Vicki!

After reading her autobiography, I was shocked to read about the cancellation of her popular talk show. On daytime back in the day, she was one of many who I thought could last. It was really a decent show that I really enjoyed watching when I was not taking college classes. I loved Vicki as Mama Harper and on the Carol Burnett show. Her talk show was way ahead of Rosie O'Donnell's show and even Ellen DeGeneres. Vicki was easy going and friendly. No she didn't dance like Ellen to preach like Rosie, Vicki was there for the fans and the audience. She never made it into a trash fest or dealt with dysfunctional families. What worked for me was the humanity of the actual celebrities on the show, she reunited the Carol Burnett and Show cast and Mama's Family cast for reunion shows. Her shows never had an ounce of anger, vanity, conceit, or whatever goes these days. Her shows were always a pleasure to watch. I enjoyed hearing about her husband and their kids. I don't know why the show got canceled but it could have appealed to the masses. They canceled Mama's Family on network but it survived and thrived in syndication. We love Vicki and the show never seemed to be malignant or hostile to anybody. It was kind of show that you could watch with an elderly person or a young child without worrying about being offended. Vicki never discussed her personal views or the professional problems behind the show. It's kind of sad that what makes Ellen a great talk show hostess was done before by Vicki.

This show was...OK, I guess. It was the kind of show you would watch if you're bored out of your mind or if there was nothing else on TV. She is funny and all but this show isn't. It's just plain sad.

*½ out of *****

VICKI didn't last because daytime TV was changing for the worst at the time this hit the air in 1992. The network didn't get behind this and promote it the way that other daytime talk shows of far less quality and charm were being promoted at the time, which is a lasting shame. The look and feel of daytime TV talk went spiraling south with such low class, low brow circus fare like Jerry Springer and a hoard of imitators, Sadly, nobody else was attempting to do a show like Vicki Lawrence tried to do in 1992,OPRAH doesn't even come close to matching VICKI in light and enjoyable viewing since Oprah Winfrey always seemed so strident and forced unlike the naturally charming Vicki Lawrence.

Vicki's fine effort toward creating a entertaining daytime talk show went largely unheeded by the general viewing public, even though I think this show was nominated (or won) an Emmy. Vicki Lawrence was a charming, humorous, intelligent and capable host, reminding the viewer of such genteel TV hosts of the past as Dinah Shore, something that increasingly less patient and sophisticated audiences were seeking in a daytime TV wasteland filled with such mental junkfood TV like SPRINGER, MONTEL and OPRAH and all the rest.

If VICKI had been on the air in 1982 as opposed to 1992 I think it would of lasted a whole lot longer than it did. It was a good show, just at the wrong time. I hope that Vicki Lawrence tries her hand once again at another talk show one day, because she's still quite capable, intelligent and charming. There's a whole lot more to Vicki Lawrence than her humorous take on her "Mama" character from her successful syndicated series MAMA's FAMILY and her time with Carol Burnett on THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW and making a hit album and single in 1973!