On Mother's Day we celebrate our own mothers, of course, but what about those other motherly figures that are with us all year?

This refers to the television moms who make us laugh, cry, smile and shake our heads in amazement when they appear in our homes each week.

Mark Zeltner, an associate professor of communication at Slippery Rock University, said he sees television depicting moms, motherhood and family life differently today than in the past.

“I think TV moms are becoming more mainstream and modernized in the sense that we don't have the moms ... that wear pearls and stay at home waiting for the husband to come home,” Zeltner said. “They're very much a part of society in a bigger way.”

The idea of a “classic” television mom in American culture can vary.

For Zeltner the figure is best represented by an actress like Mary Tyler Moore on “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” where the actress portrayed an independent-yet-family-minded woman who bridged the gap between stay-at-home mom and career woman in a variety of interesting ways.

But there is no shortage of classic motherly charm in American sitcoms — from Barbara Billingsley as June Cleaver on “Leave it to Beaver”; to Esther Rolle as Florida Evans on “Good Times.” Zeltner said television moms, just like the real thing, can teach people a lot.

“I think they teach people that even though being a mom is tough, it's worth it and the connections you make are worth it,” Zeltner said. “It's hard but it's funny. I think that's what makes it watchable.”

The recent death of Emmy-award-winning actress Doris Roberts, who played the lovable and cantankerous Marie Barone on the sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond,” has robbed television of what Zeltner considers the last of the “old guard” of television mothers.

“I think she (Roberts) was maybe the last of the classic television mom,” Zeltner said. “Sort of a cranky, nagging character that everybody actually loved.”

There still are connections to that tradition out there in TV Land, Zeltner said — actress Betty White is one example — but with the success of shows like “Modern Family,” he sees the country's tastes moving on from that particular trope.

“I think the genre has moved on, and people have a different interpretation of what mothers are, what they're supposed to be, and what they think is funny,” Zeltner said.

He comes back again and again to CBS's hit “Modern Family,” which depicts the lives of four related but wildly different families as an example of what viewers want to see these days.

“I think the whole point of the show is that there's different kinds of families now,” Zeltner said. “You have moms that are working, involved in different businesses, and two men being the parents.

“Why it's so popular is that it doesn't have the traditional idea of motherhood and family.”

Today even the idea of a “classic” mother figure is often being turned on its head.

Witness Maggie Smith's portrayal of the cutting Dowager Countess on the critically-acclaimed show “Downton Abbey”; or January Jones' work as Betty Draper/Francis on the contemporary AMC classic “Mad Men” as prime examples.

There have also been challenges and changes when it comes to television's depiction of motherhood in black America, Zeltner said. He gives an example of watching an episode of the 1980s “The Cosby Show” and compares the performance of Phylicia Rashad as Clair Hanks Huxtable to that of Tracee Ellis Ross as Rainbow Johnson on the USA show “black-ish” now.

“It's (“black-ish”) a much more modern interpretation of an African American family, and the mom is very much a part of that struggle,” Zeltner said.

If there's a common thread among television mothers today, Zeltner said, it's that there's no common thread or trope that binds them together.

“You see all kinds of moms. You see a show like 'Modern Family' that has all different kinds of mothers or a show like 'black-ish' that has different ideas of what moms are trying to do. I think it shows that television is becoming more and more diverse (and) its really gotten rid of the kind of stereotypes we think of television as having.”

Zeltner said that's in part a necessity, given what viewers are demanding from shows these days. A sitcom has to be relatable and often funny to win and keep viewers from week to week.

“I think you watch them (sitcoms) to see things that are familiar to you, and you laugh at the things that relate to you,” Zeltner said.

“But our families are changing and the things we think are funny are evolving. A Doris Roberts character is probably not as relatable as it was 20 years ago.”