Shows to watch with your mom this Mother's Day (besides 'Gilmore Girls')

USA Today

09-05-2025

Shows to watch with your mom this Mother's Day (besides 'Gilmore Girls')
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What shoppers are planning on buying this Mother's Day
According to a survey conducted by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics, Mother's Day spending is set to reach $34.1 billion this year.
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"Gilmore Girls" is great, but have you ever cackled with your mammy over the Northern Irish shenanigans of the "Derry Girls"?
May 11 is Mother's Day, and if you are looking for something easy, fun and rewarding to do with your mom, it can be oh-so cozy and comforting to snuggle on the couch and binge-watch a TV show together. And while plenty of TV shows are known for their known for their mother/child (particularly mother/daughter) relationships, like WB classic "Girls," starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel, your mom might want something a little more off the beaten path.
Here are five shows worth tuning into with mom on Mother's Day, and all the other days of the year that you should appreciate all she's done for you. Takeout, flowers and a nice gift go well with a binge-watch, too.
'Derry Girls'
Nary an episode of this supremely funny series about teenagers in 1990s Northern Ireland amid the Troubles violence doesn't feature the "mammys" and "das" exasperated with their children. Erin Quinn (Saoirse-Monica Jackson), Orla (Louisa Harland), Michelle (Jamie-Lee O'Donnell), Clare (Nicola Coughlan, of "Bridgerton" fame) and James (Dylan Llewellyn) get into some of the most ridiculous and idiotic troubles of their own over the series' three seasons, but their weary mothers were always there to bail them out in the end. The seasons are short enough (six or seven episodes each) you could watch the whole series with your own mammy in a single weekend, and the Season 3 episode that flashes back to the parents' teen years is the perfect reminder of the carefree youth mothers have left behind.
How to watch 'Derry Girls'
Stream on Netflix.
'Jane the Virgin'
Besides being a dramatic, fun take on the telenovela genre, the breakout role for Gina Rodriguez and a twisty nighttime soap, "Jane," which aired on CW from 2014-19, is deeply reflective of the very concept of motherhood. When a woman (Rodriguez) who has never had sex is accidentally artificially inseminated, sure, outlandish plot twists occur. But she also gets to understand her mother and grandmother so much more, and reflect on how being a mother will change and define her own life. The villains, romances and surprises will keep you enthralled and the relationship between Jane and her two maternal figures will fill your heart.
How to watch 'Jane the Virgin'
Available for purchase on Amazon, Fandango at Home and Apple TV.
'Call the Midwife'
A fantastic medical drama on the one hand and a visceral and vivid reminder of what moms go through to bring you into this world, this long-running British series is a sweet and sentimental watch. "Midwife" follows obstetric nurses in an impoverished area of London the 1950s and '60s, riding twee bicycles to deliver babies in falling-down flats. At least one birth scene is featured in each episode, plus a host of complications and maladies affecting the mothers who are just trying their best in the rapidly changing post-World War II society. The episodes can be everything from life-affirming to deeply tragic, and there is nothing that will make you appreciate your mother more.
How to watch 'Call the Midwife'
Stream on Netflix; Season 14 airs on PBS (Sundays, 8 ET/PT; check local listings).
'Schitt's Creek'
Not every TV mom is what you might call nurturing, but they can be hilarious and quotable nonetheless. Perhaps one of the most quotable is Catherine O'Hara's Moira Rose from this 2015-20 Canadian comedy, which aired on Pop TV. As a snobbish actress and socialite stranded in a small town with no money O'Hara's Moira was an aloof delight over the series' rolicking six seasons. Her relationship with children David (Dan Levy) and Alexis (Annie Murphy) was combative, competitive, cackle-worthy and ultimately loving. Just don't ask her to explain what it means to "fold in the cheese."
How to watch 'Schitt's Creek'
Stream on Prime Video, Hulu, Fubo TV and Philo.
'One Day at a Time'
Shows about mothers and their adult children often get put on lists like this, because so many series with families with young children can be cliché and tiresome. The kids are annoying, the moms are screechy and the dads are checked out. Netflix's canceled-too-soon 2017-20 remake of the 1970s Norman Lear sitcom falls into no such tropes and traps depicting a single mom, two kids and a grandmother in a Los Angeles apartment. Justina Machado's Penelope Alvarez is a deeply venerable and vulnerable mom, trying her best to make a living and raise good humans with the help of her mother Lydia (the legendary Rita Moreno). She has the good times and the hard talks, and all of her interactions with her kids feel emotionally believable. Every other part of the series is authentic, heartfelt and hilarious, too.
How to watch 'One Day at a Time'
Stream on Netflix.