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| Entertainment Weekly Ranks �Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman� as one of the 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time In a special soft cover book issue of the magazine, Entertainment Weekly had this to say about �Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.� Norman Lear had always been a magnet for controversy. Having unleashed �All in the Family� on the viewing public in 1971, he soon after proposed another groundbreaking concept: a soap opera parody that would premiere with a mass murder, an octogenarian flasher, and an impotent husband. Thanks, but no thanks, all three networks said. So Lear took another bold step-he sold the series in first-run syndication and created a virtual ad hoc network all his own. The 1976 show, set in the fictional town of Fernwood, Ohio, centered on Mary Hartman (Louise Lasser), a pigtailed, somewhat obtuse housewife addicted to TV commercials, whose biggest concern in life was the �waxy yellow buildup� on her kitchen floor. Lampooning both Americans� obsession with television and the medium itself, the program featured offbeat characters (an 8-year-old evangelist) and kinky plot twists (Mary�s father had plastic surgery to look like Tab Hunter-and then was played by Tab Hunter). Things only got crazier as time went on: In one episode, a neighbor drowned in a bowl of soup; in another, a TV celebrity was impaled on an aluminum Christmas tree. The first-season finale said a lot about Lear�s opinion of television. In it, Mary has a nervous breakdown and ends up (by season two) in an insane asylum-only to discover that her fellow inmates are part of the �Nielsen family,� a group chosen to represent national TV viewing habits. How would that imaginary group have described �Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman?� Hilarious, hilarious. � Tom Soter Years on the Air 1976-1977 Top Nielsen Charting Never ranked in the top 25 Emmys Won 3 [sic, see below for the only two verified Emmy Awards given to the show] (1975-76 SPECIAL CLASSIFICATION OF OUTSTANDING PROGRAM AND INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT: Ann Marcus, Jerry Adelman and Daniel Gregory Browne, writers. 1976-77 Outstanding Continuing Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series: Mary Kay Place.) The Price of Success Even as the show was scoring a critical and ratings coup, it was losing almost $50,000 each week, because of the low fees paid by local stations. The Price of Talent Lasser turned down the lead several times before finally agreeing to come aboard-for $5,000 a week and the freedom to leave after one year (she left after two) Coming Together To achieve the half-parody/half-genuine feel of the show, Lear paired writers with contrasting backgrounds, such as Ann Marcus (who had been head writer for the soap �Search for Tomorrow�) and Gail Parent (who had penned the �As the Stomach Turns� soap spoof on �The Carol Burnett Show�). |
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