38 Fun Facts About Mama's Family

On Mama's Family, what was the name of Mama's late husband, usually heard only from the bathroom?

Carl Harper is dead before the series begins; in flashbacks he is usually just a grumpy voice behind the bathroom door, the same room where, family lore has it, he died.

Mama's Family was a spin-off of a recurring sketch from which variety series?

The Carol Burnett Show first staged 'The Family' in 1974; viewers responded so strongly that a one-off sketch became a regular feature, then a TV movie, then this sitcom.

On which network did Mama's Family originally premiere in January 1983?

NBC bought Mama's Family without seeing a pilot, since years of sketches and a 1982 TV movie had already proved the characters could carry a show.

What prompted Mama's Family's revival two years after its network cancelled it in 1984?

Strong ratings for its reruns did it: the summer repeats drew well enough that Lorimar-Telepictures, hungry for first-run syndicated shows, ordered 100 new episodes.

What is the title of Mama's Family's theme tune, for which Vicki Lawrence wrote lyrics?

The theme is 'Bless My Happy Home'; Vicki Lawrence wrote its lyrics, but the series aired only an instrumental version, so she sang the words in her stage act instead.

In which town is Mama's Family set?

Raytown is never given a home state on screen, but Vicki Lawrence has said it was based on the real Raytown, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City.

What pet name does Vint call his wife Naomi on Mama's Family?

Skeeter is Vint's name for Naomi, the old schoolmate he found living next door to Mama; Mama thought her a floozy and soon had her for a daughter-in-law.

Which two teenage grandchildren lived with Mama in Mama's Family's first two seasons but were dropped from the 1986 revival?

Buzz and Sonja were Vinton's children from his first marriage; the 1986 revival's first episode has the pair miss a family funeral without explanation, and the show never mentions them again.

In Mama's Family's first episode, Mama shares her house with which uptight relative, a local newspaper journalist?

Her sister Fran was played by Rue McClanahan; when McClanahan left for The Golden Girls, the 1986 revival began with Fran newly dead, having choked on a toothpick.

Why does Vinton move in with Mama in Mama's Family's first episode?

He and his kids were evicted, so Vinton turns up on Mama's doorstep; his wife Mitzi had already left him for Las Vegas, where she worked as a cocktail waitress.

What is Vinton Harper's trade on Mama's Family?

Locksmith Vint cuts keys for a living; when a men's lodge, the Mystic Order of the Cobra, invites him to join, Mama does her best to sabotage his induction.

Where in Mama's house do Vint and Naomi live for most of the series?

The basement became Vint and Naomi's home after they sold her house next door and a business partner made off with the money; they stayed down there for most of the series.

Which future Golden Girl played Mama's snobbish daughter Ellen on Mama's Family?

Betty White was already a Golden Girls star when she returned as Ellen early in the 1986 revival, only for Mama to throw her out of the house for missing a family funeral.

Which actor introduced Mama's Family's early episodes in character as the pompous host Alistair Quince?

Harvey Korman's Quince introductions were cut when the episodes went into syndicated reruns, and viewers only got them back on the 2013 DVD sets.

Which grandson comes to live with Mama in Mama's Family's syndicated seasons?

Bubba Higgins is released from juvenile hall into Mama's care in the 1986 revival's first episode, his parents having moved to Florida without him.

In a two-part Mama's Family story, Mama wins election to which office, then finds the town turning against her?

Mayor Mama unseats the pompous incumbent after a confrontation at her own house, but her time in office is brief.

Which episode, parodying a Japanese film, gives three conflicting accounts of Mama's injury?

'Rashomama' borrows the trick of Kurosawa's Rashomon: after a pot to the head lands Mama in hospital, her two daughters and her daughter-in-law each tell a different story of how it happened.

Which two real game shows did the Harpers appear on in episodes Lawrence counts among her favourites?

In 'Family Feud' the Harpers face Richard Dawson, and in 'Mama on Jeopardy!' Mama takes on Alex Trebek; Lawrence, a game-show fan, loved seeing the family stuck in those formats.

What is the name of the local bar and grill the family frequents on Mama's Family?

The Bigger Jigger hosts a surprise birthday party that ends with Mama under arrest and sharing a jail cell, and a talent contest whose applause goes straight to Vint's head.

Dick Clair and Jenna McMahon, who created 'The Family' sketch, went on to create which hit 1980s sitcom?

