Mama's Family - General Discussion

[Guest]

I was fine with them writing off Buzz and Sonja, because I thought Bubba was a much better character. However, in later episodes where Vint and Naomi are trying to have a baby, it would have been nice to acknowledge that he already had kids.  There were a couple of lines about him possibly being sterile that didn't make any sense.

[Miss Chevious]

Found another actor on both Mama's Family and the Golden Girls. Last night the episode where Bubba and Mama are going to night school was on. Joseph Campanella played Mr. Hansen, Mama's teacher and Detective  Al Mullins who nabbed the jewel thief neighbors on the Golden Girls. Dorothy had a crush on him. 

[Miss Chevious]

I agree Buzz and Sonja didn't really add much to the show. Their acting wasn't the greatest and their storylines were minimal. They just kind of existed on the periphery. The Bubba character added more pep and liveliness IMO.

[ESS]

A MF board! I love Mama's Family! Thanks so much for making it...I have a lot of favorite episodes. Mama is so funny I cracked up watching the show. I have a lot episodes saved that I watch a lot. I'm sad that I can't watch it on TV again - I hear it's on METV which I do not have, but I'm so glad that the show is finally on DVD.

[Guest]

I switched cable providers last week and no longer have Mama's Family.  :(  Luckily, I just watched the whole series as it was on a few months ago, but man.  I love this show!

[ESS]

I hope this okay to put here, but Mama's Family is coming to Logo December 2nd! Yay!! I can't wait...

Logo Gives Thanks With Mama's Family Marathon, 'Friendsgiving' Special

[Ananayel]

Christmas came early for me!:

Quote

Next, Mama’s Family joins Logo’s line-up of classic sitcoms with a marathon on Dec. 2 at 9/8c. To celebrate the occasion, three queens — Ginger Minj as Mama, Katya as Naomi and Alyssa Edwards as Iola — will dress up like characters from the show.

Now to figure out how to get Dec. 2 off work....

[GHScorpiosRule]

12 hours ago, ESS said:

I hope this okay to put here, but Mama's Family is coming to Logo December 2nd! Yay!! I can't wait...

Logo Gives Thanks With Mama's Family Marathon, 'Friendsgiving' Special

I don't like Logo because they cut too much out. I'm glad I have MeTV because they edit the least.

[ESS]

7 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I don't like Logo because they cut too much out. I'm glad I have MeTV because they edit the least.

Well I get Logo, but not METV unfortunately so I'll take it..at least it's back on TV for me to watch again.

[Miss Chevious]

Yeah, any Family is better than no Family lol!

[TheGreenKnight]

Yeah, I'm grateful it's on a channel I can watch even if LOGO cuts up all the older shows--at least going by my viewings of Golden Girls and All in the Family when they've aired on LOGO. It may be that I'm not as familiar with MF as I am with TGG, because I didn't notice any obvious edits during the marathon the past two days. The opening theme is sped up a degree though.

[Miss Chevious]

I found another one! An instance where the same actor appears on both Mama's Family and the Golden Girls. 

On tonight's episode Vint and Naomi are interviewed by Dr. Richards, a psychologist with an adoption agency. He looked so familiar, then I realized he played the role of a crooked contractor named Ernie who the Girls hired to remodel their garage. 

They sure believed in recycling! Will keep on looking for more.

[Miss Chevious]

Found two more!

 Vint's friend Claude (the one that landed in jail and Vint had to pawn Mama's silver for bail money) was played by the actor Geoffrey Lewis. He also played Mr. Fixit, the brother of Dr. George who lived next door to the Golden Girls in that horrible episode that was a test pilot for the Empty Nest spinoff. 

And just tonight when Mama wins the race for Raytown's mayor, her secretary Felicia, also appeared on the Golden Girls in the role of Magda, Stanley Zbornak's cousin from Russia. She was the loveable Communist who had a thing for Slurpees, played by that wonderful actress Marian Mercer.

Anyone else find any more?

