Mona Robinson (played by Katherine Helmond) was the sex-starved mother of Angela Bower (Judith Light) on this 80's sitcom. But Mona was extremely critical of her successful daughter, often putting her down and making demeaning comments about her. With a mother like that, it's amazing Angela had any self esteem at all. The character of Mona was great comic relief on the show, but as a mother Mona was a big fat zero.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2156031/6_of_the_worst_tv_parents_of_all_time.html?cat=2

I don't necessarily think Mona is a "bad" mother. I think that she is just brutally honest and wants the best for Angela.

I don't think Mona was a bad mother either. Yes at times she was too harsh with Angela but she was honest and she did care about her. I believe she always wanted what was best for Angela(we know she wanted her with Tony) and he was the best thing to happen in her life aside from her son. I think Mona and Angela were really different but when it came down to it, Mona was always there for Angela.

I don't think that she was a bad mother at all, just brutally honest. We all need someone in our lives who isn't afraid to tell us the truth, even when its the last thing that we want to hear. Besides, when ever Mona would make a comment about Angela's nonexistant sex life or how neurotic she was Angela really didn't seem to care. She would always just roll her eyes and when someone reacts like that, they usually aren't taking offense to what you said.

I think for most people she wouldn't be a good mother, but for Angela, she was okay (just okay). If I can make a comparison to Lorelai from Gilmore Girls for a moment-- she knew her daughter well and would encourage her to slack off or go party or whatever, because she knew she would never do anything like that, and would do nothing but study all the time if she could. It seemed like an effort to balance her daughter. I think some of the way Mona treated Angela was along those same lines; Angela was intelligent, successful, beautiful, and a workaholic, as well as overly serious and very conservative. I think Mona treated Angela the way she thought would help balance her out and keep her grounded, help her be able to lighten up and laugh at herself. She bugged me though because sometimes I thought she was just plain mean.

sometimes I thought she was just plain mean.

That's how I feel about Carla on "Cheers". Though she was very funny.

Yeah Mona could be a bit brash at times, but it was harder (for me) to think she was going "too far". And, besides, many a time she was there for her daughter and clearly showed her love, admiration, and support of her.

Kind of like Sophia was with Dorothy on "The Golden Girls", though I think Sophia was more biting in her picking-on remarks.

That's how I feel about Carla on "Cheers". Though she was very funny.

Yeah Mona could be a bit brash at times, but it was harder (for me) to think she was going "too far". And, besides, many a time she was there for her daughter and clearly showed her love, admiration, and support of her.

Kind of like Sophia was with Dorothy on "The Golden Girls", though I think Sophia was more biting in her picking-on remarks.

Good comparison there between Mona and Sophia. I hadn't thought of that parallel.

It's interesting how Mona could sometime cut Angela down in the same way that Sophia would cut down Dorothy.

Both Angela and Dorothy were slightly prudish women who were easy targets for their mothers. I bet there are other characters who are similar. Wonder what this says about our society, that this is a common thread in female lead characters?

Good comparison there between Mona and Sophia. I hadn't thought of that parallel.

It's interesting how Mona could sometime cut Angela down in the same way that Sophia would cut down Dorothy.

Both Angela and Dorothy were slightly prudish women who were easy targets for their mothers. I bet there are other characters who are similar. Wonder what this says about our society, that this is a common thread in female lead characters?


Yeah I grew up on both shows and I've always noticed the Mona/Angela, Sophia/Dorothy parallel.

And both daughters were significantly taller than both mothers. And both mothers were "untameable" who exasperated both their daughters.

I thought that Mona need to take it down a little. In the first season, she wasn't as bad. That annoyed me from time to time. I liked how Angela became more easygoing the last two seasons of the show. She seemed a bit more sexy as well.

I have never understood this idea that to be honest means to be rude or mean or offend people. I can speak my mind without upsetting someone.

Mona at times could be a bit much but she was a decent person.

I am not and never will be a mother (or a female for that matter) but I would think it would be hard to be a good mother if you are not a good person first.

Did Mona become a caricature (https://web.archive.org/web/20140405003512/http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/topic/2874131-whos-the-boss/page-12#entry13735485) towards the end of the series? She seemingly became a more petty, mean-spirited, and one-note character.

