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MAMA'S FAMILY
spun off of The Carol Burnett Show and debuted on January 22nd, 1983. Before the show started, The Carol Burnett Show featured a skit called "The Family," which co-star Vicki Lawrence (Thelma Harper) based her show Mama's Family off of. The Harper's were a Southern blue collar family of Raytown, Missouri. The family was headed by Mama (Thelma Harper), a outspoken gray-haired widow who shared her house with her sister Fran, a journalist for the local newspaper. At the start of the show, Vinton, Thelma's son, moved in with kids Buzz and Sonja after his wife Mitzi left him to become a Las Vegas Show Girl. The same year Vinton met trampy and flirty neighbor Naomi and married her. Eunice (Carol Burnett) and Ellen (Betty White) also appeared frequently as Thelma's two daughters. Unfortunately the show was cancelled after 35 episodes on NBC and two year's later CBS started the show in syndication.
In the fall of 1986 Mama's Family returned to television with many changes. Rue McClanahan and Betty White had left the show to pursue careers on NBC's hit show "The Golden Girls," and the rest of the cast was axed to only Mama (Thelma), Vinton and Naomi. Buzz and Sonja went to college, Aunt Fran had passed away, and Euince and her husband, Ed, had moved to Florida. However, two newcomers had joined the cast, Beverly Archer, as Iola Boylen, the prissy next door neighbor and best friend to Thelma, and Allan Kayser as Euince's delinquent son Bubba Higgens. In the spring of 1990, the series last episode featured Naomi and Vinton having their first child, Tiffany Thelma Harper. Naomi and Vinton finally move out of Thelma's house, but only to a trailer sitting on her property. The cast of Mama's Family had a retrospective reunion on Vicki Lawrence's Talk Show called Vicki! in 1994.

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Thursday, June 07, 2007 Special Thanks to: TV SHOWS ON DVD WEBSITE |
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We have added two pictures to the photo galleries. Plus we have also started on the cast biography page of Vicki Lawrence. More Coming Soon. We have added 2 pictures to the CBS photo gallery as well as four pictures to Vicki Lawrence's Gallery. The Schedule page has been updated with new pictures since TBS changed their logo and site format, and link. Lots of updates to report on. We have now included a site search feature onto the main page and site guide page for easier and faster access to what you are looking for. We have also completed Seasons 1-6 detailed episode guides. The Online Request will start once all episode pictures are online for each episode. We have added 15 pictures to the Detailed episode guides, to find out what pictures we uploaded please see the Online Request Update page. We have also added the second season pictures as well as many others to the opening credits gallery! This site will now be updated frequently and is now off its hiatus. |