''Mama Malone'' is an American sitcom that aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

from March 7, 1984, to July 21, 1984, and featured

Lila Kaye Lila Kaye (7 November 1929 – 10 January 2012) was an English actress. She spent a number of years working in the United States, on Broadway and in television, before returning to England. Born in Middlesbrough, North Riding of Yorkshire, sh ...

in the title role.

Premise

The series' main character was Renate Malone (surname rhymed with "baloney"), an Italian-American woman married to an Irish-American man (never seen in the series), thus the unusual pronunciation of her married name. She was the hostess of a home cooking show called ''Cooking with Mama Malone'' that was telecast live from her fourth-floor apartment in a

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

tenement. Each episode began with her instructing her viewers to chop onions no matter what the recipe might be, and the recipes never were completed because a parade of characters kept popping in to interrupt her and eat up the show's time. Initially, the show was scheduled to premiere in the fall of 1982, but was pushed back a season and a half. The series was reminiscent of another ethnically-based series, '' The Goldbergs'', the radio and TV show written by and starring

Gertrude Berg Gertrude Berg (Born Tillie Edelstein; October 3, 1899 – September 14, 1966) was an American actress, screenwriter, and producer. A pioneer of classic radio, she was one of the first women to create, write, produce, and star in a long-running h ...

as a New York City resident of European Jewish descent that played on ethno-religious neighborhoods populated by immigrant groups. Among the good-natured stereotypes on ''Mama Malaone'' was Padre Guradiano, an Italian-American Catholic priest who wound up gasping for breath each time he climbed the steep stairs to her apartment.

Cast

as Renate Malone *

Randee Heller Randee Heller (born Randee Antzis; June 10, 1947) is an American television and film actress known for playing Alice in the 1970s sitcom ''Soap (TV series), Soap'' – one of television's first lesbian characters – as well as for portraying Li ...

as Connie Malone Karamkopoulos *Evan Richards as Frankie Karamkopoulos *

Don Amendolia Don Amendolia (born February 1, 1945 in Glassboro, New Jersey) is an American actor. Career He played Big Al Kennedy in NBC's soap opera '' Sunset Beach'', had a recurring role on ''Twin Peaks'', and appeared in one episode of ''Cheers''. Am ...

as Dino Forresti *Raymond Singer as Austin *

Ralph Manza Ralph Manza (December 1, 1921 – January 31, 2000) was an American character actor who made over 160 appearances in American film and television shows. Career A pre-med student at UC-Berkeley in the early 1940s, Manza was drafted into the Unit ...

as Padre Guardiano *

Sam Anderson Sam Anderson (born April 2, 1947) is an American actor. He is best known for his character roles such as Sam Gorpley on '' Perfect Strangers'', Holland Manners on ''Angel'', dentist Bernard Nadler on ''Lost'' and in film, as the principal in ''F ...

as Stanley

US television ratings

Note: The rating presented here comes from the TV ratings guide website and may not be completely accurate.

Episodes

Reception

''Mama Malone'' was poorly received critically and by audiences, owing to the characters drawing accusations of being stereotypical and Kaye, who was British, actually being miscast as an Italian-American. The show had premiered in the spring of 1984, but it lasted for no longer than thirteen episodes, whose titles are given above, and was canceled in the summer of 1984 due to low ratings.

References

External links

* 1984 American television series debuts 1984 American television series endings CBS original programming English-language television shows 1980s American sitcoms Television shows set in New York City Television series by Sony Pictures Television {{US-comedy-tv-prog-stub