MOM: That’s a Wrap

April 8, 2021

If you ever wondered what it’s like behind the scenes for an actor during the final week on a long-running beloved television series, Allison Janney can tell you. Her eight years on the CBS/Chuck Lorre sitcom MOM will come to a sudden close on May 13th and despite its uncommon longevity, neither the cast nor their fans expected such an abrupt end to the story. The show initially focused on the mother-daughter relationship between Allison’s Bonnie and Anna Faris’s Christy as they worked to repair the damage caused by decades of respective addictions. Against the backdrop of Alcoholics Anonymous, their stories evolved to encompass the daily trials and tribulations of living in recovery. With support from women in the program played by Jaime Pressly, Kristen Johnston, Mimi Kennedy, and Beth Hall, the show delved into the nature of family, friendships, romantic relationships and how to achieve greater goals in long-term sobriety.

This is the second time in her career that Allison is coming to the end of playing a significant role on television. Having spent seven years as C.J. Cregg on The West Wing, I wonder if such endings are dispassionate or become par for the course to actors: but not so. I meet with Allison over Zoom on April 8th and the emotions are real; there is a bittersweet quality to our conversation. She is giving me this time on one of the very last days she’ll ever play Bonnie Plunkett. Done shooting for the afternoon, she has removed her wig for our chat but remains in the character’s costume, sitting alone in the hair and makeup room at Warner Brothers Studios on Stage 20. 

“It’s kinda crazy. But it’s a pretty wonderful thing, all the memories. We have been doing a lot of reminiscing. It’s like yearbook central over here this week.” She shows me a shiny large professionally printed photo album that was made for cast and crew. As she flips through the book, we look at glossy pictures from the better part of a decade of her life on television; Allison ponders the nature of time. 

 “It’s amazing when you think of eight years in a child’s life. It’s like high school and college all together.” Allison is struck by the significance of the years, acutely aware of the changes that can happen for someone over such a period. “When you’re older you don’t think of time affecting you in that way. It’s crazy. It’s like the roll of toilet paper theory.” 

Pull and it will unravel. Time certainly has changed the lives of the MOM characters over the course of eight seasons, just as it has seen Allison evolve professionally. During the MOM years, her career experienced a second wave, a blossoming of sorts following her post-West Wing era. The last decade saw Allison’s fourth turn on Broadway and a dozen memorable film roles. She received the honor of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, plus further recognition for her small screen work. After racking up another three Emmy wins in 2014 and 2015 – two for MOM, another for a guest role on Masters of Sex – she conquered the film industry’s most coveted awards in 2018. She cleaned up, winning every prize including the Golden Globe, SAG Award, BAFTA, and of course, the Academy Award, for her supporting role in I, Tonya. Her popularity, status and respect in the entertainment industry only continued to grow as she turned sixty in 2019. Throughout it all, Allison remained steadfastly committed to her role on MOM. The consistency of the work and the comfortable shooting schedule notwithstanding, it was a role and character that she has genuinely loved to play. 

And what a layered, complex role it turned out to be. Looking back, it would be easy to say that Bonnie Plunkett was chaotic, emotional, reactive and sarcastic to the point of being mean. But she was also deeply wounded from abandonment in early childhood, time spent in foster care, a teenage pregnancy and single motherhood. Her struggle to survive against substance abuse and addiction was all but inevitable. When the audience first met Bonnie, she was fighting to reconnect with her recently sober adult daughter. Her desire to improve her life was regularly thwarted by resistance to AA. Honest attempts at sobriety gave way to two relapses during the early seasons. While Bonnie was often reluctant to take good advice, as the series continued, she eventually began to do the work of recovery. Ultimately, she proved her strength, resilience, and capability; her progress was not always linear, but it was progress. And so, the audience watched Bonnie Plunkett take on the messy task of healing herself, week after week.

The audience also watched Allison Janney take on a task she has done so well since the dawn of her career: physical comedy. Watching Allison play Bonnie Plunkett was often a callback to Lucille Ball on I Love Lucy, where pratfalls and pranks were executed with Ball’s genius. Allison no doubt possesses a comparable brilliance, and a well-known reputation for nailing a physical moment. Recalling her slick fall down a staircase alongside John Travolta in 1998’s Primary Colors, and the way she perfectly executed that spill on a moving treadmill in her first-ever scene as C.J. Cregg, Allison is proud of and happy to own her physicality. It is a testament to her skill that MOM offered so many opportunities to practice. “I just love physical comedy. Anytime I get to slide down the banister in the apartment or climb in through the window…we had so many fun physical moments on MOM.”

Not only were they fun for Allison, but those moments always garnered laughter and genuine reactions from the live audience that would fill Stage 20 on Friday nights before Covid.  They watched Allison get into fist fights and wrestling matches, and once, saw her make a battling, painful attempt to pour coffee from a full pot with a bad back. She played drunk, she played high. She was arrested with aplomb more than a few times. She climbed up a billboard with a roller and a paint can. She even smashed wine bottles with a baseball bat in a particularly memorable Season 1 episode. Allison remembers it well with a hint of mischief in her eyes.  “I loved doing that. It was so much fun. When do you get the chance to smash a full wine bottle? It was such a cheap thrill. I got to do it a lot of times, but I don’t remember why - I think my aim was pretty good.” 

