The 25 best everywoman characters

Even over 30 years after it left the air, The Golden Girls  remains a beloved sitcom for many. Much of this is due to its cast's undeniable chemistry and extraordinary writing. Of its four main characters, Betty White’s Rose Nylund is an everywoman. Hailing from a small town in Minnesota, she has a simple, naive (almost childlike) simplicity that endears her to roommates even as it also drives them up the wall. Her innumerable St. Olaf stories might be exasperating and ridiculous, but they often have a kernel of wisdom hidden deep down. And, thanks to Betty White’s performance and innate charm, Rose becomes something far more profound than just the butt of a joke.

Florida Evans of Good Times (and, before that, Maude) is, in some ways, the heart and soul of the show, even though she didn’t appear in all of its seasons. She’s the kind of sensible matriarch that is a mainstay of the sitcom form, particularly since she has always worked hard to provide for her loved ones, sometimes at her own expense. As one of the most important representations of African-American womanhood on television, she has stood the test of time, and thanks to Esther Rolle’s warm-hearted and complex portrayal, she remains a key part of sitcom and television history.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend was an extraordinary piece of television, and it brought much-needed attention to mental health, all while being a combination of drama, musical, and comedy. It is filled with lively characters, one of the most important of whom is Paula Proctor, who begins the series as a deeply unhappy housewife but gradually finds her inner strength and ultimately earns her law degree. Paula gives a voice to those many women who may not be happy with how their lives (including their marriages) have turned out, even as she also shows that it is never too late to pursue one’s dreams. 

Abbi Jacobson, the co-creator of the beloved and critically lauded Broad City, pours more than a little of herself into the character of Abbi Abrams, a millennial trying to figure out what to do with her life in 21st-century New York City. Though she might be more put-together than Ilana, there’s still something endearing and relatable about how much of a mess she manages to be throughout much of the show’s run. As the series unfolds, she comes to represent a remarkably authentic — and outrageously funny — vision of what it’s like to be a millennial woman in the post-Recession economy.

Though The Brady Bunch has come to be seen as squeaky-clean family entertainment, it is also remarkable for the extent to which it showed the changing dynamics of the family in the 1970s, focusing on a blended family group. Florence Henderson is simply radiant as Carol, and in some ways, she became the mom everyone wanted to have. She wasn’t afraid to be stern with her kids when it was called for, but one could always count on her inherent niceness to shine through. Thanks to Henderson’s incandescent performance, including that pearly white smile, she has more than earned a place in the everywoman pantheon. 

Fran Drescher gave one of the most memorable performances of her career as Fran Fine in The Nanny. From the moment that she showed up at Maxwell Sheffield’s house selling makeup, she earned a place in his heart and in that of the audience. She was an ordinary young woman trying to make a living and yet also someone with an extraordinary gift, able to be endearing and infuriating at the same time. With her nasal voice and flamboyant outfits, she was a TV character like no other, and she is also remarkable for openly owning (and celebrating) her Jewish identity.

It’s easy to see Somebody Somewhere has become one of the most beloved shows on current television. Focusing on Bridget Everett’s Sam, a middle-aged woman who returns to her small Kansas hometown, it follows her as she contends with the aftermath of her sister’s death and her midlife crises. At once confident and vulnerable, Sam is compelling precisely because she is a single woman in her 40s who doesn’t have everything figured out yet. Her struggles are those of everyday people — how to deal with the health troubles of her parents, how to negotiate friendship, how to stay friendly with one’s siblings — and the show manages to be both funny and richly resonant.

That ‘70s Show remains one of the most beloved sitcoms from the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, particularly since it has come to have a patina of nostalgia. It is filled with lovably zany characters, including Kitty Forman, who is not just a mother to Eric but also an informal mother to his various friends. She is in some ways a typical housewife from the ‘50s (when she would have come of age), but she is also very forward-thinking, particularly in her appearances in That ‘90s Show. Thanks to Debra Jo Rupp, she has become the sort of mother that everyone would want to have in their own life. 