Did Mona become a caricature (https://web.archive.org/web/20140405003512/http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/topic/2874131-whos-the-boss/page-12#entry13735485) towards the end of the series? She seemingly became a more petty, mean-spirited, and one-note character.


Oh absolutely, in my opinion! In the earlier seasons, she may have been crass at times, but it came from a place of love and thoughtfulness. So you got to laugh at the joke, but you could also (subconsciously) think "aww, she really loves Angela for saying that"

By the end of the series, the writers were clearly just shovelling mean one liners as an easy way to include her in the show. They were funny (at times) but without the underlying context of how much she cared about the family, it made her sound like a villain at times.

Oh absolutely, in my opinion! In the earlier seasons, she may have been crass at times, but it came from a place of love and thoughtfulness. So you got to laugh at the joke, but you could also (subconsciously) think "aww, she really loves Angela for saying that"

By the end of the series, the writers were clearly just shovelling mean one liners as an easy way to include her in the show. They were funny (at times) but without the underlying context of how much she cared about the family, it made her sound like a villain at times.

That's pretty much what most people have said online (https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/112906-whos-the-boss/?do=findComment&comment=6474377) it appears. Mona's character seemingly began to become "Flanderized" (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Flanderization) around or after the fifth season. While she always had a snarky side to her (especially pertaining to her relationship with Angela (https://web.archive.org/web/20140406114449/http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/topic/2874131-whos-the-boss/page-6#entry13043075)) she was always there for Angela when it counted. Like the episode (https://web.archive.org/web/20140405003510/http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/topic/2874131-whos-the-boss/page-13#entry15229145) where she blackmailed (https://web.archive.org/web/20140406114449/http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/topic/2874131-whos-the-boss/page-6#entry13043505) Betty White's reporter character into killing the story on Angela being caught in the same bed as Tony.

But in the last three seasons or so, it seemed like Mona went from being a woman whose biting and acerbic wit was tempered (https://web.archive.org/web/20140407134732/http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/topic/2874131-whos-the-boss/page-8#entry13232482) with genuine affection for her family to really being a mean-spirited, cold hearted "female dog". To give you a better idea, Mona would always rag (https://web.archive.org/web/20140406114449/http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/topic/2874131-whos-the-boss/page-6#entry13043505) on Angela for being unattractive and socially awkward when she was growing up. And it was made worse by the fact that Angela rarely if ever dished it back to her mother. So it just made Mona come across looking like a bully and mean-girl.

Oh absolutely, in my opinion! In the earlier seasons, she may have been crass at times, but it came from a place of love and thoughtfulness. So you got to laugh at the joke, but you could also (subconsciously) think "aww, she really loves Angela for saying that"

By the end of the series, the writers were clearly just shovelling mean one liners as an easy way to include her in the show. They were funny (at times) but without the underlying context of how much she cared about the family, it made her sound like a villain at times.

Somebody else noted (https://web.archive.org/web/20140405003512/http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/topic/2874131-whos-the-boss/page-12#entry13713126) that one tale-tell sign of Mona's developing an unlikable, harder edge is whenever you come across an episode where Katherine Helmond has darker red (curly or straight) hair. Before say, Season 6, Mona's ribbing of Angela was more playful than outright obnoxious and downright mean-spirited.

I think it's fair to say that the writing changed towards the end with lots of mean spirited all around. I guess there was a push to make the show similar to other shows with rude dialogue (Married with Children and Roseanne).

I think it's fair to say that the writing changed towards the end with lots of mean spirited all around. I guess there was a push to make the show similar to other shows with rude dialogue (Married with Children and Roseanne).

There was an episode from the final season ("Who's the Boss?" oddly enough), where Mona goes on and on about how heavy Angela was a teenager. It wasn't the slightest bit funny and just made Mona come across as needlessly cruel to her daughter. It's like she relished in in making fun of how big of a dork Angela was as a kid. But like I said, it just made Mona look like a cold-hearted bitch since Angela didn't dish it back at her.

