PZelda
02-21-2005, 09:29 PM
Several weeks ago, there was a TV Week magazine on eBay, which I bidded on. I won it, and now I have it in my possession. There's a really nice pic of Vicki on the cover, and there's an inset pic of Mama in one corner. There was an accompanying article about Vicki and "Mama's Family" in there that I found interesting.
Note that the TV Week is from the week of August 21 - 27, 1983, so they were in between the 1st and 2nd seasons of "Mama's Family" on NBC.
COVER STORY
By Mary Ann Norbom
Special to The Inquirer
Vicki Lawrence didn't have the easiest of times breaking her first series into television. During the 11 years that she co-starred on "The Carol Burnett Show," Lawrence became accustomed to high ratings, good reviews, nearly automatic renewals each season and the burden of the series' success or failure weighing on someone else's shoulders.
Then, last year, Lawrence agreed to tackle "Mama's Family," starring as the character Mama whom she had played so many times before in sketch form.
Nothing ever prepared the usually confident and relaxed Lawrence, 34, for the universally negative comment that greeted a preseason screening of the pilot episode last summer. The series was pulled from NBC's fall schedule, rethought and rewritten, and given another shot at life as a mid-season replacement. The ratings since January have not been headline-makers, but the network perceived a growing audience and renewed "Mama's Family" for the 1983-84 season.
"We knew we had problems with the first couple of episodes we did last year, but we also knew we had a great cast and a lot of potential," Lawrence says now. "So I was really surprised at the negative response from the critics who screened the pilot. I also think, though, that it is not terribly uptown to say you like our show. The humor is very much mid-America."
Nevertheless, "Mama's Family" underwent a major overhaul. A new supervising producer was brought in, and Harvey Korman, who occasionally makes guest appearances, was hired to direct. It was Korman, Lawrence says, who had the greatest impact on the new tone of the show. Gone are the screaming, back-biting and bitterness that buried the early scripts. They've been replaced by characters "you can love," Lawrence says.
"Harvey made Mama mellow. She's much more fun to do now. Harvey brought out all the colors in her specturm. She's not so hard-nosed all the time. She is still nuts though."
Mama is also a good 30 years older than the actress who plays her. Lawrence wears a wig and heavily-padded dresses in the role, but no makeup. That's a throwback to the days when she was doing one sketch after another on Burnett's show and there was no time to age her before she went on as Mama.
"My husband, Al Schultz, used to be a makeup man, and he felt strongly that if we now put 'old' makeup on Mama, it would change the character too much. She would not be the same person audiences loved all those years on Carol's show. So I don't wear any makeup at all."
Lawrence and Schultz were married in 1974 after getting to know each other in the CBS makeup room. He also handled Cher while she had a show on that network, and continues to get calls (although he is long out of the beautification business) from former clients Peggy Lee and Lena Horne.
"We compared paychecks one day and realized that after I paid out the percentages to agent, business manager and such, Al was clearing more than I was," Lawrence explains. "That's when we decided he would quit makeup and handle my finances. He's also started a leasing business that handles everything from planes to computers. I don't call him my manager. Al's a businessman and it has all worked out very well."
At home, in suburban Woodland Hills, Lawrence is also very much the homemaker and mother of the couple's children, 8-year-old Courtney and 6-year-old Garrett. When she's not in costume, in fact, Lawrence looks much more suited to her domestic roles than her life of a TV star.
It is not that glamour and wealth have eluded Lawrence. It is, rather, that they have not overwhelmed her. She speaks candidly of having to sell the family condominium in Hawaii. She and the family moved there after the Burnett show went off the air. Now that work has brought her back to Los Angeles, it is too expensive to maintain the two homes, she says.
"Most of our friends are nonindustry. We love to sail and have a lot of friends with the same interest. We hang out at the docks and the yacht club. We've been involved in several transpacific races and are having a boat built that should be the fastest 45-foot sailboat ever. We plan to enter it in the big San Francisco race in September. I may not take part in that one myself because the water is so rough there. That scares me a little."
Even when Lawrence isn't part of the crew, her influence is still onboard, thanks to her taste in decorating the vessel. The boat itself will be Pacific blue and the sails will be painted with clouds.
