The thing that was annoying to me about the first season DVD was that on the promo Danny Bonaduce said that Shirley was "TV's 1st hot single mom." Then during his commentary for the first episode he refered to her as "the first single mother on television." Then, I'm watching The Brady Bunch Biography on A&E and Shirley Jones pops up out of nowhere and claims to be "the first working mom on TV."

What about Diahann Carroll on Julia?:confused: It premeired 2 years before The Partridge Family. How on earth could they forget about that?!!

YES!! That's exactly what I was thinking about too when I heard that comment. I think that often, in retrospect, actors will make remarks designed to allign a show or character with some aspect that will make it seem "ground-breaking" or ahead of its time.

I love the show, but to be fair, let's say Shirley was -one- of television's single working mothers, though not the first.

And, to be really fair, perhaps the first of the single, working moms was the pair of Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance in one of the versions of "The Lucy Show" that aired after "I Love Lucy."

Certainly, Julia was a major single, working mom character as well as a big step in portraying a strong woman, let alone an African American on 60's television. I think her's was a very affecting portrayal as it was just her and Cory alone (ok, with good neighbors to lend a bit of help!) and she had maybe a few more obsticles to confront.

Also, let's not forget Doris Day in the first 2 seasons of her show, and Hope Lange in "The Ghost Mrs. Muir."