[Miss Chevious]

Found another one tonight! Fran's been writing an advice column and her boss, Mr. Nettles  at the newspaper has a crush on her. I recognized him right away as the same man who was the emcee at the Golden Girls Dance Marathon, his memorable line being "Yowza, Yowza, Yowza!". Both parts were played by Conrad Janis, another great character actor. 

[TaraS1]

So excited to see that Logo started showing MF! The Bubba/Iola years are my favorites by a landslide.  I didn't love Bubba, but Iola never failed to crack me up, especially when she'd get pushed past her breaking point and explode in anger about something lol.  Beverly Archer was so brilliant in that role.  As was Dorothy Lyman as Naomi.  I grew up watching her as Opal on All My Children, so I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for her.

Some of my favorite episodes that I can think of off the top of my head are the one where Iola daydreams that she's Vint's sexy vamp of a wife and Naomi is the nerdy spinster next door, and the one where one of Bubba's former classmates from juvie (The Keek!) is on the run and she shows up in Bubba's room just as Reverend Meechum comes for dinner.  

[nkotb]

@TaraS1, I just said to a friend the other day that I'm dying to see the episode with "The Keek"! That's one of my favorites, too! I also like when Naomi has Tiffany Thelma, the Thelma "Hot Pants" Harper (can't remember her maiden name, Crowley?) episode, & the Thelma dates Leslie LeMoyne episode, to name a few. 

I always think that I hate the Buzz/Sonya episodes, but they showed the one the other night where Naomi, Eunice & Ellen each have a different version of the gooseberry jam/smacking Mama with the pan episode, & it's also one of my favorites. There really were some funny episodes during that time, including Vint & Naomi's wedding, which was hilarious at times, mostly because Eunice & Ellen were hysterical, but for some reason, I always think I hated that time. I can't put my finger on it.

Finally, my 2-year-old calls this show "Grandma & Olaf", because Thelma looks like a grandma, & she heard "Iola", but apparently she actually heard "Olaf", so there you go. She gets so excited when "Olaf" comes on screen, she yells "Olaf"! Yeah, we let her watch with us, we're "those" parents.

[Miss Chevious]

One of my favorite episodes is the one where Mama is on a film noir binge watching kick and in Mama's fantasy Iola becomes a 40's tough old broad, shoulder pads and all. Hilarious! I also liked The Keek episode, the Rushomama episode already mentioned and the Love Letter where Bubba helps Vint pen a love letter to Naomi but confusion ensues. Another good one is the Mama's elixir episode, all the Church Ladies getting drunk on the stuff.

[TaraS1]

2 hours ago, nkotb said:

I always think that I hate the Buzz/Sonya episodes, but they showed the one the other night where Naomi, Eunice & Ellen each have a different version of the gooseberry jam/smacking Mama with the pan episode, & it's also one of my favorites. There really were some funny episodes during that time, including Vint & Naomi's wedding, which was hilarious at times, mostly because Eunice & Ellen were hysterical, but for some reason, I always think I hated that time. I can't put my finger on it.

I had totally forgotten the gooseberry jam episode was a Buzz/Sonya one!  That one is truly a classic.  Carol as Eunice was just perfection.

And remember the Keek was played by Yeardley Smith?  I will never forget the dinner scene, with Bubba looking up from saying grace to find the Keek staring in the window at him lol.  There's a line from that scene that my friends and I still use and I can't even remember the context, but Reverend Meechum says something that makes Bubba think he knows his secret and Bubba says, "Who told you??" And the Reverend says, "Who do you think?"  I know it doesn't sound funny, but it still makes us laugh.

1 hour ago, Miss Chevious said:

One of my favorite episodes is the one where Mama is on a film noir binge watching kick and in Mama's fantasy Iola becomes a 40's tough old broad, shoulder pads and all. Hilarious! I also liked The Keek episode, the Rushomama episode already mentioned and the Love Letter where Bubba helps Vint pen a love letter to Naomi but confusion ensues. Another good one is the Mama's elixir episode, all the Church Ladies getting drunk on the stuff.

