Norman Lear feels that this episode of Mary Hartman...

[suetiggers]

I started looking for this because I miss Mary so much...she MADE my day back in the 70's...I'm 71 now but she was the queen of comic relief then and nothing has come close since... it really hit the mark knocking down the idols &showed females struggling with roles that didn't fit well thanks to feminism &trying to figure out who we wanted to be .this particular episode looked like Mary fighting to be taken seriously against this media gang&she's absurd and real &really absurd..I miss it so

[mskittykowalski]

Just wow. It was great to see Louise Lasser again in Happiness.

[chardon59803]

poor Mary, they showed it at 1:00am, and I'd set my alarm and get up to watch it, and then go back to bed.

[ccipollini1984]

It seems to me the sitcoms of the 70's, specifically Norman Lear's, went there.

The attempted rape scene on All in the Family, Mary Hartman, The Jeffersons...now the "shock" has lost it's shock. We have gotten so jaded to the point where once poignant satire has been reduced to over hyped meaningless shock with no substance.

[fenjazszc07]

Does anyone know what season/episode this is from? Please message me if you do. This is some of the most convincing acting I've ever seen; brilliant!

[stuiemonsterfan]

MY WORD!!! BRAVO to the late Louise lasser

[shortdee]

@stuiemonsterfan

Louise Lasser is not "late"; she's still alive.

[mrfilmnoir68]

When/Where i was growing up, MARY HARTMAN, MARY HARTMAN used to be aired on PBS at 11:30 at night. This was back when it was originally on(the 1970's) and in its prime. I guess that it was too much for prime time cencors of its day to bear. Anyways, i used to sneak up and watch it from time to time as a youngster. Even back then, i was drawn to it. I knew even then that it was ground breaking television!

[ruinedsituation]

This is great acting to people who think that "Great Acting" means bipolar, eccentric and self-destructive behavior to the point of hysteric nervous breakdown. Sadly this kind of so-called qualities are reactionary stereotypes mostly attributed to women. More recent examples: Natalie Portman in "Black Swan" and Ellen Burstyn in "Requiem for a Dream ."

[susaninmaine]

holy shit -- devastating.

[drmikenyc]

Best show *ever*~ pre-Facebook/Internet/Youtube/­Twitter - this, for those coming in cold, is a 70's period piece about the "typical consumer" of the day. Woody Allen's ex in the lead role. Easier to shock people (a la Norman Lear) at the time. This is deadpan, "show within the show" - in character. Give a few minutes of sustained attention/focus (like we had in the 70's!) and enjoy - ROFL...  :-)

[zentopia7]

Time for some Zyprexa Mary...

[blahnupunk1]

What are you talking about? This show was a comedy. "there's no way this is funny"? You're nuts. This was one of the craziest moments in one of the funniest shows in history. The insensitive idiots get it more than you do.

[celestian1111]

Mary Hartman! Mary Hartman! Couldn't have named this show better if I did it myself. Fond fond memories of this show. 

[phillycat26]

She is the best actress ever! how she never got an emmy,i never know..all these studie actors now..makes me sick to think about it

[WellConditioned]

It's been forever since I've seen episodes of this show and have to say that one has to have a sense of what the series was to understand what a great performance this really is. LL is brilliant.

[itsjeremy6]

Watching this outside of whatever context its in is very alienating. Thus the only two reactions to this video "incredible" and "what?" are very fitting.

[TomLibby100]

I hadn't seen this before, and have fond memories of the program. This really is brilliant. By far the best of that series, and it stands up to any other single performance I can think of.

[TheeJeffrocco]

This is just as pointless and stupid as the entire series was. Hated it then and hate it now. LOL

[merrywivesofwindsor]

Oh my god this is fantastic. How did she not receive some kind of award for this performance?

[Nuggetification]

I remember this well. At the time, the performance was so convincing that many thought Louise Lasser had actually had a breakdown.

[dickharlow]

Fucking brilliant.



[fossefan]

Louise Lasser never was nominated for an Emmy, believe it or not.

