'Mom' gets serious in quest for deeper laughs
Domestic violence is no laughing matter, but it's central to Thursday's episode of the CBS comedy Mom (8:30 p.m. ET/PT).
It's just the latest hardly hilarious real-world topic that fleshes out the story of a struggling but loving family centered on a single mother, Christy (Anna Faris), and her mom, Bonnie (Allison Janney).
Mom took a harder edge than most broadcast TV comedies from the get-go, focusing on recovering alcoholics Christy and Bonnie, but it has since taken on vexing social and health issues, including substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, adoption, breast cancer, gambling addiction, financial collapse and (briefly) homelessness.
The warts-and-all approach was important, professionally and personally, to executive producer Chuck Lorre, who oversees a sitcom empire that includes Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory and Mike & Molly.
"I thought it would be challenging. It's very fertile storytelling and it's very relatable," Lorre says. "It's certainly real to me on a personal level and I thought there's no reason comedy couldn't be mined from real-life situations."
Nevertheless, Mom, up 38% in its second season with the help of its new Big Bang lead-in, remains a comedy.
Lorre, who created the series with Eddie Gorodetsky and Gemma Baker, says the goal is "not to be teachy or pedantic. There's times we're talking about life-and-death issues. It's serious. To not take them seriously would be glib and irresponsible. But at the same time, there's laughter in the darkness. In the bleakest moments, we have the ability to find something to laugh at."
During a group visit to a therapist in Thursday's episode, Christy's teenage daughter, Violet (Sadie Calvano), still struggling with giving up her baby for adoption, complains that her life would have been better if she had spent time with her absent father.
Bonnie erupts, enraging Christy by telling Violet that her father beat Christy and twice sent her to the emergency room. The punchlines steer around the abuse, focusing on Christy's anger at her mother for revealing the secret and her convoluted effort to deceive Violet, with expert liar Bonnie's blessing, about her father's whereabouts.
The therapist scene was filmed in advance, away from a studio audience primed for raucous laughter. "When (Chuck) gives us the more emotional material, he's been nice to give it to us in a pre-shoot situation, so we have the quiet and concentration we need to have those moments come out of us," Emmy winner Janney says.
She was drawn to Mom because it dealt with addiction, but she didn't know it would delve into so many other topics so quickly.
There was a teenage "pregnancy and then they threw in Marjorie's (Mimi Kennedy) cancer. Cancer is not funny and will never be funny, but people are living with it and (there's) people's behavior around those who have it. There is humor to be had there. (But) we're certainly not making fun of any of these issues," says Janney, who adds that a few topics, such as abortion, may still be too hot to handle.
Faris, known for The House Bunny and Scary Movie franchise, says fans respond differently to Mom.
"The support I get on the street, at the grocery store, is unlike anything I've experienced before. People seem really connected, really moved. Believe it or not, people did not respond that way to Scary Movie 3," she says, laughing. "People will be very personal with me and share their struggles with addiction."
The episode received a thumbs-up from some anti-domestic violence group members that had a chance to watch it.
"The part about domestic violence wasn't funny. I thought it was well handled and yet (the overall episode) was still funny," says Kim Gandy, CEO and president of the National Network to End Domestic Violence. "It's a hard issue to talk about, so it's especially important that people are getting messages about this in a way they can absorb them."
Progress is being made in the fight against domestic abuse, she says, but more can be done. "We are overdue for shows that talk about people's real lives in a way that we can relate to it."
Most broadcast comedies steer clear of tough social issues, and few TV families face the economic hardship that many viewers do. (The Hecks of ABC's The Middle is another example). Faris was surprised Mom got rid of its house set, an expensive proposition, to illustrate the family's financial peril.
"Thematically, that felt right because of (Christy's) gambling issues, but from a practical and creative standpoint it felt like new ground," Faris says.
In the early 1970s, All in the Family opened the door to exploring taboo social issues, becoming a huge hit. More than two decades ago, Roseanne, which Lorre worked on, stood out for its depiction of a working-class family.
"All in the Family was so groundbreaking," he says. "It turned the whole idea of TV comedy upside down: We can tell the truth and it's engaging and you care."