Mom had fans hooked from the start. Created by sitcom king Chuck Lorre (who counts
The Kominsky Method among his many successes), Gemma Baker and Eddie Gorodetsky, the series ends an eight-season run May 13. That finale gives one last look at a 12-step group of courageous, flawed, fabulous women, centered, appropriately enough, on self-centered Bonnie Plunkett (Allison Janney, who won two Emmys for the role). But it is the chemistry of these characters â and how they have grown, thanks to one anotherâs help â that explains the seriesâ warm appeal.
âOne of the biggest messages in
Mom is you donât have to go through anything alone,â Janney says in a freewheeling discussion with her main costars, Jaime Pressly (who plays socialite Jill Kendall), Mimi Kennedy (wise AA vet Marjorie Armstrong-Perugian), Beth Hall (introverted Wendy Harris) and Kristen Johnston (contractor Tammy Diffendorf). Before the women fold up the community center chairs fore