Who’s side were you on? This thread is based on The Family sketches, not Mama’s Family.

Eunice had a sadness about her and she was picked on mercilessly by Mama who never supported her. On the other hand, Eunice was a brat with an inflated sense of self.

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by Anonymous

reply 35

February 7, 2020 1:18 AM

My mother's family had a disturbing parallel to Mama's Family. My mom said she identifies with Eunice.

by Anonymous

reply 2

February 6, 2020 4:01 AM

They were both desperately miserable cunts, really.

by Anonymous

reply 3

February 6, 2020 4:06 AM

Of course the DL eldergheys would be on Mama's side!

by Anonymous

reply 4

February 6, 2020 4:09 AM

I hate to sound like this guy, but Eunice versus Mama was generational trauma. Mama just did to Eunice what her Mama did to her. That kind of shit repeats.

by Anonymous

reply 6

February 6, 2020 4:10 AM

Those sketches were brilliant. It’s frightening how many people know people like this, even in their own family.

by Anonymous

reply 7

February 6, 2020 4:14 AM

[at the restaurant, looking across the room at the salad bar] MAMA: You mean I gotta get up and walk all the way over there? EUNICE: You do if you want a salad.

by Anonymous

reply 8

February 6, 2020 4:17 AM

Anyone who would name her daughter "Eunice" is clearly lacking in maternal instinct.

by Anonymous

reply 9

February 6, 2020 4:19 AM

Oh, Fluffy, Fluffy, Fluffy!

MURDERERS!!!

by Anonymous

reply 11

February 6, 2020 4:21 AM

I loved those sketches on Carol Burnet as a kid, but I was always confused by Eunice’s hair and dress - what the hell year was it supposed to be?

by Anonymous

reply 12

February 6, 2020 4:21 AM

Rose, go douche your large & pungent beaver.

by Anonymous

reply 13

February 6, 2020 4:23 AM

Eunice was annoying!

R12 aren’t these small backwards towns 15-20 years behind the times?

by Anonymous

reply 14

February 6, 2020 4:24 AM

I am generally a person who appreciates the present moment....

But oh, sometimes (just sometimes) I wish I could travel....back to sitting on the game room floor, watching this live.

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by Anonymous

reply 15

February 6, 2020 4:25 AM

Vicki Lawrence was a hack and never should have had a career.

by Anonymous

reply 16

February 6, 2020 4:35 AM

I found those sketches very depressing.

by Anonymous

reply 17

February 6, 2020 4:40 AM

Teenage Eunice was spot on

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by Anonymous

reply 18

February 6, 2020 5:22 AM

I find them comforting... as I grew up around people like this.

by Anonymous

reply 19

February 6, 2020 6:49 AM

I did have some extra coupons!

I had twenty-five cents off coffee, ten cents off dog food, and I had two-for-one off toilet paper; the double ply!

There are more families in USA like "Mama's" then and now than there ever was the Brady's or Cleaver's. IMHO that is why those skits are still popular decades later.

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by Anonymous

reply 20

February 6, 2020 6:54 AM

R14

Don't know if it was mentioned in original skits, but by time "Mama's Family" became own show it was supposed to be set in "Raytown", a suburb of Kansas City,

Even late as 1980's or so even Kansas City was still a land of big hair, wash and set bouffants (or some variation), floral printed dresses, etc.... Hair styles of Mrs. Harper, Fran, Iola, etc... though look stuck in 1950's to those living on east or west coasts, fit right in.

Mrs. Harper tells (ok, criticizes) Eunice even as a young girl/teenager about that hairstyle, but Eunice will not change.

My brothers, cousins and I would crack up in fits of laughter watching Lawrence Welk Show (at grandma's house, she had control of television), looking at those women dressed in fashions that came out of Petticoat Junction or something. But that was how flyover country people dressed in 1970's and still into 1980's.

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by Anonymous

reply 21

February 6, 2020 7:09 AM

Whenever I've asked southern people where they thought this show took place, they would usually answer quite emphatically "Arkansas!"

by Anonymous

reply 22

February 6, 2020 7:13 AM

Accents for Thelma Harper, Eunice Harper, Ed Higgins and others are clearly not southern, but some sort of vague mid-western.

by Anonymous

reply 23

February 6, 2020 7:19 AM

R18 I liked little kid Eunice better.

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by Anonymous

reply 24

February 6, 2020 7:44 AM

It was mentioned in another thread that high-quality videos of The Family sketches are being uploaded on YouTube. They're endlessly entertaining to me (because they make my own family actually seem normal), and I love Eunice's fashion sense. Like her, green is my favorite clothing color.

Also on YouTube is the long-unseen full-length 'Eunice' made-for-TV film. It's become legendary in its own right, sort of like Donna Summer's final collaboration with Moroder and Bellotte that stayed in the can for many years before being finally released as 'I'm a Rainbow', and is well worth watching for even more insights into the Eunice character.

Finally, much of the Mama's Family canon was the creation of Dick Clair and Jenna McMahon. Dick Clair was gay, and he was an early victim of the AIDS epidemic.

Oh p.s. Fuck you, R16.

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by Anonymous

reply 25

February 6, 2020 11:36 AM

R12 many women like Eunice continue dressing and doing their hair in the style that was popular when they became a young woman. For Eunice, that would be the 1940s, so her look is appropriate to that era. The time warp fashion gives her even more of a sense of being pathetic and out of step and works perfectly, in my opinion.

I find Eunice more sympathetic than Mama in that she's always trying to please people and make things nice, to no avail. Her meltdowns invariably come as a result of being criticized and removed despite her best efforts, whereas Mama is just plain mean and nasty with zero redeeming qualities. That said, they are both utter nightmares to be around. I sympathize with Eunice, but in real life I would avoid her company.

by Anonymous

reply 26

February 6, 2020 1:06 PM

Also been enjoying The Family sketches that have been added to YouTube. The one with Eunice and Mama going to therapy really speaks to their relationship and how they both push each others buttons.

They're much more depressing than I remembered but still very well written. Didn't see the Eunice movie when it first aired. Looked like Carol was trying to showcase herself to try to get an MTM Ordinary People type movie role. There was certainly a big shift from this to make Mama's Family and imagine many fights for that to happen.

by Anonymous

reply 28

February 6, 2020 2:27 PM

The great thing about the Family sketches was that there were NO jokes written for it. When we laughed at something, it wasn't written as a "punchline" kind of joke.

by Anonymous

reply 29

February 6, 2020 3:53 PM

Watching the episode as a kid in the New York area they sure sounded Southern enough to me!

by Anonymous

reply 30

February 6, 2020 5:57 PM

Carol Burnett said she based Eunice on her own mother which is probably why she was never truly loathsome and always somewhat identifiable. She definitely understood the dreamer aspect of her mother and sympathized with it. They softened Mama up considerably for the series and though it was untrue to the Mama of the Family segments, it provided a decent history. Ironically, the most sympathetic character in the entire group turned out to be Naomi. Despite her jabs, Mama had the greatest affection for her because she was cheerful, loyal and very benign.

by Anonymous

reply 31

February 6, 2020 6:04 PM

I imagine Mama was a bit like Carol's grandma, though Carol loved her and that grandma raised her (and was also the person Carol was sending a message to when she pulled her ear).

by Anonymous

reply 32

February 6, 2020 6:06 PM

R29, there were jokes. I know Carol likes to say there weren’t but there were.

by Anonymous

reply 33

February 7, 2020 1:12 AM

Eunice was released on DVD.

by Anonymous

reply 34

February 7, 2020 1:13 AM

They were very dark and vicious.

by Anonymous

reply 35

February 7, 2020 1:18 AM