Mama's Family became a kinder show when it moved into syndication

A Mama's Family writer called Thelma Harper "a positive role model."

Warner Brothers

On The Carol Burnett Show, Thelma Harper was a caricature of a person. Sure, she was entertaining and comical, all qualities undoubtedly desired in a variety series. However, viewers laughed at Harper because of her outrageousness, not because she was relatable.

But once Mama's Family moved from a skit to a full-time television series, Thelma Harper began the journey to becoming a full-fledged human being.

During an interview with The Times, series writer and producer Rick Hawkins said that the series went through a variety of changes when it moved into syndication.

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"On the NBC series, we had the family members really being hateful to each other. I think the changes there have made it a better show. Mama began as a supporting character in the Burnett skits. When the sitcom came along, it was a wonderful opportunity to flesh her out and make her more human. Before, she was just nastiness, not unlike Estelle Getty's role on Golden Girls. Now we give her more little passions, likes, and vulnerabilities."

Despite the changes Thelma went through, the actor portraying her remained the same: Vicki Lawrence. One thing that Hawkins said remained consistent was Lawrence's acting talent.

"I can't say enough about Vicki Lawrence," said Hawkins. "I am more amazed by her every single day. You simply forget she is a 33-year-old actress playing a 65-year-old woman. Her Thelma is vital, intelligent, competent and, I think, a positive role model. Thelma still swears too much, is sulky, and loses her temper, but those are counterbalanced by other qualities."

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7 Comments

CoreyC 14 days ago
Mama's Family sucked because they shouldn't have used one of the most popular skits on Carol Burnett and make it a TV show. It was a throwback to all the rural comedies of the 60's.
top_cat_james_1 17 days ago
Oh, the producers were "softening" the show even during the NBC years--The Sonja character in the first season was a sneering, disagreeable "Valley Girl"-type. You know, like a real teenage girl. But in the second year, she was toned down and became much less abrasive, and wore dowdier clothing. Unfortunately, she became a lot less interesting, too. Still cute, though.
bmoore4026 17 days ago
People wanted The Carol Burnett Show to continue in some way and The Family sketches were rather popular. There was a special on CBS in 1982 that was like a Carol Burnette show called "Eunice" that did fairly well enough to warrant interest in a series. The series was something of a reboot for the whole premise as Mama died in the "Eunice" special, but in the series she's hale and hearty.

The point is is that people related to The Family sketches (no pun intended) as a number of them had family members like the ones in the sketch. Families aren't like the Cleavers and Bradys in real life. A number of them are more like the Harpers.
ncadams27 17 days ago
The Mama’s Family sketches on The Carol Burnett Show had the characters yelling at each other and were not funny. I did not watch Carol Burnett much and this was one of the reasons why. The sketches were part of a larger show, but as a full 30 minute episode the characters needed to soften and be more realistic. In 1956, some TV critics made this same comment about the Ralph Kramden character that was part of the hour long Jackie Gleason show. In them, Ralph and Alice constantly fought (this was before Audrey Meadows). These critics felt Ralph Kramden was Gleason’s weakest character and were surprised when he turned it into a 30 minute sitcom. They were not surprised it only ran a year. In the intervening years, the show became a classic, but you can still see why the show, as is, could not likely last more than a year (note that shows back then had 39 episodes). So Mama had to change, just like Ralph. Also, The Simpsons started out as short filler segments between sketches in the Tracy Ullman Show. These sketches were roughly drawn and Homer was very crude.
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