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Mama's Family: Difference between revisions
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''Mama's Family'' was a [[Sitcom]] that aired on [[NBC]] from 1983 to 1984 and in first-run [[Syndication]] from 1986 to 1990. It was a spin-off of a recurring sketch called "The Family" on ''[[The Carol Burnett Show]]'', which was adapted into a prime time special "Eunice" for CBS before being turned into a TV series.
The show was about Thelma Harper (née Crowley) ("Mama") and [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|her family]]: Thelma's son Vinton and his girlfriend (later his wife), Naomi; Vinton Harper Jr. ("Buzz") and Sonja, Vinton's two kids from a previous marriage; and Francis Crowley ("Aunt Fran"), Thelma's sister, all lived in the house with her. Her daughters Ellen and Eunice visited frequently, along with Eunice's husband, Ed. By the syndicated episodes, this had been narrowed down to Vinton and Naomi and Thelma's fresh-out-of-Juvie grandson Bubba. Also added was nosy neighbor Iola.
The show revolves around the family's lives and is an example of a [[Dom Com]].
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* [[Back to School]]: Thelma returns to school to get her high school diploma in "Educating Mama."
* [[Big Screwed-Up Family]]: The show lives off this trope, although the Carol Burnett sketches and the NBC episodes play it up the most.
* [[Berserk Button]]: One episode revealed that underage drinking was a HUGE berserk button for Mama due to an incident involving Eunice several years prior.
* [[Brother Chuck]]: Thelma had many more kids in the original "Family" sketches. She mentions four kids briefly in an early episode of the show (possibly to account for Philip along with the others), but thereafter it's established that Ellen, Eunice, and Vint are her only children.
* [[Brotherhood of Funny Hats]]: The Order of the Cobra, the organization Vinton joins in "Fangs A Lot, Mama."
* [[California Doubling]]: The house used as the front of the Harper house is located in South Pasadena.
* [[Canon Discontinuity]]: "Eunice"; it featured the death of the "Mama" character. Ironically, the success of the special was what ultimately got ''Mama's Family'' greenlighted.
** Also, Ken Berry played ''Philip'' Harper in that special, and Eunice and Ed stayed split. Let's just say upon ''Mama's Family'', ''lots'' of [[Retcon|retconning]] was done.
* [[The Casanova]]: Bubba.
* [[Catch Phrase]]: Several of them:
{{quote|'''Iola''': "Knock, knock!"
'''Vinton''': "Thanks a lot, Mama!"
'''Mama''': "Good Lord!" }}
* [[Character Development]]: Mama becomes a ''much'' nicer person as the series goes on. In the original Carol Burnett sketches and in the network season she was rude and nasty all the time, but as the syndicated series progressed, she evolved into a much sweeter character who reserved her ire only for people who deserved it, admittedly a rather long list.
* [[Chatty Hairdresser]]: In "Psycho Pheno-Mama." Mama and her family meet a psychic who can supposedly channel a spirit that knows all of the family's secrets. The "psychic" is actually a hairdresser who got all the information from her customers at a local beauty salon.
* [[Chez Restaurant]]: Chez Ray
* [[Citizenship Marriage]]: Vinton almost marries a woman from Portugal as a favor to a friend in the episode "Alien Marriage", {{spoiler|but backs down}}.
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** Ellen - white
* [[Comically Small Bribe]]: The episode where the whole neighborhood is offered 1000 dollars each if they give up their homes. Atleast it ''is'' a ridiculously small bribe, it's just that the characters act as if it is a mass fortune, and Mama has to try her hardest to convince them not to take the deal.
* [[Continuity Nod]]: For all that's [[Retcon|dropped]] in ''Mama's Family'', many references to characters and establishments from ''[[The Carol Burnett Show]]'''s "Family" sketches manage to pop up, such as the Pepper Pot Playhouse. A later episode mentions the death of Topaz, Thelma's poodle, who only appeared ([[The Ghost|offscreen]]) in ''the very first sketch''.
* [[Cooking Duel]]: In "Soup to Nuts", Thelma, Naomi, and Iola compete to see who cooks the best chili.
* [[Credit Card Plot]]: Thelma incurs major charges on her card after she gets addicted to TV shopping in "Zirconias Are a Girl's Best Friend."
* [[Dead Pet Sketch]]: Subverted in the episode "Mama in One." Iola leaves her pet goldfish in Thelma's care, but she overfeeds him. {{spoiler|He doesn't die, he just becomes ''really'' fat}}.
** This trope is subverted again when Iola leaves her taxidermied cat with Thelma. Vinton, Naomi and Bubba accidentally drop a trunk on the cat. Thinking it's dead, they throw it in the trunk.
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Mama.
* [[The Ditz]] - Vinton.
* [[Don't Come a-Knockin']]: Played with. In "There Is Nothing Like the Dames", Thelma is trying to impress a small group of snooty upper-class women with a backyard dinner so they will let her join them. Unfortunately, Vinton and Naomi's trailer sits in the driveway, an obvious eyesore. On top of that, during one scene, the trailer starts rocking, horrifying the women... until Thelma finds out that Vinton was only trying to fix a broken table leg.
* [[Driving Test]]: "Mama Learns to Drive."
