Mom Alison

Mom Alison

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Glenn Garner is a Writer/Reporter who works heavily with PEOPLE's Movies and TV verticals. Since graduating from Northern Arizona University with a dual major in journalism and photography, he got his professional start at OUT Magazine, The Advocate and Teen Vogue, and he's since consistently kept his finger on the pulse of the LGBTQ community. His first book The Guncle Guide was released in 2020 and was featured on Katie Couric's list of 100 recommended books of the year.

Allison Janney is bowing out as Bonnie Plunkett this week when the final episode of Mom airs after eight seasons on CBS.

The seven-time Emmy Award winner, 61, reflected on the sitcom's ending during a recent interview with CBS Sunday Morning . "Yeah, it was a shock," Janney said of the show announcing its end. "I have my own theories, but I've been told not to express them. But listen, eight years is a great long run for a show."

CBS announced in February that the show was canceled after premiering in 2013, and Janney ventured to guess that the reason was "probably money"-related.

"Getting to be part of Mom these past 8 years...showing the laughter, love and hope that can come with recovery, has been one of the great honors of my life," she reacted to the news on Instagram at the time.

Janney's onscreen daughter Anna Faris departed the show in September, just before the first day of production on season 8.

Janney stars as a recovering alcoholic who reconnects with her estranged grown daughter Christy (Faris), who's overcoming her own struggles with addiction. They find community in a group of women from their Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, played by Jaime Pressly, Kristen Johnston, Mimi Kennedy and Beth Hall.

"You know, it's one thing to be part of a show that entertains, which in and of itself is a wonderful thing," Janney told CBS Sunday Morning . "But to also have an impact on people who are in recovery, or people who have loved ones or family members who are going through it, to make recovery a more approachable option."

It particularly resonated for her, after she lost her brother Hal Janney to addiction 10 years ago. "I just – I just miss his sense of humor, really," she said, revealing she still calls him.

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"My favorite time to talk to him was when I was in the car driving someplace, so I always think of him when I'm in the car," Janney explained. "And I still have his phone number, and I dial it."

The final episode of Mom airs this Thursday on CBS , but Janney isn't quite ready to bid farewell. "I hate change," she said. "It makes me … I get afraid – I always have – to let something go and not know what's next. I think the biggest thing I need to learn how to say is no."

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The Oscar winner also revealed that she's worn a wig to play her character for the past eight years, now rocking a short natural grey 'do. "It was pretty funny, though, when I came to show up for our first Mom episode in October when we started in 2020," Janney recalled.

"And the producers were like, 'What have you done? Bonnie can't – how are we gonna explain this?'" she recounted. "I'm like, 'You guys, I've been wearing a wig since season 1!' None of them knew that I had been wearing a wig. So, you know, now all of America knows that I was wearing a wig!"

The I, Tonya actress revealed she was going for "a Helen Mirren thing" with the new look , when she appeared on PEOPLE TV's One Last Thing in February. "It started out with just COVID choices, you know," she said.

"I was in Ohio for five months of the pandemic," Janney explained. "My natural color started growing in — which is gray. And then I thought, you know, I've always wanted to cut it off and do a Helen Mirren thing. I just wanted to try it ... I just get very brave with my hair."

The series finale of Mom airs May 13 on CBS.

Melanie Lynskey, Allison Janney and Jaime Pressly in the 'Mom' series finale (Michael Yarish/Warner Bros. Entertainment).
The following contains spoilers about the "Mom" series finale.
Anna Faris left the show before the season began, citing a desire to "pursue new opportunities." That left Allison Janney -- the "Mom" of the title in connection with her -- to carry on with the able supporting cast.
Those expecting Faris' Christy to drop in to say goodbye, however, settled for a reference to the character, while Janney's Bonnie offered a final sendoff at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, saying that while she was once a mess, "Now, I kinda like me."
Thanks to her, "Mom" has remained kinda likable too, and the episode did include a pair of significant developments: The marriage of Jill (Jaime Pressly), one of Bonnie's partners in sobriety; and a cancer diagnosis for Bonnie's husband, Adam (William Fichtner), with the promise it was treatable, but clearly a long road ahead.
Still, the main thrust was "Life goes on" as opposed to a grand conclusion, with Bonnie helping a newcomer (Melanie Lynskey, a veteran of "Mom" producer Chuck Lorre's "Two and a Half Men") listening as the women shared their can-you-top-this stories about how bad things had once been for them.
Asked how they recovered, Bonnie said, "We all got better." In his final vanity card after the closing credits, Lorre wrote, "For 170 episodes we wrapped jokes around hope. ... Thank you for your support. And, most importantly, thank you to all the men and women who have, for generations, carried the message: There is a solution."
"Mom" has never shied away from the idea that the battle rages on, filtering financial struggles and serious issues of substance abuse through the spectrum of a broad network comedy. There was even a big group hug -- with Janney, Pressly, Mimi Kennedy, Beth Hall and Kristen Johnson -- in what felt like a nod to "The Mary Tyler Moore Show."
Eight seasons is a long time for any TV show, but perhaps especially one such as this, with the added burden of the lead departing. Although the cancellation announcement came later, the show was clearly living on borrowed time.
In that sense, it was wise not to overreach for an ending, instead allowing Janney -- the winner of two supporting actress Emmys for the show, and then nominated twice as its lead -- to quietly reflect on how far the character had come. (The show notably donated its 2017 Emmy marketing budget to Planned Parenthood .)
The final season didn't much resemble the first one, but it did illustrate a resiliency, appropriately, that has been one of the show's trademarks. And even for those who stuck around -- either liking the show a lot, or just kind of -- having this last meeting now certainly doesn't feel premature.
© 2022 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.
Updated 0208 GMT (1008 HKT) May 14, 2021
(CNN) The "Mom" finale was as much about beginnings as endings, as the CBS sitcom about sobriety settled for a low-key finish, which included a wedding but not the return of one of its original stars.

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The series has been applauded for addressing themes of real-life issues such as alcoholism, drug addiction, teen pregnancy, problem gambling, homelessness, relapse, domestic violence, overdose, rape, obesity and stroke, and has been praised for maintaining a deft balance between the humorous and darker aspects of these issues.
OK so it's not what you want you children to model themselves after but then neither was producer Chuck Lorre's Two and a Half Men. This is sort of the female version of that great show and maybe it's because it's a mostly female cast that it seems to raise the ire of so many. I don't know or care, to me its funny. Anna Faris is well Anna Faris and if you like her in things like the "Scary Movie" series then you will probably like her playing Christy who often innocently deadpans her way through raunchy or absurd situations with great comedic sensibility. Allison Janney plays Christy's Mom Bonnie who is the counterpart to Charley Harper's slutty mom Evelyn. The show probably could use a "Berta" but it has enough good characters to develop into the same sort of comedic juggernaut Two and a Half Men was, given some good writing. Time will tell.
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A newly sober single mom tries to pull her life together in Napa Valley while dealing with her wayward mother. A newly sober single mom tries to pull her life together in Napa Valley while dealing with her wayward mother. A newly sober single mom tries to pull her life together in Napa Valley while dealing with her wayward mother.

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