Would Eunice have worked……

[CJMD03]

……if she had appeared during the syndicated years? Carol Burnett was staying away due to personal reasons and she and Vicki Lawrence were kind of in a feud at the time, so that is why Eunice never appeared (that and he ex-husband was running the show)? I think it’s best Eunice stayed away. Can’t see her making any relevant syndicated years appearances.

[TheLittleFaerie]

Originally Posted by CJMD03

……if she had appeared during the syndicated years? Carol Burnett was staying away due to personal reasons and she and Vicki Lawrence were kind of in a feud at the time, so that is why Eunice never appeared (that and he ex-husband was running the show)? I think it’s best Eunice stayed away. Can’t see her making any relevant syndicated years appearances.

I've asked this and wondered it a lot.... I'd LOVE to see how Eunice would have interacted with syndicated Mama. And how Eunice, the one who usually had all the power would have been in a totally Mama-dominated universe. Would Eunice back down to Mama in a fight like everyone else does? Or would Eunice still be able to out-argue Mama?

On the Carol Burnett Show, Eunice would often tell Mama to, "SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP OLD LADY!" I just can't see anyone yelling that to syndicated Mama and living lol

My personal take is, like everyone else, Eunice's character would be toned down and she would be more like a darker version of Lucy, and goofier maybe. I thought Eunice was majorly toned down in Rashomama, Eunice's last appearance... She was still Eunice, but it was her only episode in which she didn't dominate the WHOLE episode, and the whole episode didn't center around Eunice.

[rusty spike]

If only the Carol and Joe Hamilton Universe would have been amicable instead of hostile, then most of us fans would have welcomed more Eunice. I think that we fans should be grateful that we have the Eunice centered episodes from the NBC years. It would have been nice to have Korman as Ed and Conway as Mickey making appearances as well.

[TheLittleFaerie]

Ed, as well as Eunice, was not shy about putting Mama in her place, so I'd just like to see how that would work out with syndicated Mama lol... BUT Ed was MAJORLY toned down in his 3 Mama's Family appearances, and much goofier.... The hostile Ed Higgins was gone.

[schmave]

Honestly, I don't think it would have worked. The syndicated episodes were so formulaic, with the same cast in basically every episode, that there wasn't much room for anyone else. The fact that Betty White came back for one episode always struck me as the final farewell to her character, the NBC years as a whole and the rest of the family.
Now all of that said, my least favorite thing about the syndicated years is that the further along the show went, the original family was largely forgotten ... probably because the writers knew that the way they were running the show, there wasn't room for, say, Buzz and Sonya to come back. Ellen wasn't returning, Fran and Eunice definitely weren't returning and it wouldn't make sense for Ed to come back without Eunice. Nor, possibly, would Harvey Korman have done so anyway without Carol Burnett.
The only reason Ed and Eunice were mentioned at all was that Bubba was their son.

[TheLittleFaerie]

Originally Posted by schmave

Honestly, I don't think it would have worked. The syndicated episodes were so formulaic, with the same cast in basically every episode, that there wasn't much room for anyone else. The fact that Betty White came back for one episode always struck me as the final farewell to her character, the NBC years as a whole and the rest of the family.
Now all of that said, my least favorite thing about the syndicated years is that the further along the show went, the original family was largely forgotten ... probably because the writers knew that the way they were running the show, there wasn't room for, say, Buzz and Sonya to come back. Ellen wasn't returning, Fran and Eunice definitely weren't returning and it wouldn't make sense for Ed to come back without Eunice. Nor, possibly, would Harvey Korman have done so anyway without Carol Burnett.
The only reason Ed and Eunice were mentioned at all was that Bubba was their son.

I think I've mentioned it but in the much later syndicated episodes, when Mama mentions Eunice, she doesn't always mention her in a negative way, some times she will just recall a normal memory of her.... I thought it was very strange how she wrote Eunice a sweet letter from Hawaii, rather than Ellen. If you were just tuning into to season 5 or 6, you might not ever even know there was a huge feud between Eunice and Mama

Honestly I would have LOVED for Eunice to be on a syndicated episode just for a break from common place, I did sorta get tired of the formulaic way of the syndicated years.... I remember when I watched Pomp and Circumstance for the first time, I REALLY thought Eunice was going to make an appearance and was really let down when she didn't

[schmave]

I picked up watching Mama's Family with the syndicated episodes, and after 1990 at that, and I agree the family was being presented in a considerably different way by then. Maybe the writers figured there just wasn't much reason for conflict with Eunice anymore since she wasn't coming back, at least not in the person of Carol Burnett.
Of course, probably only the most eagle-eyed observers back then knew why Carol Burnett had nothing to do with the syndicated run, so I couldn't blame you or anyone else (including me) for thinking she might come back.
I also assume she chose not to participate in the Mama's Family reunion on Vicki, if she was invited at all. I believe the feud was over by then.