History Series / MamasFamily

* CallingTheOldWomanOut: In "My Mama, Myself", Thelma stands up to Grandma Crowley, giving her a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech when Grandma Crowley is giving her a guilt trip with frequent flyer mileage for Vint and Naomi attempting to sell the brooch, which is revealed to be worth a few hundred dollars, and not precious gemstones, as mistakenly assumed.

* PanickyExpectantFather: Vinton. Although it's not sure why that is given that Vint already had two kids.

* BackToSchool: Thelma returns to school to get her high school diploma in "Educating Mama."
* BettyAndVeronica: For Vint, his wife Naomi is Veronica and neighbor Iola is Betty. In "I Do, I Don't," Iola has a fantasy about being married to Vint, with her being the Veronica and Naomi being the Betty.

* BrotherhoodOfFunnyHats: The Order of the Cobra, the organization Vinton joins in "Fangs a Lot, Mama."

* ChattyHairdresser: In "Psycho Pheno-Mama." Mama and her family meet a psychic who can supposedly channel a spirit that knows all of the family's secrets. The "psychic" is actually a hairdresser who got all the information from her customers at a local beauty salon. And she knew everything she did about about Thelma's husband because [[WhatAnIdiot Vint told her all about him when he picked her up for the seances]].

* CitizenshipMarriage: Vinton almost marries a woman from Portugal as a favor to a friend in the episode "Alien Marriage," [[spoiler: but backs down]].
* ClassReunion: Thelma attends her junior high school's 50th reunion in "A Blast From The Past."

* ComicallySmallBribe: A non-monetary example occurs in "There's No Place Like...No Place," when Mama is mistaken for a homeless person and arrested:

* CreditCardPlot: Thelma incurs major charges on her card after she gets addicted to TV shopping in "Zirconias Are a Girl's Best Friend."

** Subverted in the episode "Mama in One." Iola leaves her pet goldfish in Thelma's care, but she overfeeds him. [[spoiler:He doesn't die, he just becomes ''really'' fat]].

* DontComeAKnockin: Played with. In "There Is Nothing Like the Dames," Thelma is trying to impress a small group of snooty upper-class women with a backyard dinner so they will let her join them. Unfortunately, Vinton and Naomi's trailer sits in the driveway, an obvious eyesore. On top of that, during one scene, the trailer starts rocking, horrifying the women... until Thelma finds out that Vinton was only trying to fix a broken table leg.

* DrivingTest: "Mama Learns to Drive."

* EasyAmnesia: Naomi bumps her head on the kitchen door and get amnesia in the episode "Naomi's Identity Crisis." Thelma takes the opportunity to "train" Naomi to be a good housewife.

* GameShowAppearance: Thelma, Vint, Naomi, Ellen, and Buzz appeared on the original Richard Dawson-era ''Series/FamilyFeud'' in a season one episode. Thelma appeared on ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' in season four.

*** Though possibly not meant to be the same person, as this was before Iola was on the show, in "Mama Learns To Drive," as Thelma is attempting to maneuver her car down the street, she nearly knocks over a woman while shouting "Look out, Mrs. Boylan!" Boylan is Iola's last name (to be fair, "Boylan" was a stock surname in this universe dating back to the ''Carol Burnett'' sketches).

* ILied: In "Mama Buys a Car," Thelma gets screwed over by a used car dealer. She returns, demanding a refund, just as a businessman is about to buy the whole fleet of the (crappy) cars the dealer has on his lot. The businessman says he'll only sign the document if Thelma is given a total refund. Thelma gets said refund and is about to leave as this exchange happens:

* KitchenSinkIncluded: In "April Fools," Mama plays a prank on her family by filling her front lawn with junk.

* MallSanta: In "Santa Mama," Vint takes a job playing SantaClaus at a mall, but loses his voice practicing his "Ho Ho Ho." Mama saves the day by filling in for him.

* MattressTagGag: In "Harper Versus Harper," Fran tearfully confesses to a judge about how she committed the "capital offense" of removing a tag from a rug.

* NeverLearnedToRead: In "Reading the Riot Act," Mama and Iola plan to impeach their bossy church lady president Lolly Purdue for doing a crappy job...until Mama finds out that it's because she can't read.

