Talk:Mama's Family/Archive 1

In the South?
I remember in one episode when Bubba was studying the civil war for school & he said: "Grandma, it says here that southern women actually fought in the civil war!" Mama replies sarcastically: "Bubba, I was too busy loading muskets to notice, to tell you the truth Bubba." That means that the town is in the South, because he called her a "southern" lady & Mama has stated that she was born & bred in Raytown.

Missouri was in a peculiar spot during the Civil War. It was not a state in the Confederacy, but it allowed slavery before the Civil War, and provided troops to both sides during the Civil War. Her statement doesn't prove or disprove that she grew up in Raytown Missouri.

Location of Raytown
who keeps putting the word proactive in their for mama. that word does not describe her at all. leave that word out of it or else I will keep erasing it. It doesn't make sense and it doesn't describe her personaltiy at all. proactive means doing thigns to prevent something beforehand. Mama never did that consistently in every episode to call her personality that so knock it off

I seem to remember that one episode had a casual reference to Lee's Summit. It seems like the dialog was something like "going all the way to Lee's Summit", implying that Lee's Summit is nearby, but inconvenient. Lee's Summit, Missouri is actually about 10 miles southeast of Raytown, Missouri. If the reference that I remember is correct, it gives further credence to the fact that the show was intended to be based in Raytown, Missouri. Can anybody that has a DVD or video tape of the series find that reference? If it's true like I remember it, I think it should be mentioned in the article. (Being a former resident of Raytown and a current resident of Lee's Summit, it is more than a passing interest of mine to set the record straight.) Joe 18:18, 30 September 2005 (UTC) if you remember the episode where mama gets the yellow nova the plates are shown on the car and they are missouri plates.so this just proving the point more that it is raytown,mo.they were the old ones that were red with white numbers and letters.

I just removed where someone said the show takes place in "Raytown, Louisiana." I don't ever recall the show or anyone involved with it saying that it takes place in Louisiana. As others have said, it is more likely to be Raytown, Missouri. However, I have not heard of nor read anything definitive from anyone involved with the show confirming that. I think we'd still have to just consider it to be mere speculation at this point, which is why I left the vague reference about it being "generally presumed to be somewhere in the American South or Midwest." I think most people can agree on that. 68.93.177.36 (talk) 01:11, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

Iola's Mother
I know they never showed her during the syndicated seasons but I think I remember on the episode where Thelma learns to drive ,when she drives by herself to get a hat that was about to be sold she passes by an old lady that was taking out the trash, checking her mail or something like that and Thelma said something to her, I don't remember exactly what it was except I think she called her Mrs. Boylan. Maybe it was a just a coincidence or maybe I misheard her but I just wanted mention it.Tony 03:23, 19 August 2006 (UTC)

I know exactly what you're talking about. One would assume even though we hadn't been introduced to Iola Boyland yet, that that was Iola's mother. Who else could she have been. Apparently she lived on the same street as Mama and she was older too. That must have been Iola's heavyset mother. Although she wasn't that heavyset, maybe she got that way as the show went on even though we never saw her again. One of those TV mysteries I guess. Tonetare 17:16, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

P.S. It's always good to sign your name to wikipedia. you can do this by writing down for of these together after your sentences ( ~ ~ ~ ~ ). Make sure there are no spaces inbetween and leave out the apostraphes. Tonetare 17:17, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

WHAT DOESN'T BELONG
DtownG, stop adding the word proactive under Mama's description


 * No, because if you watched the show you'd know that the term proactive describes the Thelma character. Unless you can come up with a valid reason why it SHOULDN'T be there, stop editing it out. — DtownG 23:17, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

While I think proactive is a unique word, it has no bearing on the mama's family character. What really should be going on here is you giving reasons to support why you believe it should stay on the page and not be removed. Because frankly, my valid reason is that mama didn't act this way constantly thusly you cannot label her as proactive. She was constantly preparing beforehand to prevent thing from happening. That doesn't make sense. What show are you thinking of? Thelma Harper is a woman known for her sarcastic remarks and quick comebacks.


 * I'm really not interested in getting into a long conversation about this, but really I'd have to ask you what show you were watching to not see that Mama was *always* pro-active. For example: When she was mugged, she took self defense classes and later beat her attacker...when a shady car salesmen tried to rip her old, she settled the score...when Vint was accused of being the courteous crook, she sought to clear his name...when the family was being conned by the phony channeler, she exposed her.

Etc., Etc.

