Survey Says

Regular readers of From The Booth are aware of the poll that I occasionally run. It is located just to the right of the blog, below my mug shot and the Blog Archive. Typically, the poll questions aren’t hard-hitting or earth shattering. Mostly they are light-hearted queries dealing with pop culture - Favorite Pizza Topping, Favorite Rock Group, etc. Depending on the topic, the response to the poll has varied greatly. Some questions seem to push people’s buttons more than others. The recently completed Favorite TV Mom poll was an example of one such question.

On Thursday, I decided to give the poll a plug on facebook. With less than a day left, the voting was fairly spirited, but I wanted to stir up a little more interest. With that in mind, I posted the following:

“There are less than 22 hours left to vote for your favorite TV Mom! Laura Petrie holds a tissue paper thin lead over Margaret Anderson and Clair Huxtable with Marie Barone, Kitty Forman and Donna Reed right behind! Cast your vote now! Make sure your favorite wins!”

There was a slight surge in voting, but it was the response on facebook that revealed the passion people have for their TV Moms. Here are some of the 31 comments made following my original post:

Survivor blog contributor Jamie, an obvious fan of Ritchie Petrie’s mom, started the ball rolling with – “Go Laura!”

To which Clyde responded – “I demand equal coverage for June Cleaver!” Beaver’s mom had a backer!

I reminded Clyde that there was still time and that he should get his friends to help the Beaver’s mom.

That’s when facebook legend, Patty 4-Names chimed in with, “Laura Petrie only had ONE KID! Sheesh! And Ritchie was always stuck in that mysterious room at the edge of the screen! Or in the bathtub! Or at Millie and Jerry’s!”

This caused Mary Beth, the other Survivor geek, to defend Laura with – “Yeah but Laura could host a celebrity filled dinner party, still look like a million bucks AND get up and do an impromptu song and dance routine at the drop of a hat! I’d like to see June Cleaver do that!”

The war of words was on. Clyde countered with – “June had those beautiful pearls around her neck at all times. Besides she was a domestic (always at home doing her thing) not a liberated woman at all. But she could do anything Laura could do if she wanted to! So there!”

That seemed to remind Patty 4-Names that June vacuumed in high heels. Or as she fervently put it – “She vacuumed in high HEELS! She VACUUMED!”

Not to be outdone, Mary Beth retorted – “I bet June couldn’t do the Twizzle! She didn’t have the mandatory-fringed sweater and stirrup pants! You have to have those to Twizzle correctly!”

My response to that was – “Stirrup pants. Mmmmmm…”

Patty 4-Names promptly called me a perv. Back to the Battle of the TV Moms.

Mary Beth’s love for Laura was further evidenced when she wrote – “June would also never dare to open Ward’s mail! That wouldn’t be right in those times! Laura couldn’t resist and think of the comic mayhem that happened when it turned out to be the inflatable boat!”

She went on to challenge anyone to think of one comic moment that was all June Cleaver. She dared anyone to come up with even one such instance.

Then Clyde tried to bring politics into the debate, lauding June as a true fiscal conservative, but Mary Beth would have none of it. She quickly brought up that June was spotted talking jive in the movie Airplane.

Pretty heady stuff. There were a few more comments.

Reggie from Arizona was incredulous that Margaret Anderson had more votes than June. He said, that while he voted for Mrs. Cleaver, he felt Mrs. Ingalls was “a far better mother than Mrs. Anderson.”

Toward the end, Patty 4-Names unexpectedly called for people to rise up and vote for Roseanne Connor. Her rallying point was that Roseanne was “the only one who even resembled an actual Mom!”

Clyde brought the lunacy to an end when he reminded those who voted for Shirley Partridge that she raised “a bunch of druggies”. Based on that premise, he implored people to change their votes to June Cleaver.

When all the verbal sparring had finished, the poll closed on Friday night with the following final results:

Tied for first with 14% - Margaret Anderson (Betty, Bud, Kathy) and Laura Petrie (Ritchie)

Tied for third with 10% - June Cleaver (Wally, Theodore), Clair Huxtable (Sondra, Denise, Theo, Vanessa, Rudy) and Donna Reed (Mary, Jeff, Trish)

Tied for sixth with 7% - Kitty Forman (Laurie, Eric) and Marie Barone (Robert, Raymond)

Tied for eighth with 3% - Roseanne Connor (Becky, Darlene, D.J.), Estelle Costanza (George), Marion Cunningham (Chuck, Richie, Joanie), Lois Griffin (Meg, Chris, Stewie), Shirley Partridge (Keith, Laurie, Danny, Chris, Tracy), Lucy Ricardo (Little Ricky) and Marge Simpson (Bart, Lisa, Maggie)

The following had no votes - Peggy Hill (Bobby), Carmelo Soprano (Meadow, A.J.), Carla Tortelli (Anthony, Serafina, Gino, Anne Marie, Lucinda, Ludlow, Elvis, Jesse), Olivia Walton (John Boy, Jason, Mary Ellen, Erin, Benjamin, James, Elizabeth), Norma Arnold (Karen, Wayne, Kevin), Carol Brady (Greg, Marcia, Peter, Jan, Bobby, Cindy), Peg Bundy (Kelly, Bud), Florida Evans (Michael, Thelma, J.J.), Caroline Ingalls (Laura, Mary, Carrie, Freddie, Grace, Albert, James, Cassandra), Jane Jetson (Judy, Elroy) and Elyse Keaton (Alex, Mallory, Jennifer, Andy)

While most know the TV Dads that go with these TV Moms, what about their kids? That’s why I included the names of their children. Wow, Carla Tortelli was certainly the prolific breeder.

Now you have the entire family of your Favorite TV Moms. This is the perfect segue to the new poll that I posted late last night – What Is Your Favorite TV Family? Pretty clever, huh?

Make sure that you vote. Leave a comment here or in facebook, don’t cost nuthin’. Until next time…from the booth.