Talk:Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman/Archive 1

Airing of show
It's quite bizarre that this show has never been re-broadcast in its entirety, especially considering how wildly popular it was during its initial run, when it was a pop-culture phenomenon. Since it went off in the air in 1978, however, it has only returned to the US airwaves four times.

1) 1980? A few episodes were shown by ABC in the 11:30 PM time-slot. However, the kidnapping of American hostages in Iran resulted in the creation of "Nightline" (called at that time "America Held Hostage"), which took over the time-slot and then stayed on the air forever.

2) 1983 The show was offered in syndication, and was broadcast by a number of major-market UHF stations, but it was treated like "filler", much the same way old shows like "Hogan's Heroes" were used.  It was generally broadcast in the 11:00 or 11:30 PM slot, and not promoted very well.  Consequently, the ratings were mediocre, and most stations dropped it after a few months.

3) 1992? The cable channel Lifetime started showing two episodes a night on Saturday nights, but since the show was designed for five-episodes-a-week, it was difficult to keep audiences interested with just a few shows a week, and they dropped it after a few months.

4) 2001? TV Land created the "Kitschen" format, and showed the first 30 episodes, but then stopped.  When fans complained, they were told by TV Land that Sony (which owns the show) was charging more for the subsequent episodes, and the ratings they'd gotten didn't justify the commitment of programming or $$.

So, it seems that Sony is pricing the show out of the budget of most cable channels. One can only wonder why they're holding onto it, instead of allowing the episodes to be aired and then to build up a new audience.

It will probably also be a very long time before Sony puts the show on DVD, since there's no audience clamoring for it, and it would be difficult to market it, given that there are 325 episodes, and no real "seasons" to cut it up into chunks.

Alas, I suspect that those of us who love and treasure MHMH will all die out before it finally sees the light of TV again. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.140.230.164 (talk), 2005-08-16, 15:02 Z


 * It was on Bravo (the Canadian channel) for a while in the mid-90s, along with Fernwood 2-Night and Soap. Really great shows all -- glad to see MH2 is going to be on DVD (but all 325 episodes? -- that'll be a big collection). --The Invisible Man, 18:06, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

Two questions: Louise Lasser, according to IMDB, was in 31 episodes. How can 1) the show exist without her 2) and how can you fit 325 episodes into two seasons? The math doesn't seem right. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.120.37.9 (talk) 13:26, 14 July 2011 (UTC)
 * IMDb doesn't always have the number of episodes an actor appeared in a series correct. I don't know why but I suspect it has something to do with having to officially confirm it or something as I have seen episode counts for actors change. In other words, not all content on IMDb is complete. As for why there are 325 show for two seasons - the series is a satirical soap opera that presumably aired like a soap opera - daily. Daily airings = high episode count. 24.72.176.240 (talk) 17:48, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

1974
The end credits of the first episode say it's a 1974 production — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.239.250.100 (talk) 11:49, 15 January 2014 (UTC)
 * Yes, there is a discrepancy between the production years and the airing times. The first couple episodes were made in 1974, then many after that in 1975. Did they really produce these episodes a year ahead of time?  Stevie is the man!  Talk • Work 11:50, 9 June 2015 (UTC)

Yes. They actually did produce the first two episodes in late 1974, so, the copyright year is correct. Those first two episodes were what are called pilot episodes. They were produced on a budget of $100,000 USD and were shown to owners of television stations as a demonstration, with the hopes of getting a commitment to purchase the content for a full season. In 1975, Normal Lear actually invited a lot of station owner's to his personal residence and showed the program to them. After he got a commitment from them to order more episodes, his company went into production in 1975, so, several episodes were actually made in 1975 and have a 1975 copyright year. 192.168.1.1 (talk) 23:33 pm, 15, March 2017 (EDT) — Preceding 72.28.176.67 comment added by 72.28.176.67 (talk) 23:33, 15 March 2017 (UTC)

455 episodes?
How can there be 455 episodes in 2 seasons? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.239.250.100 (talk) 11:52, 15 January 2014 (UTC)


 * The show aired daily, five days a week. In one year, that would be about 250 episodes (50 weeks times 5 episodes = 250).   Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 07:33, 2 August 2015 (UTC)


 * Actually, there were 325 episodes over 2 season. Season 1 had 130 episodes. The cast and crew took breaks every few weeks, so, they never reached anywhere near the 250 episode mark for one year; however, season 2 was 195 episodes, so, they definitely took less time off. 192.168.1.1 (talk) 07:01 pm, 14, March 2017 (EDT) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.28.176.67 (talk) 23:01, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

Multiple Issues Tagging
The following two tags were at the beginning of the article without any justification whatsoever on the talk page.

While the tag for missing sources may have been valid at the time, the article now contains many credible citations. If someone feels otherwise and can rovide more detailed guidance, please feel freed to add the tag again at that time.

As for the other tag, indicating that the article is too detailed, there is, again, no justification provided for the inclusion of this tag. The article is shorter than many, many TV shows that were far less influential than Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. Compare, for example, the article on the TV show What's Happening. That article is much longer than this one and it has no such tag for "too much detail." That is just oen example. In fact, most articles on TV shows are longer than the article for Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. If someone can make a case to the contrary, please do so, and provide some type of justification on the talk page.

72.28.176.67 (talk) 01:39, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

Premise is awful
I don't think I've ever read such a pretentious and over-the-top premise in any other article (about a TV show!) on WP. It's pure drivel. I could say more, but why? Read it. Try to read it. And prepare for a wave of nausea. Wow. 98.194.39.86 (talk) 17:13, 10 July 2017 (UTC)

Needs a Critique section / Reviews
This show was not successful. It was panned by the critics and public alike. It did not do well at first, and not surprisingly, has rarely been seen since its initial run. If one reads this article, it is easy to get the wrong impression that the show was "good" (whatever that means). It wasn't.

Like any other TV show or Film, there needs to be a section here pointing to the critical ratings and reviews of the show. Both negative and positive (if there are any). To leave that out creates a very one-sided, almost revisionist view of this long-forgotten series. The best thing about this series IMHO is that it spun-off Fernwood 2Night. 98.194.39.86 (talk) 17:22, 10 July 2017 (UTC)
 * S.J. Perelman gave it a rave review: ‘magnificent spoofing of life in America’. See his letter to Pat Kavanagh, 18 October, 1976 in ‘’Don’t Tread on Me’’. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:44B8:3102:BB00:BC4C:B0D9:9F8B:9717 (talk) 08:31, 24 June 2020 (UTC)

BTW,the show was popular enough to be spoofed n the Carol Burnett show. It was a cultural phenomenon. Kalisto123 (talk) 00:26, 13 March 2021 (UTC)

Gay Characters
This is precisely why I no longer contribute. Mary Hartman had 2 prominently featured gay characters, Ed and Howard McCullough. Their story arc involved one character's unwillingness to come out. There is no mention of either character on this page. I would believe the omission was an oversight if it weren't for the inclusion of the mother on this page. In her story arc, she kept trying to convert her son Howard to heterosexuality and asked the title character to kiss him. It was then Howard was willing to come out as he finally accepted his own sexuality. It was a seminal moment deserving of its own page -- let alone inclusion in this one. Wikipedia's erasing of the history and contributions of women, minorities and lgbt characters and people continues. Kalisto123 (talk) 00:13, 13 March 2021 (UTC)