Pro-active describes Mama's personality from the first season all the way to the last, which is why it stays. — DtownG 12:19, 30 July 2006 (UTC) When does the show take place? Does anyone have any specific time reference? I do if it helps anyone.

talk to me DtownG. What do you think of foxy? I mean, I want to here your arguments dude. I think you're a cool guy who has an interest for words like me and we can argue like logical human beings here

Oh, I know what you're thinking of. Honey, proactive just means planning beforehand to handle a circumstance in the future. This would mean showing pictures of mama probably thinking and getting a detailed idea for circumstances that may happen. For instance, "Vinton, I enjoyed meeting your boss. He seems like a nice man but in case you get fired lets make up away that he won't be able to get away with it." It just means planning for a future circumstance. What you're thinking of is a different word and I agree with you by the way. But DtownG, don't you think perhaps "foxy" or "artful" which means skillful in accomplishing a goal, by cunning or craft makes more since there. Now that I think of it mama was foxy and cunning like you're implying because I remember her always figuring out loopholes in order to get away with things. But that falls under the category of slick, foxy, artful, etc.

talk to me DtownG. What do you think of foxy? I mean, I want to here your arguments dude. I think you're a cool guy who has an interest for words like me and we can argue like logical human beings here


 * "Foxy" can be taken too many different ways. Generally when people think of the term foxy, it would describe someone who is vampy -- like Naomi.  "Slick" sounds a bit silly for a character on this type of a sitcom.  And "artful" is too dramatic.  If you're that dead set against "Proactive," then some workable substitutes would be: aggressive, ardent, energetic, fired up, bustling, take-charge.   — DtownG 1:43, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Wow, you are a bossy fellow, aren't you? How old are you? Anyway, I agree with you with regards to foxy. I think of foxy as attractive female. You're absolutely right. I don't know what you're talking about slick sounding to silly and artful sounding to dramatic. And now you're bring up entirely different words that aren't emphasizing your point. I thought you wanted a word that emphasized the way mama was cunning and always managed a way to come up with loopholes and be clever. Now you're going into all these other words that aren't really good to describe her. Aggressive has a negative meaning of someone who attacks other people a lot. Ardent means showing strong passion for something. Energetic means having lots of energy. You only said one word that I loved for mama and that was take-charge. Showing characteristics of management and leadership. That can be described as mama. good word excluding that other garbage.


 * Look, I simply used a thesaurus to come up with synonyms of "Proactive" and those were results that were returned. Was humoring you, since for some odd reason you seemed to hell bent on eradicating that one little word.  Far as I'm concerned it doesn't need to be changed at all.  Tonight wasn't the first time you edited out that word from the article, but I'm not the only one who has reverted your edits.  And as for me being "bossy," and you asking my age...eh...I have a bit of a hard time taking such a critique and inquiry from someone who is posting under a random I.P. number, who leaves unsigned comments, seriously.  My age isn't of any concern to you, and I'm not the one who created this section TELLING another Wikipedian to "stop" editing an article because I didn't agree with a term used.  This conversation is over.  — DtownG 2:19, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

DtownG, I'm not going to get anywhere with you. You're too stubborn. You like proactive so darn much, I have chosen to be proactive and tell on your behind rather than waste another tenth second of my very precious time. By the way, I will sit on this computer and keep editing out that word till' the end of time if I have to. And as for your thesaurus, no wonder you keep throwing proactive in there. Those are all the wrong synonyms of proactive. I thought the reason you kept editing proactive back in was because you were confused about what show you were watching, but now I see that it is just a lack of intelligence do to reading some erroneous thesaurus that you yourself probably made up. Any idiot knows ardent is not a synonym of proactive. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 65.31.100.211 (talk • contribs).

It is important to keep a cool head, especially when responding to comments against you or your edits. Personal attacks and disruptive comments only escalate a situation; please keep calm and remember that action can be taken against other parties if necessary. Attacking another user back can only satisfy trolls or anger contributors and leads to general bad feeling. Please try to remain civil with your comments. Thanks! Viridae Talk 09:26, 30 July 2006 (UTC)


