There are lots of lists about the best (or worst) TV moms, TV dads, even TV grandmothers and grandfathers, couples, and more. But there’s one family member who is often forgotten yet plays a pivotal role in some of our favorite TV series: the aunt.
Aunts can be caring, funny, and strict. While they aren’t the parent, some of them like to act like they are. And they can step in to offer advice, console an upset niece or nephew, or help their sibling with family issues. Sometimes, kids might be more comfortable going to their aunt about an issue, while parents might look to their sibling for comfort or advice instead of their significant other.
Throughout TV history, there have been some great TV aunts that deserve some attention. Here are 10 of the best.
10 Aunt Becky (Full House)
Aunt Becky (Lori Loughlin) was a friend before she was the aunt. Danny Tanner’s co-host on their morning news TV show, she began dating his brother-in-law Jesse and officially became a member of the family once they got married.
While Jesse and Danny’s friend Joey moved in to help Danny raise his three daughters following the death of his wife, Becky was there to provide the much-needed female perspective, and help the girls through typical issues girls deal with as they grow up, from dating to break-ups, puberty and more.
9 Aunt Viv (Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air)
Sure, she was played by two actors through the series’ run, first by Janet Hubert than by Daphne Maxwell Reid. But Aunt Viv was an amazing person in Will’s life after he had to move in with his auntie and uncle in Bel-Air following a scary fight on the basketball court. Viv didn’t flinch at the thought of taking in her teenage nephew and raising him alongside her four other children.
Viv was sassy, fierce, and strict. A career-minded woman, she was a retired doctor who went on to be a university professor. Nothing got past aunt Viv, whether you were her kid or not. You didn't want to miss with her.
8 Aunt Jackie (Roseanne/The Conners)
One of the best aunts ever to grace the TV screen, Jackie (Laurie Metcalf) dropped in whenever she felt like it, was close with her sister Roseanne in the original series, and often butt heads with her brother-in-law Dan. But her two nieces and nephew were friendly with her, and she was always there to offer advice, even when they didn’t want it.
In the new revival series, she sees herself as something of a life coach, even creating an encyclopedia-sized book of tips to help her niece Becky through her pregnancy and child-rearing, despite Jackie not having children of her own and living an aimless life herself. With the death of her sister Roseanne, she sees herself as somewhat of a mother figure and grandmother to her nieces and nephew and their children. And even though she can be pushy and invasive, they love her just the same.
7 Aunt Claire (Modern Family)
Claire (Julie Bowen) has three children of her own, but she is also aunt to her brother’s adopted daughter Lily, as well as a pseudo-aunt to her father’s teenage stepson Manny. High strung, she left her career to raise her children, the eldest of whom she got pregnant with while still in college, but returned to work once they were all grown.
Kind of a “cool” aunt, she loves to gossip and drink wine, and while she’s often stressed out and can be arrogant, she really helps bring the entire family together.
6 Aunt Gloria (Modern Family)
Gloria (Sofia Vergara) is the much-younger wife of Jay and mother to her teenage son Manny from a previous marriage and young son Joe. But she is also aunt to Claire’s three grown children and pseudo-aunt to Mitch’s adopted daughter Lily.
Voluptuous, sassy, and independent, she has a friendly relationship with the kids, and is always there to go shopping or help them with issues that they feel their mother can’t (or they want to keep from their mother.) She brings much-needed comic relief to family gatherings, especially given her odd superstitions, language barrier, and references to her mysterious past in Columbia.
5 Aunt Lydia (The Handmaid’s Tale)
She isn’t a real aunt biologically, but everyone in the dystopian society of Gilead refers to her as their aunt, as she is in charge of all of the handmaids who are tasked with bearing children for the wives of barren wealthy women.
Lydia is cruel, strict, and intensely committed to the religious cause. She won’t think twice to carve out your eye, burn your hand, or have you whipped if you disobey her. She’s the most terrifying version of an aunt you could possibly think of. But the actor Ann Dowd plays her so well, making her one of the best, though also one of the most menacing.
4 Aunt Esther (Sanford & Son)
Portrayed by LaWanda Page, she was a religious Baptist married to an alcoholic and with an adopted a child of her own. And while she often argued with her brother-in-law Fred, who she despised, she loved her nephew Lamont.
And Lamont equally loved her, viewing her as the only real connection he had left to his mother, who had passed away. She played a mother figure to him, always trying to help him make the right decisions and make something of his life, and to be better than what she presumed his father to be.
3 Aunt Martha (Leave It To Beaver)
Aunt to Wally and Beaver, she was a recurring character on the show who only appeared in five of its 234 episodes, but she was mentioned often. Played by Madge Kennedy (Barbara Billingsley in the 1997 film who, funny enough, portrayed mother June Cleaver in the original series), she was a spinster who never married.
However, her sister June credited her elder sister Martha with raising her when they were young, calling her the only mother she ever knew. The boys refer to her as the “umbrella aunt,” a name she got after once giving them umbrellas for their birthdays.
2 Aunt Clara (Bewitched)
As the favorite aunt of Samantha, Aunt Clara ( Marion Lorne) is an older witch whose powers don’t work like they did when she was young, or rather her old age has made her not able to use them in the same way. She’d often cast spells and forget what they were or how to stop them, leaving her niece to fix the mistake before any outsider figured out their secret.
While it isn’t clear how specifically Clara is Samantha’s aunt, their relationship was a close one that supersedes any specifics about biology. Sadly, the character was written out of the show when Morne passed away in real life.
1 Aunt Chippy (Jimmy Kimmel Live)
While she isn’t from a sitcom, Aunt Chippy is the real-life aunt of late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, and she frequently appears on the show Jimmy Kimmel Live. Usually, it involves an elaborate prank that her mischievous nephew Jimmy has played on her – he’s done everything from made her think she was playing a character in her favorite soap opera to driving a car into her house and leaving it in the living room and making her zipline in Las Vegas.
A smoker with a raspy voice and a penchant for spewing expletives, Chippy is hilarious to watch, especially when she gets annoyed with Jimmy and his cousin Sal who have pranked her yet again.
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