* NoirEpisode: "The Big Nap." Mama has a dream about herself as the star of an old detective movie, with everyone else in appropriate roles: Naomi plays her DumbBlonde girl Friday, Vint plays a dim gangster, Bubba plays a good-for-nothing chauffer, and Iola plays the sexy client.

* PostRobberyTrauma: In "Black Belt Mama," Thelma gets mugged and takes a self-defense class. Also used in "The Key to the Crime" quite humorously when Thelma saw that the burglar [[ItMakesSenseInContext cleaned the bathroom]]:

* [[PreachersKid Preacher's Grandkid]]: In "Child's Play," Reverend Meecham's wife, Alberta, suckers Thelma into babysitting their demon-spawn grandson Eugene, who spends the day putting the Harpers through hell (pouring hot sauce in their stew, coloring on Mama's tablecloth, locking Vint and Bubba in the garage, among other pranks).

* PunctuatedForEmphasis: When Thelma and Naomi are driving the judge nuts in "Harper vs. Harper." See the entry on the trope page for examples.

* TheRashomon: In "Rashomama," Thelma accidentally gets hit in the head with a pot. Naomi, Ellen, and Eunice each tell their own version of how it happened, casting themselves in the best possible light and blaming the other two for the accident. (On a side note, this "Rashomama" aired ''23 years'' before the ''Series/{{CSI}}'' episode of the same name.)

* RollingPinOfDoom: In the episode "Mama Bell," Thelma thinks the family wants to put her in a home. The weapon she chooses to defend herself against the perceived threat is, of course, a rolling pin.

* SpellingSong: In the 1988 episode "Sins Of the Mother," Iola tells Bubba a story of the time his mother, Eunice, while a teenager, showed up drunk to a church bazaar Thelma was putting on. Already not getting along and their relationship strained (to say the least), Eunice insists on performing at the talent show, which is about to begin. The trope kicks into effect with her performance of "M-O-T-H-E-R," but instead of the sentimental song she was asked to sing, Eunice uses the opportunity to royally insult and humiliate her mother. Eventually, Eunice is taken out by security, and (as this story was set some time prior to the 1974 introduction of "The Family" skit on ''Series/TheCarolBurnettShow'') their relationship worsens to the point where viewers first meet the Harpers.

* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: In "Child's Play," the family is babysitting Eugene, the very spoiled grandson of Reverend Meechum. During the dinner scene, Eugene puts some hot sauce in the stew while the family is saying grace. After they all go running for water, Thelma accuses him of putting the sauce in the stew:

* TimeShiftedActor: Mama's children appeared in younger form in a few flashback episodes. Most notable was Heather Kerr as teenaged Eunice in season 4's "Sins of the Mother," doing a spot-on Carol Burnett impression. Vicki Lawrence's "younger Thelma" form in these episodes comes from simply not putting on the Mama wig and wearing era-appropriate housedresses.

** This one might be kinda iffy. It's hinted and even explicitly mentioned there are other stores, like the donut shops in the episode where Thelma gets hired by KRAY, "Mama Fights Back."

** Vinton is a interesting case of being this and invoking it. In the early season when he had his two kids Buzz and Sonia, he never once belittled them like Thelma did to him. In fact, Buzz himself told him he was a good dad since a lesser person could have easily abandon him and Sonia. In a later season when he and Naomi were trying for a child and Sonia and Buzz were retconned out, he told Thelma he was going to be a great dad since he would encourage his child. Something Thelma never did for him.

* ''Series/MamasFamily''

* PanickyExpectantFather: Vinton.

* RecordedSplicedConversation: A variation of this occurs in the episode "The Really Loud Family". For a school project, Bubba makes a film about the Harper family. However, a short circuit in the camera causes it to turn itself off and on again while recording, resulting in an unintentionally provocative film shown on public access TV. The end result has Naomi looking like a tramp and Mama looking like a drunk and a bad mother.

** Ellen herself ended up disappearing after her lone appearance of the syndicated run, in season three's "Best Medicine". Thus was, of course, due to Betty White's involvement with ''Series/TheGoldenGirls''.

* McLeaned: Happens to Aunt Fran between the NBC and syndicated runs. This was because Rue [=McClanahan=] was involved with ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'', but it's unlikely she'd have wanted to return either way due to how she felt about her character (see WhatCouldHaveBeen on the Trivia psge for more information).

