http://www.bonethefish.com/viewtopics.php?2503

Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman is a 1976 syndicated soap opera parody produced by Norman Lear and starring Louise Lasser. The storyline followed Mary Hartman, played by Louise Lasser, her husband Tom (Greg Mullavey), her mother Mrs. Martha 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. When Lasser left the show in 1977, it was re-branded 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, after only 26 weeks on the air, along with the talk show parody spin-off Fernwood 2-Night. A total of 130 half-hour episodes were produced.

To tell you the truth, I've never seen the entire series. It never gets that far whenever it's in syndication.

This isn't terribly original, but I'd have to say MH2 boned the fish when Louise Lasser left. She actually departed the show about 10 episodes before the end of season 2, which I didn't know until watching the episodes in the new DVD set. I loved the whole series up till that point, for all it's high and low points, brilliant sequences and dead spots, but once Mary left Fernwood, I found my interest level plummeted. I almost had to force myself through the last 10 shows, despite it otherwise having the same cast and writers/producers as always. But force myself through it I did, if only to see whether Lasser would come back for the last season 2 episode. She did. I won't say any more.

https://web.archive.org/web/20070225141752/http://jumptheshark.com/


Other Thoughts:

This show never jumped, and it introduced some great comedic actors. In some ways, because it was so bizarre, it was the "Twin Peaks" of its day. The way it made fun of the soaps was just great.
A lost gem in its own right, and particularly for giving us Fernwood/America 2 Night.
never jumped. but i'm queer for martin mull. louise lasser, too.
This show never jumped. The actors always gave brilliantly subversively funny performances. the show was originally on every day--like a real soap opera -- except this was written by comedy writers. comedy. The show ran for 300+ episodes within in 19 months until it was canceled after star Louise Lasser quit from exhaustion. 300+ shows in 19 months. Hey! FRIENDS cast!! Now that you have your fat payhikes...I hope it means the network will cancel your ****ty show next year because of your price tag. Friend's Cast of weak schtick-sters will do us a favor by just leaving for other jobs..nowhere ! (except Kudrow who has become the Gen-Xer TERRI GARR) I digress... Meanwhile the brilliant & TALENTED MH2 cast continues to work and will be reunited at LA's Museum of TV 6/20/2000 !! Louise Lasser turned neurosis into an art form. (wiping my teeth with my hand).
This show is proof positive that some people are their own worst enemy.
one of my goals is to lose enough weight to be able to put on my mhmh tshirt i bought at the ann arbor art fair in 1976
A classic!! Starting with a great call at the beginning: Mary Hartman, Mary Haaartman... who was that blond who wanted to be a singer - i forget her name. Baby boy, baby boy Sweet Charlie you're my big ol' baby boy.. Too many wonderful moments - a comedic soap that was both warm and pathetic. Thanks Louise Lasser! loved it!
This show was one of the most daring and inventive shows ever produced. When I was a teen I would stay up late and salivate over Mary and her sister. It still remains the ultimate parody of the soap opera formula as well as a searing satire of life in the 1970's. My own personal favorites were Martin Mull (Gimble I think, and he was replaced by his twin brother) and Dabney Coleman as the manipulative and cynical mayor. By nature the show could not sustain itself but considering that it aired five days a week it's longevity is a testament to the brilliant writer's and cast that gave us this seminal treasure.
How about when that f**king idiot drowned in his bowl of chicken soup. Hello! After they thought up that idea, I hope the writers all lit up cigars. This was a great show? Maybe if he'd drowned in a bowl of minestrone, it would have been a classic? At what point can a show kill someone off by having that person DROWN IN A BOWL OF SOUP and not be ridiculed for it? Jesus.
This show never jumped. It was one of the funniest shows of all time. A true parody of soap operas (the show that Soap tried to be). So many cliches (such as bringing back Martin Mull as Barth Gimble the twin brother of Garth Gimble who died). It also was the birth of Fernwood Tonight (America Tonight) another great satire of the talk show format.
I remember the exact episode that this show jumped the shark, and never recovered: the first episode of the second season... The first season climaxed with Mary having a nervous breakdown on live television. Louise Lasser's performance was one of the best performances ever on television. Why she didn't win an Emmy Award on the spot was beyond me. Unfortunately, from such a high point, there was nowhere to go but down. The second season opener found Mary in a mental institution, surrounded by bad actors and bad writing. The one clever part was when the mental institution became one of the Neilson Family... but the show lost its relevance. I even remember a Newsweek article about how boring the show was during that second season. I watched every single episode, but it never regained its former glory.