I forgot all about that Iola episode!  I loved when the show focused on her...and, of course, her famous invention:  The Invalid Turner lol.  

This thread is bringing back so many great memories!  

[nkotb]

20 hours ago, Miss Chevious said:

One of my favorite episodes is the one where Mama is on a film noir binge watching kick and in Mama's fantasy Iola becomes a 40's tough old broad, shoulder pads and all. Hilarious! I also liked The Keek episode, the Rushomama episode already mentioned and the Love Letter where Bubba helps Vint pen a love letter to Naomi but confusion ensues. Another good one is the Mama's elixir episode, all the Church Ladies getting drunk on the stuff.

I've actually caught all of these episodes (save for the Keek episode) recently on the marathons. The Iola fantasy is hilarious! The love letter was funny, too, with Naomi trying to reason with Bubba not to be in love with her. I can't believe the show ended in 1990. I'm showing my age, but I thought it was on when I was in high school, but I started in the fall, 1990. 

[Guest]

21 hours ago, Miss Chevious said:

One of my favorite episodes is the one where Mama is on a film noir binge watching kick and in Mama's fantasy Iola becomes a 40's tough old broad, shoulder pads and all. Hilarious! I also liked The Keek episode, the Rushomama episode already mentioned and the Love Letter where Bubba helps Vint pen a love letter to Naomi but confusion ensues. Another good one is the Mama's elixir episode, all the Church Ladies getting drunk on the stuff.

All the church ladies doing the conga line is great. Actually, I like all the church ladies episodes except the one where the president was illiterate. I think my favorite of those is where Iola and Mama run against each other for election.

[TheGreenKnight]

Yes, I think my favorite episodes of the series are the Iola v. Mama for president episode and the April Fool's episode.

[Tenarife60]

My cousin's wife is a lot like Iola.  She's in her 50s, has never worked and she mostly hangs around her mother-in-law who is 78 (her MIL also thinks she's a huge pest like Naomi thinks of Iola).  As far as I know she's never had any friends her own age because she doesn't drive and never had any money to have a life of her own. 

[Blergh]

I think Mama disliked her because she was the stereotype of 'trailer park trash' while Mama liked to think herself somehow above that. I always thought it funny how in the chili contest while Mama & Iola each spent quite a few hours taking many steps to make their prized chilis (from soaking dried beans, etc.), Naomi just poured a can of manufactured chili into a saucepan then added chips!

[Blergh]

I liked the one in which Mama had this dream about a checkboard square tiled kitchen and they blew her off when she thought THAT would be a racing tip- only to find out that a horse named Checkerboard Square had indeed won. Then to cap everything off, Mama made Bubba dump his $100 winnings so he'd be part of the family of losers!

[Blergh]

Strangely ironic seeing her do those ME TV spots in that she was generations younger than her character during both shows run- yet Miss Lawrence is NOW roughly Thelma Harper's age. I guess she could say she's the Grandpa Jones of sitcoms!

[allicatexp]

The chili contest episode was one of my faves!  I love when Iola brings the 3 bowls out to Vint to be judged and her line is something like "here are the 3 entries...A. B!!!!!, and C..." so funny.

[Miss Chevious]

I found another crossover from the Golden Girls. Tonight's episode had Mama pre-planning her own funeral and later having a vision of herself at her own funeral to make sure her wishes were being carried out. The funeral director was played by Roy Stuart, who also played Blanche's partner in their dance marathon episode.And that funeral plot was also done in the Golden Girls, Sophia did the same thing. 

It's fun to spot actors who have appeared in both shows, if anyone sees one, be sure to post it here.

[Miss Chevious]

Another one! Last night's episode featured Mama, Vint and Naomi going to a shrink in preparation for adopting a baby. The actor playing Dr. Richards (Don Woodard) also played Ernie in the Golden Girls. Ernie was the guy who worked on the kids show at the TV station where Dorothy took a part time job. He was the voice of one of those fugly puppets. 

