Ellen Harper
Mama's Family is an American sitcom television series starring Vicki Lawrence as Mama (Thelma Harper). The series is a spin-off of a recurring series of comedy sketches called "The Family" featured on The Carol Burnett Show (1967–1978) and Carol Burnett & Company (1979). The sketches led to the television film Eunice, and finally the television series.
Mama's Family aired for a total of six seasons. It originally aired on NBC for two seasons, debuting for the 1982–1983 season on January 22, 1983. After several time slot changes and moderate ratings, the network cancelled the series; the final episode of this two-season NBC incarnation of the series aired on April 7, 1984. NBC broadcast reruns of the show for another year, until September 1985, which performed well in ratings.
Two years after its NBC cancellation, original series producer Joe Hamilton Productions (JHP) revived Mama's Family for new episodes in first-run syndication on local stations across the United States. The revival, distributed by Lorimar-Telepictures, premiered on September 27, 1986. The revival earned higher ratings than the previous two-year season run on NBC, thus the first-run syndicated version of the series ran for an additional four seasons giving the series a total of a six-season run. Mama's Family became the highest-rated sitcom in first-run syndication at that time. The series final episode aired on February 24, 1990.
The show's theme song is "Bless My Happy Home", created as an a cappella by Lawrence. The show's producers chose to use an instrumental of Lawrence's song composed by Peter Matz. Disclosing the lyrics to the song as part of her Vicki and Mama: A Two Woman Show (untelevised stand-up comedy routine Lawrence has hosted as herself and Mama since 2001), Lawrence routinely performs the song in its original a cappella form. The lyrics were also featured in an advertisement for the show on MeTV.
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