After gracing our television for eight whole years, CBS’ hit comedy Mom is ending when its series finale hits screens later this week.
The show, which was created in part by Chuck Lorre, is set in Napa County, CA, and follows the dysfunctional mother/daughter duo Bonnie and Christy Plunkett, who after having been estranged for years while both were struggling with addiction, attempt to pull their lives and their relationship together by trying to stay sober and attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
This season, Bonnie, who is portrayed by Allison Janney, learns how to adjust without her daughter Christy, who is portrayed by Anna Faris, around when she moves away to go to law school. Now more than ever, Bonnie focuses on her marriage to her husband, Adam and what to do next now that she has finally “grown up.” In order to navigate a new stage in her life, Bonnie depends on the support of her friends, including the wise Marjorie, the wealthy and sometimes misguided Jill, the overly emotional Wendy and her loudmouthed, but sweet former foster sister, Tammy.
Actress Beth Hall, who has played the introspective Wendy for the past seven seasons of the show, said she has fond memories of filming with the cast.
“I think just doing the Bistro scenes where we’re all together in the booth,” the New Jersey native said. “With rehearsals and just doing the shoot, we all just gabbed about our lives and talking about everything. Those scenes just always flowed so nicely because we just had great chemistry with the core women cast. I think that’s what I’ll think of when I think about the show.”
And with the series finale just on the horizon, anything can happen.
“I can say that I think a lot of fans will be happy with some of the conclusions, and some will not,” Hall said. “But it ended sort of in a way where life just goes on.”
Out of more than 160 episodes of the series, Hall said that she has a couple of episodes that were some of her favorites to film. One of them involves a giant vat of maple syrup that needs to fit into a tiny car.
“I really enjoyed filming the ‘Puzzle Club and a Closet Party’ episode when we were cleaning out Jill’s closet,” she said. “That was a lot of fun and I always enjoyed doing physical comedy. I got to fall down and get back up over and over again. Also, the episode ‘Sticky Hands and a Walk on the Wild Side’ with the maple syrup. That was a lot of fun.”
And with a show as hilarious as Mom is, there is bound to be tons of behind the scenes bloopers and antics. Hall recalls one in particular.
“I think when Bonnie was wearing Adam’s [leather] jacket and would take it off,” she said. “I couldn’t stop laughing when she finally took off that jacket and she just had sweat everywhere. It was probably one of the funniest things to be a part of was that scene.”
So what does Hall want Mom to be remembered for when fans and herself look back years down the road?
“I hope that it’s remembered as a show that was not only extremely funny, but made a difference in people’s lives,” Hall said. “Surprisingly, it’s a sitcom where people would constantly come up to us and say that they became sober because of the show or they remained sober and it helped them. So, that’s really rewarding. It was a show that made a difference and made people laugh, which is a therapy in and of itself.”
Besides being an actress in which Hall said she always wanted to be when she was growing up, Hall also works with the charitable organization Modest Needs.
“I’m actually a celebrity endorser for them,” she explained. “They’re a charity that helps people who have an unexpected bill to get by. Sometimes one little thing can set you back and cause a snowball effect. A lot of times when people’s car breaks down, they’ll need a car repair, and of course with the pandemic, you’ve seen a lot of that. So Modest Needs is a wonderful organization and you can actually donate to whoever you want to help. So you know exactly where your money is going to.”
So now that Mom has ended, what does Hall have planned?
“Nothing that has been finalized yet, we just sort of found out that the show wasn’t coming back with just five episodes left,” she said. “I’m figuring out what the next step is going to be, but I’m excited for a new adventure.”
You can catch the series finale of Mom on Thursday, May 13 at 9 p.m. on CBS.
