Why “That’s My Mama” is the Flyest TV Show You’ve Never Seen

I woke up this morning with a nagging suspicion that my girlfriend was white. I peeled back the covers, checked under her hood, and lo and behold, couldn’t find much oil in her tank. In a bid to get her to that fabled mountain top MLK touted before he died for our sins, I thought of ways I could inject more blackness into her bloodstream, besides the obvious. So we nodded along to some British soul music, talked critical race theory, and even listened to a Tim Wise podcast. Then I remembered something that really showcased how beautiful black was: TV shows from the ’70s.

TV shows in the 70s were some of the first times black folks saw themselves showcased in a somewhat positive light. One show that stood out from the rest and doesn’t quite get the credit it deserves is “That’s My Mama“, starring the indomitable Clifton Davis. I have vague, wispy memories of watching this show when I was a kid. All I remember was a barbershop, some jiving and the prototypical no-nonsense mama figure.

I re-watched the first season the other day and had my head blown back. The showcase of black folks in fly fashion was damn near insane. The pilot alone featured the simply badass Judy Pace (if you know you know) and a whole host of who’s who in black entertainment. 

Don’t get me wrong; other timeless beauties graced that sound stage, like the still gorgeous at 79 years of age Lynn Moody, who played the role of Tracy Curtis Taylor:

Another fashion icon was its main star, Clifton Davis, who, if you’re a Gen Xer like me, may be better known for his role as the Reverend/Doctor Rueben Gregory in the hit ’80s series Amen, starring Sherman Heamsley. He showcased the kind of fly gear I would rock TODAY if it were at all possible (good news–it is!):

But the brother who is perhaps most well known for his iconic threads is Junior, played by another OG, Ted Lange (yes, Gen Xers, THAT Ted Lange, or as you know him, Isaac from the damn Love Boat). Every time this man appeared on the screen it went full Technicolor. Every. Single. Time.

Okay, now it’s time to play a little six degrees of sitcom separation. Clifton Davis and the actor Jeston Hairston both appeared in the hit sitcom Amen, which ran for five seasons. Theodore Wilson, who played the character Earl Chambers, also appeared as Sweet Daddy in the hit series Good Times. He also played the bootlegger in the infamous What’s Happening Doobie Brother episode. DeForest Covan, who played a barbershop patron, was the original Woodrow Anderson on Sanford and Son and also appeared in two episodes of the television sitcom Good Times, as Reverend Beasley in the episode “Something Old, Something New”. Is this my brain likely making connections where none exist? Probably. But it’s cool to imagine That’s My Mama, What’s Happening, Sanford and Son and Good Times all existing in the same sitcom universe.