[imnipper]

Wow.....

[MrDTBJ]

the guy sitting to her right is David Susskind. He had a great late night interview show back in the 70's.

[femalegeek5]

I kind of remembered when this first came out, didn't get it then and don't get know. Very strange!

[williamwagener]

I thought at the time, she was on drugs half the time. What ever happened to her.

[lmdw]

But why is the AUDIO so bad? Maybe it's my computer, but I can barely hear it.

[MusicEd1]

Man they just do not make good prime-time comedies like this anymore. Gone are the great Norman Lear comedies of our time. What a decade. Great. : )

[aneondevilbreath]

This is a wonderful flashback from the 60's and i remember so many of these issues from that era. I am glad to see this and I love her way of telling her story in this.

[Alwaystuned]

Acting 101. This is spectacular. I was a ( young ) fan of the show but missed this episode. One word: Wow!!

[Reader12345678910]

awesome

[noeasywaydown]

Mind-blowing.

I love how this stellar scene condenses the entire series' embattling Mary with consumer culture and plays out her conflicted conscience on tabloid TV----long before Jerry Springer.

[63filmbuff]

If only the mail will come on time and that ever present "waxy yellow buildup. This is extra super special.

[63filmbuff]

delightfully doofus

[djjserpico]

Award winning performance.

[rickenba]

Were in the hell is this Lady`s OSCAR AWARD! BRILLIANT!!JUST BRILLIANT!!

[tweetyli1]

Absolutely loved this show then and after reviewing these episodes I still love it.

[LeBigMoneyShow]

When I was a kid in the mid 70's, I think 1975, this show was on in the day time and i would try to watch it. I did not understand the satire and thought the show was strange and weird, but I some how found it intriguing at the same time. Now as full grown adult, I see why.

[mje2k]

Stunning performance. Mary Hartman was supposed to be the ultimate middle class,product conscous consumer and the panelists were asking questions that the viewing public asking questions directly to their new tv icon, Mary Hartman, and Mary/Louise suffering from overload.I think the nervous breakdown may have actually occurred and I distinctly remember her being busted for drugs while buying a doll house or some such.

[catmandave52]

The fact that this show is not shown on Cable reruns or generally available on DVD is a crime. This entire country is like one big laugh track. This is a very rare show that lets the viewers determine what is funny. If I could have one show on a desert island, this would absolutely be it. Absolutely. Shame on whoever is keeping this off DVD. I would buy the boxed set in a freaking heartbeat. This may be simply the last truly intelligent show on TV.

[creeg84]

@catmandave52 It is on dvd! I found it on cduniverse.

[Aphorism31]

They made about 350 episodes and it sucks that only about the first 25 are available.

[ccipollini1984]

This is Acting 101 kids. If anyone watching this an acting professor or student, I URGE you to watch and learn from this.

[ccipollini1984]

Acting 101. It sucks that at first glance people will not take this seriously because it's a 70's "sitcom", but it goes deeper. i'm glad I watched. That decade was all about pushing it, but having meaning behind what you pushed. Now days we are horribly burnt out from being so over-shocked all the time.,

[TheGranule]

Poor Lasser, like a lot of folks got into drugs which ruined her life and career.

Some of the best TV and Radio was between 1950 and 1985. I think folks were given adult messages and were mature enough to absorb it and use them.

I don't know about today. It seems pretty shallow and homogenized to me.

Some of it is actually scary, like the rise of the Tea Party and all those Mad Hatters within it.

[geolau59]

@TheGranule I got your Tea Party right here! So just suck it!

[TheGranule]

@geolau59

Thank you for you witless remark. That is what passes for intellectual replies in the Mad Hatter's Party

[MusikAndLuv]

@TheGranule You know the Tea Party is like many groups in the past, a reaction to a big change. Nazism was a reaction ro communism, Family Values was a reaction to social revolution in the 1960's. Now its average people up in arms because they are affraid of the president. It will pass.

[rickenba]

Mary, I feel you. i know what your going , and coming to. been there so many times, in the long run. no one really cares. and we all sleep alone.

