Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
Encyclopedia
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman is an American soap opera
parody
that aired in daily (weekday) syndication from January 1976 to May 1977. The series was produced by Norman Lear
, directed by Joan Darling
and starred Louise Lasser
. The series writers were Gail Parent
and Ann Marcus
.
The show's title was the eponymous character's name stated twice, because Lear and the writers believed that everything that was said on a soap opera was said twice.
In 2004 and 2007, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman was ranked #21 and #26 on "TV Guide's Top Cult Shows Ever".
, but it was viewed as so controversial that many stations aired it well after their 11 P.M. newscasts. The irony was that while Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman dealt with many of the same topics found in episodes of daytime soap operas, the topics were called by their names (impotence, sexual perversion) instead of being referred to in the hushed tones and euphemisms typically favored by "straight" soaps, although the cast had a tongue-in-cheek
performance style. For this reason, the series was even more controversial than it might otherwise have been.
The title sequences, which were somewhat suitable for soaps of the day, was a shot of pictures, planters, etc. that were near the dining room window at the Shumway home.
The storyline follows unhappy housewife Mary Hartman (née Shumway), played by Louise Lasser
, her slightly unfaithful husband Tom (Greg Mullavey), her forgetful and somewhat daffy mother Mrs. Martha Shumway (Dody Goodman
) who tended to talk more to her plants, and Mary’s best friend and next-door neighbor, aspiring country singer Loretta Haggers (Mary Kay Place
), and Loretta's much older husband Charlie "Baby Boy" Haggers, played by Graham Jarvis
.
Other cast members included Debralee Scott
, who played Cathy Shumway, Mary's maneater sister; Philip Bruns (and for a few episodes, Tab Hunter
), who played George Shumway, Martha's husband and Mary and Cathy's father; Victor Kilian
, who played Grandpa Raymond Larkin, Martha's father, who was eventually revealed to be the Fernwood Flasher; Claudia Lamb
, who played Heather Hartman, Tom and Mary's troubled daughter, who had, unfortunately, witnessed the massacre of the Lombardi family (including the goats and chickens); Salome Jens
, who played Tom's co-worker, Mae Olinski, with whom he had an affair; Bruce Solomon, who played Sgt. Dennis Foley, a police officer who liked Mary, whom she eventually ran off with (see Forever Fernwood, below); Martin Mull
, as both wife-beater Garth Gimble and his twin brother, talk show host, Barth Gimble; Norman Alden
as Coach Leroy Fedders, Tom's former High School coach, who ended up drowning in chicken soup; Reva Rose
as Blanche Fedders, Coach Fedders' constantly protesting and militant wife; Susan Browning
, who played Garth's wife, Pat, the target of his abuse; Sparky Marcus
, who played Jimmy Joe Jeeter, child evangelist
, who perished when a TV set fell into the bathtub electrocuting him; Dabney Coleman
, who played Merle Jeeter, Fernwood's slightly devious mayor and Jimmy Joe's father; Marian Mercer
, who played Wanda Rittenhouse Jeeter, a widow of a city commissioner, and a former sanitarium mate of Mary's who became Jeeter's second wife while also carrying on a bisexual relationship with their maid, Lila; Gloria DeHaven
as CB radio aficionado Annie "Tippytoes" Wylie, a bisexual who also had an affair with Tom Hartman; Orson Bean
, who played one of Fernwood's clergymen, Reverend Brim; George Furth
, who played Reverend Standfast, who helped Mary, under duress, through the hostage crisis with Davey Jessup (Will Seltzer); Doris Roberts
, who played Dorelda Doremus, a faith healer
; Michael Lembeck
, who played local television reporter Clete Meizenheimer; Andrew Rubin, who played his co-reporter, Jesus Jarerra; and Archie Hahn
, who played Harold Clemens, a reporter for the Fernwood Courier.
The series took place in the fictional town of Fernwood, Ohio. Although there is a real Fernwood, Ohio, in the United States (located in Jefferson County, Ohio
), the town in the series was not based on it, but was instead named for Fernwood Avenue, which runs behind the KTLA
/Sunset Bronson Studios where the show taped.
