Based on characters from "The Carol Burnett Show," this was the film which led to the series "Mama's Family."Based on characters from "The Carol Burnett Show," this was the film which led to the series "Mama's Family."Based on characters from "The Carol Burnett Show," this was the film which led to the series "Mama's Family."
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- Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy
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The "family" skits from THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW morphed into this TV movie, which then became the series MAMA'S FAMILY.
Carol Burnett as Eunice is center stage in four episodes covering events from 1955 to 1978. As the unhappy daughter in a dysfunctional family, Burnett gets to veer from high comedy to pathos as he dreams and aspirations are constantly squashed by her domineering mother (Vicki Lawrence) and her doltish husband (Harvey Korman). She evens plays second fiddle to her more successful siblings (Betty White, Ken Berry).
As her brother goes off to New York and her sister marries a successful businessman, Eunice is stuck is a lousy marriage and has two hellions of sons. Her husband then runs off with another woman, leaving her with the kids and her job in a local dime store. She's also still under the thumb of mama.
Entire cast is good with Burnett and Lawrence as the standouts.
Carol Burnett as Eunice is center stage in four episodes covering events from 1955 to 1978. As the unhappy daughter in a dysfunctional family, Burnett gets to veer from high comedy to pathos as he dreams and aspirations are constantly squashed by her domineering mother (Vicki Lawrence) and her doltish husband (Harvey Korman). She evens plays second fiddle to her more successful siblings (Betty White, Ken Berry).
As her brother goes off to New York and her sister marries a successful businessman, Eunice is stuck is a lousy marriage and has two hellions of sons. Her husband then runs off with another woman, leaving her with the kids and her job in a local dime store. She's also still under the thumb of mama.
Entire cast is good with Burnett and Lawrence as the standouts.
10benzing
Sad but sweet little teleplay featuring the "Family" from the Carol Burnett Show. Act 1 tells about Eunice and Ed, Act 2 takes place after Ed has left and Eunice is stuck alone with Momma, and Act 3 deals with Eunice trying to deal with Momma's passing away. Very funny, but also very sad. I have only seen this once, on it's live broadcast in 1981. I hope that it finds it's way to video someday.
This 1981 teleplay is the absolute end-all for the Eunice character portrayed by Carol Burnett for several years during her reign as television's finest comedian, and with her own variety show to boot... I recall Burnett once saying in an interview that she was glad to put an end to the Eunice character with this special. It was certainly the last word for Eunice, but not for the rest of the cast, who continued the saga of "Mama's Family". The bittersweet ending of "Eunice" is a great finale for the title character and her family story. With the excellent supporting cast, it created one of the all time best TV "specials". Vicki Lawrence, Ken Berry, Harvey Korman and Betty White kept this simple minded family alive for years afterward, and with great success. This should be on DVD for all generations to appreciate. It's television at its best!
When this was shown in 1981 I taped it and watched it over and over again. (Too bad I used BETA tape!) It is such a poignant story of broken dreams. Eunice wanted to do so much, but life got in the way, then she looks back on all her missed opportunities.
It is sad, but could also be inspiring to others who have dreams they want to accomplish in life - to go for them before it's too late.
It is sad, but could also be inspiring to others who have dreams they want to accomplish in life - to go for them before it's too late.
10Chrissie
I'm not sure why this gem has been buried, but I'm glad I discovered it on YouTube.
It takes the form of four slices of Harper family life as we watch the familiar loser Eunice, and her successful brother Phillip, intersect at key points in their lives.
The humor is there, yes, but with a sharp, bitter edge that "The Carol Burnett Show" danced near but never on. "Eunice" slides down that edge and bleeds. The characters are larger than life, with Eunice far more of a bitter failure, and Phillip a far brighter star, than we'd see arising from one family. Still, the dynamics -- and the reality of how our choices make us who we are -- are painfully true to life.
The key interactions aren't between Mama and Eunice. They're between Eunice and Phillip. Carol Burnett brings a depth to the shallow Eunice I'd never seen before, especially in a quiet, dignified standoff with Harvey Korman's opportunistic Ed. Ken Berry's performance is amazing. He makes a sigh or a simple slump of the shoulders hold its own amid the overblown chaos around him. A lot of the credit for that must go to Harvey Korman as director, though, for allowing the camera to capture those small moments.
"Eunice" isn't one to just laugh at and move on. It's one to chew on. This might, really, be why it lay fallow. Nobody quite knew what to make of it, and thought it best, then, to just let it be.
It takes the form of four slices of Harper family life as we watch the familiar loser Eunice, and her successful brother Phillip, intersect at key points in their lives.
The humor is there, yes, but with a sharp, bitter edge that "The Carol Burnett Show" danced near but never on. "Eunice" slides down that edge and bleeds. The characters are larger than life, with Eunice far more of a bitter failure, and Phillip a far brighter star, than we'd see arising from one family. Still, the dynamics -- and the reality of how our choices make us who we are -- are painfully true to life.
The key interactions aren't between Mama and Eunice. They're between Eunice and Phillip. Carol Burnett brings a depth to the shallow Eunice I'd never seen before, especially in a quiet, dignified standoff with Harvey Korman's opportunistic Ed. Ken Berry's performance is amazing. He makes a sigh or a simple slump of the shoulders hold its own amid the overblown chaos around him. A lot of the credit for that must go to Harvey Korman as director, though, for allowing the camera to capture those small moments.
"Eunice" isn't one to just laugh at and move on. It's one to chew on. This might, really, be why it lay fallow. Nobody quite knew what to make of it, and thought it best, then, to just let it be.
Did you know
- TriviaThe film takes place in 1955, 1963, 1973 and 1978.
- GoofsThere are only three Harper children shown in this movie: Eunice, Philip, and Ellen. Yet, in previous "Family" sketches (the basis of this movie)and in the series "Mama's Family", there are three other sons, Vinton (played by Ken Berry, who plays Philip in this movie), Larry (played by Alan Alda) and Jack (played by Tommy Smothers). Brother Philip was played by Roddy McDowall in at least two of the original "Family" sketches.
- Quotes
Ellen: I thought when I saw Mama lying in that coffin, I thought 'Well she's with Daddy and with her old friends'. What'd you think, Phil?
Phillip: I thought we should've had her frozen.
Ellen: Phil! Honestly, what is the matter with you?
Phillip: That's what I thought Ellen, I thought we should've put her in the deep freeze as soon as she died and then someday in the future she can be revived and she can be made young again and she could live forever as a young girl because nobody would ever have to die again. That's what I thought, you asked me what I thought, that's what I thought.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The 34th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1982)
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