 * This has got to be one of the most ridiculous edit wars ever. Well, maybe.  See Lamest edit wars.  =)  None of the examples DtownG mentioned exemplify proactivity.  They are all reactive.  There's a big difference.  I'll readily agree that Mama is aggressive, take-charge, and fired up.  But "proactive" needs more evidence than her reacting to certain events.  All that said, however, STOP EDIT WARRING over this.  It can only result in blocks and bad feelings all around.  We can discuss this like adults, can't we?  Powers 15:30, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Thank you Powers. I think you were a good neutral in this whole thing. Yes, our argument was lame and for a very lame reason but the lesson in all this the point that really came out and that we can all learn from is that I was right and DtownG was wrong. But seriously, I agree powers with those words you mentioned. But as he said, he didn't even really mean it when he said those words. He was bent on using proactive. I just wish you had come here sooner. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 65.31.100.211 (talk • contribs).
 * Do not put words in my mouth. You were not right at all.  In fact, you were BOTH wrong because you BOTH engaged in a ridiculous edit war.  It did no harm to Wikipedia to leave one version or the other in there while you hash out the issue here on the talk page.  Maybe file an Article RfC, or ask for a third opinion.  What does harm Wikipedia is pointless edit wars.  Powers 01:26, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Please respond more appropriately powers and don't try to create bad feelings with people 21:04, August 3, 2006 —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 65.31.100.211 (talk • contribs).

DtownG, you have refused to stop putting that word in even after the discussion we've had and now I am taking further action against you. Bye! 21:07, August 3, 2006 —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 65.31.100.211 (talk • contribs).

I don't think this argument was necessary either. The word proactive does not belong in the article and please be more civil with each other. Powers, stop trying to escalate the situation. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Tonetare (talk • contribs).
 * This is ridiculous. I wasn't trying to escalate the situation.  I'm telling both parties that edit wars are bad.  65. tried to claim victory based on my statement, and that was entirely inappropriate.  Powers 12:33, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

Fair enough. Tonetare (talk • contribs).

When does Mama's Family Take Place
The time line needs to be in the show. The show makes suddle points of refernce but never really does make one specific refernce of time. I think this should be on the page. I need input from you guys in order to make this right. Vtec6k 22:14, 22 August 2006 (UTC)vtec6k

Mama's Family is meant to take place in the 80s. There was color TVs, their were rolling dial phones but Mama says 'we need a touch dial' and touch dials came out in the 80s. There is also a joke on Mama's Family where Bubba says, "Cousin tooty died?" and mama shrieks "It's Ludy!. Tooty was from the facts of life ya nincompoop." And The Facts of Life was on television in the 80s. There even using typewriters which were mainly used in the 80s unless you were rich enough to own a computer. The only thing that would lead me to believe this show may have been at a different is Mama's old-fashioned shoes but again, that's probably because she is an old woman and old-fashioned. Maleman19 16:12, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

I have an exact date reference if you would like to know. In episode number 126 in the sixth season aired Thursday February 1, 1990 Mama has a tv guide. Now that one tv guide is red and says on the cover in big white letters "IS TV SEX GETTING BOLDER?". I looked it up in the tv guide archive and traced that particular issue to August 8, 1987. So I was getting at the exact date of the shows beginnings in which you are correct. Being that the show ran for seven years you are whole heartedly correct. Also I would like to add that Bubba owned a computer later in the show as he commented on it when he lost all of his files when the power when out because Mama refused to pay the electric company becuase of a glitch. I was only trying to lobby for someone to insert a colomn for when the show takes place being that the show only makes suddle hints but never really gave the veiwers an exact one. If you need the link to that tv guide cover let me know and I will give it to you. 13:00, 30 August 2006 (UTC)Vtec6k

Hey it's me, maleman19. Thank you for responding and yes, that would be interesting to see —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 65.31.100.170 (talk • contribs).

Maleman19... if you let me know your e-mail address I can send a picture of that TvGuide issue from www.tvguide.com--Vtec6k 16:40, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Basis of Show
What's the authority for this statement: "The Family was roughly based on Burnett's childhood." From everything I've read and heard about Carol Burnett's childhood, it bore absolutely no relation to the premise of "The Family." —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 4.232.186.93 (talk • contribs).


 * I concur. Burnett grew up with her grandmother and sister in a one-room apartment in a decaying apartment building in Hollywood. The series bears absolutely no resemblance to the reality of her life. SFTVLGUY2 15:01, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

In the recent, excellent, PBS American Masters episode on Carol Burnett, Carol herself, mentions that Mama's Family IS loosely based on her early life. She went on to cite an poignant example. While still a young woman living with her grandmother in California, she had begged for motnths for permission to be able to go to New York to further her career. Her grandmother was resistant to the idea and went to the extent of telling Carol's young sister, Crissy, that it was all a pipe dream. Crissy, having no idea what the term pipe dream meant, went to Carol and asked her: "what's a pipe dream?" If that's not a scene out of Mama's Family, I don't know what is. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Vermont57 (talk • contribs) 20:50, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Mama's Family userbox
For anyone out there who's a fan of the show (like me!), I just made a new Mama's Family userbox that you can put on your userpage: --CrazyLegsKC 09:41, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

