Mama's Family
   HOME
*



picture info

Mama's Family
''Mama's Family'' is an American sitcom television series starring Vicki Lawrence as Thelma Harper, Mama (Thelma Harper). The series is a Spin-off (media), spin-off of a recurring series of sketch comedy, comedy sketches called "The Family (sketch), The Family" featured on ''The Carol Burnett Show'' (1967–78) and ''Carol Burnett & Company'' (1979). The sketches led to the television film ''Eunice (film), Eunice'', and finally the television series. ''Mama's Family'' aired on NBC, debuting on January 22, 1983. After several timeslot changes and a subsequent drop in ratings, the network Cancellation (television), canceled the series; the final episode of this two-season NBC incarnation of the series aired on April 7, 1984. NBC broadcast reruns until September 1985, which unexpectedly performed well in ratings. Two years after its cancellation, original series producer Joe Hamilton Productions (JHP) revived ''Mama's Family'' for new episodes in broadcast syndication, first-run syn ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Situation Comedy
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use new characters in each sketch, and stand-up comedy, where a comedian tells jokes and stories to an audience. Sitcoms originated in radio, but today are found mostly on television as one of its dominant narrative forms. A situation comedy television program may be recorded in front of a studio audience, depending on the program's production format. The effect of a live studio audience can be imitated or enhanced by the use of a laugh track. Critics disagree over the utility of the term "sitcom" in classifying shows that have come into existence since the turn of the century. Many contemporary American sitcoms use the single-camera setup and do not feature a laugh track, thus often resembling the dramedy shows of the 1980s and 1990s rather t ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Metromedia Square
Metromedia Square (later known as Fox Television Center from 1986 to 1996) was a radio and television studio facility located at 5746 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California on the southeastern corner of Sunset and Van Ness Avenue in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. For decades, it was recognizable by the white, ladder-like snake on the building's roof. This work of art was called "Starsteps" and was dismantled when ownership of the building changed hands in 2000. It was one of the Los Angeles landmarks that had previous landmark status in the late 20th century. Landmark status Metromedia Square was one of the Los Angeles landmarks that had previous landmark status in the late 20th century, until demolition in the first couple of years in the 21st century; 14 years before the demolition of the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, another last Los Angeles landmark demolished to make way for the Banc of California Stadium in 2016. The lattice steel, truss-like sculptu ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

The Family (sketch)
"The Family" is a series of comedy sketches featured on ''The Carol Burnett Show'', with one and final installment airing on ''Carol Burnett & Company''. ''The Carol Burnett Show'' introduced the skit starting in the 1973-1974 season. Overall, it would air new installments of the skit for the last five seasons of its total 11-season run; the skit aired between the 1973-1974 season to the 1977-1978 season on the show. However, the final installment of "The Family" would not air until September 8, 1979 on an entirely different four-week summer series entitled ''Carol Burnett & Company''. This was the only installment of "The Family" that did not air on ''The Carol Burnett Show'', which had completed its run almost a year and a half earlier on March 29, 1978. Altogether, there were 31 installments of "The Family" sketches. Not only was "The Family" well received to become a recurring skit on ''The Carol Burnett Show'', but its success saw it developed into a 1982 made-for-TV movie cal ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Sketch Comedy
Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is used widely in variety shows, comedy talk shows, and some sitcoms and children's television series. The sketches may be improvised live by the performers, developed through improvisation before public performance, or scripted and rehearsed in advance like a play. Sketch comedians routinely differentiate their work from a "skit", maintaining that a skit is a (single) dramatized joke (or "bit") while a sketch is a comedic exploration of a concept, character, or situation.Sketch
definition 3b, Merriam-Webster online. Retrieved 5/4/2019


