A Carol Burnett Show Spin-Off Nearly Destroyed One Of The Star's Closest Friendships

"The Carol Burnett Show" is one of the TV shows with the most Emmy wins, and during its epic run, there was no shortage of recurring sketches. One of the most popular featured a Vicki Lawrence character known as Mama, a tough Southern woman surrounded by her family, played by Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, and others. "The Family" skits were so popular that the idea was spun off into its own show, "Mama's Family." Unfortunately, bringing the show to life nearly ruined the relationship between Burnett and Lawrence.

As "The Carol Burnett Show" was winding down, the idea of giving Mama her own show came about. First there was a TV movie, "Eunice," featuring all of the stars from the sketch and centering around Carol Burnett's title character. Following that, NBC greenlit the series "Mama's Family," which put Vicki Lawrence's Mama character at the center and moved Burnett and Harvey Korman to recurring or guest roles. The show never quite garnered a solid following, and after two seasons of dismal ratings, it was canceled.

Normally, that's where the story ends, but in this case, it's where the real story begins. Two years after the show was canceled, Lawrence was offered an opportunity from a different production company to revive the show in syndication, which she accepted. That made it one of the rare shows to come back from cancellation. Unfortunately, soon after, she received a similar offer from Carol Burnett herself.

When the Lorimar production company offered Vicki Lawrence the chance to bring "Mama's Family" back in syndication, the plan was to surround her with a new cast of characters and not bring back Carol Burnett or Harvey Korman. According to Lawrence in her autobiography, "Vicki! The True-Life Adventures of Miss Fireball," on the day she accepted the Lorimar offer, Burnett called her personally with a slightly different offer. Lawrence writes, "Carol called and said, 'I think I'd like to put together maybe a little syndicated show with the family characters. I'll do Eunice, you do Mama. Doesn't that sound like fun?' I said, 'It does, but I just signed with Lorimar to do "Mama's Family" for Joe.' It became a very abrupt conversation, and Carol hung up."

That led to a years-long silence between the two, which wouldn't be the first time Burnett was frosty with one of the stars of her show. Lawrence continued with the Lorimar deal, and the syndicated version of "Mama's Family" would go on to be a bigger hit than the original ever was. In fact, the show was the highest-rated first-run sitcom in syndication at the time.

As for Burnett and Lawrence, it would take years for the two to reconcile, but in 2024, Lawrence told ScreenRant that the two are back to being close friends: "I'm glad we are so close now. We're closer than we ever have been, really."

A rep for Burnett tells TVLine, "It was Carol Burnett's idea for a spinoff of 'The Family,' which resulted in 'Mama's Family,' starring Vicki Lawrence. Carol and Vicki have always stayed in touch, communicate frequently, and have a strong friendship to this day." TVLine has also reached out to Lawrence for comment.