Everybody is tired of chauffeuring Thelma around. With Sonja going for her license, Thelma gets driving lessons from Vint, Naomi, Ellen, and even Aunt Fran. All end up in disaster but Thelma wants a hat down at Niedermeyer's department store which has been on hold for her for a week. Desperate she takes a chance after wrecking Ellen's car, Thelma probably didn't think it was as dangerous as going to the Department of Motor Vehicles to get a permit for driving. Of course, she has to put with lines and people directing her to the wrong place. Anyway, Mama's experience behind the wheels is quite humorous at times. Of course, Vint and Naomi teach her in the living room. Still I remember Mama getting her license after all that trouble. You are never too old to drive or learn something new.
2 Reviews
A rare dud episode.
ronnybee211210 January 2024
Warning: Spoilers
This is a pretty weak and lame episode.
Mama Thelma Harper wants to learn to drive a car.
She has so much trouble learning how to drive that you might think she is learning to fly a helicopter or perhaps learning to pilot a submarine. It is funny to a point but it is way overdone until it is just annoying. I've known several ladies in real-life that knew how to drive a stick-shift car with manual brakes and manual steering in the 1950's with no trouble at all,so seeing all the trouble Mama has learning to drive a car with an automatic transmission,power steering and power brakes in the 1980's is kind of hard to believe or to be very-sympathetic about. Mama wrecks 2 cars before this episode is halfway-over! Even with car insurance,this has to be a serious unplanned and unnecessary financial hit for the family !
Next,there is a manufactured crisis that involves Mama getting a phone call from a store about a hat of some sort that Mama wanted.
Apparently another lady is interested in this one hat that the store has so Mama Thelma is now under pressure to go pick up the hat at this store before the other woman does. Mama goes and gets the hat,then after getting the hat,for some unexplained reason Mama has to go to the DMV and get her driver's license before the DMV closes.(?!) When I finally saw the hat that all this fussing and rushing-around was about I wanted to scream! This has to be the ugliest,most hideous hat I've ever seen. It looks like a cheerleader's pom-pom for heaven's sake! Yuck. I don't think any woman would be caught dead in this hat,it fits almost like a bathing-cap!
At Mama's next stop,the DMV,Mama gets flustered and is very rude towards the man behind the counter. Mama is having problems following the very-same directions that everyone else at the DMV is managing to follow without problems,and she handles it like an angry 4 year-old. It is way-overdone and it is just not funny,in my opinion.
Now I must say that I really do like this whole tv series,as most of the episodes are well-written,funny,and well-done by everyone involved. Just the law of averages will give us an occasional dud episode and I am afraid that this episode here is one of the duds. The character 'Mama Harper' has her limitations just like everyone-else does and those limits are on-display front-and-center here for all to see in this episode.
This episode has it's moments but overall it is way-overdone and not believable or very-funny in my opinion. A rare dud episode. 3/10.
Mama Thelma Harper wants to learn to drive a car.
She has so much trouble learning how to drive that you might think she is learning to fly a helicopter or perhaps learning to pilot a submarine. It is funny to a point but it is way overdone until it is just annoying. I've known several ladies in real-life that knew how to drive a stick-shift car with manual brakes and manual steering in the 1950's with no trouble at all,so seeing all the trouble Mama has learning to drive a car with an automatic transmission,power steering and power brakes in the 1980's is kind of hard to believe or to be very-sympathetic about. Mama wrecks 2 cars before this episode is halfway-over! Even with car insurance,this has to be a serious unplanned and unnecessary financial hit for the family !
Next,there is a manufactured crisis that involves Mama getting a phone call from a store about a hat of some sort that Mama wanted.
Apparently another lady is interested in this one hat that the store has so Mama Thelma is now under pressure to go pick up the hat at this store before the other woman does. Mama goes and gets the hat,then after getting the hat,for some unexplained reason Mama has to go to the DMV and get her driver's license before the DMV closes.(?!) When I finally saw the hat that all this fussing and rushing-around was about I wanted to scream! This has to be the ugliest,most hideous hat I've ever seen. It looks like a cheerleader's pom-pom for heaven's sake! Yuck. I don't think any woman would be caught dead in this hat,it fits almost like a bathing-cap!
At Mama's next stop,the DMV,Mama gets flustered and is very rude towards the man behind the counter. Mama is having problems following the very-same directions that everyone else at the DMV is managing to follow without problems,and she handles it like an angry 4 year-old. It is way-overdone and it is just not funny,in my opinion.
Now I must say that I really do like this whole tv series,as most of the episodes are well-written,funny,and well-done by everyone involved. Just the law of averages will give us an occasional dud episode and I am afraid that this episode here is one of the duds. The character 'Mama Harper' has her limitations just like everyone-else does and those limits are on-display front-and-center here for all to see in this episode.
This episode has it's moments but overall it is way-overdone and not believable or very-funny in my opinion. A rare dud episode. 3/10.
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