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<blockquote data-quote="Daniel Avery" data-source="post: 239313" data-attributes="member: 27">Yes, the NBC seasons tried to be more like the original sketches than the syndicated revival, though they never went as far in recapturing the pointed subtext. The syndicated version was a typical sitcom with very little in the way of &quot;social messages&quot; or any of that.&nbsp; It was all about the laughs.I recall Harvey Korman doing &quot;introductions&quot; to the NBC episodes, spoofing how Alastair Cooke did intros for Masterpiece Theater. Korman also was a producer of the show, which was why his Ed Higgins character didn&#039;t appear as much in the actual show.&nbsp; Dorothy Lyman was still playing Opal Gardner on All My Children while playing Naomi.&nbsp; Since AMC taped in New York and MF in Hollywood, they had to write her out of some episodes, though when the show came back she had left AMC and was available all the time.&nbsp; I read that the writers had originally intended Aunt Fran to be more of a floozy, not the uptight spinster that we got; after it was obvious that Lyman&#039;s Naomi was more fun as the floozy of the piece, they rewrote Fran, which upset Rue McClanahan since it was not the character type she had signed on to play.&nbsp; I think the writers made the right call, because it was much easier to have Mama calling her daughter-in-law a tramp rather than her blood relative.&nbsp;&nbsp; Betty White&#039;s Ellen and Carol Burnett&#039;s Eunice were always better in small doses, in my opinion; if either had been a regular, she might have overshadowed Vicki Lawrence on her own show.&nbsp;&nbsp; When they did show up it was fun, but the show was meant to be Vicki&#039;s turn to shine.I confess I prefer the syndicated years.&nbsp; The changes to the cast were very well done.&nbsp; Buzz and Sonya (mentioned once and then never referred to again) had not been drawn very deeply.&nbsp; Their replacement (their cousin Bubba) was introduced with built-in issues courtesy of his flighty parents (Ed and Eunice), and over the course of the series he turned into a responsible (if silly) young adult thanks to Thelma&#039;s tough love.&nbsp; In place of Thelma&#039;s prissy spinster sister, they gave us prissy spinster neighbor Iola Boylen, one of my favorite sitcom characters ever.&nbsp; Thelma needed a talk-to character who wasn&#039;t in the family, and Beverly Archer played Iola with just the right amount of awkwardness and weirdness (Thelma: &quot;I swear, she just gets loonier by the minute!&quot;).&nbsp; Naomi was written a little less intelligently than the NBC years, but it worked because she was so totally devoted to her dumb-as-a-rock husband and was blind to his many faults.&nbsp; Thelma was a little less stodgy and might even be referred to as a &quot;cool grandma&quot;: her eventual acceptance of Naomi into the family, along with the good job she did with setting Bubba on the right path, shows that Thelma wasn&#039;t the terrible parent that the original sketches made her out to be.&nbsp; Burnett never appeared in the syndicated version because she and Joe Hamilton had divorced--she got the estate in Hawaii, and he got &quot;Mama&quot;--but the new cast gelled so well that she wasn&#039;t really needed.&nbsp; There were several years where Burnett and Lawrence didn&#039;t communicate due to the issues with the show (Burnett was upset that Lawrence signed on to revive the series, feeling that Lawrence had &quot;chosen sides&quot; in the divorce) but they eventually reconciled.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Daniel Avery, post: 239313, member: 27"] Yes, the NBC seasons tried to be more like the original sketches than the syndicated revival, though they never went as far in recapturing the pointed subtext. The syndicated version was a typical sitcom with very little in the way of "social messages" or any of that. It was all about the laughs. I recall Harvey Korman doing "introductions" to the NBC episodes, spoofing how Alastair Cooke did intros for [I]Masterpiece Theater. [/I] Korman also[I] [/I]was a producer of the show, which was why his Ed Higgins character didn't appear as much in the actual show. Dorothy Lyman was still playing Opal Gardner on[I] All My Children [/I]while playing Naomi. Since AMC taped in New York and MF in Hollywood, they had to write her out of some episodes, though when the show came back she had left AMC and was available all the time. I read that the writers had originally intended Aunt Fran to be more of a floozy, not the uptight spinster that we got; after it was obvious that Lyman's Naomi was more fun as the floozy of the piece, they rewrote Fran, which upset Rue McClanahan since it was not the character type she had signed on to play. I think the writers made the right call, because it was much easier to have Mama calling her daughter-in-law a tramp rather than her blood relative. Betty White's Ellen and Carol Burnett's Eunice were always better in small doses, in my opinion; if either had been a regular, she might have overshadowed Vicki Lawrence on her own show. When they did show up it was fun, but the show was meant to be Vicki's turn to shine. I confess I prefer the syndicated years. The changes to the cast were very well done. Buzz and Sonya (mentioned once and then never referred to again) had not been drawn very deeply. Their replacement (their cousin Bubba) was introduced with built-in issues courtesy of his flighty parents (Ed and Eunice), and over the course of the series he turned into a responsible (if silly) young adult thanks to Thelma's tough love. In place of Thelma's prissy spinster sister, they gave us prissy spinster neighbor Iola Boylen, one of my favorite sitcom characters ever. Thelma needed a talk-to character who wasn't in the family, and Beverly Archer played Iola with just the right amount of awkwardness and weirdness (Thelma: "I swear, she just gets loonier by the minute!"). Naomi was written a little less intelligently than the NBC years, but it worked because she was so totally devoted to her dumb-as-a-rock husband and was blind to his many faults. Thelma was a little less stodgy and might even be referred to as a "cool grandma": her eventual acceptance of Naomi into the family, along with the good job she did with setting Bubba on the right path, shows that Thelma wasn't the terrible parent that the original sketches made her out to be. Burnett never appeared in the syndicated version because she and Joe Hamilton had divorced--she got the estate in Hawaii, and he got "Mama"--but the new cast gelled so well that she wasn't really needed. There were several years where Burnett and Lawrence didn't communicate due to the issues with the show (Burnett was upset that Lawrence signed on to revive the series, feeling that Lawrence had "chosen sides" in the divorce) but they eventually reconciled. [/QUOTE]

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Who played JR Ewing?