Aunt Effie (Dorothy Van) has always been one of my favorite minor characters on "MF".

Which episode is your favorite that she guest starred in?

Mine is probably "An Ill Wind". I love the rum balls bit.

I voted for After the fall !

"An Ill Wind" got my vote. I always liked that episode, partly because Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.
Effie's one line in "The Wedding" is great.

^
"Is this the line for the food?"----that always makes me laugh...sounds like something someone in my family would say.

As much as I love the show, Aunt Effie is one character I never really cared for. I think it's because the laughs were cheap whenever she was on, i.e. calling Vint "Bozo", etc. I just didn't find her funny.

The Ill Wind with the rum balls is my favorite.

I also liked the episode where Aunt Effie changed the message on her answering machine to spite Thelma. :lol:

^The episode with Effie's answering machine was "No Room at the Inn". She wasn't actually seen but she was heard on the phone.

The Wedding Part 2

Anyone else notice that in seasons 1 & 2, Effie is Thelma’s sister with the last name Crowley. In seasons 3-5, she’s Thelma’s sister-in-law with the last name Harper. I wonder why they bothered changing this.

I did not notice that, but was she ever specifically mentioned as Thelma and Fran's sister? If so, that's something I do not remember.

I don't think Effie was ever Thelma and Fran's sister. She was certainly never explicitly mentioned as one. I never even inferred she was one. I think she was probably their mother's younger sister in the NBC years, or an unmarried Crowley cousin, and then changed her to their sister-in-law for syndication (for whatever reason).