[TheRamrod100]

It just floored me when I first watched this in 70's. I'm 49 now but I never forgot this scene and others, from this late night soap/ satire/ camp/ shot in video. Classic television for sure and one hell of an actress. She could ping-pong her emotions in the blink of an eye and you'd never know what hit you. Encore to a great show.

[pablosux]

I watched this show as a child-maybe 12ish,it always had me glued she's good no doubt about it!Nice legs!

[EscapeNewJersey]

Everybody must realize that the goal of this show and all the rest of television shows produced by Norman Lear was to make gentiles look foolish, incompotent, and evil. Look at his other shows like All In The Family, Good Times etc. etc. This anti-gentile propaganda plot all planned out in the basement of his synagogue.

[jameschar24]

Why wouldn't he say this? He developed the show! A little bit self-serving, no??

[Yobachi2007]

That was pretty good, but not that spectacular. Certainly not "...the best performance in the history of television," not by far.

Also, while I understand that this show was supposed to be satirical, if you're going to switch from satirical to actual drama, which this scene clearly is meant to be; you can't have those idiots ridiculously ranting questions at her as she's breaking down and have someone take this seriously and take it in as a powerful scene; because it's too farcical.

[spittysmom]

I think, that when this show was on, that a lot of people didn't "get it". I was a child then, but I remember hearing adults talking about it saying stuff like, "That Mary Hartman is such a dope. Such a nothing. I can't believe that show is even on television." When really, it was so ahead of its time.

[steffap]

that was riveting

[Indygoguy]

this is so tiresome

[grendeljack]

Holy crap!...This is going to f***ing haunt me! How real can you get?! She deserved to be a much bigger star!

[neverindoubt]

upskirt at 6.42

[stevenvz]

Absolute genius! One way to tell great acting is that Louise Lasser seems like she is improvising, so natural!

This show was one way ahead of its time!

Gripping!  Deep on so many levels!

She did win the Emmy in 1976 for Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.

[monicatorralba]

Best acting performance ever....

[ddAdmire]

i remember this show as a child growing up in the 70's. it came on at noon right before moms soaps. i was not allowed to watch it. i felt so betrayed as a child....

[Babaziba]

Louise Lasser is a genius. Always has been. Always will be. "If only the mail would come on time."- Normal Lear is right.

[crasmane1]

@Babaziba So true. She's a marvel.

[MikeOfTheRedwoods]

Wish season 2 were on DVD.

[duckman531]

I'm surprised that Lear thought that. As great as this is, Lasser had done even better. The monologue in the mental hospital comes quickly to mind. This was a landmark show in the history of television.

[Methadone4Life]

I would love to watch this series from the start....one of the most fascinating shows to ever grace television.

[OxenHandler]

Louise Laser, What a performance. Awesome!, Awesome! Louise is you're out there and see this - my sincere thanks to you for your influence on my life when I was young and looking for role models - you are my kind of actor.

[richysst]

some good ol days just love this show .

[rfm2ckt]

WOW.....BLAST from the PAST! Does anyone know if this show available on DVD? I would LOVE to see all the episodes again. It was on late, but we always watched it.

[revlooshin]

she was alex rieger's ex-wife on taxi.

[parkman35]

I was in Junior high back when this weas on, and none of us ever missed an episode. My Buddies and I LOVED Loretta Haggers....and my Sister and her Gal pals LOVED Sgt Foley from the Fernwood PD...

[RecordWarped]

I love this show now as I loved it when it aired almost 35 years ago. Will anyone be talking about today's "reality" shows in 35 years? Will they be talking about them next year?

Television has failed us.

[1000rocketfish]

Great comment. That show is as funny and maybe even funnier than any comedy produced since.

[RecordWarped]

Thanks very much! I loved this show as a child, and I love it more now as an adult because I understand it better.

[jbanks979]

Wow, only just recently discovered this show existed.  I have no idea what the context of the scene was about, but watching her go from slightly agitated to completely nuts was amazing!

