Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976–1978)

Set in fictional Fernwood, Ohio, this deliriously demented serial focused on the beleaguered heroine Mary Hartman, an average American housewife. In the first year, Mary suffered the ... See full summary »

Stars:

Louise Lasser, Dabney Coleman, Mary Kay Place

Won 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 3 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Louise Lasser	...	Mary Hartman (31 episodes, 1976-1977)
Dabney Coleman	...	Merle Jeeter (30 episodes, 1976-1977)
Mary Kay Place	...	Loretta Haggers (29 episodes, 1976)
Greg Mullavey	...	Tom Hartman (27 episodes, 1976)
Graham Jarvis	...	Charlie Haggers (25 episodes, 1976)
Dody Goodman	...	Martha Shumway (21 episodes, 1976)
Philip Bruns	...	George Shumway (20 episodes, 1976)
Debralee Scott	...	Cathy Shumway (19 episodes, 1976)
Claudia Lamb	...	Heather Hartman (19 episodes, 1976)
Bruce Solomon	...	Sergeant Dennis Foley (18 episodes, 1976)
Victor Kilian	...	Raymond Larkin (18 episodes, 1976)

Storyline

Set in fictional Fernwood, Ohio, this deliriously demented serial focused on the beleaguered heroine Mary Hartman, an average American housewife. In the first year, Mary suffered the travails of mass murder, adultery, venereal disease, homosexuality, religious cults, and UFO sightings, before she finally succumbed to a nervous breakdown on a syndicated talk show.

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Plot Keywords:

spoof | cult tv | waxy yellow buildup | indecent exposure | soap opera | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 January 1976 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Filmways Television, TAT Communications Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min 30 min (325 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Norman Lear's shows were being produced at Metromedia Square in Hollywood, but there was inadequate space for this show, so they rented studio space from KTLA. The KTLA studio was across Fernwood Street, so they started calling KTLA "Fernwood", which then became the name of the fictitious town where the show is set.

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Quotes

Mary Hartman: [Mary realizes she went to elementary school with the man who has kidnapped her] Remember me, Mary Shumway? Mary Shumway?

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Connections

Referenced in An Unmarried Woman (1978)

User Reviews

A demented,glorious, masterpiece

Truly one of the greatest-and least remembered -TV shows of all time.I loved this show back in the seventies. It was a rich tapestry of comic-and touching- characters, exemplified by the naive heroine, Mary Hartman,and her friends, perhaps most unforgettable of whom was would be Country Music queen,Loretta Haggers, played by the sadly underused -and brilliant-Mary Kay Place.But then this show was rich in fine acting-Dabney Coleman, martin Mull, and Marian Mercer, among others.If the Comedy channel can rerun "soap" why cant they rerun this masterpiece?