That's My Mama

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.