In the season two episode, Rashomama, according to Eunice, Mama tells her something along the lines of, “you are my third child and you are my favorite.” Of course, this is Eunice’s side of the story, which I doubt was very true, but that still raises the question: How many children does Mama have? It was confirmed that Eunice is older than Vinton, because she’s referred to him as “baby brother” many times throughout the NBC era, but even if she was the third oldest, would it mean that Mama had four kids? :confused:

I wonder if this was an indirect reference to Phillip from The Family sketches on Carol Burnett or just an error?

Also, in that "Sins of the Mother" episode, we see flashbacks where Eunice is an older teenager and Vint and Iola are about 11 or 12. It's the episode when Bubba gets a little tipsy and Iola reminisces about how his mother, Eunice was when she got drunk.
BTW, it was definitely an error because in that lottery episode where Iola is filling out the numbers, she uses the birthdays of Mama's THREE kids.

There are a lot of inconsistencies with Mama's children. In Mama's Family it's pretty established that Mama has 3 children, oldest to youngest: Ellen, Eunice and Vint. BUT in the Carol Burnett Family Sketches Mama did have other children.... So maybe at the time of Rashomama they were planning on bringing back some of the other children.

Also in the Fran's Dress episode, Mama mentions having FOUR children.

I heard they were, originally, planning on bringing Phillip's character onto Mama's Family but decided not to because they felt they already had too many characters.

But in the Family Sketch where Eunice has a flashback Mama SOMEWHAT implies at the end Eunice was born out of wedlock, which would make Eunice the oldest.... In the movie Eunice it APPEARS that Phillip is older than Eunice, since at the beginning he was out of college heading for New York, it appeared Eunice was still in high school getting ready to go to a party.

So on the Carol Burnett Show, Eunice has 3 brothers, Phillip, Jack and Larry, and one sister Ellen. But Eunice once mentions a Mary Ellen, is this the same Ellen we know? Likely but who knows.... I think Vickie joked once it's a mystery how many kids Mama actually has lol

I remember once someone combined both shows and came up with their ages, oldest to youngest being: Ellen, Eunice, Jack, Larry, Vint, and Phillip

There are a lot of inconsistencies with Mama's children. In Mama's Family it's pretty established that Mama has 3 children, oldest to youngest: Ellen, Eunice and Vint. BUT in the Carol Burnett Family Sketches Mama did have other children.... So maybe at the time of Rashomama they were planning on bringing back some of the other children.

Also in the Fran's Dress episode, Mama mentions having FOUR children.

I heard they were, originally, planning on bringing Phillip's character onto Mama's Family but decided not to because they felt they already had too many characters.

But in the Family Sketch where Eunice has a flashback Mama SOMEWHAT implies at the end Eunice was born out of wedlock, which would make Eunice the oldest.... In the movie Eunice it APPEARS that Phillip is older than Eunice, since at the beginning he was out of college heading for New York, it appeared Eunice was still in high school getting ready to go to a party.

So on the Carol Burnett Show, Eunice has 3 brothers, Phillip, Jack and Larry, and one sister Ellen. But Eunice once mentions a Mary Ellen, is this the same Ellen we know? Likely but who knows.... I think Vickie joked once it's a mystery how many kids Mama actually has lol

I remember once someone combined both shows and came up with their ages, oldest to youngest being: Ellen, Eunice, Jack, Larry, Vint, and Phillip
I believe Mary Ellen was once Ellen’s full name, but by the time Mama’s Family came around, they most likely either forgot about that or just started having the characters refer to her as Ellen.