In its first episode, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman addressed the Lombardi family of five that had been mass-murdered (including the goats and chickens) by young Davey Jessup, and had been witnessed by Mary's daughter, Heather; and the "Fernwood Flasher", who turned out to be Mary's grandfather, Raymond Larkin. Characters on the show died in several bizarre ways, including bathtub electrocution
(Jimmy Joe Jeeter), drowning
in chicken soup
(Coach Leroy Fedders), and impalement
on an aluminum Christmas tree
(Garth Gimble).
Mary Hartman had a nationally televised nervous breakdown
on The David Susskind
Show at the end of the first season. Mary then found herself in a psychiatric ward, and she was delighted to be part of their selected Nielsen ratings
"family". One of her sanitarium mates, widowed Wanda Rittenhouse (Marian Mercer) would be more prominent, when she married Merle Jeeter, the mayor of Fernwood.
parody spin-off Fernwood 2-Night. A total of 130 half-hour episodes were produced.
Mary Kay Place was nominated for a Grammy Award
for the album Tonite! At the Capri Lounge, Loretta Haggers on which she sang as her Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman character, Loretta Haggers. The album featured appearances by Dolly Parton
and Willie Nelson
, and one of its songs, "Baby Boy", climbed to the Top 60 on Billboard
s Pop Charts, and #3 on the country charts, in 1976. Place also won an Emmy Award
for her performance on the show. The show's writers realized Loretta Haggers' newfound fame made it harder to keep her character in Fernwood, so they devised a storyline wherein the country and western star makes an anti-semitic, career-shattering remark on the Dinah Shore
talk show.
During the run of the series and its various spin-offs and sequels, KTTV
, which broadcast the series in the Los Angeles
market, also broadcast a tongue-in-cheek version of its nightly "Metronews" newscast, titled "Metronews, Metronews."
released Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman: Volume One on DVD in Region 1. The three-disc boxset features the first 25 episodes of Season 1.
in 1994 and TV Land
in 2002.
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
that aired in daily (weekday) syndication from January 1976 to May 1977. The series was produced by Norman Lear
Norman Lear
Norman Milton Lear is an American television writer and producer who produced such 1970s sitcoms as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Good Times and Maude...
, directed by Joan Darling
Joan Darling
Joan Darling is an actress, film and television director and a dramatic arts instructor.Joan "Joni" Kugell began her career with the New York improvisational theater troupe "Premise Players", and soon graduated to off-Broadway and Broadway productions. She gravitated to feature films and...
and starred Louise Lasser
Louise Lasser
Louise Lasser is an American actress. She is known for her portrayal of the title character on the soap opera parody Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. She was married to Woody Allen and appeared in several of his films.-Personal life:...
. The series writers were Gail Parent
Gail Parent
Gail Parent is an American television and screenwriter, television producer, and author.Parent's writing career began with a 1971 episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show...
and Ann Marcus
Ann Marcus
Ann Marcus ia an American television writer, producer and playwright. She graduated from Western College for Women, worked for the New York Daily News and Life, where she worked with famed photographers such as Alfred Eisenstadt....
.
The show's title was the eponymous character's name stated twice, because Lear and the writers believed that everything that was said on a soap opera was said twice.
In 2004 and 2007, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman was ranked #21 and #26 on "TV Guide's Top Cult Shows Ever".
Synopsis
Lear conceived Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman as satireSatire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
, but it was viewed as so controversial that many stations aired it well after their 11 P.M. newscasts. The irony was that while Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman dealt with many of the same topics found in episodes of daytime soap operas, the topics were called by their names (impotence, sexual perversion) instead of being referred to in the hushed tones and euphemisms typically favored by "straight" soaps, although the cast had a tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek is a phrase used as a figure of speech to imply that a statement or other production is humorously intended and it should not be taken at face value. The facial expression typically indicates that one is joking or making a mental effort. In the past, it may also have indicated...
performance style. For this reason, the series was even more controversial than it might otherwise have been.
The title sequences, which were somewhat suitable for soaps of the day, was a shot of pictures, planters, etc. that were near the dining room window at the Shumway home.
The storyline follows unhappy housewife Mary Hartman (née Shumway), played by Louise Lasser
Louise Lasser
Louise Lasser is an American actress. She is known for her portrayal of the title character on the soap opera parody Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. She was married to Woody Allen and appeared in several of his films.-Personal life:...
, her slightly unfaithful husband Tom (Greg Mullavey), her forgetful and somewhat daffy mother Mrs. Martha Shumway (Dody Goodman
Dody Goodman
Dolores "Dody" Goodman was an American character actress known for her playing the mother of the title character Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman...
