Why wasn't Dorothy (Naomi) hardly in the NBC episodes?

I don't have a lot of good answers for this but here goes...

Only 30 something episodes were done of the NBC episodes so there wasn't alot of time.

Naomi wasn't married to Vinton at first and didn't live with Mama which diminished her role at the beginning.

I always thought Naomi had enough time though.

Originally posted by FamilyTiesGOP
I always thought Naomi had enough time though.

Yeah me too, I really didn't like her in the NBC years:D

The reason Dorothy Lyman's part wasn't as big in the NBC episodes was because at the same time she was also playing Opal on "All My Children". Mama was shot on the west coast and All My Children was shot on the east coast, so you can imagine the hectic schedule she had to keep. She had to devote more time to AMC because as a soap opera it taped new episodes every day, where as Mama just aired once a week. By the time Mama's Family went syndicated in '86, Dorothy had already left AMC. She left AMC in the fall of '83 and she won two emmys for her role on All My Children.

I remember her talking about that on their reunion on the Vicki Show. She used to call that period in her life "All my paycheck!":lol:

Uh, Naomi's part was actually bigger in the NBC years. I don't see what that person means by her being "hardly in" the shows; there were only 2 out of the 35 episodes Naomi wasn't it. In syndication she was out of 2 of 95.

Most of the time in syndication, she was more of a minor character along with Vint 'n (gradually) Bubba. The 3 of them would often have little lines here 'n there, but nothin' really big; however, in the NBC years, Naomi was written as a feisty, funny, spunky sexpot who was frequently at odds with Mama---if Mama dished it out, Naomi would dish right back. That's what made her so much more delicious and characterized in the NBC years. In syndication, she'd usually just roll her eyes at Mama instead of fightin' on, and was relegated to a more supporting role with her acceptance of Mama as head of the household.

For example, look at the Leonard Oates episode, the one where Vint 'n Naomi sleep together, the honeymoon---those are just a few examples of meaty "Naomi-as-a-MAJOR-player" episodes that you don't find in syndication. Focus on syndicated episodes seemed to be:

MAMA
Iola
Bubba
Vint/Naomi