80s TV Ladies - Episode 308: Mama’s Family | Giving Thanks for Dorothy Lyman

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https://www.80stvladies.com/episode/...-dorothy-lyman

“The roles I’ve played on soap operas are infinitely superior to any roles I’ve played anywhere else. They are about women and women’s stories. The men are just there to screw you -- or screw you over.” -- Dorothy Lyman

The Conversation

• One-day of work a month on Search For Tomorrow was enough to keep Dorothy from “serving cheeseburgers.” The pay was $400 -- and rent in NY was only $65!
• COMING CLEAN ABOUT SOAPS: Soap operas addressed abuse and abortion and mental illness and many other issues long before prime time TV. “I think it helped a lot of women stuck at home feeling the same things.”
• ON SOAP OPERA FANS: “I couldn’t buy myself a beer anywhere in America the whole time I was on the soaps. The fans are different. They feel like they know you.”
• WHEN CAROL BURNETT CALLS: “Carol Burnett and Vicki Lawrence would watch me as Opal on ‘All My Children’ during their lunch hour on ‘The Carol Burnett Show’ -- that was their ritual. And that’s how I got the job on ‘Mama’s Family’.”
• A COUPLA WHITE CHICKS SITTING AROUND TALKING: on directing the long-running, Off-Broadway hit starring Susan Sarandon and Eileen Brennan.
• TRY AGAIN: Mama’s Family was completely reconceived after the first pilot. “We shot one that was really awful. I think the problem was, it was too mean. And it wasn’t funny at all.”
• THERE’S THE DOOR: After directing three seasons of The Nanny, Dorothy says, “I never got another job directing a single moment of television. I spent many years thinking I’d done something terribly wrong. But it was because I was over 50 -- and I was a woman.”
• What do you do when Hollywood directing gigs go away? You buy a chicken farm in upstate New York and start writing plays, of course!
• ON CHANGE: “Change is where it’s at. Nothing stays the same. And I’ve always been one of those people -- if I wanted to do something, I did it.”
• ON DIRECTING: “It fits my personality. I’m bossy.”

So join Susana and Sharon -- and Dorothy -- as they talk Milton Berle, Edge of Night, Celine Dion, visiting Egypt, Another World, Bette Midler, The Women’s Room, Fran Drescher, baked croutons -- and “Where do you keep your Emmys?”

[BestTVever]

I really enjoyed this. I wonder if she is referring to the original Mamas Family pilot that could be Alien Marriage. However Aunt Fran was in that episode. I think memories fade but she is helping Mama fold laundry in that episode (as she talks about in this interview). Vicki had said that the show was given a green light without a pilot. After filming one or two episodes not only did they think Mama was too mean but the show did not make sense. It was never explained how Vint and his kids came to live there. Also Aunt Fran was supposed to be Mama's nemesis. They retooled show then had Dorothy move in and become Mama's nemesis as the daughter in law. Rue was already under contract so they had to pay her either way and decided to keep her. Dorothy was supposed to be the nosey neighbor sort of like Iola.

I like the retooling and this is the reason I prefer the NBC years. Naomi is the one person that successfully put Mama in her place. That was a rare thing and it was wonderful when it happened. When syndication happened, Naomi became sort of dumb and Mama became the smart sensible one.