Evelyn "Grams" Ryan

Grams is the devout, sharp-tongued grandmother Jen Lindley moves in with after leaving New York in disgrace. She keeps a Bible by the bed, doubts about her granddaughter close behind it, and a house run on rules Jen has no intention of following. Underneath the primness sits real, watchful love she is slow to show.

Mary Beth Peil refuses to let Grams be a stock scold. Every clipped rebuke carries an undertow of fear for Jen and grief of her own, and the writing keeps giving her room to be surprised by her own tenderness. She becomes the show's quiet moral center precisely because she's never simple about it.