old, some days incredibly old. Only I suffer in silence, woe is me!! ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/22080_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-making-tv-meemaws-like-they-used-to/808493/17 "2018-02-09T15:58:53Z")
> [@WildBlueYonder](#): > > And one more thing, teenage pregnancies thru a few generations bring women of 40 to be grandmothers My grandmother had my mom when she was 20. My mom had me when she was 20 - so I had a 40-y/o grandmother. Both were married at 18, so they were teens when they got pregnant. Different times… similarly, a friend of mine went to her 20th high school reunion and one of her classmates was a grandmother by that time - the classmate and her daughter both married right after high school and both had babies right away. ---
**Author:** ![Grumbacher\_Red](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Grumbacher\_Red](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumbacher_Red)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-making-tv-meemaws-like-they-used-to/808493/18 "2018-02-09T16:16:19Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > But they weren’t that old. Carroll O’Connor was 55 and Jean Stapleton was 56 in the final season of the series. Right! But they certainly didn’t look like most people in their mid-50s look now. Most of us make more of a conscious effort to stay fashionable and fight the frump. ---
**Author:** ![Grumbacher\_Red](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Grumbacher\_Red](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumbacher_Red)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-making-tv-meemaws-like-they-used-to/808493/19 "2018-02-09T16:25:13Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > I looked at an old high school yearbook from the 1930’s. The students all looked like they were in their '40’s!! The girls had very matronly hairstyles. Yes, alot of it is our perspective, and that so many people stay stuck in a fashion rut from their younger days. In the 1930s, finger waves and bobbed hairstyles were considered the young fresh look, and many women kept that style for too many decades out of high school, so by the 50s and 60s, finger waves were for grannies. I can look at my mother’s yearbooks from the 60s and all those teased and beehive 'dos make those girls appear so old to me, too. But to them it was young and radical. But a woman still wearing a beehive even by the late 70s and certainly into the 80s (and there were indeed some! :eek:) looked all completely geriatric. Just as ridiculous as somebody today who still wears a crispy 80s perm with too much gel. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-making-tv-meemaws-like-they-used-to/808493/20 "2018-02-09T16:28:35Z")
Annie Potts is 65 years old. Hurray for her and thank god we finally get some attractive older women in grandmother roles instead of stereotypes. At least the role didn’t go to the same damned actors who play every grandmother on every sitcom, but perhaps that’s just because Doris Roberts is dead. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-making-tv-meemaws-like-they-used-to/808493.md?page=2)