How Mom Fans Really Felt About Christy's Absence In Season 8
CBS sitcom "Mom" aired for a formidable run of 170 episodes between the years of 2013 and 2021. Ultimately, "Mom" was canceled after its eighth season. That said, while the series may have met a premature end, due to some changes both big and small in Season 8, the proverbial writing was already more-or-less on the wall before its cancellation was officially announced.
On one hand, its story was moving in directions during its eighth season that some fans didn't appreciate. For instance, fans publicly worried about Tammy (Kristen Johnston) when it seemed like she and Adam (William Fichtner) would become romantically involved, marking one instance of outright disapproval over a budding plot development.
More impactfully, however, Season 8 was the first without Christy Plunkett actor Anna Faris, who left "Mom" for other opportunities. More so than any one plot point, the sudden lack of one of the show's major characters marked what is likely the biggest series shake-up in its entire history. In fact, after Season 8 aired, a number of viewers recounted various ways in which Christy's absence negatively impacted the show's final run of episodes before its cancellation.
Mom isn't the same without Christy, according to many of its fans
Some months after the premiere of the last episode of "Mom," one user started a thread on the series' subreddit titled "Season 8 is by far the worst season," recounting how they found the show's final season boring, and thought that the biggest contributor might be its outright lack of Christy.
In response, user Ragnarsworld pointed out that, not only is Season 8 missing a major character, but it seems to include moments written for Christy, awkwardly retooled for Jill Kendall (Jaime Pressly). Meanwhile, user deadlyhabitz03 shared that they found Bonnie Plunkett (Allison Janney) increasingly unlikable without Christy around to counterbalance her worst tendencies."It was like someone trying to make a special soup, but they discontinued a key ingredient (Christy)," they wrote.
Beyond her importance to the show's story, some users in another Reddit thread even began to question why the show retained its title when Christy, its principal mom, was no longer present.
"Mom" co-creator Gemma Baker even told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published after the series went off the air that the season's first episode was among Season 8's biggest challenges, due to having to work around Christy's absence for the very first time. So, as much as fans struggled with a version of "Mom" without Christy, it appears that members of the show's creative team had a hard time themselves.