Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Soap Opera/Sitcom/Satire |
| Running time | 30 minutes per episode |
| Creator(s) | Jerry Adelman Daniel Gregory Browne Ann Marcus |
| Starring | Louise Lasser Greg Mullavey Mary Kay Place Graham Jarvis Debralee Scott Dody Goodman Philip Bruns Claudia Lamb Victor Kilian et al |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Original channel | Syndicated |
| Original run | January 6, 1976–1977 |
| No. of episodes | 307 |
| IMDb profile | |
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (sometimes abbreviated as MH2) was a 1976-1977 syndicated prime-time soap opera parody produced by Norman Lear and directed by Joan Darling. The soap was written by sitcom writer Gail Parent and soap writer Ann Marcus, who was best known for her work on Search for Tomorrow.
The show's title was repeated twice, because Lear and the writers believed that everything that was said on a soap opera was said twice. Lear conceived Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman as satire, but it was viewed as so controversial that many stations aired it well after their 11 P.M. newscasts. The irony was that while Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman dealt with many of the same topics found in episodes of daytime soap operas, the topics were called by their names (impotence, sexual perversion) instead of being referred to in hushed tones and euphemisms; all the while the cast had their tongues firmly planted in their cheeks. For this reason, the series was even more controversial than it might otherwise have been.
In 1977, the similarly-themed Soap was released, but, unlike Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Soap played itself more like a traditional sitcom. Something that made the very similar shows also very different was that MH2, while being a soap parody, played like an actual soap, in that there was no studio audience or laugh track, there were tight close-ups of characters' faces, and the show aired five days a week with no repeats throughout the year.
The storyline followed Mary Hartman, played by Louise Lasser, her husband Tom (Greg Mullavey), her mother Mrs. Shumway (Dody Goodman), and Mary’s best friend and next-door neighbor, Loretta Haggers, (Mary Kay Place) and Loretta's much older husband Charlie ("Baby Boy") Haggers, played by Graham Jarvis. Other cast members included Debralee Scott, Renee Taylor, Reva Rose, Martin Mull (as both Garth Gimble and Barth Gimble), Dabney Coleman, Marian Mercer and Doris Roberts.
The series took place in the fictional town of Fernwood, Ohio (named for Fernwood Avenue which runs behind the KTLA/Tribune Studios where the show taped).
In its first episode, MH2 addressed a family that had been mass-murdered (including the goats and chickens) and the "Fernwood Flasher", who turned out to be Mary's grandfather. Characters on the show died in several bizarre ways, including bathtub electrocution, drowning in chicken soup, and impalation on an aluminum Christmas tree.
Mary Hartman had a nationally televised nervous breakdown on "The David Susskind Show" at the end of the first season. Mary found herself in a psychiatric ward and delighted to be part of their selected Nielsen Ratings "family".
When Lasser left the show in 1977, it was rebranded Forever Fernwood and followed the trials and tribulations of Mary's family and friends after she ran away with a policeman. The series finally ended in 1978, along with the talk show parody spin-off Fernwood 2-Night.
Mary Kay Place was nominated for a Grammy Award for the album Tonite! At the Capri Lounge, Loretta Haggers on which she sang as her MH2 character, Loretta Haggers. One of the songs Place wrote for the album, "Baby Boy", climbed to the Top 60 on Billboard's Pop Charts, and #3 on the country charts, in 1976. Place also won an Emmy for her performance on the show. The show's writers realized Loretta Haggers' newfound fame made it harder to keep her character in Fernwood, so they devised a storyline wherein the country and western star makes an anti-semitic, career-shattering remark on the Dinah Shore talk show.
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman was syndicated on local stations briefly in 1982, and enjoyed some short-lived air time on the television channel TV Land in 2002. Aside from the two-volume videocassette issued in the 1980s and bootlegged videos, the show is difficult to find on any format. The show's frustrated group of fans is unable to watch most of the episodes from this series.
In 2000, many of the original cast appeared on a panel for a Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman retrospective at the Museum of Television and Radio in Beverly Hills, CA. The panel discussion was taped for the museum's archives.
[edit] Video releases
- The Best of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman — Volume I. Videocassette. Embassy Home Entertainment.
- The Best of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman — Volume II. Videocassette. Embassy Home Entertainment.