There sure were a lot of actors that worked in both shows!

[TaraS1]

On 3/1/2017 at 1:27 PM, allicatexp said:

The chili contest episode was one of my faves!  I love when Iola brings the 3 bowls out to Vint to be judged and her line is something like "here are the 3 entries...A. B!!!!!, and C..." so funny.

ROTFL, yes!  And Thelma's story about how much little Vint supposedly loved her chili.  "ChiWEE!  ChiWEE, Mama!"

[LucyEth]

In season one, how can Vint and Naomi get married in the early episodes and then episode 11 is about him going to marry a woman for her green card?  Also Namoi is shown living next door.  The very next episode they are married an living in the basement.  Maybe they were show out of order?

[Guest]

20 hours ago, LucyEth said:

In season one, how can Vint and Naomi get married in the early episodes and then episode 11 is about him going to marry a woman for her green card?  Also Namoi is shown living next door.  The very next episode they are married an living in the basement.  Maybe they were show out of order?

I think it is supposed to be a flashback episode?  Or maybe that's just how I explained it in my head?

[DrivingSideways]

I think Logo is showing them out of order, and labeled incorrectly on seasons.

How does Vint look younger in later seasons than the initial ones?  I used to hate Buzz and Sonja, but I don't mind them too much in retrospect.  Same with Aunt Fran... Rue McClanahan seems so sickly and skinny and old in these episodes.

[Maharincess]

I just switched to Sling TV and have Logo for the first time. I'm soooo happy I can watch Mama again!!  

I've seen every episode a hundred times in the past but until I got my HDTV, I never noticed Ken Berry's bad toupee.  You can see a perfect line in the back of his head where the toupee ends and his hair starts.  

Edited April 8, 2017 by Maharincess

[Miss Chevious]

Yes, I noticed that too. It doesn't look so obvious during the earlier episodes, but as time goes on, his rug seems to get rattier.

[Miss Chevious]

A couple of my favorite episodes were on this past week. The one where they all (plus Mr. Hansen the night school teacher and Bubba's gf) return home after a wedding, then fantasize about being married. Bubba visualizes getting married to his girlfriend and the responsibilities that come with it as she's supposedly pregnant with triplets and they have twins already. Iola imagines what it would be like to be married to Vint and in her fantasy, she and Naomi switch roles. Seeing Iola dressed in an off-the-shoulder dress and long curly hair like Naomi and Naomi in a short wig and prim dress was hilarious.  Mama envisions what it would be like to be married to Mr. Hansen and it turns into a campy send-up of Rebecca, complete with booming thunderstorms. Him saying "just like Rebecca" is so funny.

My other favorite is Mama's Jeopardy appearance. Iola swooning on the living room floor and Mama shouting out at the end "I won a trip to Ha-wi-yah" Makes me laugh every time. 

Edited May 22, 2017 by Miss Chevious
Forgot a word-senior moment!

[Guest]

On 5/20/2017 at 11:33 AM, Miss Chevious said:

A couple of my favorite episodes were on this past week. The one where they all (plus Mr. Hansen the night school teacher and Bubba's gf) return home after a wedding, then fantasize about being married. Bubba visualizes getting married to his girlfriend and the responsibilities that come with it as she's supposedly pregnant with triplets and they have twins already. Iola imagines what it would be like to be married to Vint and in her fantasy, she and Naomi switch roles. Seeing Iola dressed in an off-the-shoulder dress and long curly hair like Naomi and Naomi in a short wig and prim dress was hilarious.  Mama envisions what it would be like to be married to Mr. Hansen and it turns into a campy send-up of Rebecca, complete with booming thunderstorms. Him saying "just like Rebecca" is so funny.

My other favorite is Mama's Jeopardy appearance. Iola swooning on the living room floor and Mama shouting out at the end "I won a trip to Ha-wi-yah" Makes me laugh every time. 

