If you’re picturing the mother of Malin Akerman’s Trophy Wife character as someone blonde and gorgeous, you’re on the right track. Cybill Shepherd is set to guest star on the ABC comedy series, playing the mother to the titular “trophy wife,” Kate. And from the sound of it, when it comes to her appreciation for partying hard, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree here.
E! Online reported the news, stating that Shepherd will play the role of Kate’s mother Cricket, “a fun-loving, spontaneous wild child whose arrival quickly throws Kate’s family life into chaos.” E! says we’ll see Cricket for the first time in Episode 17 of the series’ current season, and that she’ll be more prominently featured in Episode 18.
We already know enough about Kate’s backstory to not be all that surprised that her mother’s a “wild child.” Ackerman’s character Kate was set up from the beginning as sort of a reformed party girl who’s been forced to clean up her act in order to be a more attentive and responsible mother to her new stepchildren. Of course, she's had some relapses there, as evidenced by the recent Christmas episode…
But it sounds like Shepherd’s character will prove to be especially disruptive to Kate’s efforts to gain some stability as a wife and mother. Or maybe Shepherd's showing up to teach Kate that she can have fun and be a mom at the same time? We'll have to wait and see. But I'll be curious to see what kind of relationship Kate has with her mother.
Being blonde and beautiful are two reasons Shepherd seems like a perfect fit to play Kate’s mother, but she’s also a very talented actor with a long history of memorable TV roles, including the part of Maddie in Moonlighting and the title role in the 90s comedy Cybill. Over the past decade, she’s spent a lot of time on cable, with TV roles in The L Word, Eastwick, The Client List, Psych, Franklin & Bash and Drop Dead Diva. On the network TV side, she appeared in an episode of the short-lived series $#*! My Dad Says and No Ordinary Family.
Trophy Wife is currently on hiatus for the holidays, but the freshman comedy will return with a new episode on January 7. In the meantime, here’s a great flashback moment in the form of a look back at Cybill on Moonlighting…