The children have yet to take on their parents' love of the sea. Courtney has a horse that she shows. Garrett is into dirt bikes.
"My kids are cute," Lawrence says, "and I'd love to keep them as normal as I can. Courtney is much too level-headed to go into this business. Her big kick is balancing my checkbook. She's fascinated by that. Garrett has a great sense of humor and a rasp in his voice. If it doesn't change as he grows up, I can say 'Watch out, Rod Stewart.'"
As to what may happen to Lawrence when she eventually grows young again after playing Mama, she has her dreams. Playing an ingenue before she's 50 is one, she jokes. Overcoming typecasting is another, she says more seriously.
"The world in general is far more willing to accept you as you really are than the people in this business. I run into producers and industry executives and there's always this great 'Gee, you're young' surprised look on their faces. But I know I'm lucky to be working, especially at something that is so much fun. I try to remind myself that the important thing is to keep the show on the air a few more years and have a good time doing it.
"I'll worry about what I'll do next when the time comes. Sure, as far as my ego is concerned, I'd love to play a younger woman in a movie, but it may come down to developing my own properties for that to happen. The people in this town have always known me as some other character, never as Vicki Lawrence. I'm not even sure who she is anymore."
Lawrence's supporters at NBC think that they know her, however, and have decided that she's tough enough and talented enough to handle one of their most difficult time slots in the new season. She'll be going against Tom Selleck in the second half-hour of "Magnum, P.I."
"I know NBC is pleased with the job we're doing, and believe we're gaining momentum. We're expected to hold our own against 'Magnum' with a strong second place finish in our time. Anyway, you can't tell me the audience wouldn't rather watch Mama than Selleck," she says, rolling her eyes and laughing.
Keeping "Mama's Family" on the air is as big a challenge as getting it on in the first place. Lawrence knows that but is in no way intimidated by it. "I had the best education in the world on Carol's show. It was like going to Harvard," she comments as she says goodbye to her visitor. "And I graduated with honors."
Interesting, indeed...So if everything had worked out, MF would actually have debuted in the fall of 1982, instead of being a mid-season replacement in January 1983. It would've been interesting to see what MF was like, had they not reworked it before it debuted. Very cool! :)
Here's the cover...Some of you may recognize it.
Note that the TV Week is from the week of August 21 - 27, 1983, so they were in between the 1st and 2nd seasons of "Mama's Family" on NBC.
COVER STORY
By Mary Ann Norbom
Special to The Inquirer
Vicki Lawrence didn't have the easiest of times breaking her first series into television. During the 11 years that she co-starred on "The Carol Burnett Show," Lawrence became accustomed to high ratings, good reviews, nearly automatic renewals each season and the burden of the series' success or failure weighing on someone else's shoulders.
Then, last year, Lawrence agreed to tackle "Mama's Family," starring as the character Mama whom she had played so many times before in sketch form.
Nothing ever prepared the usually confident and relaxed Lawrence, 34, for the universally negative comment that greeted a preseason screening of the pilot episode last summer. The series was pulled from NBC's fall schedule, rethought and rewritten, and given another shot at life as a mid-season replacement. The ratings since January have not been headline-makers, but the network perceived a growing audience and renewed "Mama's Family" for the 1983-84 season.
"We knew we had problems with the first couple of episodes we did last year, but we also knew we had a great cast and a lot of potential," Lawrence says now. "So I was really surprised at the negative response from the critics who screened the pilot. I also think, though, that it is not terribly uptown to say you like our show. The humor is very much mid-America."
Nevertheless, "Mama's Family" underwent a major overhaul. A new supervising producer was brought in, and Harvey Korman, who occasionally makes guest appearances, was hired to direct. It was Korman, Lawrence says, who had the greatest impact on the new tone of the show. Gone are the screaming, back-biting and bitterness that buried the early scripts. They've been replaced by characters "you can love," Lawrence says.
"Harvey made Mama mellow. She's much more fun to do now. Harvey brought out all the colors in her specturm. She's not so hard-nosed all the time. She is still nuts though."
