TV mothers have come a good distance from June Cleaver and Carol Brady, however not all the time far sufficient. Moms on tv are nonetheless too typically mired in overused (and unrealistic) stereotypes — and actress Sarah Rafferty needs to vary that.
On the Circulation House Ladies’s Well being Summit LA, the Fits and My Life With the Walter Boys star sat down with SHE Media CEO Sam Skey for a refreshingly candid dialog about how moms are portrayed on tv — and why she’s pushing again in opposition to outdated and oversimplified tropes.
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Samantha Skey, Sarah Rafferty communicate onstage on the Circulation House Ladies’s Well being Summit LA held at Penske Headquarters on Might 14, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
JC Olivera
Greatest identified for her iconic position as Donna Paulsen on Fits, Rafferty has lengthy performed characters who’re sharp, robust, and multifaceted. Now, in Netflix’s My Life With the Walter Boys, she’s bringing that very same power to a really totally different form of position: a small-town veterinarian who’s elevating a blended household of organic and adopted youngsters. The collection has struck a chord with each teen viewers and their mother and father, however it affords extra than simply teen drama — it gives a platform to rethink how motherhood is proven on display screen.
“[My Life With the Walter Boys] is a household present lots of mother and father are watching with their youngsters,” Rafferty advised Skey in the course of the summit panel. “I feel I’m fairly hyper vigilant about ensuring that we get away from any form of tropes that undermine girls.”
Rafferty recalled one second from the present’s first season that highlighted simply how simple it’s to fall again on drained storytelling. “There was one second I bear in mind after we have been on set in season one, and a director was simply — she simply needed to get on with the day and she or he was being actually fast — however she was like, ‘Reply to Mother, like, Mother’s the scary one, and Dad’s the enjoyable one.’ And he or she did that and I used to be like, ‘No, don’t … let’s not do this.’”
It might have been simple to let it slide. However for Rafferty, whose character shoulders the emotional and logistical weight of an enormous, messy family, it felt price talking up. “I feel we’ve had actually nice conversations on set about find out how to symbolize the mothers which are spinning all of the plates,” she stated. “What I feel is essential now for me to convey to this character is that she’s a mother, she’s a vet, she’s bought all these adopted and organic youngsters, and it’s messy, and she or he will get it mistaken typically — and there’s alternatives in getting it mistaken for restore.”
The concept that motherhood might be imperfect, and nonetheless highly effective, is one thing Rafferty feels strongly about portraying with authenticity — though she’s nicely conscious that it doesn’t all the time align with community expectations.
“Now, it’s not all the time like that,” she admitted. “That’s not essentially what the community all the time needs. But when we are able to simply discover moments of realness to simply not do the mothers soiled, that motivates me.”
Rafferty’s feedback resonate with mothers who’re bored with seeing themselves portrayed as both nagging disciplinarians or sensible, endlessly-patient martyrs. Her take was a reminder that progress in how we view girls onscreen typically begins with delicate selections behind the scenes: a line of dialogue pushed again on, a stereotype refused.
With My Life With the Walter Boys already renewed for a 3rd season, Rafferty hopes to proceed evolving the position, and with it, how audiences see moms — one TV mother at a time.
