That's My Mama

This is a show that needs to be seen again! This was one of the lost forever sitcoms of the 1970's that had African-American characters in prominent roles. However,the 1970's rolled-out a ton of quality-themed African-American shows,which some were instant hits and classics like "Sanford and Son","The Jeffersons","Good Times",What's Happening?",to the ones that were good but only lasted one season like,"Baby,I'm Back", "Rollout","Get Christie Love",and not to mention,"That's My Mama".

And the ones that didn't last long,quickly faded into our memories. However,one of those shows,"That's My Mama",provided some good laughs and some hilarious hijinks. Clifton Curtis(Clifton Davis)is barbershop owner who lives in Washington,DC who shares a house with his mother Eloise(Theresa Merritt)and his sister Tracy(played by Lynne Moody in the early episodes and then later by Joan Pringle)who was married to Leonard ,a stiff,unhip accountant(played by Lisle Wilson in the earlier episodes). Clifton's friends were Earl(Teddy Wilson),a mailman who later became his partner in the barbershop,and Junior(Ted Lange),a boisterous college student. Wildcat(Jester Hairston) and Josh(DeForest Covan)were two senior citizens who hung out in the barbershop,just for conversation and sometimes mischief. Theresa Merritt's character of Eloise,was billed as the main character,but the focus was more on Clifton and the comical support was more on Junior,who supplied most of the hijinks on the show. Eloise was basically the mentor who basically gave advice whenever the other characters got into trouble,and it most of the time she had to bail Clifton out of a tight situation.

This series was the starting point of for two of its actors,since after this series went off the air,Clifton Davis and Jester Hairston would star together in the series "Amen" which ran on NBC-TV during the mid-1980's,early 1990's. Also it is to note that actor Ted Lange would go on to "The Love Boat" as Issac,and would make himself known as an great director of several TV and movie projects. It is also interesting to note that actress Joan Pringle would go on to do "The White Shadow",and later on in the late-1980's make her mark in the all-black daytime serial,"Generations". As for actor Teddy Wilson,most viewers would recognize him as the street hustler Sweet Daddy from "Good Times" who would make several appearances not on "Good Times",but other black shows of that decade including appearances on "The Jeffersons",and "What's Happening!"

It is sad to note that Teddy Wilson,Theresa Merritt,Jester Hairston,and DeForest Cowan are no longer with us. There memories of this show will lived on,since "That's My Mama" is seldom seen in syndicated markets in repeats,probably because it only lasted one season when it ran on ABC-TV from 1974-1975. Only 39 episodes were produced on this series in which 26 episodes were produced in Season 1 and 13 episodes were produced for Season 2. The series premiered on September 4,1974 on ABC's Wednesday night prime-time schedule where it faced strong competition from CBS' "Tony Orlando and Dawn",and the NBC powerhouse drama "Little House on the Prairie". The series was abruptly canceled on Christmas Eve of 1975 due to poor ratings. ABC replaced the series with "The Bionic Woman"

The ensemble work in this show, and the scripts are pretty incredible, the laughs constantly surprising. The sets are roomy and the lines are shouted. There's lots of physicality, lots of high energy, lots of brilliant punchlines set up and tossed about, lots of screaming and laughing from the audience, and lots of skill. Most of what works well here is driven by character, and there is no weak link. You will laugh out loud a lot at unique outrageous humor drawn from guns, marital problems, car accidents, religion, loan sharks, a dead body, broken ankle. Ted Lange always has a choreographed entrance and struts all over. Theodore Wilson is comic perfection. Theresa Merritt has fantastic timing, she was very strong in the role of Mama. Lynne Moody is awesome as always. Clifton Davis is a hottie, etc. There's literally nothing wrong with this show.

While it was never as popular as the more well known African-American sitcoms of the 1970s (Sanford and Son, Good Times, What's Happening?), That's My Mama provided some good laughs. Clifton Curtis (Clifton Davis) was a Washington DC barber who shared a house with his mother, Eloise (Theresa Merritt). His sister Tracy (played by Joan Pringle in early episodes, and later by Lynne Moody) was married to Leonard, a stiff, unhip accountant. Clifton's friends were Earl (Teddy Wilson), a mailman who later became his partner in the barbershop, and Junior (Ted Lange), a boisterous junior college student. Wildcat (Jester Hairston) and Josh (DeForest Covan) were two senior citizens who hung out in the barbershop. Eloise was billed as the main character, but the focus was more on Clifton. Eloise basically gave advice whenever the other characters got into trouble.

It's interesting to note that both Clifton Davis and Jester Hairston went on to star together in the early 1990's sitcom, Amen. Sharp-eyed television viewers will also recognize Teddy Wilson as having made several appearances on "Good Times" as the street hustler, Sweet Daddy. That's My Mama is seldom shown in reruns, probably because it only lasted a couple of seasons.

Ted Lange was extremely funny on this show. His catch phrase was long excellent: "I got it, I got it, and I got to report it!" I wish Ted were given more opportunities to show his great abilities to go over the top. I just checked online and there are no references to his catch phrase on the Internet! I'm going to change that and post it somewhere, because this must live on. I think that if more people knew about Ted's abilities then he would have been one of the very top stars of the 1970s...instead, he made it as a major figure -- and I should at least be grateful for that. I wish Ted's catch phrase were as popular as his pointing with index fingers.

as a teenage girl in 1974, i used to watch "That's My Mama" just so i could see the handsome (ok fine) Clifton Davis do his magic in the shop and also for "Junior" (Ted Lange) to whirl into the shop with his famous "oooooooweeeeeeee! i got it, i got it, and i got to re-port it!" --- cracked me up every time. personally, i think that this show was the predecessor for the hit movie "Barbershop" only with more characters.

the second season of "TMM" kinda started going downhill, however the opening theme music was a little more R&B oriented and nicely performed by Lamont Dozier (one of the songwriters that made up the Holland-Dozier-Holland team at Motown, who were famous for making hit songs for the Supremes in the early 60s). i hope one day TV Land or Nick-at-Nite or TVOne will find these gems and show them again for those of us who remember it to enjoy once again.