Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman was a short-lived send up of daytime soap operas in the tradition of
Soap. Unlike
Soap,
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman actually ran every day like a real
soap opera. The show only lasted two season, running from 1976 to 1977. The title role of Mary Hartman was played by
Louise Lasser. Despite its short run, it incubated a number of comedic talents that made respectable if not popular comedy movies in the '80s. The show had
Ed Begley Jr,
Dabney Coleman, and
Martin Mull in its supporting cast. A spin off called
Fernwood 2Night introduced the world to
Fred Willard and
Harry Shearer.
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman was produced by
Norman Lear. Lear was coming off of
All in the Family and his new show should have been gold but Lear tried to push the TV envelope further. Story lines revolved around things like drug abuse, wife beating, mass murder, flashing, swinging, and
impotence. While
All in the Family managed to get away with as much, its humor was more apparent.
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman humor was more subtle. Casual viewers and typical brain dead TV execs were never sure if
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman was in fact
parody.
Another thing that might have crippled
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman's acceptance was the show also made fun of the TV commercials that would support it. The Mary Hartman character was a brain dead housewife that not only believed everything she saw in TV commercials but would base her life around the information they provided. Despite having a father who was a notorious town
flasher and a daughter kidnapped by a
mass murderer, she was most concerned over
waxy yellow buildup on her kitchen floor.
None of the three networks at that time (
ABC,
NBC,
CBS) would touch it. This was decades before secondary networks appeared on the dial, like
FOX,
UPN, and
WB who have been more willing to broadcast controversial shows to gain younger viewers and set themselves apart from the
stodgy old guard networks. Lear managed to get a number of independent stations around the nation to sign the show, who typically ran it after the 11:00 pm
nightly news.
When it hit the airwaves in 1976,
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman instantly became the most talked about show that season. It was
The Osbournes of its age. However, this was also before
David Letterman radically altered people's bedtimes, and an 11:30 pm time slot did not provide the viewership needed to support a daily
sitcom being broadcast on a handful of indie stations.
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman folded after two seasons (however, being a daily show, they made over 300 episodes).