ShelbyTMItchell Really cute show of the 1980s. As it premiered on NBC back in 1982. As it featured future Golden Girls Betty White and the late Rue McClanhan. As the show was really funny when it played up on family and Southern charm.But Vicki Lawrence is the real star of the show. As she dresses in a wig and acts like an old lady. As she plays the cranky yet with a heart of gold Mama. She comes off with both wit and charm. And also you like her despite being the way she is.Still the show was funny and also had a great ensemble supporting players backing up Lawrence. Remembered this while living in Fla at the time!

rcj5365 "MAMA'S FAMILY"-Situation Comedy produced by Joe Hamilton Productions. Over 100 episodes were produced and it ran on network television(on NBC from 1983-1985)and later on went into first-run syndication(from 1986-1990).Executive Producer of this series was Joe Hamilton. The years it ran on NBC-TV from January 22,1983 until the final episode of the series on August 17,1985. Then the series went into first-run syndication from September of 1986 through September of 1990."Mama's Family" mined comedy from a squabbling family in the Midwestern blue collar town of Raytown,USA. The noisy clan was headed by Thelma "Mama" Harper(Vicki Lawrence),a buxom,gray-haired widow with sharp opinions and a sharper tongue who shared her small house with her high-strung sister,Fran(Rue McClanahan),a journalist for a local paper. Mama's lazy,dim-witted son,Vinton(Ken Berry),a locksmith by trade,moved in at the start of the series with his troublesome teenage children Buzz(Eric Brown)and Sonja(Karin Argroud),after his wife ran off to become a Las Vegas showgirl. Much to Mama's disgust,Vint soon took up with the town slut,a flirtatous neighbor Naomi Oates("that floozy!")whom he would become engaged to and eventually marry in the show's first season. From there a battle of wits would ensue when Naomi moves in with Vint giving Mama Harper various fits. The role of Naomi Oates was played by Dorothy Lyman(of "All My Children" fame and later on would direct and write several episodes of the series) Further uproar was caused by the periodic visits of Mama's two married daughters,the foulmouthed Eunice(Carol Burnett)and the snobbish Ellen(Betty White),and later on Mama's best friend,the prissyish Iola(Beverly Archer)and Vint's co-worker Bubba Higgins(Allan Kayser). Ed(Harvey Korman)was Eunice's dolt of a husband. During the series entire run only actors Vicki Lawrence,Ken Berry,Dorothy Lyman,and Harvey Korman remain throughout the entire run of the show when it was on NBC and later when it went into first-run syndication.The program was based on a series of sketches that were originally seen on "The Carol Burnett Show" and later made into the highly-rated special titled "Eunice" in 1982. During the first two seasons of the show,when it was on NBC,each episode began with a short,pompous introduction by "your host" Alistair Quince(Harvey Korman),seen seated in his arm chair. NBC aired reruns of "Mama's Family" during the summer of 1985. When the series ended its run on NBC-TV in August of 1985,two principal actors(Rue McClanahan and Betty White)went on to greater glory with "The Golden Girls",which premiered that same year. It was the show "The Golden Girls" that replaced "Mama's Family" on the NBC network after it was cancelled.In the fall of 1986,"Mama's Family" was cancelled by NBC and returned to TV in first-run syndication where it remained until 1990. Fran recently passed away and Ed and Eunice had moved to Florida. They had neglected to mention this to their delinquent son Bubba,who,after serving a term in juvenile hall for car theft,ended up living with Mama in Fran's old room,much to the consternation of Naomi and Vint,who thought they were getting it. Iola was the prissy neighbor who barely concealed her romantic designs on Vinton. The biggest event in the run of "Mama's Family" came in the spring of 1990 when Naomi,who had been seemingly been pregnant for an eternity,presented Vint with a bouncing baby girl named after his mama-Tiffany Thelma. Toward the end of the series(and possibly the final episode of the series) Vint and Naomi had moved out of the house,but not out of her shadow,as they were now in a trailer on her property.In point,"Mama's Family" was one laughable if not hilarious riot of a show with one situation after another with some outrageously funny results. Vicki Lawrence took the character of "Mama Harper" from The Carol Burnett Show and made it into one of the funniest character ever to grace the tube for the seven seasons that it was on the air.

ucdc "Mama's Family" has become so addictive that my "body clock" awakens me each morning before 5:00, at which time I view currently the best family show rerun. It's too bad that that the cast isn't regrouped to have this wonderful show live again.Needless to say, it would be "dead in the water" without "Mama" but the others are just icing on the cake. I love all of them, and have visited their biographies, but never learn all I would like to know about them.It seems hopeless that Vinton will ever wise up, but of course it would of necessity eliminate his "peachy" wife. The show would be lacking if it were not for Viola, whose twittering makes one anxious for her next comments.IS IT POSSIBLE FOR THE SHOW TO RESUME AS A CURRENT PRODUCTION?

xeophaje Mama's Family while not the greatest show on TV is at least able to get a few laughs out of me each episode unlike some so called great sitcoms, such as sienfield.At 6AM on TBS weekdays it is pretty much the only show on TV that is not an infomercial of someone trying to sell me faulty exercise equipment or get rich schemes.The later episodes of Mama's Family are easier to watch than the earlier, but that is because I was never a fan of the characters of Buzz and Sonya and was happy to see them go off to their mothers.Sadly though my days of watch Mama's Family are at an end due to having seen every episode at least three times and now they are growing tedious at best.I say give it a shot, somedays it is hokey as heck, but still worth a watch.