Wendi McLendon-Covey gives an inspired performance as Beverly Goldberg in the hit ABC comedy The Goldbergs. With her quintessential ‘80s hair and overprotective attitude toward her children, she is the kind of mother who was a staple of the sitcoms of the era. She might be a bit smothering, but there’s also no question that she remains one of her children’s biggest supporters, sometimes to their chagrin. Any mother who has ever felt tempted to get overly involved in the lives and efforts of their children will certainly understand where Beverly is coming from and sympathize with her actions. 

Kristen Bell has always exuded a powerful and irresistible charisma in almost all of her roles, and she is particularly remarkable in The Good Place, in which she plays everywoman Eleanor Shellstrop. When Eleanor awakens in the Good Place — seemingly by accident —various hijinks (and a great deal of philosophical musing) ensue. Eleanor wasn’t quite as flamboyant (or as intellectually gifted) as some of the other characters in the show, but this was exactly what made her so relatable and made her storylines easy to grasp. In many ways, she was the audience’s avenue into the complicated moral questions raised by the show’s central premise. 

There’s no question Lucy Ricardo is one of the most important sitcom characters to have ever appeared on the small screen. Lucille Ball showed herself to be a comedic genius in the role, giving audiences a deeply relatable yet larger-than-life woman capable of getting herself into all sorts of trouble. Unlike so many other housewife figures of the 1950s, Lucy knows just what she wants and will go out and get it, even if that means crossing her husband, Ricky. Lucy deserves pride of place in the pantheon of great sitcom characters. 

Mary Richards of The Mary Tyler Moore Show is quintessential everywoman. At the time the show premiered, however, Mary was a bit of a revelation, as she was a young woman who privileged her career and financial independence over trying to find a husband or a boyfriend. She was one of those sitcom characters who was fully and complexly human. Though competent at what she did, she was far from infallible, and she ultimately became the type of person that the audience was often able to laugh at and laugh with. Moore’s innate charm as a performance made her a true bright spot in the television landscape. 

“Dingbat” Edith Bunker remains one of the most beloved women in sitcom history, thanks to her appearance on the long-running sitcom All in the Family. Unlike her husband Archie, Edith is not particularly political and tends to defer to him on most matters. When it comes right down to it, she is the one who manages to hold their family together. Her cheerful and optimistic persona — so ably captured by the late Jean Stapleton — was also a necessary antidote to the much more off-putting Archie, so it is easy to see why she would remain so appealing to audiences.

Patricia Heaton returned to network television with the role of Frankie Heck in The Middle. Like her earlier character, Debra Barone, Frankie is very much a put-upon character, as she is the one who has to make sure that the house is kept running. Her selfless devotion to her family — emblematized by her motto “you do for family” — is part of what makes her such an appealing character, but she is more than willing and able to get a job outside of the home. In that sense, she comes to represent many of the various positions that women occupy in modern society.

Debra Barone, played so memorably by Patricia Heaton, gives new meaning to the word “long-suffering.” She has to contend with her husband Ray — who is always complaining about something — and she also has to wrangle their children and deal with Ray’s cantankerous and meddling parents. However, Heaton endows Debra with a steely persona, and she becomes the kind of character with whom it is very easy to sympathize. Anyone who has ever had to deal with a troublesome spouse and their even more troublesome family will undoubtedly find something of themselves in Debra Barone.

King of the Hill remains one of the underrated animated gems of the 1990s and 2000s, and while Hank Hill might be the series’ main character, his wife Peg is just as interesting. Voiced by the inimitable Kathy Najimy, she is a delightful everywoman character. She is also something of a jack-of-all-trades, and she is more than willing to seek employment outside of the house. It’s precisely her ability to juggle the various aspects of her life that makes her so compelling to watch, and she acts as an ideal complement to Hank, with each of them exemplifying life in the suburbs at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st.

The Flintstones is, in many ways, a very dated show, and it falls neatly into the established paradigm of the midcentury sitcom. However, therein lies its brilliance, and it’s hard not to admire Wilma Flintstone. Far from being nothing more than a submissive homemaker, she’s smarter than her husband, Fred, and she’s not afraid to tell him when he’s done something wrong. At the same time, there’s no doubt that it’s thanks to her that the Flintstone house runs as well as it does, and it’s easy to lose count of the number of times that she manages to get Fred out of some sticky situation in which he has managed to land himself. 