[gmf20002]

we need good unique shows again im only 20 so i didnt see this originally but i like looking back at classics

[bradjay]

A very quirky show. Hard to tell where the performance ends and real life takes hold. That is what makes it so powerful.

[HvyMtlThndr]

Halfway thru this clip I was waiting for her to crack, maybe thats what she needed, I always heard Louise ways really stressed...somehow she reiminds me of my mom.

[megghegg]

A performance so good that it's scary.

[minskie]

I have to agree with Norman Lear. This is brilliant acting from Louise Lasser!

[bass0111]

Totally brilliant! Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman was one of my favourite shows in the mid to late (?) 70s. Hilarious. To this day I remember falling down in laughter when the Global News station break voiceover said "Watch Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, tonight at eleven, tonight at eleven."

[earlzwow]

I think there badgerring the lady.

"Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman"

[myrabradwell40]

Louise Lasser left the series early because she was really kind of screwed up. Especially back then.

[DelilahALM]

I was also 13 when this show came on, and I believe I got most of the satire. Great show. Nothing like it on now.

[Bestmanme08]

Martin Mull (Garth on MHMH) in great new bio (Charlton Heston: An Incredible LIfe: Revised Edition) at amazon!

[lizajane54]

David Susskind?

[Donicababe]

Oh my God is this brilliant. I was 13 years old and stayed up late night to watch this show. And I totally got it. I got the satire, I got the social commentary, and I got the sheer brilliance of the acting. One of the most underrated shows in history!

[sonicesocool]

As as little kid, I had no idea WTF! I was just attracted to her pigtails. As an adult I realize she was wearing a wig and that she is awesome. This is straight footage! Brava.

[avidrentfan]

This feels like Little Edie. Doesn't it?

[dribnifMatt]

Yes

[TVGord]

Norman is always right, and here again...yes, he is. I remember this almost word for word...more than 30 years later.

[Freeflyur]

Loved this soap when I was kid even tho' I didn't totally get it. I was sick or something when this was on in the 70's because I remember watchin' it w/my mom. This wasn't the last scene. Somewhere in the episode Mary's friends Charlie & Loretta were scuffling over a rifle w/Dabney Coleman & it went off. At the end of the show Mary was in a psychiatric ward. Tom's voice said "You think we should tell her a/b Charlie & Loretta?" Mary kept sayin' her name over and over. It was chilling.

[GoRetroGirl]

Mary Hartman had the worst hairdo ever in the history of TV characters. She would go a long way towards being happier by chopping those hideous pigtails off.

[GBS1043]

Mary Hartski, Mary Hartski...

[natureboy40]

my mom always watched this when i was little. i still remember the faith healing episode.

[cle63]

Under the influence of WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE?

[k4y3lg33]

To those who think this is stupid -- WATCH THE ENTIRE CLIP. It starts out slow, but by the end, your jaw will be on the ground as u watch this woman have a complete breakdown "live on television". Norman Lear is right -- it is one of the most incredible pieces of acting you'll ever see. And it is SO incredibly painful to watch, there's no way this is funny. Altho I'm sure people will laugh, especially nowadays, with all the insensitive idiots we're drowning in.

[MuscleMaxZ1]

totally agree, Louise Lasser cleans up in this clip. She should have received an emmy award. She's a great acrress.

[highwayhokie]

@k4y3lg33 different strokes for different folks. I think Mary Hartman is halarious. It was then and it still is. I wish it would be rebroadcasted by a cable station.

[bluestate69]

@k4y3lg33 i don't know if today's attention span is long enough for mary hartman. hopefully i am wrong, cause this is the most ground breaking comedy ever made, in my humble opinion

[alsmith68]

@k4y3lg33 It starts out funny, with Louise Lasser playing the standard sort of "spaced-out Mary," and her asides to the host of the program, but as soon as she accidentally mentions her husband's impotence, she starts to go to pieces, realizes she's lots control and just melts down, and it's heartbreaking to watch. The show was a satire, though, and sometimes it took a lot of sensitivity to discern what was comedy and what was human emotion. But yes, the end of this clip is just devastating.

