Mama's Family

Mama's Family

Mama's Family is an American television sitcom, spun off from a recurring series of comedy sketches on The Carol Burnett Show, called The Family, which lasted from 1974 to 1978. Mama's Family also has roots in the 1982 made-for-TV movie, titled after Mama's daughter, Eunice (played by Carol Burnett). Mama's Family premiered on NBC on January 22, 1983. It was cancelled in May 1984, after one and a half seasons (despite good ratings, NBC seemed to disfavor the series, repeatedly switching up its timeslot, and not giving it much of a chance ), but NBC would continue to air reruns until September 1985.

In September 1986, Mama's Family returned in first-run syndication, after a group of young media individuals realized it wasn't given much of a chance, and that it was a show that did relatively well in ratings on the NBC network, at least when it wasn't being switched into new timeslots repeatedly. Burnett did not appear in the first-run syndication version of the show, likely due to her acrimonious 1984 divorce from Carol Burnett Show and Mama's Family producer, Joe Hamilton, who owned all the Mama's Family characters. Mama's Family would air for an additional four seasons, ending with a series finale on February 24, 1990. It is surmised that the show could have gone on longer, but didn't due to Joe Hamilton falling ill to cancer, of which he died of in 1991 at the age of 62. Though according to Ken Berry (who played Mama's son, Vinton Harper), Vicki Lawrence wanted the show to end and had gotten tired of playing the "Mama" role. In 1993, it was stated on the Mama's Family reunion, on the short-lived Vicki talk show, that Mama's Family was the number 1 sitcom in syndication for its entire four-year run in first-run syndication.