I well remember watching this show when it was on originally. Except for a couple of segments, it wasn't very funny in my opinion. It was certainly outrageous, and shocking just for the sake of being shocking. It was also very tasteless at times (the whole wife beating scenario was more than a little eerie and sick; it took me awhile to warm up to Martin Mull later on when I would see him as a comedian). Lasser was certainly on something; she looked and sounded perpetually stoned. I hung on for about four months, and then I had had enough; by that time it had clearly worn out its welcome. Just recently I rented the available episodes on DVD, and it was worse than what I remembered. I admire Norman Lear for the many ways in which he has improved television by pushing the envelope, but even he didn't have a perfect track record (remember "Fernwood Tonight" and "All That Glitters?" Disasters!). "Mary Hartman" made the same mistake that "Soap" made - the writers and producers didn't know whether these shows should be comedies or dramas after awhile (Mary's kidnapping by Davy is entirely too long and padded), and started to screw around with the formats of the shows to keep them fresh, stretching out plot lines until they became stale. But more power to both shows for pushing the boundaries of television for their time.

If you like useless TV trivia, you know that Norman Lear was the first to get a flushing toilet onto television. It happened on All in the Family. Good ol' Norman was known as edgy and innovative for such things.But he pushed too far with Mary Hartman. The networks considered Mary Hartman to be even more shocking than a toilet, and they rejected it. Luckily, there were plenty of independent stations that thought that a flushing toilet was very artsy, and Mary Hartman came to life.And so we were presented with a pervert grandpa, a eunuch, death by soup, death by tree, etc. Like the flushing toilet, none of this is vital to the plot. They appear simply to shock. All in the Family didn't need the flushing toilet, but Norman did write an entire show based around the sound of a toilet flushing.Mary Hartman was a show in which each episode concerned something shocking. The writing, acting and directing ranged from exceptionally poor (Lasser) to average. None of that really mattered. The fans tuned in to see what shocking situation Mary found herself in.Mary Hartman had one hook: either Hartman wouldn't understand the shocking events that happened or she would fixate on a trivial detail. Take a gander at the glowing reviews written by those frustrated liberal arts students. They all talk about the shocking situations, but not a one of them can remember the plots.It wasn't art. It wasn't cutting edge. It wasn't even sitcom noir. It was a series of unfunny jokes delivered by a severely drug-addled D-list star about some "shocking" situation that happened.Not as well-written as Zombie Cheerleaders in the All-Night Bowlerama. Not as well-acted as My Mother the Car. Not as shocking as seeing Grandma in her nightie. The perfect gift for the average mother-in-law.

In the mid 70s, Norman Lear was riding high with hit shows like All in the Family, Maude and Sanford and Son. Then came an idea for a satirical soap opera titled Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and it was turned down by the networks. But Lear did not give up and he sold the show in syndication, where it became popular in many markets opposite the news. I remember watching MH2 when I was in my teens and to me it was one of the weirdest TV shows of the 70s. Like many of Lear's shows, it focused on controversial themes such as mass murder, VD and exhibitionism. I remember Grandpa Larkin, who was referred to in the earlier episodes as "The Fernwood Flasher" but in the later episodes he was used less and his most common line was "Where's the peanut butter?" The weirdest thing that took place on the show was the way several characters died. Coach Fedders died by drowning in a bowl of chicken soup. The Rev. Jimmy Joe Jeeter was electrocuted when a TV fell in the bathtub and Garth Gimble was impaled by a Christmas tree. Despite the controversial themes, the show had an outstanding cast, anchored by Louise Lasser, who played the titled character so well, yet in a catatonic state. There was also Greg Mullavey as her husband Tom, Dody Goodman as her mother, and Debralee Scott as her sister Cathy. Also, the Hartman's daughter Heather was played by Claudia Lamb, who later went into radio. But the one regular who had success during the show's run was Mary Kay Place, whose portrayal of country singer Loretta Haggers also let to a record album and a country hit in real-life with "Baby Boy." She wrote all of the songs she sang on the show. Also appearing were Dabney Coleman, Martin Mull, Gloria DeHaven and as an evangelist, Doris Roberts. Unfortunately due to personal problems, Lasser left the show in 1977 and the rest of the cast continued under the titled "Forever Fernwood." But it wasn't successful and it ended after 26 weeks. Hopefull someday, a cable channel will rerun all 325 episodes of MH2 instead of a scant few. It's worth seeing again.

A sharply satirical soap opera about a modern-day "Candide" (Louise Lasser) and the dysfunctional pre-fab Americana she inhabits. In the opening episodes (beginning 1/76), Mary has to contend with her impotent husband, indifferent daughter, pervert grandpa, hot-to-trot sister, and the massacre of a local family (along with their 2 goats and 8 chickens) but it seems the waxy yellow build-up on her kitchen floor subliminally affected the mass media-influenced Mary more than all the domestic drama combined. The absence of a canned laugh track can make viewers feel they're either losing their mind or experiencing a darkly comedic, penetrating pop-culture parody. Possibly both. I loved it then and I love it now!