* [[Drop
* [[Dysfunctional Family]]
* [[Easy Amnesia]]: Naomi bumps her head on the kitchen door and get amnesia in the episode "Naomi's Identity Crisis." Thelma takes the opportunity to "train" Naomi to be a good housewife.
* [[Edited for Syndication]]: The Allister Quince introductions for the NBC episodes.
* [[Every Episode Ending]]: Every episode ends with a view of the outside of the Harper house, along with a final comedic line from Thelma.
* [[Fall of the House of Cards]]: Vinton tries to stack sugar cubes in one episode, but Thelma foils him quickly.
* [[Flanderization]]: Vinton starts out as a man of average intelligence, but becomes dumber and dumber throughout the series; the trend really kicks up a notch toward the syndicated episodes.
** Naomi gets this, too, going from being a reasonably intelligent woman to a shrill bimbo between network and syndication.
* [[Forgotten Theme Tune Lyrics]]: The theme tune is instrumental, but series star Vicki Lawrence reportedly wrote lyrics for it.
* [[Freudian Excuse]]: Eunice blames pretty much every awful things she does to being [[The Unfavorite]] middle child in an abusive household.
* [[Game Show Appearance]]: On ''[[Family Feud]]'' and ''[[Jeopardy!]]''.
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*** Though possibly not meant to be the same person, as this was before Iola was on the show, in "Mama Learns To Drive," as Thelma is attempting to maneuver her car down the street, she nearly knocks over a woman while shouting "Look out, Mrs. Boylan!" Boylan is Iola's last name.
** Roselle Huplander, Thelma and Iola's acquaintance
* [[Graduate From the Story]]: Subverted when Bubba graduates high school and is supposed to move to Florida with his mom and dad, Eunice and Ed. However, {{spoiler|Eunice "forgets" to tell Mama that Bubba cannot leave the state because he is on probation until his 21st birthday}} and Bubba ends up living with Mama for the remainder of the series.
* [[Henpecked Husband]]: Reverend Meechum.
* [[Hollywood Dress Code]]: Subverted by Bubba. On anyone without that bod, he'd be a dork.
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* [[Missing Mom]]: The reason why Vint is single in the earliest episodes (before he married Naomi). Vint's first wife was Mitzi, with whom he had two children: Vinton Jr. ("Buzz") and Sonja; shortly before the start of the NBC series, Mitzi decides to follow a longtime dream of being a showgirl in Las Vegas and unexpectedly left the family behind. She fails miserably and soon becomes a cocktail waitress. These are the lone references made to Mitzi, and she apparently has no further contact with Vint or her children again, with Naomi becoming the mother figure in Buzz and Sonja's lives.
* [[Mistaken Message]]: The episode "The Love Letter" revolved around this trope. Vint wants to do something to make Naomi happy, so he has Bubba help him write her a love letter. The letter gets misplaced a few times, and soon Naomi thinks Bubba has an incestuous crush on her, Iola thinks Vint wants to leave Naomi for her, and Mama thinks her refrigerator repairman is coming on to her. [[Hilarity Ensues]].
* [[Momma's Boy]]: Vinton. He still lives in his mother's basement (with his wife there too), and always succumbs to his mother's will.
* [[Moral Guardians]]: Mama forms [[Fun with Acronyms|M.O.P.]], Mothers Opposed to Pornography, after she finds a dirty magazine under Bubba's bed. Her group then starts protesting outside the Food Circus for selling those magazines.
* [[Never Learned to Read]]: In "Reading the Riot Act," Mama and Iola plan to impeach their church lady president for doing a crappy job...until Mama finds out that it's because she can't read.
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* [[The Unfavorite]]: Eunice, at least in her mind.
* [[Unlucky Childhood Friend]]: Iola has had an unrequited crush on Vint since they were little.
* [[Wedding Day]]: Vinton and Naomi's wedding had crazy vows and a drunken perfomance by Eunice.
{{quote|'''Vinton''' (to Naomi): "I promise to stay together with you for as long as we both shall think it's a good idea."}}
* [[We Sell Everything]]: In Raytown, there are only three stores: Neidermeyer's, Kwik-Keys and Food Circus.
** This one might be kinda iffy. It's hinted and even explicitly mentioned there are other stores, like the donut shops in the episode where Thelma gets hired by KRAY, "Mama Fights Back".
** While that is true, the characters do the majority of their shopping at those three places.
* [[Where the Hell Is Springfield?]]: Although the state where Raytown is located is never mentioned, take a look at the cars in the neighborhood in "Mama Learns to Drive": they have Missouri license plates.
** Let's add to the confusion by mentioning that there is an actual [[wikipedia:Raytown, Missouri|Raytown, Missouri]], which is a suburb of Kansas City, but that the fictional Raytown (a small town unconnected to a metropolis) and real Raytown (suburban bedroom community) are completely different.
** Also worth noting is that Allan Kayser, the actor that played Bubba, currently resides (or did not too long ago) in Kansas City, MO.
*** Also, during the reunion, he mentioned that he had moved back to Missouri, and commented that there is indeed a real Raytown (intimating that he now lived in or near there).
* [[While You Were in Diapers]]: After Iola questions whether Thelma is making a baby bootie correctly:
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