* McLeaned: Happens to Aunt Fran between the NBC and syndicated runs. This was because Rue [=McClanahan=] was involved with ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'', but it's unlikely she'd have wanted to return either way due to how she felt about her character (see CreatorBacklash on the Trivia psge for more information).

** Ellen herself ended up disappearing after her lone appearance of the syndicated run, in season three's "Best Medicine" as Betty White was unable to continue with the series due to her involvement with ''Series/TheGoldenGirls''.

* KilledOffForReal: Happens off-screen to Aunt Fran between the NBC and syndicated runs, due to Rue [=McClanahan=] being involved with ''Series/TheGoldenGirls''.

** Ellen herself ended up disappearing after her lone appearance of the syndicated run, in season three's "Best Medicine".

* KilledOffForReal: Happens off-screen to Aunt Fran between the NBC and syndicated runs, due to Rue [=McClanahan=] (as well as Betty White) being involved with ''Series/TheGoldenGirls''.

* RecordedSplicedConversation: A variation of this occurs in "The Really Loud Family". For a school project, Bubba makes a film about the Harper family. However, a short circuit in the camera causes it to turn itself off and on again while recording, resulting in an unintentionally provocative film shown on public access TV. The end result has Naomi looking like a tramp and Mama looking like a drunk and a bad mother.

* RecordedSplicedConversation: A variation - For a school project, Bubba makes a film about the Harper family. However, a short circuit in the camera causes it to turn itself off and on again while recording, resulting in an unintentionally provocative film shown on public access TV. The end result has Naomi looking like a tramp and Mama looking like a drunk and a bad mother.

* LoveLetterLunacy: One episode revolved around this trope. Vint wants to do something to make Naomi happy, so he has Bubba help him write her a love letter. The letter gets misplaced a few times, and soon Naomi thinks Bubba has an incestuous crush on her, Iola thinks Vint wants to leave Naomi for her, and Mama thinks her refrigerator repairman is coming on to her.

* MistakenMessage: The episode "The Love Letter" revolved around this trope. Vint wants to do something to make Naomi happy, so he has Bubba help him write her a love letter. The letter gets misplaced a few times, and soon Naomi thinks Bubba has an incestuous crush on her, Iola thinks Vint wants to leave Naomi for her, and Mama thinks her refrigerator repairman is coming on to her. HilarityEnsues.

* KilledOffForReal: Happens off-screen to Aunt Fran between the NBC and syndicated runs.

* CharacterDevelopment: Mama becomes a ''much'' nicer person as the series goes on. In the original Carol Burnett sketches and in the network season she was rude, nasty, and petty all the time. As series progressed, she evolved into a much sweeter character who reserved her ire only for people who deserved it, admittedly a rather long list.

* MyBelovedSmother: Grandma Crowley, Thelma's departed mother, who appears in ghost form to nag and criticize her from beyond the grave. There are also strong hints that [[OldMaid Iola]] has a similar relationship with [[TheGhost her invalid mother]].

* ScreamingBirth: Naomi

* NeverLearnedToRead: In "Reading the Riot Act," Mama and Iola plan to impeach their church lady president for doing a crappy job...until Mama finds out that it's because she can't read.

* {{MamaBear}}/{{ApronMatron}}: Do NOT badmouth a member of Thelma's family.

* MamaBear/ApronMatron: Do NOT badmouth a member of Thelma's family.

* MamaBear: Do NOT badmouth a member of Thelma's family.

* MyBelovedSmother: Grandma Crowley, Thelma's departed mother, who appears in ghost form to nag and criticize her from beyond the grave. There are also strong hints that [[OldMaid Iola]] has a similar relationship with [[TheGhost her mother]].

* MyBelovedSmother: Grandma Crowley, Thelma's departed mother, who appears in ghost form to nag and criticize her from beyond the grave.

** When Carol Burnett and Harvey Korman decided not to participate in the 1986 syndication revival, the former due to a very acrimonious divorce between herself and executive producer Joe Hamilton, both Eunice and Ed Higgins were written out of the show and, except for occasional references, not mentioned and never appear in any syndicated episode. [[MamaBear Thelma]] becomes Bubba's sole mother figure as a result.