[k4y3lg33]

This is a woman who is feeling trapped, patronized & humiliated, & is breaking down. Her pain & confusion leap off the screen. I agree with the person who said u need to understand the context of the show (I was born in 56, so I DO), but really, her acting is so good that u have to be pretty dull to not feel her pain & humiliation, even without understanding the context. NL was right -- it IS an amazing bit of acting. Hmmm . . . I wonder if she WAS acting?! BUT -- her pain is NOT funny.

[stargate121]

Wha??

[jaiguruomdasji]

for those asking HUH? i think you need to have seen this within the context of both the 70's and the context of the show...this clip really only can be found funny or relevant in the context of the times and the context of having watched this woman slowly devolve night after night for a year

[Rebeiroman]

i always heard my mom talk about this show...and now i am glad i get to see great performances of the past.

[GreekBluez]

H U H ????? What a stupid show

[Therese504]

Wow. I've never seen this show except on youtube but I wish I had. Too bad it's not fully available on DVD

[roscoe008]

It seems that knowing Louise Lasser had been married to Woody Allen, the writers felt obligated to imitate him.

[4MaryAnna]

One thing I used to always think while watching this was poor Mary's about ready to have a nervous breakdown,but like someone else said,you couldn't stop watching her(kind of like a car crash)lol

[StillLostinthe80s]

Incredible.

[kinglear]

It's usually an oddly funny show, but this scene isn't funny, it's heartbreaking. It makes me think of my mother and so many women who get ditched by their husbands and fed bullshit.

[thimoneus]

W... T.... F?????????????

[fossefan]

Compelling.

[unicornacopatopia]

she rocks, brava!

[crimsonkng]

I forgot how great this show was. Easily in the Top 10 in history.

[t1mmytee]

This's just amazing. Very funny, yet it was almost too painful to watch--I had to pause it several times and recover before I could go back to it! Best wishes from northwest Pennsylvania.

[Breegha]

Attractive sanitary napkins LOLOLOLOL.....

Norman Lear was right!

[dave00004483]

Glad there wasn't a laugh track. It's too harrowing and raw to be really all that funny. Louise Lasser was one hell of an actress, and she's always had that nervous vulnerability in every role she plays.

[sylvestermeow]

this IS brilliant. I do wish Ms. Lasser would work again.

[guypaul]

Thanks for posting this. I was devoted to that show. The situations were ridiculous, but the characters seemed real to me.

[jphillysnack]

F-ing brilliant. Thanks for this video. I wish they would release the volume 2 dvd boxset already.

[tim13a]

Lasser's character falls somewhere between Warhol and Married with Children, performance art and improv comedy. This is so raw and bizarre it must have blown the minds of the audience at the time. I was a huge fan, but never saw this ine. Amazing and brilliant.

[Babaziba]

One channel (i think it was A&E) did re-runs of this late night years ago...and gave up when they got them out of order! Idiots.

[acidqueen69]

Wisteria Lane needs a Mary Hartman.

[spitgalore]

I've watched Mary Hartman TV show some 30 years ago, but I came away confused. I still don't understand why it was made.

[oleshatterbutt]

Fernwood,Ohio?She reminds me of my sister

[baracine]

Incredible what they could without a laugh track.

[travis082185]

mary is the original desperate housewives. the way she dresses is so sexy.i am a 23 year old male and i enjoy this parody of soaps

[JonChristopher999]

You can kinda tell Louise was on the verge of nervous exhaustion in real life as well, can't you?

[LorettaHaggersFan]

a true prophet of our Walmart Moms and Walmartopia

[tarheel8494]

freaking brilliant! covers all bases

[mq1986]

Geez...watching this reminds me of what a nutbag that character and her actress was.

[travis082185]

a friend gave me a couple episodes of this soap opera parody and this show is hilarious, especially without laugh tracks. i wish the soap opera channel will pick this show up.

[SarahBurris1013]

it nework tv was still like this I'd watch

[catmandave52]

@SarahBurris1013 Amen to that. Used to race home on the night this was on.