Mama's Family

- Season 2

(1983)

Thelma, with Vinton's help, brings down some old clothes and keepsakes from the early 1940s (when she was in her early 20s.) These are meant for a rummage sale at the school but when Buzz and Sonja see these "artifacts" they get a great idea for school dance. Thanks to Thelma telling them about how the USO in Raytown used to be at the school's gym, they decide to have a 1940s theme. Thelma gets all fired up to help out. They get voted down by other students who want a punk-rock group called Medication to perform instead. Thelma's down and out about it, but she's ...

Naomi's cheating 2nd husband, Leonard Oates returns to Raytown to try and win her back. He shows up at Food Circus (her workplace) with flowers in hand and telling her that he's rich now from breeding worms for fish bait. In the past Naomi has never been able to refuse Leonard because of his bold & charming ways. He wants her to leave Vinton (who doesn't realize what's going on yet) and re-marry him instead. She has a difficult decision to make but because of something Vinton says to her she's able to make her choice between the simple life or the rich man's wife.

Ellen (Betty White)is a member of a high brow country club that has elected her to receive a "Woman Of The Year" award. Mayor Tutwiller is the master of ceremonies and,unaware of their relationship,has invited Thelma to say a few words on her daughter's behalf. Ellen is,as always,not to pleased about this,fearing the country club members' scrutiny. Thelma starts out okay but ends up embarrassing her Daughter with stories of her childhood and basically turning her speech into a "roast".

Naomi has been feeling out of sorts and believes she may be pregnant. Vint is happy,despite having wanted to wait until they had their own home. Everyone else is up in arms about who will give up their room for the baby's nursery. When the dust settles,everyone's actually,now,happy about the future new Harper baby but...Naomi comes back from the gynecologist with the news that she's not pregnant. Everyone is now let down and maybe even feeling guilty about how selfish they had been.

Naomi, Ellen, and Eunice give their own versions of Mama's accident.

Naomi receives obscene phone calls and the whole family tries to figure out what to do about them.

Mama's oldest daughter Ellen (Betty White) is dating a young man 20 years her junior. She absolutely does not want the rest of the Harpers to meet him. Fearing their jokes and their judgment,especially Thelma's,she's able to hide him,until they all happen to wind up at the town's best restaurant at the same time.

Mama discovers that her Aunt Gert's life at a retirement home is less than desirable. Gert's nurse is unsympathetic and rude and tends to treat the residents like helpless children. Mama sees how this has changed Gert from a firecracker of woman to a turtle in a shell. With Thelma's help Gert finds herself again.

Vinton is a smash at the Bigger Jigger Bar and Grill's "Amateur Night" with his dancing tribute to Fred Astaire. (Ken Berry is fluent in song and dance by the way). He's asked to come back and perform again and between the two gigs, gets too much advice, an overgrown ego and even buys a sequined jump suit. This looks like a job for Mama to get Vint back to reality.

Vint and Naomi decide to give a dinner party for their friends. However, minutes before the guests are due on the night of the party, Mama throws out her back and is unable to get up off the floor before they arrive.

Every member of the family is fed up with having to drive Thelma everywhere. Each one takes turns trying to teach 63 year old Thelma to drive. The results of each effort are worse than the last and Thelma's ready to call it quits! That is,until she gets a call from a hat shop saying if she doesn't get there by 12pm,they'll sell it to someone else. She eyes Fran's (Rue McLanahan)car keys and gets in her car outside. Will she make it and finally try to get her license? (In the outside shot we see Iola's mother Mrs. Boylen for the only time in the series).

Thelma gets her purse snatched at a bus stop in broad daylight,which at first shakes her up badly enough to not want to report it. After the initial shock wears off though,she's boiling mad and calls the police and then takes a self-defense/karate course with Naomi,Fran & Sonja. Will Mama get even or will the bad guy get away?

Even though Thelma went the distance to get her drivers license,she still is at the mercy of having to borrow family members' cars. She lets Fran know that she has some "mad money" saved up and is going to buy herself a car. She finds a dealer,who turns out to be one of the former neighborhood kids that she used to give cookies to. He has unfortunately has grown up into a sleazy used car dealer and does not hesitate to sell her a true "lemon" and take her money! ...but just watch how Mama "switches gears' on him!

While shopping for the family at Food Circus,Thelma gets into a "tiff" with cashier Naomi. Mama feels she knows more about the store since she's been shopping there for nearly 40 years,even so far as to give other customers advice and basically making Naomi look foolish. The manager of the store hires Mama and places her in a booth where people can "Ask Thelma" for shopping advice. Right next to Naomi's express register! She does so well,the manager then goes too far and gives Naomi's spot to Thelma. Mama's got a surprise in store for her for thinking she knows it all...

To celebrate their first anniversary, Vint and Naomi plan a honeymoon weekend at a fancy motel. But they don't count on Mama's barging in them after having had a fight with Aunt Effie -- and having nowhere else to stay.

This part 1 of,one of the funniest episodes of the NBC run. Thelma and others are becoming fed-up with the way Tutwiller is doing very little as the Mayor of Raytown. Her daughter Ellen is dating him and wants Mama to keep her opinions to herself. Things come to a hilarious finish at the end of this part when Thelma,who has stated she couldn't do much worse,is asked by a reporter on her front lawn,"Are you running for Mayor Mrs. Harper". Ellen buts in saying she's not but Thelma not liking being spoken for says,"The h*** I'm not,into the camera.

In part 2,Thelma has successfully unseated Mayor Tutwiller from office. Altough she starts off okay,she soon discovers there's more to being Mayor than she thought. Her attempts at holding meetings are hilarious! She realizes she's not as qualified as she thought herself to be and soon almost the whole town is against her. Mama has to swallow her pride and admit she's failed but how can she undo this fiasco? Surprsingly,daughter Ellen has the answer!

Naomi's feud with Mama lands the two in court when Mama breaks Naomi's vacuum cleaner. The judge has an impossible time keeping order and he holds both parties in contempt of court.

The poignancy which had marked "Eunice" two years earlier and turned up a few times during the NBC run (causing TV Guide to label this as a "comedy-drama" during its first season) resurfaces again as Mama's birthday causes her to remember the day she turned 30. As the "responsible" family lady, she even then had to put her dreams on hold and cater to her own mama (Vicki Lawrence plays both roles). There is a sense of hope here so lacking in the "Eunice" special.

Carl's brother, Roy, returns for a visit after many years at sea. He convinces each family member to pursue an individual dream, no matter how unrealistic it may appear to be. Mama thinks that Roy's attitude is disrupting the household, and would prefer to leave things as they are.

Fran has taken over writing the local newspaper's advice column. When she finds that Thelma's down-to-earth advice works better than her own "psychological" approach, Fran asks Thelma to help her.

On her annual trip out to the cemetery to visit with her late husband, Thelma discovers another woman has been buried in her plot next to Carl's.