If there’s one cartoon character who is the very embodiment of the everywoman, it would have to be Marge Simpson. In addition to taking very good care of her house and her family, she has to contend with the unending incompetence of her husband, Homer. There’s a subtle warmth to Julie Kavner’s vocal performance that has endeared Marge to generations of TV watchers. What makes Marge truly extraordinary, however, is her willingness to stand up to Homer; this is no docile homemaker but someone who knows her value and worth and isn’t afraid to stand up for herself. 

Abbott Elementary has rightly come to be hailed as one of the best series on television, thanks both to its whip-smart writing and the attention it has drawn to the strenuous efforts of public school teachers. At the show's heart is Janine Teagues, played with simple but resonant charm by Quinta Brunson (who also created the show). She might sometimes be a bit naive, but there’s no question that Janine truly loves what she does and always has the best interests of her students in mind. She doesn’t always make the right choices, but this allows Janine to become someone the audience can identify with and for whom they can cheer as she navigates her personal and professional lives.

Though Schitt’s Creek is most famous for the attention it pays to the Rose family, credit is also due to Jocelyn Schitt, played by the radiant Jennifer Robinson. Though her husband might be a bit of a boor, Jocelyn is never anything but kind, compassionate, and loving to the Roses (and Roland, for that matter). Unlike Catherine O’Hara’s Moira, who, even in her reduced circumstances, still retains an aura of glamor, Jocelyn is an average small-town woman content with her life but has dreams of her own. This is precisely what makes her so relatable and a joy to watch.

If one show exemplifies the optimism of Obama-era America, it’s Parks and Recreation,  and much of this can be attributed to Leslie Knope. In Amy Poehler’s capable hands, Knope is not just a fabulous everywoman; she also cares deeply about local government and its ability to make life better for the residents of the small town of Pawnee. Even though the citizens rarely give her the credit she deserves (in fact, they often turn against her), Knope remains a passionate advocate for them until the series’ end. It’s easy to see why she remains one of the most beloved television characters. 

Jennifer Aniston established her girl-next-door persona with the character of Rachel Green in Friends. Despite her undeniable beauty and charisma, Rachel struggles in the series to really get her life together, and this is a very relatable set of storylines for many Gen X and elder millennials who came of age when the show was originally on the air. What is particularly remarkable about Aniston’s performance is how she makes Rachel into someone who genuinely grows as a character, finding both maturity and meaning in her life as the series advances. Of all of the characters, she is the one who reads as the most truly authentic. 

Modern Family is not just one of the funniest comedies of recent memory but also a fascinating exploration of how family has changed in the 21st century. Claire Dunphy is, in many ways, the epitome of the modern American mom, for while she loves her husband and children dearly, she also wants to live a life of her own and fulfill her professional ambitions. Thanks to Julie Bowen’s inspired performance in the role, Claire becomes someone with whom audiences can identify, even if, at times, they can’t help but be a little bemused by her more outlandish antics. 

When Roseanne first aired in 1988, it was a revelation in that it focused on a true blue-collar family and its struggles rather than the more sanitized image so frequently found in the sitcom form. Barr was perfectly cast as the matriarch of the Conner family, even if her brashness and refusal to play by the rules sometimes land her in a bit of hot water. It’s easy to see why so many American women would see something of themselves in Roseanne since her struggles — with money, her body, and her husband and children — represented a large segment of the population. 

Though Reba may not have attained quite the canonical status of some other 2000s sitcoms, there’s no question that Reba McEntire is perfectly cast as a single mother who has to contend with both her children’s various struggles as well as her ex-husband and the woman with whom he had an affair. There’s an easy and homespun charm to Reba — both the character and the actress — that makes her quite easy to like. This isn’t to say that Reba is perfect because she is not (among other things, she can be quite self-righteous and overbearing). Still, precisely her imperfect nature makes her such a paradigmatic example of the everywoman.