Mama's Family
Mama's Family

Mama's Family

1983-01-22 | TV-PG | en
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Seasons & Episodes

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EP1  Mama's Medicine Show
Sep. 23,1989
Mama's Medicine Show

After reading about how much it costs to raise a child, Vint and Naomi decide to start a business selling bottles of Mama's mother-in-law's "miracle tonic."

EP2  An Affair to Forget
Sep. 30,1989
An Affair to Forget

Mama suspects that Vint is having an affair with his new trainee Heather, so she and Iola go to his workplace to investigate.

EP3  Mr. Wrong
Oct. 07,1989
Mr. Wrong

Mama encourages Iola to find herself a man, but the man she finds turns out to be a domineering blowhard.

EP4  Now Hear This
Oct. 14,1989
Now Hear This

The Harpers install an intercom so that Naomi will be able to monitor her baby, but Mama uses it to eavesdrop on the family, and vice versa.

EP5  Tri-State's Most Wanted
Oct. 21,1989
Tri-State's Most Wanted

Mama is attracted to actor Leslie Lemoyne, until she sees him on "Tri-State's Most Wanted" (the local version of America's Most Wanted), and believes that he is the infamous "widow waster".

EP6  Mama Fights Back
Oct. 28,1989
Mama Fights Back

Mama verbally attacks a radio show's unhelpful consumer advocate, and the station manager offers her his job, with Mama broadcasting from her living room.

EP7  A Blast From the Past
Nov. 04,1989
A Blast From the Past

Mama is invited to her junior high school's 50th reunion, but she is reluctant to go because of a false rumor that was spread about her years ago that earned her the nickname "Hotpants"

EP8  Psychic Pheno-Mama
Nov. 11,1989
Psychic Pheno-Mama

Vinton and Naomi persuade Mama to have a psychic called "Madame Rita" give everyone readings. At first, Mama is surprised by the psychic's ability, but later sets out to expose the phony medium.

EP9  Take My Mama, Please!
Nov. 18,1989
Take My Mama, Please!

After heckling a stand-up comedian at the Bigger Jigger, Mama accepts a challenge to do a routine of her own.

EP10  Bubba's House Band
Nov. 25,1989
Bubba's House Band

Bubba books a band called The Bonecrushers for homecoming, and tells the family that the band will be staying with them. They turn out to be an all-female heavy metal band, and Mama must rein them in.

EP11  Mama Takes Stock
Dec. 02,1989
Mama Takes Stock

Vinton learns that he is about to lose his job because Kwik Keys is being shut down by the new owners, a corporation called Bernice. When Bubba discovers that an old stock certificate Mama owns is now ten shares of Bernice, she sets out to save Vinton's job.

EP12  War of the Roses
Dec. 09,1989
War of the Roses

Mama and Iola are preparing for the Crystal Thorn flower contest, and Iola is angry to find that Mama's flowers have cross-pollinated with one of hers, producing a pink-and-white hybrid. At first neither of them wants it, but when floral expert Mayjune Beasley tells Mama that it could win the award, both Iola and Mama claim ownership.

EP13  Mama Takes a Dive
Dec. 16,1989
Mama Takes a Dive

When Mama slips on a roll of pennies in the bank, the family suggests that she sue the bank. To this end, she hires a sleazy lawyer Settlement Sam and fakes serious injuries.

EP14  Mama Gets Goosed
Dec. 23,1989
Mama Gets Goosed

Mama's cousin sends her a live goose for her family's Christmas dinner, and everyone except Mama is against the idea of killing and cooking the bird..

EP15  The Big Nap
Jan. 20,1990
The Big Nap

After watching detective movies on TV for a week, and hearing that Iola's mother is missing, Mama dreams that she is a film noir-style detective hired to find her client's mother.

EP16  Pinup Mama
Jan. 27,1990
Pinup Mama

While working on a photography project, Bubba makes a picture of a young bikini-clad woman with Mama's head, as a joke. However, this picture is accidentally added to a flyer that is handed out to get elderly men to attend a church dance.

EP17  Guess Who's Going to Dinner
Feb. 03,1990
Guess Who's Going to Dinner

Vint wins a Mother's Day dinner for two at a North African (Moroccan) restaurant called Abdul's Garden of Eating. As a result, Mama and Naomi fight over which of them Vinton should take.

EP18  Look Who's Breathing
Feb. 10,1990
Look Who's Breathing

Naomi and Vinton are taking a childbirth class. When Vint is called in to work, Mama has to go to class with Naomi instead of going to the Bingo Bonanza with Iola, so an impatient Mama creates chaos by trying to speed things along and offering her own perspective on the "miracle of birth".

EP19  There Is Nothing Like the Dames
Feb. 17,1990
There Is Nothing Like the Dames

Vinton and Naomi buy an RV and plan to move to a trailer park; however, they are unable to start the vehicle once it is in the driveway. Meanwhile, Mama is planning to host a fancy backyard luncheon for an snooty society group called the Dames.

EP20  Bye-Bye–Baby!
Feb. 24,1990
Bye-Bye–Baby!

When Naomi is upset about her baby being late, Mama tries to calm her down with a false story about Carl. Mama tells Iola what really happened (both the false and true versions are seen in flashback, with Carl played by Ken Berry). Later that day, Naomi goes into labor and Mama ends up delivering her baby girl, Tiffany Thelma Harper.

