Mama's Family, a nostalgic review of a great old TV show

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MAMA'S FAMILY: I Love That Bitch!
Reviewed by Cartoonist Jeff Swenson

I never cared for Mama's Family, the TV show, when I was growing up in the eighties but that's probably because I couldn't relate to the humor. Now what I think people need more than ever are elderly mamas who speak their minds.

Mama was not a show intended for me when it was originally released. It ran from 1983 to 1990. During that time I was more likely to watch Saturday Morning Cartoons and reruns of Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch. Everytime Mama's Family came on I switched to something else. Of course my parents restricted my TV watching and if they had watched Mama's Family they may not have approved of how the old biddy ran her household.

"Mama" or "Thelma Harper" is Vicki Lawrence's greatest success, as far as I'm concerned. She tried a talkshow during the craze when everyone thought they could have a talkshow and that of course failed. Mama, however, lives on because it is being rerun on a new station called "i" here in Washington State. I started watching the show in order to give it one more chance because I have discovered as I have gotten past my early twenties that I have an appreciation for shows that I didn't like when I was growing up. All In The Family is a good example; I always wondered why that show was continually in reruns until I watched a marathon and loved it.

Are you a television addict? Next time you switch TVs, be kind to your budget and do a price comparison before you buy. No matter what item you're looking for, it's important to compare prices first!

I don't want to talk too much about the history of the show, suffice to say it came out of a sketch that was performed on the Carol Burnett Show and though I didn't see the earliest episodes I guess Carol Burnett and Harvey Korman starred on the first 2 years of the show and then were written out of it. They then recast everyone and the show ran on for another 5 years which is not a bad run. Also note that NBC cancelled the show after two years so Mama jumped into syndication which was one of the early sitcoms to take that route and succeed.

What I want to talk about is why I love the show--Mama. Mama is an atypical grandmother that cusses out her family members, cooks and cleans, and then downs a beer. She has good reason to cuss out her family because they are all freeloaders. While watching the show I'm on Mama's side most of the time and if I had it my way I would have kicked everyone out. A 40 year old man and his wife have no business living in his mama's basement when both of them are working. I know times can be tough, but two incomes equal rent for a one bedroom apartment. And then to top it off, these two idiots decide to have a baby. And while I haven't watched the rest of the series yet, I would predict that much of the baby chores would end up falling on Mama. Anyone who has a child and is still living at home is either too young to know better or never grew up in the first place.

Maybe that's why I like Mama's Family so much. It allows me to vent at Vint and Naomi (Mama's dumb-as-a-doornail son and his slutty wife). It seems like I've met these people in different forms. Fact is, I would say I have lived next to people with this mentality except that their irresponsible behavior usually erupted in domestic violence or out of control parties or kids that ran wild because they were left to their own devices. Okay, Naomi and Vinton are nothing like the people I've lived next to and loathed. Naomi and Vint are irresponsible but sweet, the people I've had to deal with are irresponsible and foul.

I guess that's the fantasy of the show: that a mother can co-exist with her son and her inlaw as well as her delinquet grandson (who never looked young enough to be in High School) and not murder them all with an ax. Despite the yelling and insults, I would enjoy spending time in Mama's Family; home cooked meals, conversations with Iola about her crafts, cracking jokes at Vint's expense, and having a beer on the porch. I guess I'm boring that way since my life is filled with a lot of stress concerning various projects and deadlines. Just hanging out in an old Southern town with a simplified life appeals to me, at least for a couple of months. But the TV Show is still available to watch, I'll have to be satisfied with that. If only I could get my wife to sew--and cook and clean for that matter. If she reads this I'm in for it.

NOTES:
1. Apparently Vicki Lawrence is touring as both herself and Mama. Read here for details...
2. Vicki Lawrence was younger than most of the other cast members by as much as 15 years.

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