) who tended to talk more to her plants, and Mary’s best friend and next-door neighbor, aspiring country singer Loretta Haggers (Mary Kay Place
Mary Kay Place
Mary Kay Place is an American actress, singer, director and screen writer. She is best known as portraying Loretta Haggers on the television series Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, a role which won her a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Comedy Series in 1977...
), and Loretta's much older husband Charlie "Baby Boy" Haggers, played by Graham Jarvis
Graham Jarvis
Graham Jarvis was a Canadian character actor in US films and TV from the 1960s.Born in Toronto, Jarvis attended Williams College before moving to New York to pursue a career in theater...
.
Other cast members included Debralee Scott
Debralee Scott
Debralee Scott was an American actress best known for her role on the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter as the sweathog Rosalie "Hotsie" Totsie...
, who played Cathy Shumway, Mary's maneater sister; Philip Bruns (and for a few episodes, Tab Hunter
Tab Hunter
Tab Hunter is an American actor, singer, former teen idol and author who has starred in over forty major films.-Background:...
), who played George Shumway, Martha's husband and Mary and Cathy's father; Victor Kilian
Victor Kilian
Victor Arthur Kilian was an American actor who was blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studio bosses in the 1950s....
, who played Grandpa Raymond Larkin, Martha's father, who was eventually revealed to be the Fernwood Flasher; Claudia Lamb
Claudia Lamb
Claudia Lamb is an actress who is best known for portraying Heather Hartman in the soap opera Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, and the show's sequel Forever Fernwood....
, who played Heather Hartman, Tom and Mary's troubled daughter, who had, unfortunately, witnessed the massacre of the Lombardi family (including the goats and chickens); Salome Jens
Salome Jens
Salome Jens is an American stage, film and television actress. She is perhaps best-known for portraying the Female Changeling on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.-Life and career:...
, who played Tom's co-worker, Mae Olinski, with whom he had an affair; Bruce Solomon, who played Sgt. Dennis Foley, a police officer who liked Mary, whom she eventually ran off with (see Forever Fernwood, below); Martin Mull
Martin Mull
Martin Mull is an American actor who has starred in his own television sitcom and acted in prominent films. He is also a comedian, painter, and recording artist...
, as both wife-beater Garth Gimble and his twin brother, talk show host, Barth Gimble; Norman Alden
Norman Alden
Norman Alden is an American character actor who has performed in television programs and motion pictures since first appearing on The 20th Century Fox Hour in 1957. He provided the voice of Kay in The Sword in the Stone film in 1963 and received Oscar buzz for his role in I Never Promised You a...
as Coach Leroy Fedders, Tom's former High School coach, who ended up drowning in chicken soup; Reva Rose
Reva Rose
Reva Rose is an American actress of stage and screen, best known for playing Lucy van Pelt in the Off-Broadway production of Clark Gesner's You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.- Stage :...
as Blanche Fedders, Coach Fedders' constantly protesting and militant wife; Susan Browning
Susan Browning
Susan Browning was an American actress.Born in Baldwin, New York, she was nominated for two Tony Awards: for Best Actress in Company in 1971 and for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in Goodtime Charley in 1975...
, who played Garth's wife, Pat, the target of his abuse; Sparky Marcus
Sparky Marcus
Sparky Marcus is an American actor born December 6, 1967 in Hollywood, California. He had a prolific career as a child actor.-Career:...
, who played Jimmy Joe Jeeter, child evangelist
Evangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
, who perished when a TV set fell into the bathtub electrocuting him; Dabney Coleman
Dabney Coleman
Dabney Wharton Coleman is an American actor, best known for his roles in 9 to 5, WarGames, You've Got Mail, Sworn to Silence, The Beverly Hillbillies and as the voice of Principal Peter Prickly in Recess and Recess: School's Out.-Early life:Coleman was born in Austin, Texas, the son of Mary...
, who played Merle Jeeter, Fernwood's slightly devious mayor and Jimmy Joe's father; Marian Mercer
Marian Mercer
Marian Ethel Mercer was an American actress and singer.Born in Akron, Ohio, she graduated from the University of Michigan, then spent several seasons working in summer stock. She made her Broadway debut in the chorus of the short-lived musical, Greenwillow in 1960...
