The Mummies

Sydney Morning Herald

Monday December 23, 1996

Lesly Walker

AMERICAN sitcom: you love it or loathe it. Unfortunately, The Mummies does not come within a cooee of lovability.

This episode, Mummies Day, is a veritable cringe of toothpaste smiles, Ken and Barbie characters and one-liners that have you waiting for a clash of cymbals just to remind you a pun has been fired. Nay, intended.

There is a plot. Three women friends discover their aging mums are visiting town at the same time, so they decide on a cosy "let's get ta know y'all" mother's day brunch.

Each mum turns up with a dark secret to impart to her daughter. Jeanne (Barbara Billingsley ) has a spunky 26-year-old for a fiance. Peggy (Florence Henderson, who should have stuck with The Brady Bunch) has, during her first holiday in 35 years, gone overboard on the chianti and an Italian - and, bang, a baby is on the way. And Bev (June Lockhart ) is gripped with guilt about keeping her three-year-old divorce from her little girl.

Susie (Audra Lindley ), mother of Tom (don't ask), is the prize bitch of the batch, a wolf in a sheep's wig, who wheedles her way into the confidences of the Mummies and plays the bug-eyed innocent as she manipulates her way around the brunch party, dropping bombshells.

And what do you know. Turns out the gals all knew any how.

Oh, Ethan Phillips stars as the Omelette Chef and that bears as much significance as anything else to the rest of the program. Give it the flip.

© 1996 Sydney Morning Herald

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