Also, another thing that is inconsistent throughout the “Mama universe” or “Mamaverse” is Eunice and Ellen’s children. Apparently, in The Family sketches, Ellen had a daughter named Mary Beth, (I at least thought she did, don’t quote me on it, lol), and another named Debbie, I think. But in Mama’s Family neither of her children are mentioned nor seen, making Ellen seem childless. And in earlier Family sketches, Eunice mentions having two boys named Bubba and Billy Joe, but in the sketch where Phillip pays a visit again all of a sudden she has two boys named Bubba and Raymond. :lol: And then when Bubba has no other alternative but to live with Mama in the syndicated episodes, there is no mention of Billy Joe, like at all. I find it hard to believe that Eunice and Ed would leave for Florida without forcing Billy Joe on Mama too, especially since it sounded like he had a bit of “demon seed” in him based off of The Family sketches. :lol:

I believe Mary Ellen was once Ellen’s full name, but by the time Mama’s Family came around, they most likely either forgot about that or just started having the characters refer to her as Ellen.

Also, another thing that is inconsistent throughout the “Mama universe” or “Mamaverse” is Eunice and Ellen’s children. Apparently, in The Family sketches, Ellen had a daughter named Mary Beth, (I at least thought she did, don’t quote me on it, lol), and another named Debbie, I think. But in Mama’s Family neither of her children are mentioned nor seen, making Ellen seem childless. And in earlier Family sketches, Eunice mentions having two boys named Bubba and Billy Joe, but in the sketch where Phillip pays a visit again all of a sudden she has two boys named Bubba and Raymond. :lol: And then when Bubba has no other alternative but to live with Mama in the syndicated episodes, there is no mention of Billy Joe, like at all. I find it hard to believe that Eunice and Ed would leave for Florida without forcing Billy Joe on Mama too, especially since it sounded like he had a bit of “demon seed” in him based off of The Family sketches. :lol:

Ellen was only referred to as Mary Ellen one time, so that's why it seemed like it MIGHT have been a different character, but I guess it's unlikely Mama would have 2 daughters named Ellen lol

I think Ellen's children were mentioned in passing in Mama's Family, in Grave Mistake... Ellen took her phone off the hook so Mama couldn't call to hit her up for a ride to the cemetery... Later on Ellen shows up, and they invite her to stay, maybe for dinner, and Ellen says, "Well I can always call them and tell them I'll be a little late, Oh I can't the phone's still off the hook!" lol, I always took it the "them" she was talking about was her kids and husband.

As far as Eunice's children..... the continuity seemed to change. In the Carol Burnett Family Sketches, Eunice has 2 children, Bubba and Billy Joel ~sometimes Raymond ~, in the NBC episodes of Mama's Family, Eunice seems to be childless, I'm almost of the mind Bubba doesn't exist in the NBC era. Absolutely NO mention of Bubba or Billy, you'd think they would have been a Vint's wedding, unless that's when Bubba was in Juvenile Hall, but he would have been there a LONG time if that's the case. Then in the syndicated episodes Bubba is revived and it appears that Bubba is Eunice's ONLY child. I think in the movie Eunice, Billy ran away, so perhaps that's what happened here as well, he ran away never to be heard from again

Ellen was only referred to as Mary Ellen one time, so that's why it seemed like it MIGHT have been a different character, but I guess it's unlikely Mama would have 2 daughters named Ellen lol

I think Ellen's children were mentioned in passing in Mama's Family, in Grave Mistake... Ellen took her phone off the hook so Mama couldn't call to hit her up for a ride to the cemetery... Later on Ellen shows up, and they invite her to stay, maybe for dinner, and Ellen says, "Well I can always call them and tell them I'll be a little late, Oh I can't the phone's still off the hook!" lol, I always took it the "them" she was talking about was her kids and husband.

As far as Eunice's children..... the continuity seemed to change. In the Carol Burnett Family Sketches, Eunice has 2 children, Bubba and Billy Joel ~sometimes Raymond ~, in the NBC episodes of Mama's Family, Eunice seems to be childless, I'm almost of the mind Bubba doesn't exist in the NBC era. Absolutely NO mention of Bubba or Billy, you'd think they would have been a Vint's wedding, unless that's when Bubba was in Juvenile Hall, but he would have been there a LONG time if that's the case. Then in the syndicated episodes Bubba is revived and it appears that Bubba is Eunice's ONLY child. I think in the movie Eunice, Billy ran away, so perhaps that's what happened here as well, he ran away never to be heard from again
I agree with everything you said. When Vicki had her Mamas Family reunion in the early 90s they joked how many family inconsistencies the show had. It was based on the Carol Burnett skits and was always transformed.
Having said that there is one ironic example how something as early as the Burnett skits was consistent with the syndication years. You are correct in the early sketches Eunice spoke of having 2 boys. In the skit when Ed, Eunice, and Mama come to the school to talk to the teacher, the boy's name is Bubba and there is no mention of another boy. He may exist but it almost appears he was their only child.
Just an interesting tid bit shows so far apart somehow had one consistency :)