I love both of those.  :)

[Miss Chevious]

Just saw the new MeTv schedule for the summer and it stinks! They've put Mama's Family on at 9:00pm for 1 half hour show only. There goes my cocktail hour that I had every night with Mama before dinner <sigh>

[qtpye]

On 1/6/2016 at 10:06 AM, Ananayel said:

MeTV, weeknights at 6 and 6:30. It just started, so we're just now 4 eps in. Vint and Naomi just got married and then got scammed out of the trailer park in Arizona, so it's all set up now.

 

It cracked me up to see Betty White and Rue McClanahan together, only this time Rue played Betty's Aunt Fran! I know Fran was Thelma's "baby sister," but dang. Blanche Devereaux would have been horrified!

 

On 9/2/2016 at 1:27 PM, Miss Chevious said:

I've been watching Mama's Family ever since I found out it was on my local MeTV channel and have been enjoying it immensely. I've also been a longtime fan of the Golden Girls as well and I couldn't help but notice some interesting similarities between plot/characters on both shows. Because Mama's Family was on earlier, it looks as if the writers for the Golden Girls "borrowed" some of Mama's plots.

Some examples:

Mama's babysitting a neighbor's baby and sings "Mr. Sandman" to the baby. The Golden Girls babysit a friend's baby and sing same song.

On one episode, Mama appears on Jeopardy!  Ditto for Golden Girls. Dorothy's dying to get on the show and has a dream about competing with Rose.

Mama has a variety show. Ditto for the Golden Girls. (the episode with Bob Hope).

Mama goes to night school to finish getting her H.S. Diploma.  Ditto for Rose, she goes too.

Bubba videotapes Mama, Vint & Naomi for filmmaking project at school.  While working at a TV station, Rose videotapes the Girls for a work project.

And while watching Mama's Family, some of the same actors  are used in both shows. For example:

Mama's Family - Rev. Meecham. Golden Girls' -  the priest officiating at Phil's funeral and Dorothy's wedding.

Mama's Family - Uncle Roy the sailor. On Golden Girls, he was the first Big Daddy.

Mama's Family - in the Hawaiian vacation episode big business tycoon R.W. is the Cheeseman on the Golden Girls.

Mama's Family Vinton Harper was Thor Anderson on the Golden Girls.

And of course, Aunt Fran and Ellen Harper went on to be Blanche and Rose on the Golden Girls.

I'm sure there's probably a few more I couldn't think of offhand. But it sure is fun to spot the similarities between the two. Anyone else know of any others?

 

On 10/28/2016 at 10:59 AM, Miss Chevious said:

Just saw one the other night. The lawyer that handles Fran's will after her death is the same actor that played Philomena's father in the Golden Girls episode about Dorothy being possibly switched at birth with another Italian's couple's child.

I never understood how any casting director out there would ever think that Rue could pass for Betty's Aunt.  I love Betty, but in some episodes, she looks older then Mama!

On 11/4/2016 at 6:16 PM, GHScorpiosRule said:

So I just saw the episode where Bubba enlisted in the Army because of some...girl. What shocked me was how did I not remember that Eunice and Ed are his parents! Despite her bitterness over not being the favored one, I never really thought they'd be parents who didn't give a farthing for their son. I say this because they didn't bother to show up for his high school graduation, which really upset Bubba.

But then again, this is the show where those two teens that were Vinton's children disappeared to never have existed when they got rid of them and introduced Bubba. Or did I miss something, and they went off to live with their mama?

I just remember being shocked that Eunice and Ed produced a son who was so fricken hot.  Bubba was the lone hottie among the Harper men (husbands included).

[qtpye]

Which Naomi did you like better? I felt the first one captured the character better, but I liked the contrast with Iola that the second one had.

[Maharincess]

On 7/12/2017 at 7:37 AM, qtpye said:

Which Naomi did you like better? I felt the first one captured the character better, but I liked the contrast with Iola that the second one had.

I much preferred the second version of Naomi and Vint. I loved shrill Naomi and idiot Vint. 

