The Family is a series of skits that premeired in 1973 and aired on The Carol Burnett Show for the remainder of the series. It was so successful that it became a recurring skit on The Carol Burnett Show and later spun off into the comedy series Mama's Family, a show which first aired on NBC, and then in syndication.[1] The Family sketches featured Carol Burnett as Eunice Higgins, Vicki Lawrence as Thelma Harper (originally known only as Mama), and Harvey Korman as Ed Higgins. In the Family sketches, Mama has five children (in the subsequent series, she has only three). In addition to Ellen Harper (played by Betty White) and Eunice, there were three sons: Larry Harper (Alan Alda), Phillip Harper (Roddy McDowall), and Jack Harper (Tommy Smothers). All three were replaced by Vinton Harper, played by Ken Berry, in the spin-off television series. Berry played Phillip in the 1982 made-for-TV movie Eunice (which was the precursor to Mama's Family).
[edit] Premise
Unlike Mama's Family, the central character of The Family sketches was Eunice. The sketches were about the noisy, bickering couple of Eunice and Ed and Eunice's interfering and overly critical Mama, and there was a great deal of more squabbling in The Family sketches than on Mama's Family. It was stated many times that Eunice and Ed also had two young sons named Bubba Higgins and Billy-Joe Higgins (In one sketch Eunice calls her children Bubba and Raymond); however, the characters were never shown on the Family sketches. The Bubba Higgins character made his first appearance in the syndicated version of Mama's Family. Mama, Eunice, and Ed often have uproarious verbal wars over petty issues such as board games (they played Monopoly, Sorry!, and Password), how much butter has been used for the bread, what exactly happened 30 or 40 years ago, etc. The final Family sketch had Eunice talking to a psychiatrist trying to figure out what went wrong with her life.
[edit] Characters
- Eunice Higgins - As the very stormy, irrepressible daughter of Mama and wife of Ed, Eunice is histrionic and full of powerful emotions. She's cheerful and giddy at one moment and out of control and upset in the next. She's very ambitious and both wishes and tries to become an actor to make something of herself. She'll do anything to get away from what she perceives as a nightmare, stuck with her mama and husband. Her efforts in trying to make anything out of her self are only met with belittlement by Mama, often sparking a bickering session between the two. When Eunice starts ranting, she brings up a load of irrelevant matters that she's unhappy about. Often, her long-drawn out rants will date as far back as her childhood. Out of the three characters, Eunice has the most control in the gang, mostly over Ed.
- Mama - In the Family sketches, Mama is a grumpy troublemaker. Unlike Mama's Family, in the Family sketches, Mama never cracks any smart retorts, sarcastic remarks, and has no sense of humor. She's considerably more senile and reliant on The Family sketches as well. Mama makes insults, constantly letting Ed and Eunice know what is wrong with them and how they're failures who will never make anything out of themselves. She's also a troublemaker, who's usually the one that starts all the bickering and chaos among the three. Sometimes when they're all starting to get along (which rarely happens on the show), Mama will say something that she knows will provoke Eunice and Ed; one of Eunice's catchphrases is "Don't you start with me, old lady!"
- Ed Higgins - As the son-in-law of Mama and the husband to Eunice, Ed frequently gets pushed around and treated like garbage, mostly by his wife, Eunice. However Mama treats him almost just as terribly—provoking him with insults, often about what a failure he is. Although he gets pushed around the most, Ed never hesitates to bicker with, and stand up to his wife and mother-in-law. Ed is an unsuccessful slob, whose behavior is goofy and dimwitted. Whenever he stands up for himself, it's often to no avail, as it only gets him bickering against Mama and Eunice—who will quickly start bickering with each other. Ed has a low-class job and nothing much going on, which is often what Eunice's rants and Mama's insults are about—if it has to do with Ed.
- Phillip Harper - In the Family sketches, Phillip was the eldest of Mama's three sons. He was a successful Hollywood-based screenwriter and Pulitzer/Nobel Peace Prize-winning author. Just like Ellen, Phillip was Mama's favorite but despite the fact, he was never spared Thelma's criticism, insults, or wrath.
- Larry Harper - In the Family sketches, Larry was the middle of Mama's three sons. He was a free-spirit who is a commercial illustrator, and he was teased by Ed, who thought that painting was somewhat sissy. He appeared in the Christmas sketch, coming home for Christmas after five years and he is unmarried.
- Jack Harper - In the Family sketches, Jack was the youngest of Mama's three sons. He was visited by Eunice, Ed and Mama in the hospital. It is mentioned that he and his wife Janie have children, and that he works in sales.
- Ellen Harper In the Family sketches, Ellen was older than Eunice, and was as snobby and stuck on herself as she was on Mama's Family with a difference: She would snap back at her mother with more frequency; and didn't even try to hide her glee when she got something that Eunice wanted. She was married (her husband originally referred to as Tom, then Arthur, and later as Bruce) and had two spoiled daughters named Mary Beth and Debbie. At one time, it was revealed that Ellen's full name was Mary Ellen.
[edit] Final season
In the final season of the Carol Burnett Show, cast member Tim Conway ad libbed reminisces about seeing a pair of Siamese elephants during a trip to a freak show, describing in detail how they were connected at the trunk and the sounds they made. The audience was already in hysterics while Burnett, Lawrence and Dick Van Dyke desperately struggled to maintain composure. Several times when Conway would stop, the rest of the cast would collect themselves, at which point Conway would continue with his ad libbing pushing them again to the edge of breaking up. When Burnett gained her composure one last time she turned to Vicki Lawrence to help get the script moving again, to which Lawrence quipped (in character), "You sure that little asshole's through?" At that point Burnett, Conway and Van Dyke all fall apart laughing.
[edit] References