The biggest inconsistency ever is the in the TV CBS movie Eunice, Mama dies. Somehow that gets forgotten :lol:

Having said that there is one ironic example how something as early as the Burnett skits was consistent with the syndication years. You are correct in the early sketches Eunice spoke of having 2 boys. In the skit when Ed, Eunice, and Mama come to the school to talk to the teacher, the boy's name is Bubba and there is no mention of another boy. He may exist but it almost appears he was their only child.
But they did mention Billy Joe. When Ed asked who was the snitcher who snitched on “poor” Bubba, the teacher said it was Billy Joe, Bubba’s brother. And later in the sketch, Eunice goes on one of her rants about how she wanted a cute, little girl and ended up getting “two fat, awful boys.”

But they did mention Billy Joe. When Ed asked who was the snitcher who snitched on “poor” Bubba, the teacher said it was Billy Joe, Bubba’s brother. And later in the sketch, Eunice goes on one of her rants about how she wanted a cute, little girl and ended up getting “two fat, awful boys.”
Good catch. Its been awhile since I saw that skit and forgot the other kid was mentioned. I take back my statement.

In the season two episode, Rashomama, according to Eunice, Mama tells her something along the lines of, “you are my third child and you are my favorite.” Of course, this is Eunice’s side of the story, which I doubt was very true, but that still raises the question: How many children does Mama have? It was confirmed that Eunice is older than Vinton, because she’s referred to him as “baby brother” many times throughout the NBC era, but even if she was the third oldest, would it mean that Mama had four kids? :confused:

I wonder if this was an indirect reference to Phillip from The Family sketches on Carol Burnett or just an error?


For these types of things I like to error on the side of the show's "universe." Meaning that if it comes down to an error in the real world production of the show vs the fictional world of Mama's Family, I'll side with the make believe(and make it real) and say that she was referring to the long lost Philip.:)

For these types of things I like to error on the side of the show's "universe." Meaning that if it comes down to an error in the real world production of the show vs the fictional world of Mama's Family, I'll side with the make believe(and make it real) and say that she was referring to the long lost Philip.:)


I heard they were planning on bringing Phillip's character back so it could be right. It would have been neat if Ken Berry played a duo role as Phillip also and have Phillip and Vint be twins... Vint the dumb one and Phillip the smart one lol

That could have worked. Ken already played his dad Carl in that flashback episode Mama was trying to calm an expecting Naomi.

Dont forget Larry. He was Eunice's brother in the Christmas show on Carol Burnett and played by Alan Alda. He is never mentioned again (I dont believe).

One of my favorite Mama skits ever. The entire script is performed to not to let Alan finish a sentence. Mama, Ed, and Eunice interrupt him mid sentence every time. And lets not forget the coloring book they gave him for Christmas because it was too sissified for their kids :lol:

Dont forget Larry. He was Eunice's brother in the Christmas show on Carol Burnett and played by Alan Alda. He is never mentioned again (I dont believe).

One of my favorite Mama skits ever. The entire script is performed to not to let Alan finish a sentence. Mama, Ed, and Eunice interrupt him mid sentence every time. And lets not forget the coloring book they gave him for Christmas because it was too sissified for their kids :lol:


Larry and Jack were never mentioned again by name..... In the Mama's Birthday sketch, though, Mama did mention them in passing, "I am disgusted with your BROTHERS, Eunice, not even a card"