MovieChat Forums > Mama's Family (1983) Discussion > What If Eunice Had Stuck Around?

What If Eunice Had Stuck Around?

posted 9 years ago by GrumpyGuy
13 replies | jump to latest

What if she had? Vicki Lawrence stated that Carol Burnett asked Vicki to do a Eunice and Mama series after the NBC run had been cancelled. But Vicki had already committed to do a series produced by Carol's ex husband.

I've been watching the reruns and thinking about how things might have been different. Buzz, Sonja, and Fran would still have been written out. This leaves room for newly divorced Eunice and her son Bubba to move in. They take the empty bedrooms, which angers Vint and Naomi (mystery of the missing bedroom solved). I do
think Betty White would have found time to come back if Carol Burnett were there. Ed could make semi-regular appearances, like Stan on the
Golden Girls, interfering with Eunice's efforts to jump-start a career and dating life. I think Mama would have lightened up, but still had a negative relationship with Eunice. I would still like to have seen Iola in this mix, but I don't think she would have appeared as much, if it all.

This is just a what if. What's everyone think?

[–] elaphe-1 9 years ago

Mama would have been crankier with Eunice around! 

[–] tinkerbell_jonna 9 years ago

I'd love to see what Eunice would have been like in a syndicated episode and how she and syndicated Mama would have interacted.

I dunno if Eunice should have been in TOO many episodes, it's hard to imagine it being Mama's Family if she had. In the 5 episodes Eunice appears in, she pretty well stole the show and it was like watching Family Sketches.

But I'd love to have seen her in a few, like the episode where Bubba graduates definitely, and maybe the Christmas episodes.

I'd love to see Eunice and Bubba interact some at least.

I think Mama and Eunice would have had more warm, sentimental moments of reconciliation in the syndicated episodes.

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[–] dan456-1 9 years ago

The actress playing teen Eunice had the voice down pat, but didn't have the facial expressions to go with it. I thought the elementary school age actress who played a young Eunice in an earlier episode was even funnier.

[–] sjbradford 9 years ago

Yes, I agree. The actress who played Eunice as a teenager was a little over-the-top, even for Eunice. She aped Carol's two primary funny Eunice voices - hysterical, and angry - in every line reading, as opposed to occasionally, like Carol did. The younger actress in Mama's Birthday was better.

[–] tinkerbell_jonna 9 years ago

The syndicated episodes really over exaggerated everything like a typical sitcom. Even when Mama spoke to Eunice on the phone once, Eunice was over exaggerated, I thought.

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[–] tinkerbell_jonna 9 years ago

It would have probably been more like the movie Eunice.

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[–] tinkerbell_jonna 9 years ago

The way I understood it, Carol was wanting to do a Eunice and Mama TV series, whether or not it would have been an extension of Mama's Family, I dunno. For some reason I'm imagining it still be syndicated Mama's Family but with Eunice as a regular guest.

If that had happened do you think, they would have gone with the brighter, cheerier syndicated version of Mama like she became OR would they have kept Mama more grumpy like in the NBC episodes?

I just wonder b/c I notice the syndicated episodes, even though very different from the Family Sketches in tone, they were very similar to the style of some of Carol's OTHER sketches from her show, just very zany.

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