Complex TVMain MenuIntroductionVideos for IntroductionComplexity in ContextBeginningsVideos for Chapter 2AuthorshipCharactersComprehensionEvaluationSerial MelodramaOrienting ParatextsTransmedia StorytellingEndsVideo GalleryTable of ContentsJason Mittell06e96b1b57c0e09d70492af49d984ee2f68945deNew York University Press
MARY HARTMAN, MARY HARTMAN fused soap opera aesthetics with an ironic dry wit to create an unexpected sensation in the mid-1970s
12015-03-18T07:31:12-07:00Jason Mittell06e96b1b57c0e09d70492af49d984ee2f68945de13501One of the most distinctive examples of soap opera's influence outside of daytime, MARY HARTMAN's distinctive tone suggests both parody of soap operas and the useful incorporation of the genre's popular appeal.plain2015-03-18T07:31:12-07:00Critical Commons1976VideoMary Hartman, Mary HartmanSyndicated2015-03-18T14:25:32ZJason Mittell06e96b1b57c0e09d70492af49d984ee2f68945de
12015-03-15T15:25:44-07:00p. 240-241: MARY HARTMAN MARY HARTMAN2plain2015-03-18T07:31:36-07:00Serialization and explicit connections to soap operas returned to television outside the daytime schedule through the unusual vehicle of comedy in the late 1970s, with the dual innovators Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and Soap. The former was a highly idiosyncratic hit that emerged from Norman Lear’s successful production team in 1976, explicitly embracing the form, production values, and pacing of daytime soap operas via daily airings. Rejected by all of the national networks, Mary Hartman was distributed to local stations through the system of first-run syndication, airing in various time slots outside prime time but most frequently in the daily stripped late-night spot of 11 p.m. to avoid controversy over its risqué content. The program married over-the-top storylines involving a small-town mass murderer and an elderly flasher with quotidian details of domestic drudgery, most notably Mary’s obsession with the “waxy yellow buildup” on her kitchen floor, creating a unique blend of the outrageous and the mundane. Although the series embraced a dry, absurdist wit and was certainly best understood as a comedy, it featured none of the era’s sitcom conventions of laugh tracks, studio audiences, or even actual jokes; instead, the humor came through its conventional soap opera style of unpolished videotaped staging and melodramatic music cues played straight, but with a quirky small-town setting and an ambiguous tone that most resembles future television innovator Twin Peaks. This allegiance to soap opera was affirmed behind the scenes, as Lear hired a team of soap opera veterans to write the series, led by Ann Marcus, who had previously written for both daytime soaps and prime time Peyton Place but never before (or again) for comedies. Thus Mary Hartman retains much of the feel of daytime soaps in its emphasis on relationships, deliberate pacing, redundant dialogue, and lack of overt sitcom style.