DVD Review: Mama’s Family: The Complete Series

The best thing about collections of TV series on DVD is that you can get an entire series at your fingertips, to watch as much as your heart desires. With Netflix and other streaming sites, of course, the “need” for TV-DVD’s has somewhat diminished.

So what makes a DVD set absolutely worth buying in this day and age?

When it’s done as well as the recent Mama’s Family: The Complete Series set from StarVista Entertainment/Time Life.

These folks usually go all out for their series sets anyway, but for this one… wow. The show that was overlooked for awards three decades ago is now getting better treatment than Cheers and other “hits” of that era. To be honest, I took longer than anticipated to review this set because there was just SO MUCH to watch and take in first.

If you’re unfamiliar, Mama’s Family was an expansion from “The Family” sketches from The Carol Burnett Show. It spun into a TV-movie titled Eunice and then the Mama’s Family series hit NBC for two years. The first NBC season was released to DVD a few years ago, with syndicated cuts missing key footage. The show ended, and then came back two years later with the episodes most people remember – the episodes with Bubba and Iola, where Naomi’s hair gets even bigger. The show starred the very young Vicki Lawrence as the cantankerous and old Thelma Harper (“Mama”) who had to deal with her dim bulb son Vinton and his “floozy” wife Naomi. Carol Burnett herself was also around for the show’s NBC years, as were future Golden Girls Betty White and Rue McClanahan.

So, let’s get started with this review, shall we?

The Episodes: With 130 episodes on this set, obviously I haven’t gotten to look at all of them yet. But I did catch a few already: The famous Family Feud episode, where Mama and the family meet Richard Dawson and appear on his show; the final broadcast episode; the first syndication episode that said goodbye to Aunt Fran and introduced Bubba; and a few others. So far I’m loving it and it’s hitting all my nostalgia buttons.

These are the UNCUT versions of the episodes — meaning, the Harvey Korman intros and pink lettering in the opening credits are seen for the first time in almost 30 years. You’ll also notice a different house for the exterior in those first two seasons, which we weren’t supposed to notice, I’m sure.

To me, every episode feels like a comfortable stage play, and the actors you get to see doing this “play” are all talented. It’s nothing pretentious, nothing deep… but it’s fun, especially if you’re like me and you grew up watching.

The Extras: Getting through all of the extras on this set could take DAYS. There’s a cast reunion with everyone from the syndication years. A sit-down interview with Vicki Lawrence and Carol Burnett. A sit-down interview with Vicki and Mama. Interviews with key production team members including the costumers. Featurettes on the family relationships in the show. The Eunice TV movie is included, again unseen for many years. As a very special bonus, select “Family” sketches from The Carol Burnett Show are seen within, and it’s amazing to see the prototypical Mama years before this became a series. (I admit, I was also impressed that Bubba was mentioned in one of those early sketches — he wasn’t pulled out of nowhere!)

This is a thirty year old show, yet it’s treated so well on this set.

Graphics & Sound: I admit, this is where some of it doesn’t get an A+, but it’s mostly because these are the best possible elements here, and the DVD’s themselves warn that: Some of the material within, like the original opening titles, is not the crispest thing you’ve ever seen on a DVD set. To be fair, I don’t think they ever looked that great; but with DVD and the clarity of television sets in this day and age, it’s all the more obvious.

It still looks a heck of a lot better than it would have if you were watching with an antenna in 1986.

The Packaging: I don’t normally like big boxes, but even if this wasn’t so well put together, the collection of individual season sets could all go on my shelf anyway. There’s a great book that comes with the set that even includes a Harper-Crowley family tree. The complete series set also includes a bonus 2 discs with exclusive content not on the season sets.

Is It Worth It? Does Iola wear pink? ESPECIALLY if you are a Child of the Eighties, a million times yes. This might be my favorite TV-DVD set to come out in all of 2013. StarVista/Time-Life, can you take on some of my other favorites, too?

Mama’s Family: The Complete Series is available on DVD exclusively at MamasFamilyDVDs.com. It’s highly recommended! If you missed our interview with Vicki Lawrence about Mama’s Family, you can find it here.