By the end of the show, Angela as arguably the most likable character. Even Tony's character you could say, changed for the worse. Around the time that Tony went back to school, was when his character started getting emasculated instead if being this cool, positive blue collar guy from Brooklyn.

Oh absolutely, in my opinion! In the earlier seasons, she may have been crass at times, but it came from a place of love and thoughtfulness. So you got to laugh at the joke, but you could also (subconsciously) think "aww, she really loves Angela for saying that"

By the end of the series, the writers were clearly just shovelling mean one liners as an easy way to include her in the show. They were funny (at times) but without the underlying context of how much she cared about the family, it made her sound like a villain at times.

Mona in the later seasons in a way, was kind of like a female variant of Walter Powell (https://moviechat.org/tt0086681/Charles-in-Charge/58c7406b6b51e905f66e1ba5/Does-anyone-else-HATE-the-grandfather-Walter-Powell) in the syndicated episodes of Charles in Charge. That resident grandparent character who had an unpleasant and aggressively mean edge to their character. The difference I suppose between James T. Callahan and Katherine Helmond, is that it was much harder to out and out hate Mona simply because of Katherine's charm and charisma actually msfr her the MVP of Who's the Boss instead of its "Scrappy" (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheScrappy). And her character was meant to serve as a counterbalance to her more prudish, uptight daughter played by Judith Light.

Oh absolutely, in my opinion! In the earlier seasons, she may have been crass at times, but it came from a place of love and thoughtfulness. So you got to laugh at the joke, but you could also (subconsciously) think "aww, she really loves Angela for saying that"

By the end of the series, the writers were clearly just shovelling mean one liners as an easy way to include her in the show. They were funny (at times) but without the underlying context of how much she cared about the family, it made her sound like a villain at times.

I hate to imagine how the Mona of Season 6 onward would react and handle something like Sam's grandfather Nick (https://www.quora.com/What-was-Monas-relationship-with-Nick-Milano-Samanthas-grandfather-on-Whos-The-Boss) suddenly dying. That episode (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW1BFsSZsRA) may have been another rare and unique case of Mona actually showing her humanity over (https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gettyimages.ch%2Fdetail%2Fnachrichtenfoto%2Ffarewell-to-nick-airdate-november-10-1987-alyssa-nachrichtenfoto%2F110474264%3Flanguage%3Dit&psig=AOvVaw1E8dVgBD3nj4ev3tOAtzov&ust=1646471810677000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAwQjhxqFwoTCMiZydSPrPYCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD) her friends and family and not merely being the show's resident sarcastic, horny old lady.

I think it's fair to say that the writing changed towards the end with lots of mean spirited all around. I guess there was a push to make the show similar to other shows with rude dialogue (Married with Children and Roseanne).

I wonder if the real beginning of "Mean Mona" was around Season 5. Or more specifically, I just rewatched an episode (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/in-sam-we-trust/id1528039547?i=1000538187470) in which Sam got in trouble for helping a classmate of hers in a French test. There's a scene in the living room where Mona quite bluntly, tells Angela that if she says something in rhyme (after Tony tells her that he uses rhymes as a mnemonic device) that she'll kick her a$$. They way that Katherine Helmond says it makes it seem like she was deadly serious instead of playing around.

Plus, even though Angela is an adult, she's still Mona's child so in a round about way, it sounds like Mona is making hostile threats to her own daughter. So am I suppose to find child abuse or corporal abuse to be funny in that context? It would be different if Angela was Mona's peer or already posed and established a threat against her.

Oh absolutely, in my opinion! In the earlier seasons, she may have been crass at times, but it came from a place of love and thoughtfulness. So you got to laugh at the joke, but you could also (subconsciously) think "aww, she really loves Angela for saying that"

By the end of the series, the writers were clearly just shovelling mean one liners as an easy way to include her in the show. They were funny (at times) but without the underlying context of how much she cared about the family, it made her sound like a villain at times.

Mona and Jonathan really became the big needle scratching characters towards the end of the series. In Mona's case, it got to the point in which you really wished that Angela would snap after all of the repeated nonsense that her mother made her put up with. Even Jonathan arguably, became a more petty and mean-spirited character after previously being depicted as a sweet if nerdy kid.