Webster always called Alex Karras' character by his first name George, but he always called Katherine "ma'am" and never by her first name. Does anybody know why that was? If there was an explanation given for it I missed it and it always seemed kind of weird to me.

Ed.

If I remember correctly, Webster told her early on that "ma'am" sounds close to "mom". I suppose that Katherine isn't biologically her his mother and his real mom recently died, so it would be strange to suddenly call her that. But Webster none-the-less, sees Katherine as the closest thing that he now has for a mother in light of his actual mother's death.

Yep. What TMC says is correct. In the episode, Katherine got upset that Webster calls George "George", but calls her "Ma'am"... until Webster says it was because it was close to "Mom".

But perhaps he should have called her "Mum" to avoid any controversy. (plus, it sounds closest to "Mom" than any of the other vowels anyway)

But perhaps he should have called her "Mum" to avoid any controversy. (plus, it sounds closest to "Mom" than any of the other vowels anyway)

I will confess however, that I'm in agreement with those who say (https://www.quora.com/Whats-a-terrible-TV-show-that-is-not-talked-about-enough-when-discussing-bad-shows/answer/Jon-Mixon-1) that Webster referring to Katherine as "ma'am" becomes grating after a while instead of coming across as cute or endearing. It's like how on the latter seasons of Diff'rent Strokes, Mr. Drummond after he remarried, was always referred to as "Mister D" by his new stepson Sam. Maybe I'm just personally funny about children giving adults (especially parental or authority figures) nicknames.

It bothered me after watch an episode. If he called one guardian George then he should have called the other one Kate. I did not like Webster calling her ma'am every minute.