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.
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.