The most amazing thing about this series is...it was supposed to be a spoof/satire/parody of the soap opera,yet it had many loyal viewers who wouldn't miss an episode and relished all the characters and situations just as they would a real soap opera.I feel this series gave many viewers who felt actual soap operas below them(but really wanted to see them anyway)a chance to fulfill their desires of watching one without really watching one,if you see what I mean.
When Rev. Jimmy Joe Jeeter got electrocuted while watching TV in the bathtub. Lucy Ball even commented on this, remarking that it was a perverse form of comedy.
This show jump? No way! Classic spoof of soaps. The coach drowning in the bowl of soup. Mary getting VD and telling Loretta Haggers about and says, 'Oh, just a little thing I got from Tom.' May trying to commit suicide and collapsing on Mary's floor to which Mary says, 'Oh my. And I wanted to wax my floor today.' The Fernwood Flasher! Six chickens and a goat. What a trully off the wall odd ball show! How could you not love it? Oh, and by the way. The country singer was Loretta Hagger played by Mary Kay Place. You should get the album she released as Loretta Haggers. Trully great! Wish I could still see this one. Late night TV at its best!
I loved this show in its first year: such a deft parody of the soaps. I loved Mary Kay Place as Loretta. I think she won a well-deserved emmy. I do agree that the show jumped around the time of "Mary's nervous breakdown". A previous poster commented on how it was a shame Lasser didn't win an emmy for this performance. I'm not sure there was much acting involved in her nervous breakdown. Lasser was going through a very turbulent period in her life at the time and couldn't handle the pressures of stardom that the show brought upon her. Lasser also guest-hosted Saturday Night Live during this period and it was a disaster. That's the reason why Lorne Michaels, SNL's producer, refused to include this particular episode in the syndication package for his show. Anyway a great, twisted show in its first year. It did, however, give birth to Fernwood 2-Nite, which is something to be thankful for. Lastly, I'd like to thank the poster above who pointed out the disparity in salaries between Mary Hartman's cast and the cast of the over-rated, inexplicably popular Friends. Excepting Lisa Kudrow & Matthew Perry, who have some talent, it sickens me that so many can be entertained by so little. And the so little are making so much #$@^@^$# money for it.
A truly creative show. It was on every night and was still funny, that is something that is rarely achieved (Leno's staff certainly can't accomplish that).
Having always been a big Fernwood fan (thank you, 80's Nick-at-Nite), I've always heard great things about this show, and when TV Land's Kitschen finally brings it to my tv, it is incredibly dull. I don't know if the 15 or so episodes I've seen are from the inferior second season, but they certainly seem more soap opera than soap opera parody. Once again, cult=suck.
This is a show that got much funnier to me with age - my age, that is! When I was a kid I thought it was stupid, but when I saw it in reruns years later I really got what was so funny and brilliant about it! Even the simplest things like Louise Lasser solving the world's problems and arguments by shouting out in that monotone voice "Let's a-wl go out to In-tuh-national House of Pancakes!" The town full of living cartoon characters too! It's like "Andy Griffith and Lawrence Welk" goes insane!
As an 11-year-old watching when this first came on, I couldn't make much sense of the humor. Since the only soaps I had ever seen were "Dark Shadows" and "Soap" I really had nothing to compare this to. "Soap" had a laugh track and I did understand it better, but I have to say, the funniest moment on this show had to be when Loretta appeared on "The Dinah Shore Show" and ruined her career. That entire episode was hysterically funny! In fact years later I had the pleasure of meeting Dinah Shore in person and I got to tell her that this episode was the best thing I'd ever seen her in. She laughed and said it was a lot of fun to do. I'm glad this all morphed into "Fernwood 2night" and "America 2night."
