• more about #shoulderpads
    twoclippedwings: @: I was in my early thirties & the mother of two, married and working when this show was originally broadcast. I never missed an episode. The char... more »
    JerkoftheMonth is changing her name!: I'm too young to have ever seen the show before, but watching these clips, I identify with Ellyn, and I don't feel that I'm supposed to side with Hope... more »
    MsChicklet: I was a twentysomething when this show first aired and was in reruns on Lifetime. I identified with Ellyn the most, because we were both "career women... more »
    meanteeth: I watched the show as a teenager. I thought I was Melissa (artistic) but I'm Ellyn (even did a stint at "City Hall"). The analysis in this article h... more »
    LeviSurveen: The one thing i think that is important to take away is that you don't *have* to be swept up into that sort of drama and debate. At 37, with a 2-year ... more »
    Sweetie: If I were Hope, I would have chugged Ellyn's wine before I left with my screaming child. more »
    DorothyBarker: I'm actually old enough to have watched 30something when it aired; I was in my early 20s at the time, but found it riveting television nonetheless, in... more »
    ZemarSea Urchin: That restaurant scene reminds me of the kinds of scenes that happen at my store. Mom and grandma walk in with the stroller (maybe even a toddler) then... more »
    intime: Ladies - do whatever you think is right for you and don't worry about what anyone else thinks. We only have a short time with out children before they... more »
    greengrey: If today's "mommy wars" were chic and fashion forward they would be wearing shoulder pads too! more »
    Aesop's Foibles. YES.: This just occurred to me: Feminism IS acknowledging that what's best for one woman isn't necessarily the choice that EVERY woman should make. YES. If ... more »
    Ruby_de_la_Booby: And let's not read into other people's choices as a judgment of our own. When mothers feel so beaten up by the mommy wars that they become defensive,... more »
    ccchild: Ugh, that restaurant scene just postponed my mom's chance at getting grandchildren for at least another two years. Do not want! more »
    otherginger: I watched the show when it was on...not sure why, since I was in college and my then my early 20s. I remember everyone knowing we were SUPPOSED to li... more »
    KLondike5: I'm so tired of the cardboard characters on both sides of ye olde Mommy Wars. You're quite right that people are going to do as they see fit to do and... more »
    dreamweave: I know it's been suggested before, but I still think it would be really great of Jezebel found a woman who has kids to write about some of these stori... more »
    Ailatan: Watching that felt odd, my best friend has a baby (I don't have children) and that dynamic of me hanging out with her and then dropping everything mid... more »
    Lymed: There were women in Thirtysomething? All I remember is the men, Ken Olin in particular. more »
    And so had his...you know.: I find it endearing that the baby looks to be paying rapt attention to the whole conversation in the second clip. more »
    Flackette Goes Retro: My mom was a victim of the early 80s Mommy Wars. She had a graduate degree and was a progressive-ish woman of the 70s during school, but she was a tea... more »
  • #thirtysomething

    Thirtysomething: When The Mommy Wars Wore Shoulder Pads

    In a new column, Doree Shafrir reflects on life in her thirties. In this installment, she visits a certain precious 80s TV drama and finds that nothing much has changed when it comes to women, work and the mommy wars. More »
  • #coolbrittania

    Return Of Shoulder Pads May Be Harbinger Of Bad Things To Come

  • #florencezmelton

    Rest in Peace, Slipper Lady.