The Facts of Life sprang from a Diff'rent Strokes episode whose story Clair and McMahon supplied; the former nightclub double act went on to create It's a Living as well.

Who did the writers of 'The Family' sketch originally have in mind to play Mama?

Carol Burnett was meant to be Mama, with a guest star as the daughter; she chose the daughter instead, handed Mama to the far younger Vicki Lawrence and had the family played as Southern.

Which comedian's rambling elephant story famously reduced the cast of a 'Family' sketch to helpless laughter?

Tim Conway spun the elephant story out until his co-stars collapsed; Vicki Lawrence, in character as Mama, ended it with a salty one-liner, and the outtake became a celebrated TV blooper.

What was the title of the 1982 TV movie that bridged 'The Family' sketches and Mama's Family?

Eunice follows Mama's daughter over the decades and ends just after Mama's funeral, so the sitcom that followed had to bring its title character back from the dead.

Mama is a member, and sometime president, of which women's group on Mama's Family?

The Church Ladies League gives Mama some of her fiercest fights: when she stands for re-election as president, the minister's wife, Alberta Meechum, puts Iola up to run against her.

Before Mama's Family, Ken Berry starred as accident-prone Captain Parmenter in which 1960s western spoof?

F Troop made Ken Berry a star as the bumbling Captain Parmenter; a trained dancer, he worked out many of the captain's pratfalls himself.

Dorothy Lyman, who played Naomi, won two Daytime Emmys in the early 1980s for which soap opera?

All My Children cast her as Opal Gardner, and she kept the role when Mama's Family began, flying between New York and Los Angeles every week; she called the soap 'All My Paychecks'.

After Mama's Family, Dorothy Lyman went behind the camera and directed 75 episodes of which sitcom?

The Nanny took on Dorothy Lyman as a producer-director; directing was no whim, as she had been staging plays for years before television gave her a director's chair.

On the sitcom Major Dad, Beverly Archer went from prim neighbour Iola to playing which character?

A gunnery sergeant: 'Gunny' Bricker was created for Archer by Mama's Family producer Rick Hawkins when Major Dad was retooled for its second season.

Which song gave Vicki Lawrence a US number-one single in 1973?

'The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia' was written by her then-husband Bobby Russell, who disliked it; Cher was offered it first, but Sonny Bono turned it down for fear of offending Southern fans.

How did Vicki Lawrence first come to Carol Burnett's attention?

A fan letter noting their resemblance reached Burnett with a clipping about the Miss Fireball contest; she turned up to watch, crowned Lawrence the winner and later cast her as her TV sister.

Which Disney Channel sitcom cast Vicki Lawrence as the heroine's Tennessee grandmother, Mamaw?

On Hannah Montana, Mamaw arrives from Tennessee to nag her son Robby Ray, and settles a 30-year feud with Aunt Dolly, played by Dolly Parton, that began over Elvis Presley.

Which celebrity designer shared a 1984 Emmy for Mama's Family's costumes?

Bob Mackie, the 'Sultan of Sequins' behind Cher's gowns, also designed Mama's floral dresses, a look carried over from the sketches; he shared the Emmy with costumer Ret Turner.

What does Mama often unwind with at home on Mama's Family?

A can of beer is Mama's regular comfort, Bible Belt principles and all; she is far stricter with her grandson, who gets a ferocious punishment for coming home drunk.

At which supermarket does Naomi work as a checker on Mama's Family?

Food Circus employs Naomi at the checkout; after Mama causes a ruckus in the store, the manager gives her a job too, as a customer consultant stationed beside Naomi's till.

What happens in Mama's Family's final episode?

Naomi gives birth to a daughter, Tiffany Thelma, named for the mother-in-law who never approved of her.

Which daytime game show did Vicki Lawrence host while still playing Mama?

Win, Lose or Draw, a sketch-the-clue game, grew out of game nights in Burt Reynolds's living room; Lawrence fronted the daytime network version in the late 1980s.

What is neighbour Iola Boylen forever pressing on Mama's family as gifts?

Homemade craft cozies are Iola's trademark; Mama once tried to sell a pile of them at a yard sale to pay for a VCR, only for Iola to come home early and catch her.

Which future Star Trek actor was Ken Berry's Army sergeant and urged the Mama's Family star to try Hollywood?

Leonard Nimoy went further than advice: he wired talent agencies and studio talent departments on Berry's behalf, and Universal signed the young dancer as a contract player.