Was Allison Janney blindsided by CBS’ decision to end Mom?
During an appearance on Wednesday’s The Late Late Show, the Emmy Award winner told James Corden that she anticipated the sober-living comedy would be renewed for at least one more season. But in February, the network made what Janney described as an earlier-than-expected call to end the still-decently rated multi-cam.
“I’m sad,” Janney said. “I wish we’d had at least another year for the writers to have that much time to ramp up to the ending. We sort of found out sooner than we thought we would hear. We thought, ‘Surely they’re going to want more Mom,’ and they decided not.”
The decision to wrap things up, Janney surmised, was probably a financial one.
“There are so many reasons behind it — most of them probably money,” she said. “But I know that Chuck Lorre is writing the final episode, and we’re right now filming the third-to-last episode.
“I’m having a lot of moments where I’m just standing on set and taking it in, and looking at all the faces I’ve looked at for eight years,” Janney continued. “All of a sudden, it’s gone. And no matter how much I prepare myself for it, I know I’m going to be just tears, buckets of tears, because it’s just been so incredible. The amazing letters I get from people who are in the program or got sober with us. It’s been a great show to be a part of, and it’s so rare when you do something like that [where] it affects people in a positive way out in the world. It makes me sad, but onward.” (CBS declined to comment for this story.)
Janney previously reflected on the final-season news in a heartfelt Instagram post on Feb. 18. “Getting to be part of Mom these past eight years — showing the laughter, love and hope that can come with recovery — has been one of the great honors of my life,” she wrote. “I want to thank [executive producers] Chuck Lorre, Gemma Baker [and] Nick Bakay, and all the writers… for giving us these wonderfully flawed and lovable characters to bring to life.”
Mom‘s eighth season marked the first (and now only) season without Anna Faris, who played Janney’s on-screen daughter Christy. In the wake of Faris’ departure, Christy was shipped off to Georgetown Law School, in Washington D.C., on a full scholarship.
Do you think now is the right time to end Mom? Press PLAY on the video below — Janney’s remarks about CBS’ decision begin at the 8:55 mark — then hit the comments with your reactions.