Mama is also a good 30 years older than the actress who plays her. Lawrence wears a wig and heavily-padded dresses in the role, but no makeup. That's a throwback to the days when she was doing one sketch after another on Burnett's show and there was no time to age her before she went on as Mama.
"My husband, Al Schultz, used to be a makeup man, and he felt strongly that if we now put 'old' makeup on Mama, it would change the character too much. She would not be the same person audiences loved all those years on Carol's show. So I don't wear any makeup at all."
Lawrence and Schultz were married in 1974 after getting to know each other in the CBS makeup room. He also handled Cher while she had a show on that network, and continues to get calls (although he is long out of the beautification business) from former clients Peggy Lee and Lena Horne.
"We compared paychecks one day and realized that after I paid out the percentages to agent, business manager and such, Al was clearing more than I was," Lawrence explains. "That's when we decided he would quit makeup and handle my finances. He's also started a leasing business that handles everything from planes to computers. I don't call him my manager. Al's a businessman and it has all worked out very well."
At home, in suburban Woodland Hills, Lawrence is also very much the homemaker and mother of the couple's children, 8-year-old Courtney and 6-year-old Garrett. When she's not in costume, in fact, Lawrence looks much more suited to her domestic roles than her life of a TV star.
It is not that glamour and wealth have eluded Lawrence. It is, rather, that they have not overwhelmed her. She speaks candidly of having to sell the family condominium in Hawaii. She and the family moved there after the Burnett show went off the air. Now that work has brought her back to Los Angeles, it is too expensive to maintain the two homes, she says.
"Most of our friends are nonindustry. We love to sail and have a lot of friends with the same interest. We hang out at the docks and the yacht club. We've been involved in several transpacific races and are having a boat built that should be the fastest 45-foot sailboat ever. We plan to enter it in the big San Francisco race in September. I may not take part in that one myself because the water is so rough there. That scares me a little."
Even when Lawrence isn't part of the crew, her influence is still onboard, thanks to her taste in decorating the vessel. The boat itself will be Pacific blue and the sails will be painted with clouds.
The children have yet to take on their parents' love of the sea. Courtney has a horse that she shows. Garrett is into dirt bikes.
"My kids are cute," Lawrence says, "and I'd love to keep them as normal as I can. Courtney is much too level-headed to go into this business. Her big kick is balancing my checkbook. She's fascinated by that. Garrett has a great sense of humor and a rasp in his voice. If it doesn't change as he grows up, I can say 'Watch out, Rod Stewart.'"
As to what may happen to Lawrence when she eventually grows young again after playing Mama, she has her dreams. Playing an ingenue before she's 50 is one, she jokes. Overcoming typecasting is another, she says more seriously.
"The world in general is far more willing to accept you as you really are than the people in this business. I run into producers and industry executives and there's always this great 'Gee, you're young' surprised look on their faces. But I know I'm lucky to be working, especially at something that is so much fun. I try to remind myself that the important thing is to keep the show on the air a few more years and have a good time doing it.
"I'll worry about what I'll do next when the time comes. Sure, as far as my ego is concerned, I'd love to play a younger woman in a movie, but it may come down to developing my own properties for that to happen. The people in this town have always known me as some other character, never as Vicki Lawrence. I'm not even sure who she is anymore."
Lawrence's supporters at NBC think that they know her, however, and have decided that she's tough enough and talented enough to handle one of their most difficult time slots in the new season. She'll be going against Tom Selleck in the second half-hour of "Magnum, P.I."
"I know NBC is pleased with the job we're doing, and believe we're gaining momentum. We're expected to hold our own against 'Magnum' with a strong second place finish in our time. Anyway, you can't tell me the audience wouldn't rather watch Mama than Selleck," she says, rolling her eyes and laughing.
Keeping "Mama's Family" on the air is as big a challenge as getting it on in the first place. Lawrence knows that but is in no way intimidated by it. "I had the best education in the world on Carol's show. It was like going to Harvard," she comments as she says goodbye to her visitor. "And I graduated with honors."
Interesting, indeed...So if everything had worked out, MF would actually have debuted in the fall of 1982, instead of being a mid-season replacement in January 1983. It would've been interesting to see what MF was like, had they not reworked it before it debuted. Very cool! :)
Here's the cover...Some of you may recognize it.