, who played Wanda Rittenhouse Jeeter, a widow of a city commissioner, and a former sanitarium mate of Mary's who became Jeeter's second wife while also carrying on a bisexual relationship with their maid, Lila; Gloria DeHaven
Gloria DeHaven
Gloria Mildred DeHaven is an American actress and a former contract star for MGM.-Early life and career:DeHaven was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of actor-director Carter DeHaven and actress Flora Parker DeHaven, both former vaudeville performers.She began her career as a child...
as CB radio aficionado Annie "Tippytoes" Wylie, a bisexual who also had an affair with Tom Hartman; Orson Bean
Orson Bean
Orson Bean is an American film, television, and Broadway actor. He appeared frequently on televised game shows in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, including being a long-time panelist on the television game show To Tell the Truth....
, who played one of Fernwood's clergymen, Reverend Brim; George Furth
George Furth
George Furth was an American librettist, playwright, and actor.-Biography:Furth was born George Schweinfurth in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Evelyn and George Schweinfurth...
, who played Reverend Standfast, who helped Mary, under duress, through the hostage crisis with Davey Jessup (Will Seltzer); Doris Roberts
Doris Roberts
Doris Roberts is an American character actress of film, stage and television. She has received five Emmy Awards. She began her career in 1952, and may be best-known as Marie Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond from 1996–2005....
, who played Dorelda Doremus, a faith healer
Faith Healer
Faith Healer is a play by Brian Friel about the life of faith healer Francis Hardy as monologued through the shifting memories of Hardy, his wife, Grace, and stage manager, Teddy.-Synopsis:...
; Michael Lembeck
Michael Lembeck
Michael Lembeck is an actor, television and film director.Lembeck was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Caroline and Harvey Lembeck, an actor and comedian. He began acting in the late-1960s and directing in the 1970s. His most notable acting role was as Julie Cooper's husband, Max Horvath, on...
, who played local television reporter Clete Meizenheimer; Andrew Rubin, who played his co-reporter, Jesus Jarerra; and Archie Hahn
Archie Hahn (actor)
Archie Hahn is an American character actor and improviser best known for his appearances on the British version of Whose Line is it Anyway?. He is also well known for appearing in This Is Spinal Tap, Phantom of the Paradise, and many Joe Dante films...
, who played Harold Clemens, a reporter for the Fernwood Courier.
The series took place in the fictional town of Fernwood, Ohio. Although there is a real Fernwood, Ohio, in the United States (located in Jefferson County, Ohio
Jefferson County, Ohio
Jefferson County is a county located in the state of Ohio. As of 2010, the population was 69,709. Its county seat is Steubenville and is named for Thomas Jefferson, who was at the time Vice President....
), the town in the series was not based on it, but was instead named for Fernwood Avenue, which runs behind the KTLA
KTLA
KTLA, virtual channel 5, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, USA. Owned by the Tribune Company, KTLA is an affiliate of the CW Television Network. KTLA's studios are on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson...
/Sunset Bronson Studios where the show taped.
In its first episode, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman addressed the Lombardi family of five that had been mass-murdered (including the goats and chickens) by young Davey Jessup, and had been witnessed by Mary's daughter, Heather; and the "Fernwood Flasher", who turned out to be Mary's grandfather, Raymond Larkin. Characters on the show died in several bizarre ways, including bathtub electrocution
Electrocution
Electrocution is a type of electric shock that, as determined by a stopped heart, can end life. Electrocution is frequently used to refer to any electric shock received but is technically incorrect; the choice of definition varies from dictionary to dictionary...
(Jimmy Joe Jeeter), drowning
Drowning
Drowning is death from asphyxia due to suffocation caused by water entering the lungs and preventing the absorption of oxygen leading to cerebral hypoxia....
in chicken soup
Chicken soup
Chicken soup is a soup made by bringing to a boil and then simmering chicken parts and/or bones in water, with various vegetables and flavorings. The classic chicken soup consists of a clear broth, often served with small pieces of chicken or vegetables, or with noodles or dumplings, or grains such...
(Coach Leroy Fedders), and impalement
Impalement
Impalement is the traumatic penetration of an organism by an elongated foreign object such as a stake, pole, or spear, and this usually implies complete perforation of the central mass of the impaled body...
on an aluminum Christmas tree
Christmas tree
The Christmas tree is a decorated evergreen coniferous tree, real or artificial, and a tradition associated with the celebration of Christmas. The tradition of decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas started in Livonia and Germany in the 16th century...
