Mary Hartman! Mary Hartman! - Any Fans Out There?

[Yavin4]

For the DU kids, there was a time before satellite and cable. A time when only three networks held a monopoly on TV shows. Most shows were banal. However, there were a few exceptions, one was Mary Hartman! Mary Hartman! A truly odd, weird great TV show that made it onto the national stage.

It was a spoof of soap operas done as a comedy, and it was on five nights a week! I remember the song that Mary's country singer neighbor, played by Mary Kay Place, sang:

Baby boy, Baby boy
Sweet Charlie, You're My big ole baby boy
You're my life and you're my boy
You're my precious bed time toy.

[Bozita]

1. and ...Fernwood Tonight

Those two shows do more to mark the 70's TV than any other pairing.

[stevedeshazer]

2. Waxy yellow buildup!

I had a thing for her sister, Cathy. Last time I saw a mouth like that, it had a hook in it!

on edit: I still have Mary Kay Place's country/western record.

[Yavin4]

3. Didn't She Become Hotsy Totsy on Welcome Back Kotter?

Ahhh pre-cable TV!

[stevedeshazer]

8. Actually

I think Welcome Back Kotter was before Mary Hartman X 2....

[mitchum]

4. I used to skip school to watch it

the only TV show I watched in the 70s. I'm waiting for a DVD collection

[caledesi]

5. OMG! I loved that show. The dress, the braids....funny.

[madrchsod]

6. never missed it !!!

and of course fernwood

[Syrinx]

7. It wasn't a network show was it?

Wasn't it syndicated?

I was kind of young when it aired, but I still remember Mary Hartman worrying about the "waxy yellow buildup" on her kitchen floor. It was a truly weird and interesting show!

[Lisa0825]

9. I was a little young for it, but

my parents figured I wouldn't understand the sex jokes, so they let me watch. I loved it just for the quirkiness of it. I remember when she was stressed out, and started climbing into her kitchen cabinet. Plus, she looked so much like my neighbor, who also had red hair in braids and had a very soap-worthy life.

I also loved Soap, another great soap spoof!

[MariaS]

10. Who was it that drown

in the bowl of chicken soup?

[The Zanti Regent]

13. Coach Leroy Fedders drowned in the chicken soup.

Remember when Coach's funeral was held in Mary's kitchen (becasue that was where he died), and Loretta sang "That Old Black Magic" during the funeral?

The only time I laughed harder was when Mary and Tom were stoned in the audience when Faith healer Durelda Deremus tried to heal Loretta, she took one step out of the wheelchair and tripped and Durelda had to start all over again!

[PartyPooper]

11. I met Mary Kay Place at a signing and she autographed her album.

Remember, "Vitamin L" (for love!)???

That was 30 years ago! The show was a hoot. And, btw, Louise Lasser was the ex-wife of Woody Allen.

I miss the show terribly.

And, I just loved Mary Kay Place!

:loveya:

[Lindsey]

12. I loved that show!

It was truly cutting edge. The mass murder in the neighborhood and all anyone could talk about was the chickens! I was 18, my husband was in the navy and we lived in naval housing. When the guys were on sea trials (it was post Vietnam) all of the women would go over to each others apts. & watch it. It came on at 11p.m. in Southern California. I met Mary Kay Place too at an event in L.A. a few years ago and she is truly an incredibly nice person. I told her how much I loved her work and how I thought Mary Hartman paved the way for quirky comedy. She was very humble and complemented (I'm on pain meds. for my back so I'm a little out there- sorry).

[Bozita]

14. I saw an episode on TVland or Nick2 last fall

It was a late Saturday night.

[MinnFats]

15. 'Everything will be OK and we'll all go to the ....

House of Pancakes.'


poor mary's solution to everything.

o, god that show was funny.

her husband tom...that squawking mom....the father-son preacher team, and the kid gets electrocuted when the tv falls into the bathtub...(i know, it sounds awful, but really it was hilarious).