| | |  | DVDs | Home » » Mama's Family: The Complete First Season | | | | | | | Description: | | Mama's Family, the delightfully offbeat comedy whose successful run spanned from January 22, 1983 to March 12, 1990, originally began as a skit on the legendary Carol Burnett Show. Entitled The Family, the sketch was roughly based on Carol Burnett's childhood and was such a hit that it generated its own spin-off series which premiered on NBC. The first time on DVD, Mama's Family: The Complete First Season will include all 13 episodes from the show's premiere season, which aired from January 1983 to May 1983. | | | Features: | |
• A spun-off sketch from the Carol Burnett Show, Mama's Family mined humor from a squabbling family in the Midwestern blue collar suburb of Raytown. The noisy clan was headed by Mama, a buxom, gray-haired widow with sharp opinions and a sharper tongue who shared her small house with her high-strung sister Fran, a journalist for a local paper. Mama's lazy, dimwitted son, Vint, a locksmith by trade, m
| | | Product Details: | | | Actors:
| Vicki Lawrence, Dorothy Lyman, Eric Brown, Rue McClanahan, Betty White | | Format:
| Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled | | Language:
| English | | Subtitle:
| Spanish, French | | Number of Discs:
| 2 | | Studio:
| Warner Home Video | | Run Time:
| 278 minutes | | DVD Release Date:
| September 26, 2006 | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 196 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 196 customer reviews )
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90 of 94 found the following review helpful:
 "Boy howdy, I bet the neighbors are just loving this!"--MamaNov 12, 2006
By mwreview
"mwreview"
Mama's Family definitely gets five stars. One of my favorite shows of all-time, especially during its first two seasons with the occasional appearances of Eunice. What a stellar cast: Vicki Lawrence, Betty White, Rue McClanahan, Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Dorothy Lyman, Ken Berry (How was it ever canceled in the first place?) I really liked the kids Buzz and Sonja, too.
The reason I am knocking a star off the score is that these episodes are edited. They are like the syndication edits that are still aired all the time. What's up with that??!! I've been waiting to see these episodes uncut for years. I know how much they've cut because I have an audio recording of "The Wedding Part 1" from when it aired back around 1985 (a rerun even, not the first airing which was 2/5/83):
1. They cut out the part about the hoochie coochie dancer in the kitchen scene with Mama, Buzz, and Vint.
2. When Sonja asked if she was a slave, Fran's comeback line "If you were, you would've been sold years ago" is gone.
3. Mama explaining to Sonja that "strong drink can make even the daintiest of ladies seem unattractive and crude" (and then hic-ups from the beer) got the ax.
4. The scene with Mama and Fran in the kitchen is shortened.
5. They cut out Mama talking about seeing her husband Carl naked out of the shower. She shoved him in the linen closet and never looked again.
6. A lot of dialogue about the controversy over Eunice's "O Promise Me" solo is missing.
7. And the worst omission of all: Eunice screaming "Well All Right!!!" after Mama exclaimed, "This is my house and I say there ain't gonna be no da*n singing!" isn't there! I've been looking forward to seeing that scene again which always seems to be cut in syndication.
These are just what is cut out of one episode! And the tags during the closing credits are missing, too. I definitely would have paid more money to get these episodes uncut, wouldn't you? Anyway, here are the episodes from Season 1:
"Vint and the Kids Move In": Vint and the kids are kicked out of their house and they have to move in with Mama.
"For Better or For Worse": "Her! Him! Here!" Mama hyperventilates when she finds out Naomi and Vint spent the night together down in the basement. Vint and Naomi then decide to get married and run a trailer park in Arizona.
"The Wedding Part 1": While getting ready for the wedding to be held a Mama's showplace, Eunice takes delight in telling sister Ellen the truth about her husband and his secretary.
"The Wedding Part 2": Eunice slightly changes her rendition of "O Promise Me" after she finds out Mama gave Vint her father's sapphire ring. Later, Vint and Naomi discover there trailer park plans were a rip-off and they have to move in with Mama again.
"Family Feud": The Harpers "wind up" on Family Feud. Richard Dawson is a guest.
"Cellmates": Eunice and Mama find themselves in jail with a prostitute who gets them to consider their mother/daughter relationship. This is the episode where Eunice finds out Mama sent her dream man Duke Reeves away when she was in high school.
