That's My Mama

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.

Clifton Davis coped quite well as the straight man son in this all-black comedy show. He was let down by Theresa Merritt, who was always weak in the title role of Mama. Ted Lange provided some comic relief as Junior, but he did not really start to shine until he joined the crew of the Love Boat.

I don't believe this show was ever rerun, so these recollections are a quarter century old.

I have (4) episodes of this sitcom on tape but would like to communicate with others that may have some of these extremely hard to find episodes on tape. Episodes of another black sitcom from the 1970's was just recently put on DVD. Maybe someone in the film vault, will someday, pull out some of these episodes for syndication or DVD.

Out of the successful African-American sitcoms that graced the 1970's,the comedy series "That's My Mama" basically held its own against the quality of the other sitcoms like "Good Times", "Sanford and Son", "The Jeffersons","What's Happening!",and also the sitcoms that lasted a mere season like "Baby I'm Back",and "Rollout", just to name a few.

Created by Dan T. Bradley along with Allan L. Rice with Chris Bearde and Allan Blye as executive producers along with Walter Bien,Gene Farmer,and David Pollock along with Elias Davis as producers,the series "That's My Mama" lasted two seasons and 39 episodes airing on ABC's Prime Time Schedule from September 4,1974 until December 24,1975. Season 1 produced 26 episodes that aired from September 4,1974 until March 26,1975. Season 2 produced 13 episodes that aired from September 10,1975 until December 24,1975. The show was rated one of the least watched by the Nielsens since the series was scheduled on Wednesday nights opposite the variety- musical series "Tony Orlando and Dawn" over at CBS,and the powerhouse family drama "Little House on the Prairie" over at NBC. Out of all the cast members that were associated with this series only actors Clifton Davis, Theresa Merritt and Ted Lange were the only cast members that stayed throughout its entire run of 39 episodes. Teddy Wilson was a guest star in the pilot episode as a shady lawyer but appeared in 38 episodes of the series. Actress Lynne Moody appeared in 23 episodes from September 4, 1974 until March 26,1975. She left midway during the first season and was replaced by Joan Pringle in Season 2. Lisle Wilson appeared in 29 episodes of Season 1. "That's My Mama" in spite of the Nielsens provided some good laughs and some hilarious moments with the focus more on Clifton Davis' character and Ted Lange's comical support as the boisterous college student. Other characters were Wildcat(Jester Hairston),and Josh(DeForest Cowan)who were two senior citizens that hung out in the barbershop just for conversation and occasional mischief.

"That's My Mama" was the foundation of the "Barbershop" movies with more character development. By the show's second season,the series started with a new look and the opening theme music was done by Motown legend Lamont Dozier as the backdrop setting of Washington, DC was introduced. New characters like Helen Martin were added the episodes. And speaking of who were behind the forces of this show the writers consisted of creators Dan Bradley, Allan Rice, Larry Siegel, Mike Milligan and Jay Moriarty, Rick Mittleman, Winston Moss, Walter Bien, Ron Friedman, Al Gordon, Lloyd Garver, Thad Mumford,and Ilunga Adell. Bob LaHendro directed more than 20 episodes of the series along with other directors like Stan Lathan, Norman Abbott, Mort Lachman, Alan Rafkin, Arnold Margolin and Herbert Kenwith. The guest stars that appeared on "That's My Mama" were Mel Stewart, Bernie Hamilton, Tracy Reed, Jeannie Bell, Judy Pace, Gordon Jump, Slappy White, Belinda Tolbert, Tierre Turner, Vernee Watson, Lillian Randolph, Tim Reid, not to mention appearances by Jayne Kennedy, Alfonso Williams, Lance Taylor and Irene Stokes.

"That's My Mama" was the starting point for two of its actors in which Clifton Davis and Jester Hairston would star together in the series "Amen". Actor Ted Lange would go on to do "The Love Boat" as Issac and would make himself a producer-director of several TV shows and movies. Interesting to note as well that actress Joan Pringle would go on to do "The White Shadow",and later appeared in the NBC daytime serial "Generations". It is to note as well that actors Theresa Merritt along with Jester Hairston, DeForest Cowan,and Teddy Wilson are no longer with us. There memories of this series will live on since "That's My Mama" lasted two seasons and 39 episodes. The series was canceled on Christmas Eve of 1975 due to poor ratings. ABC replaced it with "The Bionic Woman" in January of 1976.

This show was so crazy back in the day! Theresa Merritt was so funny. And Theodore Wilson was almost as funny as he was playing "Sweet Daddy" on Good Times. Clifton Davis and Jester Hairston were on this show together way before they were Amen together. And it was so cool to see Ted Lange playing Junior. Every episode, Junior would say "Oooooooooooooooooooooo! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" I didn't like the fact that they had two different guys playing the role of Clifton Davis' brother in law in the show. I used to look forward to watching this show every evening when I was in the 4th grade. This was another great black sitcom that they stopped showing reruns of.