But not all of the best physical comedy moments were actually written in the script. Allison proudly recollects a Season 2 episode where Bonnie gets caught in a lie during a job interview. “The only way out – in Bonnie’s opinion – was through the window. I told the costume people, ‘give me some purple underwear and don’t worry about it, but just wait.’ I love to do things that surprise everyone at video village, where all the directors and writers sat, pre-Covid. So when Bonnie hikes up her skirt before she goes out the window? That was my idea.”

The contained world in which the MOM characters existed included a few familiar places reliably visited each episode: the Plunkett’s split-level apartment, the Burgundy Bistro, and the Community Center with its red and black checkered floor where AA meetings took place. The Rustic Fig restaurant was featured frequently as Christy’s place of employment; it later gave way to Adam’s bar, A.J.’s Barrel Works. The audience regularly peeked into the swanky home of the wealthy Jill Kendall and spent time at Marjorie Armstrong’s humble cat-lady abode. Uniquely so, the show featured regular scenes where the characters conversed while driving in their cars. The show was also unafraid to take the characters outside, which Allison remembers as a highlight. “We loved getting to go outside as a crew, it was always so much fun! Like in school when you got to take a field trip.”

I ask Allison if she looks back on any particular episode as a favorite. “You know which one I loved? It’s not that far back, it’s this season, but I just loved it. The Valentine’s Day episode when Adam takes Bonnie out for a romantic dinner and there’s Jill picking up her to-go food and she’s alone, so we just start inviting all the girls. All the women are there, and you see Adam go to the bathroom. He comes back with roses for all the ladies and of course two for Bonnie, because he’s not stupid. I really loved that because of what it said about the characters. And we, the women who play these roles, we just loved it so much because Bill has been such a part of this show, too. He’s such a wonderful actor and such a wonderful man. He grew up with five sisters which is why he’s able to navigate being around five very alpha women. He knows how to deal with all of us and he’s such a brilliant actor. We all have crushes on him.”

 Allison refers with great affection to William Fichtner, who in Season 3 began his recurring role as Bonnie’s boyfriend, and eventual husband. He quickly became a staple, appearing ultimately in a total of 85 episodes. MOM often had that special knack of turning guest stars into memorable figures in the show’s lore. 

Notable recurring roles were played by Kevin Pollak, Matt Jones, French Stewart, Octavia Spencer, Emily Osment, Sara Rue, Mary Pat Gleason, Missi Pyle, Steven Weber, Yvette Nicole Brown, Will Sasso, and of course, Rainn Wilson. 

After playing as Bonnie’s therapist Trevor for nine episodes over the course of three seasons, Allison speaks about Rainn with a particular fondness. “He was so much fun to act with. I feel so lucky that I got to do so many episodes with him. I had no idea we were going to be lucky enough to get him for so many.”

Allison shares her other favorite guest stars without any hesitation. “Ellen Burstyn, I was really thrilled that she came to play my mother. That was a really incredible episode for me, and I so admire her as an actress. Also, Patti Lupone. Linda Lavin. And of course, my West Wing compadres Richard Schiff and Bradley Whitford. That was really fun. Brad is a comedic genius and a physical comedy master.” 

The list of one-off guest stars is also lengthy, full of legends and big stars, a veritable who’s who of Hollywood. Beyond the actors already mentioned, MOM featured notable appearances from Beverly D’Angelo, Rosie O’Donnell, Kathleen Turner, Wendie Mallick, Mario Cantone, Chris Pratt, Paget Brewster, Kristen Chenoweth, Rhea Pearlman, Lois Smith, Ed Asner, John Benjamin Hickey, June Squibb, Joe Manganiello, Bernie Koppell, Steve Valentine, Bob Odenkirk…Allison shakes her head as she thinks about this list. “All these amazing people wanted to come play because of the quality of the show. It’s a great show. Who wouldn’t have wanted to come play with us, all of us great broads?”

Our conversation shifts from guest stars to a discussion of Bonnie Plunkett’s hair and wardrobe. My Instagram account @allisonjanneystyle often features some of the more unique pieces being worn each week on MOM; I tell Allison about the frequent comments questioning how Bonnie could afford such nice silk blouses, leather jackets and cashmere sweaters. Allison laughs. “Oh, totally. There’s some artistic license in costuming for people like the Plunketts who didn’t have a lot of money. But Allison Janney always appreciated the nice cashmere sweaters. I loved all the beautiful colors they put me in. Jeans and sweaters were Bonnie’s big thing. I love when she wore her sweatpants, too. That’s my favorite look at home. I love a good sweatpant.”