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Mama's Family Trailers

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Thelma Harper and her spinster sister Fran open their home to Thelma's recently divorced son Vinton and his teenage son and daughter. It's quite an adjustment for everyone, especially the cranky, argumentative Thelma.

Mama's Family Audience Reviews

ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made
Majorthebys Charming and brutal
Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation
Paynbob It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
studioboy69 Mama's Family is most certainly a brilliant overlooked sitcom of yesteryear. I cannot fathom how it has gone unnoticed in current day. It has a huge cult-following, mainly due to it being cleverly re-aired as an after-school show in the mid and late 90's. It gained a new and very valued fan-base. If it were put on a stable network again (lets say Lifetime) it would gain the attention it deserves and possibly even establish a re-union show that its current fans are dying for. Add-in all the old veterans of the beginning series- Carol Burnett, Betty White, and Rue McClanahan and you've got a smash hit! What is great about Mama's Family is its satirical nature. It was way way way ahead of its time. And is most certainly a live action comedy in the vein of cartoons that get away with beautiful murder such as The Simpsons and The Family Guy (no I didn't mention King of the Hill, as it is a horrid and crude example of a rip-off to say the least). The low-budget feel of the sitcom is part of its charm. The costumes are tacky and brilliant (way better executed than The Nanny, who no doubt got its idea from Mama's Family and The Carol Burnett Show), the location and actual stills of the house are grand, the pink flamingo yard sale grandmother look of the decor is right on target, and the writing is simple and effective. Change it and you've got an over-glossed bomb. This is why shows that strive to hush-hush duplicate Mama's Family's success (and you hear nothing about it) fail miserably. It pains me to see no one critically accepting its very old school John Waters feel. Except one critic in EW that apparently has to battle to get even the smallest article of praise into the magazine. The show has been blocked from its release of the full DVD set for reasons that big high-brow executives don't look further into the profit they would be making in the long run in they socked the advertising into this show. THIS IS WHY when the first season didn't go over as planned (go sigh the online petition even if you are unfamiliar with this series in order to get it released on DVD). First of all it was in syndication. That can even be over-looked except- The first season wasn't even why the show is a classic anyway.. nor the 2nd. It only hit its stride GRANDLY when the cast was reworked with the likes of Dorthy Lyman and Beverly Archer (however sad not forcing Carol Burnett back onto the show is but oh well). These "big high-brow" (dumb as a bunch of lack of common sense rocks) executives didn't do their homework on the series... pawning it off as just a lackluster TV show to be under rug swept. Fortunately its fan-base is most certainly still breathing. AND if you look hard enough you can find this series (the whole series) on the internet... lets say per Japan or China (gotta love em- they are even smart enough to catch the U.S. flaws of the economy). Back to the rating.... this show gets an excellent rating of "10". Because it hung in there and found its niche and boy does it ever have one. If I were Vicki Lawrence I would be fighting for a reunion show as fast as I could. She was absolutely brilliant as Mama and has showed up on TV land and other networks dressed as Mama in hopes to kick a reunion show into gear! IT WILL WORK! Do it! High-market the DVD's and get the damn revamped thing on wheels! Much like 1980/70's horror films- there is a reason why these low-budget masterpieces are better than million dollar Nanny's and a pack of Friends- its because raw-talent is something hard to come by. And Mama's Family is a beautiful patchwork quilt of it!
shannasman9 I think Vicki Lawrence as Mama was the absolute best portrayal of a mother that I have ever seen. I immediately fell in love with this show that show from the very first time I saw it. I enjoyed how Vinton would do things like pawn off Mama's silver to get his friend Claude out of jail and then he goes and tell Mama what he did. Also how could anyone forget Carol Burnett as Eunice? She did the best she could as Eunice Higgins. My favorite episode is when Mama and Eunice are in jail because of Eunice's hissyfit at the Bigger Jigger. She finds out that years before an old boyfriend named Duke Reeves comes over to her house but gets sent away by Mama. That was one of my favorite episodes in the whole series. When it comes out on DVD I'm so getting it. Long live Mama and Eunice. Thank you
jricci9 Very simply, they are all the syndicated episodes and NOT the original uncut/unedited NBC episodes. It is NOT the complete first season, all eps are edited to conform to 21:00 for syndication meaning jokes are cut, an extra commercial fade is included, all of the Harvey Korman intros are not here...very poorly done! Shame on a series I've been waiting for....booooooooooooooooo! If you're a true die hard Mama fan, don't buy this and go to http://www2.warnerbros.com/web/main/help/whv/customer_service.jsp and send them comments on why we're unhappy on this butcher job to a classic sitcom!
Bebebear33 I have been watching Mama's Family for years now! It plays on TBS cable channel every weekday morning at 6:00am and I am up to watch it! I feel like something is missing in my day whenever I am not able to watch it! It just puts you in a good mood! My 10 year old nephew loves it too! It helps him to wake up! He hears the opening song playing and he's wide awake! I cannot wait to but the DVD! I was recently hospitalized and I had the whole nurses staff watching it in the morning as well! It's just a contagious show. Mama is so homey and makes you feel like you know the entire family. I think that they should have a Raytown reunion someday and let everyone know what happened to everyone- like Buz and Sonya must have either gone to college or went and lived with their mother. And if Bubba ever confronted Eunice and Ed. I think it would be a good update to the show. I'm just thankful that I get to watch it everyday!