This show recreated itself more than any other show I can think of. Just off the top of my head I can think of 4 different ones. 

[Snow Apple]

I like Naomi #1 fine, but she was a bit too normal. #2 was funnier and fit in with the wacky family more. 

Edited July 15, 2017 by Snow Apple

[ivygirl]

I agree, I preferred Syndicated Naomi. She was funnier and also more sympathetic. That said, I don't think Syndicated Naomi would fit in with the network run crew. The tone would be off.

Edited July 17, 2017 by ivygirl

[BlancheDevoreaux]

On 2/25/2017 at 8:31 AM, Blergh said:

I think Mama disliked her because she was the stereotype of 'trailer park trash' while Mama liked to think herself somehow above that. I always thought it funny how in the chili contest while Mama & Iola each spent quite a few hours taking many steps to make their prized chilis (from soaking dried beans, etc.), Naomi just poured a can of manufactured chili into a saucepan then added chips!

And beef jerky!  Don't forget the beef jerky!

[BlancheDevoreaux]

On 1/19/2016 at 3:42 PM, Miss Chevious said:

Last night was the episode showing the talent contest at the Bigger Jigger and Vint showed off his tap dancing and singing skills. Who knew Ken Barry was so talented.

I love looking at the end credits of the episodes that have dancing and seeing if Ken Berry choreographed the dances. The episode where Mama does tap dancing with the other senior citizens, for example, was choreographed by him as was the dirty dancing episode.  So funny because he plays such a clumsy fool as Vint.

Edited November 6, 2017 by BlancheDevoreaux

[TaraS1]

I just watched the April Fool's day episode on Logo this weekend and I swear I laughed for a solid minute just from the look on Dorothy Lyman's face when they all find out Mama tricked them into cleaning up the yard.  I will forever love this series, no matter how hokey.

[hoosier80]

One that always makes me laugh is the freeze dried cat episode, especially when Mama says, good lord Thelma get a hold of yourself, you're calling out to a dead cat.   I also like the one where Thelma's uncle leaves her the parrot.

The Thanksgiving Day episode was good, too.

I wasn't thrilled with how they wrote Fran out.  They could've had her get a job in another town, then Rue could have done guest appearances like Betty did.   Iola was a more interesting character than Fran though.

Bud and Sonya could've been a good idea, but either bad actors or bad writing for those characters.  They also just never mentioned them again.  Could have had different actors come back for a guest role after a few years.  Bubba was a better character.

The actresses who portrayed Eunice as a girl and as a teen were both excellent.  Actually, the younger Iola was really good too.  

[hoosier80]

Ken Berry actually started out as a dancer I think.  He was in some talent grooming program for a major studio; they had a project lined up for him something like Frances the Talking Mule (or the tv version?).  Anyhow, all of the projects that were going to be in place for him fell apart.  He was being marketed or geared to be in the same type of roles as Donald O'Connor.   

I believe he also did shows in Las Vegas as well as maybe doing summer stock all around.

[hoosier80]

Iola was a homebody, who identified more with the older crowd.  She was a member of the CLL, which looked to be all older ladies.   She was more at ease I think with older women - like dealing with a friendlier mother; Thelma was a nicer and more active version than her own mother.

Basically, Iola was brought on as a replacement for the Fran character, since Rue had committed to Golden Girls (I think that is why she left - could've been another show).  They gave Iola more color with her quirkiness - always wearing pink, the crush on Vint, the arts & crafts (which went a little nutty), the anger.  

[Snow Apple]

One of my favorite episodes is when Mama goes back to high school. So many good quotes: (re The Scarlet Letter) "This sounds better than The Thorn Birds!" and "Men are scum!" plus (tempus fugit) "Ain't she one of the Cosby kids?" 

And I swear one of the other students is played by the actress who played Young Dorothy in the Golden Girls but I'm too lazy to look it up.

[TaraS1]

Iola's occasional rage fits were the best part of that character lol.  Beverly Archer was so fantastic in that role.