 Asked if she is keeping anything from Bonnie’s wardrobe, Allison confesses. “One or two pairs of jeans may have made their way out of Bonnie’s wardrobe. One or two pairs of sweatpants, as have some bras. Not really Bonnie’s jewelry though.” She plays with the costume chandelier-style earrings she’s wearing for our chat, a familiar part of the look. “These are Bonnie’s. They’re not really my style, but I think they’re kind of fun. Though that purse is just ridiculous. They gave me a new copy of the purse a couple of seasons ago, but it’s been the same one from the start.” 

What about Bonnie’s legendary wig? It is a wig so finely crafted that not many (including some of the show’s own producers) could spot it until Allison embraced her natural gray hair ahead of Season 8. Allison is proud of – and attached – to the wig, even getting up at one point during our Zoom to point it out on the stand behind her in the hair and makeup room. “Can you see? This is Bonnie back here. That’s Bonnie. I’m taking her with me. She comes with me. Bonnie comes with me. She’ll probably morph into some other character that I play.” 

Allison thinks more about the wig. “I’ve always worn the Bonnie wig, even when my hair was the same color as hers. It saves on the wear and tear of your own hair. It was faster and better for my hair to use a wig.” She recalls an on-screen moment in Season 6 when her wig almost stole the show. “Remember that fight with Kristen Johnston about the pain pills? Go back and watch and see….in that scene with Tammy when we are running around the couch and I had her pill bottle, she reached for it, and we struggle? In that scene I literally fix my wig which made Kristen laugh so hard. I think it’s still in there. I felt like maybe my wig was about to fall off.”

 In mid-February, with the news that MOM was not being renewed, I started a petition on change.org seeking to save the show. My decision to circulate the petition on social media was borne not only from the desire to support Allison and the other cast members, but from the emotional place of a person who – like so many others – found sobriety during the run of the series. While I initially hoped that it would make a material change in the network’s decision, as the petition snowballed with overwhelming fan support, what amount more were the myriad ways that MOM had obviously resonated with other fans. The petition’s comment section began to teem with emotional stories of how the show inspired individuals to seek treatment, or how the plotlines helped them cope with their alcoholic relatives. The petition became a place for people to share their grief, their hope, their love, and ultimately, their gratitude for a series that had such a deeply meaningful impact on so many people.

When I inform Allison that the petition has now amassed close to 48,000 signatures, she looks down for a moment and shakes her head. “I can’t believe that. I’m overwhelmed. I really am, and I wish it could have made a difference in changing the minds of the executives. But even though it didn’t, it really is so touching to all of us that so many people care about the show, are invested in it and love it. It’s a great gift to all of us on MOM that people signed it, and that this many people showed their love for us.” 

What about those who got sober or who learned to understand the alcoholic in their family, thanks to MOM? I ask Allison if she has any thoughts to share with people who are feeling the loss of the show on a deeper level. “A lot of people have gotten sober for themselves during the course of the show and I would just say you must never associate it only with the show. You’ve done this on your own. You’ve gotta give yourself a lot of props for what you’ve done for your life and for your family. And you’ll continue to do it, knowing you never have to do it alone.”

 In thinking about the show’s cancellation and upcoming finale, Allison has had some time to accept the situation…but that doesn’t mean she truly understands why the show must end right now. “It still had so much life to live. A lot of shows are given more advance notice of when they are going off. We were at least assuming we would’ve had one more year. The writers would have had a whole eighteen or twenty-two episodes to lead up to the finale. These writers only got six episodes. It’s not an easy job. It wasn’t fair and it wasn’t fun, but it is what happened. It’s unfortunate. There are probably so many reasons why. I will never know the exact reasons why, but I think there was a lot of changing of the guards at Warner Brothers and CBS. And eight years already…it’s nothing to sneeze at.” 

Along with her obvious pride in MOM’s quality and longevity, Allison is consoled by thoughts of how the show will end on a substantively positive note for the characters. “We leave them in a really great place. They will go on existing. We are just sort of slowly moving away from them. Everyone should take comfort in knowing that they will continue to go on and live their lives and have life affect them. They will continue to be there for each other and go through life…just as all of us who have been fans of the show will continue to go through life and get through it. The camera is kind of pulling away from them, but they will continue to go on. You will know that they are there. The characters will be in your hearts. Anytime you have a low moment, and you think, what would Bonnie do? What would Marjorie say? These characters…you know their voices. Marjorie would say, let’s go to a meeting.”  

All Allison is willing to say about the very last MOM episode is that the story will center on her character. “It’s about Bonnie and her realizing something wonderful about her life. It’s nice. It’s a very sweet episode. Chuck [Lorre] wrote the finale…he’s putting out there the larger message of what the show is about: it’s about people in recovery. It’s a lovely way that he goes about doing that. It’s great.” 

On that note, time is up on our Zoom. Allison has to go, and with her, eight seasons of MOM. She sighs, but there’s also a smile. Her career will certainly continue to thrive post-MOM. In May, she heads to Vancouver to shoot the lead in an action thriller for Netflix called Lou. She is also attached to The People We Hate at the Wedding, a big comedy film that will co-star Ben Platt and Kristen Bell. The future is bright, and as we wind down the call, Allison is resolute. “I can’t believe this is ending, but…more to come. As my mother would say, more later.” *