The BEST episodes of Mama's Family season 4
Every episode of Mama's Family season 4, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Mama's Family season 4!
Mama's Family mined humor from a squabbling family in the Midwestern blue collar suburb of Raytown. The noisy clan was headed by "Mama" Thelma, a buxom, gray-haired widow with sharp opinions and a sharper tongue who shared her small house with her high-strung sister Fran, a journalist for a local paper. Mama's lazy, dimwitted son, Vint, a locksmith by trade, moved in at the start of the series with his troublesome teenage children, Buzz and Sonja, after his wife run off to become a Las Vegas show-girl. Much to Mama's disgust, Vint soon took up with the flirtatious neighbor Naomi. The two where married in early 1983, and Naomi moved in too. Further uproar was caused by the periodic visits from Mama's two married daughter's, the foul mouthed Eunice and the snobbish Ellen. Ed was Eunice's Dolt of a husband. In the Fall of 86 Mama's Family returned to TV in first-run syndication. Fran had recently passed (Rue McClanahan was now starring in The Golden Girls) and Ed and Eunice had moved to Florida, leaving behind their son Bubba as he finishes his time in Juvenile Hall and forcing him to move in. Meanwhile, neighbor Iola Boylen makes the house's acquaintance and becomes a regular visitor with her unique charm.
#1 - Flounder's Day
Season 4 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/31/1987
After being unfairly beat out 50 years ago, Mama finally has a chance to sing in the annual Founder's Day festival when an audition is held to find a new singer of the town anthem "Raytown, O Raytown"
#2 - Mama's Girls
Season 4 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/6/1988
Trying to get Aunt Effie to follow her doctor's advice and exercise leads Mama to start a senior citizens's tap-dancing troupe.
#3 - The Key to the Crime
Season 4 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/10/1987
A burglar known as the Courteous Crook is robbing and subsequently cleaning homes all over Raytown. When Vinton is accused of being the Crook, Mama and Iola set out to find the real culprit.
#4 - Breaking Up Is Hard to Do
Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/17/1987
Vinton and Naomi are separated, yet living in the same house, and driving Mama crazy in the process.
#5 - Child's Play
Season 4 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/14/1987
Reverend and Mrs. Meechum ask Mama to look after their unruly grandson, Eugene, for the day. However, the little monster proves to be very difficult to handle, even for disciplinarian Mama.
#6 - Educating Mama
Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/26/1987
Bubba and Mama both begin night school; Bubba must attend in order to graduate, and Mama attends because she never got her diploma. However, the first assignment reminds Mama of the reason she dropped out of school to begin with.
#7 - A Big Hand for Mama
Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/24/1987
After a brush with death involving lightning and the courthouse clock's minute hand, Mama has a cheery and generous new outlook on life that her family quickly takes advantage of.
#8 - Teacher's Pet
Season 4 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/7/1987
Mama is smitten with her night school teacher, but she does not know how to get his attention... so she turns to Iola and Naomi for help.
#9 - Zirconias Are a Girl's Best Friend
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/3/1987
When Mama becomes addicted to TV home shopping, her family must intervene when the credit card bill arrives.
#10 - Mama on Jeopardy!
Season 4 - Episode 19 - Aired 2/13/1988
Mama finds herself competing on Jeopardy!.
#11 - A Room with No View
Season 4 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/19/1987
Vint and Naomi are tired of living in the basement, so they agree to switch rooms with Bubba. Everyone is happy with the new arrangement, except Mama.
#12 - Bubba's Double Date
Season 4 - Episode 22 - Aired 3/5/1988
Wanda Lynn, Bubba's sexy date for the prom, stands him up at the last minute and Bubba cannot find anyone else. Without Bubba's knowledge, Mama sets him up with Iola's nerdy niece, Vernette.
#13 - Gift Horse
Season 4 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/28/1987
Mama has a yard sale and tries to sell off Iola's gaudy homemade gifts, hoping to raise the money to buy a VCR. They have the sale while Iola's out of town, but she comes back sooner than expected.
#14 - I Do, I Don't
Season 4 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/23/1988
After attending a family wedding, Bubba, Mama, and Iola fantasize about what married life would be like with the objects of their affections.
#15 - Mama Goes Hawaiian (2)
Season 4 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/27/1988
Vinton plays a round of golf with three men who mistakenly believe that he is a stock market insider, and his "advice" actually causes them to triple their money. To thank him, they invite him and his family to a farewell party given by their corporate boss - the "beach bum" Mama has been trying to avoid.
#16 - Mama Sees Red
Season 4 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/12/1987
A man from the State Department asks the Harpers to host a Russian national named Olga for one day, as part of "Project Heartland." Unfortunately, their actions persuade her to defect to America.
#17 - Bed and Breakdown
Season 4 - Episode 23 - Aired 3/12/1988
When Raytown is crowded due to the Tri-State Fair, the Harpers decide to rent out a room in their house in order to make some money. However, they end up overbooking and needing to rent out three rooms, leading to chaos between all the houseguests.
#18 - Naomi's Identity Crisis
Season 4 - Episode 24 - Aired 3/19/1988
Naomi loses her memory after Mama accidentally hits her head with the door. When Naomi asks Mama what kind of person she used to be, Mama convinces her that she was the perfect daughter-in-law who loved to do housework.
#19 - A Friend Indeed
Season 4 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/16/1988
When Iola starts spending all her time with a new friend named Arlene, the Harpers are relieved to be free of her, but Mama starts to get jealous of Iola's new friendship.
#20 - Pomp and Circumstance
Season 4 - Episode 25 - Aired 3/26/1988
Bubba and Mama are graduating from high school, but devastating news for Bubba forces Valedictorian Mama to ensure that she and Bubba and make it to the graduation ceremony in time.
#21 - Mama Mania
Season 4 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/21/1987
Didi, an old friend of Naomi's and a professional wrestler, talks Naomi into being a last-minute substitute for her ailing tag-team partner for a match. When Mama accidentally knocks Didi out just before the match, Naomi and Mama have to wrestle against Didi's weighty opponents.
#22 - The Sins of the Mother
Season 4 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/9/1988
After Bubba comes home late and drunk, Mama is enraged and gives him an excessive punishment. He does not know why she is being so irrational, until Iola tells him (via flashback) about a similar incident involving Eunice when she was Bubba's age.
#23 - Workman's Holiday
Season 4 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/5/1987
When Mama embarrasses Vinton at work with the "Binky Bunny" lunchbox she made for him when he was a kid, she must find a way to cure him of his trauma before he loses his job.
#24 - Mama Gets the Bird
Season 4 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/30/1988
After Uncle Oscar passes away, Mama is willed his gabby pet parrot. The bird then starts reciting verses in rhyme, which the family thinks are clues that will lead them to Oscar's rumored hidden treasure.
#25 - Mama Goes Hawaiian (1)
Season 4 - Episode 20 - Aired 2/20/1988
After winning a trip to Hawaii on Jeopardy!, Mama and her family go on the trip, along with Iola. Iola and Bubba each find romance, Mama is pestered by a man she believes is a beach bum, and Naomi is confined to the hotel room with a terrible sunburn.