History

Sketch comedy has its origins in

picture info

Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off (or spinoff) is a radio program, television program, film, video game or any narrative work, derived from already existing works that focus on more details and different aspects from the original work (e.g. particular topics, characters or events). One of the earliest spin-offs of the modern media era, if not the first, happened in 1941 when the supporting character Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve from the old time radio comedy show ''Fibber McGee and Molly'' became the star of his own program ''The Great Gildersleeve'' (1941–1957). In genre fiction, the term parallels its usage in television; it is usually meant to indicate a substantial ''change in narrative viewpoint and activity'' from that (previous) storyline based on the activities of the series' principal protagonist and so is a shift to that action and overall narrative thread of some other protagonist, which now becomes the central or main thread (storyline) of the new sub-series. The ''new protagoni ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Thelma Harper
Thelma Mae Harper (nee Crowley), better known as Mama, is a fictional character played by American actress Vicki Lawrence. Mama is a purse-lipped, thickset senior citizen in her mid-to-late 60s. She has lived in an unspecified part of the Southern United States called "Raytown" for her entire life, evident from the southern drawl of her speech and customs. Mama is an exaggerated version of a prototypical middle twentieth century lower middle class grandmother in the United States South. The character was originally created for Carol Burnett, however, Burnett preferred to play Mama's daughter Eunice Harper Higgins, resulting in Mama as Lawrence's claim to fame. The Mama character first appeared in " The Family" sketches on ''The Carol Burnett Show'' (1974–1978) and ''Carol Burnett & Company'' (1979); followed by ''Eunice'' (a 1982 made-for-TV movie expanding on "The Family" sketches); then peaking as lead character on ''Mama's Family'' (first on NBC 1983–84, then revolutionized ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use new characters in each sketch, and stand-up comedy, where a comedian tells jokes and stories to an audience. Sitcoms originated in radio, but today are found mostly on television as one of its dominant narrative forms. A situation comedy television program may be recorded in front of a studio audience, depending on the program's production format. The effect of a live studio audience can be imitated or enhanced by the use of a laugh track. Critics disagree over the utility of the term "sitcom" in classifying shows that have come into existence since the turn of the century. Many contemporary American sitcoms use the single-camera setup and do not feature a laugh track, thus often resembling the dramedy shows of the 1980s and 1990s rather t ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Eunice (film)
''Eunice'' is a 1982 American made-for-television comedy-drama film starring Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Ken Berry and Betty White which is based on characters of a recurring series of comedy sketches called " The Family" featured on ''The Carol Burnett Show'' (1974–78) and ''Carol Burnett & Company'' (1979). The film was broadcast as a "CBS Special Presentation" on March 15, 1982 and served as a precursor to the spin-off television sitcom ''Mama's Family''. It was directed by Roger Beatty and Harvey Korman. Plot ''Eunice'' is divided into four acts, spanning 23 years in the life of Eunice Harper Higgins: 1955: A young Eunice Harper is looking forward to going to a party with her date Ed Higgins. Eunice's brother Phillip, a recent college graduate, comes home and announces that he has a chance to go to New York City in hopes of becoming a writer and must leave that day. In the meantime, their mother Thelma Harper is frantic about Phillip going so spontaneously ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Stereophonic Sound
Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration of two loudspeakers (or stereo headphones) in such a way as to create the impression of sound heard from various directions, as in natural hearing. Because the multi-dimensional perspective is the crucial aspect, the term ''stereophonic'' also applies to systems with more than two channels or speakers such as quadraphonic and surround sound. Binaural recording, Binaural sound systems are also ''stereophonic''. Stereo sound has been in common use since the 1970s in entertainment media such as broadcast radio, recorded music, television, video cameras, cinema, computer audio, and internet. Etymology The word ''stereophonic'' derives from the Greek language, Greek (''stereós'', "firm, solid") + (''phōnḗ'', "sound, tone, voice") and i ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Monaural
Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction (often shortened to mono) is sound intended to be heard as if it were emanating from one position. This contrasts with stereophonic sound or ''stereo'', which uses two separate audio channels to reproduce sound from two microphones on the right and left side, which is reproduced with two separate loudspeakers to give a sense of the direction of sound sources. In mono, only one loudspeaker is necessary, but, when played through multiple loudspeakers or headphones, identical signals are fed to each speaker, resulting in the perception of one-channel sound "imaging" in one sonic space between the speakers (provided that the speakers are set up in a proper symmetrical critical-listening placement). Monaural recordings, like stereo ones, typically use multiple microphones fed into multiple channels on a recording console, but each channel is " panned" to the center. In the final stage, the various center-panned signal paths are usually mixed d ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Broadcast Syndication
Broadcast syndication is the practice of leasing the right to broadcasting television shows and radio programs to multiple television stations and radio stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in the United States where broadcast programming is scheduled by television networks with local independent affiliates. Syndication is less widespread in the rest of the world, as most countries have centralized networks or television stations without local affiliates. Shows can be syndicated internationally, although this is less common. Three common types of syndication are: ''first-run'' syndication, which is programming that is broadcast for the first time as a syndicated show and is made specifically to sell directly into syndication; ''off-network'' syndication (colloquially called a "rerun"), which is the licensing of a program whose first airing was on network TV or in some cases, first-run syndication;Campbell, Richard, Christopher R. Martin, and Bettina ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Warner Bros
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Founded in 1923 by four brothers, Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner, the company established itself as a leader in the American film industry before diversifying into animation, television, and video games and is one of the "Big Five" major American film studios, as well as a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA). The company is known for its film studio division the Warner Bros. Pictures Group, which includes Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema, the Warner Animation Group, Castle Rock Entertainment, and DC Studios. Among its other assets, stands the television production company Warner Bros. Television Studios. Bugs Bunny, a cartoon character created by Tex Avery, Ben Hardaway, Chuck Jones, Bob Givens and ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]