"Mama Gets A Job": Mama gets a job at a travel agency and her family keeps bugging her a work. I like the part where she's learning how to answer the phones: "It's a great day here at the Raytown Travel Agency! May I heeelp you?!"
"Double Standard": Sonja gets all women's rights when she finds out her younger brother has a longer curfew.
"Mama's Boyfriend": Mama shocks her family when she plans on spending a weekend in a cabin by the lake with an old flame.
"Fran's Dress": Mama accidentally ruins Fran's priced dress she plans on wearing to an awards banquette.
"Alien Marriage": In another get-rich-quick scheme, Vint plans on marrying a Portuguese woman to get her a green card. In this episode, Naomi and Vint are not married yet. Naomi is still Mama's complaining neighbor. Anyway, Mama really goes off in this one! Great shouting scene including a nice argument between Mama and her flighty, old maid sister Fran.
"Positive Thinking": One of the funniest episodes. Eunice starts listening to positive thinking tapes and gets a role in a play. Great Eunice line: "I just decked the entire cast over there at the Pepperpot Playhouse!"
"Mama's Silver": Vint pawns Mama's precious sterling.
70 of 74 found the following review helpful:
 Waste of money! Great show, awul DVD treatment!Sep 27, 2006
By A
I bought the Mama's Family DVD today and was shocked and appalled to see that they are the edited syndication versions. This makes no sense at all. WB sucks!
67 of 71 found the following review helpful:
Warner Blew This Big Time!Sep 25, 2006
By Ashley
"conga1985"
Like the other couple of reviewers, I was also excited to hear Mama's Family was coming to DVD, but just minutes ago I found out in a Sitcoms Online review that the episodes are edited syndication cuts. I am so disappointed and feel so cheated. If I would have found out sooner I would have canceled my pre-order but it's now too late. Warner Bros. has some major explaining to do.
The show is a definite five stars, but I wish I could give this DVD no stars. A big fat raspberry to you, Warner!
38 of 40 found the following review helpful:
CANCEL YOUR PRE-ORDERSSep 24, 2006
By Jason W. Hones
"fan of the delightfully-voiced nancy dussault"
i hate to be the one to break this news, but warner bros. has included the notoriously BUTCHERED SYNDICATED CUTS for this set. an entire character -- harvey korman as alistair quince -- was removed from the original nbc airings for these prints, along with god knows what, as each episode presented clocks in at 21:30. (not to mention the horrible audio/video quality here and lack of special features.)
i know "mama's family" is not exactly high art, but this is still a fun show with a fanbase that this dvd set is allegedly supposed to be geared toward. if we fans don't boycott this kind of ruined product, we'll never get seasons 2+ released the way they were originally written, shot, and broadcast. when fans put the pressure on rhino to release the second season of "too close for comfort" uncut after they'd released the first season cut -- guess what ? THEY RELEASED THE SECOND SEASON COMPLETELY UNCUT ! and then the same thing happened with anchor bay and "roseanne"...
so please, please, please -- if you are a fan of this show, DO NOT BUY THESE DVDs ! and let warner bros. know why.
26 of 26 found the following review helpful:
Good show, but the DVDs are a TRAVESTYSep 25, 2006
By Norman Landsburg
I was extremely excited when this underrated gem of 1980s TV was announced for DVD, but then I saw the review on Sitcoms Online. The DVDs are not complete, not by a long shot.
The NBC era episodes originally ran about 24 to 25 minutes and featured introductions by Harvey Korman as a character called "Alastair Quince," spoofing Masterpiece Theater's Alastair Cooke. These are gone, along with three minutes of footage from each episode. They now run 21 minutes, as they do in syndication. The later episodes (seasons 3-6, which were first-run syndication) ran at this length originally, but the first 2 seasons did not. Enough footage is gone to equal about one and one half of an episode.
After the debacles with ALF, The Cosby Show, and Roseanne on DVD one would think that Warner would have tried to avoid this. Nope. They just slapped on edited episodes and hope fans wouldn't notice. That they didn't include the original 1982 special "Eunice" which spawned this show, nor any of the Carol Burnett Show sketches which inspired it, is bad enough. But this disc fails to meet the minimum standard of presentation.
Do not buy this DVD. You need to write to Warner Bros. and tell them you will not buy this show in an edited version. Tell them you want season 1 reissued in its original, uncut, network version and then you will buy it, and that all future releases must be released in their original form. Buying this product sends a message that cutting corners is acceptable.
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