This was one of the funniest shows of all times. I remember watching it as a teenager with my father (never thought he had that great of a sense of humor until watching MHMH, SNL, or Fernwood Tonight with him). Met Martin Mull at an art museum showing of some of his paintings (very bizarre artwork, but really interesting) and after a very interesting talk to the audience, I approached him and asked him, "who was impaled by the Christmas tree in the closet? Was it Barth or Garth Gimble? He said without batting an eye,"It was Garth, because Barth went on to host Fernwood Tonight!" Really nice guy. I believe our county art museum bought a couple of his paintings. Anyway, all the characters in the show were hysterically funny,(the guy drowning in the chicken soup was sooo funny-didn't Mary say that she killed him with her chicken soup?) Mary's sister was annoying, but necessary. She went on to be Hotsy-Totsy in Welcome Back Kotter, didn't she? (I am relying on my 30 year memories here, help me out.) My favorite character would have to be Loretta, a big ol' country western star. When she screwed up her career on the Dinah Shore show, wasn't it because she made a stupid remark that the "Jews killed our saviour, Jesus Christ?" Like I said, the memory ain't that great. What a bunch of loons. MHMH did suffer when LL was busted for possession of coke.
This show remained faithful to its concept from start to finish. It did not jump the shark.
This show never jumped the shark, and if anyone had a brain in his Hollywood head, it would be in reruns everywhere. From drowning in a bowl of chicken soup to being impaled on a Christmas Tree, to hosting a funeral in one's kitchen, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman was always hilarious and always very well done.
"Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" never jumped the shark thanks to the incredible folks who made this series work so well. Even though it was a parody of soaps, the writing and acting was top notch and the viewer cared about the characters. Louise Lasser was phenomenal as the spaced-out, sex-starved, pop culture subscribing typical/atypical 1970's American housewife. The supporting cast (notably Mary Kay Place, who won an Emmy for Best Actress in a Supporting Role/Comedy in 1977) was absolutely on par with Ms. Lasser. Seeing Leroy Fedders (Norm Alden) drown in Mary's chicken soup, Garth Gimble (Martin Mull) impaled by an aluminum Christmas tree stand, and the little Reverend Jimmy Joe Jeeter (Sparky Marcus) electrocuted in his bathtub after a TV he was watching fell in, even made death funny. If TV Land ever gets the cojones to really commit to this program and run it in its entirety, at a reasonable hour, on a daily basis, then the cable subscribers of the U.S. will once again discover the magic that was Mary.
When Norman Lear chose not to renew Bruce Solomon's contract because he was asking for too much money. Little did Lear know how important he was to the show.
MARY HARTMAN, MARY HARTMAN was a highly amusing spoof of daytime dramas that was a welcome change from the usual late night, after the news TV fare. I remember watching this faithfully followed by ALL THAT GLITTERS when they were on. Louise Lasser's deadpan delivery as the put-upon Mary was a delight and she was surrounded by a very talented supporting cast. Greg Mullavey as her husband Tom, Graham Jarvis and Mary Kay Place as the Haggars, Dody Goodman, Debralee Scott, Phil Bruns, etc. This show wasn't for every taste and I believe it was probably better appareciated by people who watch soap operas and I enjoyed its brief run on late night. The show didn't jump the shark until it morphed into FERNWOOD TONIGHT, which was a disaster.
Loved this show... never jumped. I was 15 when Mary had her nervous breakdown on television. It gave me the chills when I saw this performance. This show was ground breaking and the American public are too stupid to appreciate this show or anything like it that may come along some day. Ignorant, stupid Americans only appreciate reality shows and programs with all shoot em up and kill em themes. Dialogue and characters...what's that?

I agree with the above comment that says the show jumped in the 2nd season. The series also went into decline after Martin Mull and Dabney Coleman joined the cast. I don't like either character, both are annoying. Season 2 isn't without it's good moments, but seems to pale in comparison to the excellent 1st season. The writing in season 2 tends to go for shock value, rather than the 1st season formula of good writing combined with bizarre comedy spoofing the soap opera genre. Forever Fernwood got back to basics and the quality of the writing improved, but it was too late. After the lackluster 2nd season of Mary Hartman, interest in the series declined, and Forever Fernwood ended after a 26 week run of 130 episodes.

I've had the Mary Hartman complete series DVD for over a year now, started watching some episodes after I recieved it. But starting this week, I've decided to go back to the beginning, follow the original schedule and watch one episode each evening of the week Monday thru Friday. I plan to view all 325 episodes, provided I can make it thru all of season 2. :lol: If I stick to the plan, I'll watch the final episode on July 1, 2016.

Mary Hartman is one of those tragic TV characters. An american housewife who strives to help other people solve their problems, while at the same time, unable to solve her own, and her own world eventually caves in around her.