(Garth Gimble).
Mary Hartman had a nationally televised nervous breakdown
Nervous breakdown
Mental breakdown is a non-medical term used to describe an acute, time-limited phase of a specific disorder that presents primarily with features of depression or anxiety.-Definition:...
on The David Susskind
David Susskind
David Susskind was a producer of TV, movies, and stage plays and also a pioneer TV talk show host.-Personal:...
Show at the end of the first season. Mary then found herself in a psychiatric ward, and she was delighted to be part of their selected Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
"family". One of her sanitarium mates, widowed Wanda Rittenhouse (Marian Mercer) would be more prominent, when she married Merle Jeeter, the mayor of Fernwood.
Forever Fernwood
When Lasser left the show in 1977, it was re-branded Forever Fernwood and followed the trials and tribulations of Mary's family and friends after she ran away with a policeman (the aforementioned Sgt. Dennis Foley), with whom she had a lot of contact in the first season. Aside from Lasser, the rest of the cast was pretty much intact. Forever Fernwood ended in 1978, after only 26 weeks on the air, along with the talk showTalk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
parody spin-off Fernwood 2-Night. A total of 130 half-hour episodes were produced.
Mary Kay Place was nominated for a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for the album Tonite! At the Capri Lounge, Loretta Haggers on which she sang as her Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman character, Loretta Haggers. The album featured appearances by Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
and Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
, and one of its songs, "Baby Boy", climbed to the Top 60 on Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
s Pop Charts, and #3 on the country charts, in 1976. Place also won an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for her performance on the show. The show's writers realized Loretta Haggers' newfound fame made it harder to keep her character in Fernwood, so they devised a storyline wherein the country and western star makes an anti-semitic, career-shattering remark on the Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore was an American singer, actress, and television personality...
talk show.
During the run of the series and its various spin-offs and sequels, KTTV
KTTV
KTTV, channel 11, is an owned-and-operated television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in Los Angeles, California. Serving the vast Los Angeles metropolitan area, KTTV is a sister station to KCOP , Los Angeles' MyNetworkTV station...
, which broadcast the series in the Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
market, also broadcast a tongue-in-cheek version of its nightly "Metronews" newscast, titled "Metronews, Metronews."
Cast reunion
In 2000, several of the original cast appeared on a panel for a Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman retrospective at the Museum of Television and Radio in Beverly Hills, CA. The panel discussion was taped for the museum's archives.DVD releases
On March 27, 2007, Sony Pictures Home EntertainmentSony Pictures Home Entertainment
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is the home video distribution arm of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation. It was established in November 1979 as Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment, releasing 20 titles: The Anderson Tapes, Bell, Book and Candle, Born Free, Breakout,...
released Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman: Volume One on DVD in Region 1. The three-disc boxset features the first 25 episodes of Season 1.
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman: Volume 1 | 25 | March 27, 2007 |
VHS releases
- The Best of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman — Volume I. Videocassette. Embassy Home Entertainment.
- The Best of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman — Volume II. Videocassette. Embassy Home Entertainment.
Syndication
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman was syndicated on local stations briefly in 1982, and enjoyed some short-lived air time on the Lifetime TelevisionLifetime Television
Lifetime Television, often referred to as Lifetime TV, or most commonly, Lifetime, is an American cable television specialty channel devoted to movies, sitcoms and dramas, all of which are either geared toward women or feature women in lead roles. The cable network is owned by A&E Television Networks...
in 1994 and TV Land
TV Land
TV Land is an American cable television network launched on April 29, 1996. It is owned by MTV Networks, a division of Viacom, which also owns Paramount Pictures, and networks such as MTV and Nickelodeon...
in 2002.
See also
- List of late night network TV programs
- America 2-NightAmerica 2-NightAmerica 2-Night is the continuation of the talk-show parody series Fernwood 2 Night. It ran from April to July 1978. As in Fernwood, Barth Gimble was the host and Jerry Hubbard was his co-host...
- Fernwood 2-Night
- SoapSoap (TV series)Soap is an American sitcom that originally ran on ABC from 1977 to 1981.The show was created as a parody of daytime soap operas, presented as a weekly half-hour prime time comedy. Similar to a soap opera, the show's story was presented in a serial format and included melodramatic plot elements such...