Family Tree
Just looking at the page for the 1st time and noticed that Roy Harper isn't included in the family tree. What's up with that? The episode in which Roy, Carl Harper's long lost brother, appears is even included in the episode guide. Any reason why he's not in the family tree? Taterapple 08:52, 26 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Thelma also mentioned having an older brother, Clyde. He should be added to the family tree as well. —The Real One Returns 04:42, 28 January 2007 (UTC)
 * I made the family tree, and I only included the most important characters - ones that actually appeared regularly or semi-regularly in the series, or were mentioned often enough to be important (such as Carl). There were many members of the Harper's extended family mentioned throughout the series, and trying to add all of them would be very difficult and not very useful, since the point of the family tree is mostly to show the relationships between the series regulars.  Adding one-time characters or characters mentioned only is passing would be too fancrufty for an encyclopedia article.  --CrazyLegsKC 22:26, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

In the family tree Carl is listed as having an unnamed brother who is married to Aunt Effie. However, in the list of minor characters below the tree Effie is listed as Carl's sister. Since the show never said how exactly she was Thelma's sister-in-law, does someone want to correct the family tree and remove this entry? Since you did not want to include Roy even though he appeared on the show Aunt Effie should not be included either. Bsf436 (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 17:36, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

Aunt Fran
Aunt Fran died by choking on a toothpick, not a fish bone. However, the reason she choked on it was because Thelma surprised her by bursting into the ladies' room with a catfish tail stuck between her own teeth (which she did as a joke). Just wanted to clear up any confusion. --CrazyLegsKC 03:57, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Bigger Jigger
There is (or was) an actual bar in Kansas City called the "Bigger Jigger." It is on the NW corner of St. John Avenue and Belmont (north of Independence Avenue). While not in Raytown, it is not that far away and could be the bar where Aunt Fran met her end.

Memorable characters section
I removed the section listing "memorable" one-time characters. Whether someone or something is memorable is very POV, which isn't acceptable in Wikipedia. --CrazyLegsKC 03:09, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

The harper family tree
Shouldn't we add vintons first wife mitzi to it? i mean the family tree makes it look like vinton had sonya and buzz by him self somehow, and shouldn't we also add mama's mother even though her name was never revealed we do know what her mother looked like so she is not exactly unknown-hotspot

Vinton's wife is Naiomi not Mitzi. RuneWiki       777   22:47, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

Mitzi is vintons firs wife, and naomi is his second, hotspot is saying that maybe we should add his first wife to the family tree also. naomi is vintons current wife.- ip

Syndicated on CBS?
After reading the first paragraph, I was a bit confused by one statement. After the show was on NBC, it went into syndication, it wasn't aired on CBS. Looking at the reference, I can sort of see why someone was confused by that. I'm guessing that CBS bought the rights after NBC dropped the show and then sold it into syndication. I have no idea if that's correct, but I'm fairly certain the show was never aired on CBS. If anyone has a reference (aside from the one provided) that clearly says that it aired on CBS, please re-add the info. Pinkadelica 06:50, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Criticism section?
How about a section on criticism of the show at the time? Something that generalizes the newspapers' comments? All I know is, when I look at this show now, it's just about the corniest thing on television. Can we get anything like that? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.255.86.220 (talk) 18:21, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

Mama's original children
If it matters: in the main article, it mentions Mama having four kids on the Carol Burnett Show. This is wrong. She had five: Eunice, Phillip (Roddy McDowall*), Larry (Alan Alda), (Mary) Ellen (Betty White) and Jack (played by Tommy Smothers.) This is evidenced on "The Family" page of Wikipedia. Jack, like Larry, only appears in one episode. In Jack's case, he is visited by Ed, Eunice and Mama when he is in the hospital awaiting an operation.

Also, the article says Phillip calls on the phone in one episode and is played by Roddy McDowall in another. This is partially incorrect. Roddy McDowall played Phillip in the very first "Family" sketch, but also later reprised his role when Ed, Eunice and Mama went to visit him in Hollywood (so he played Phillip twice.) *Moreover, Phillip makes another appearance in the EUNICE TV special in 1982. Here, however, he is played by Ken Berry (who, of course, went on to play Vinton, who is thus far, absent from the Harper Family.)

Syndicated rights
Are you joking Mama's Family was produced by LORIMAR-Telepictures a company purchased by parent Time Warner in 1989 so technically they own rights to the original matsers but as for the 1983-1984 they only own syndication rights to those because LT started their distribution in 1986