Posted in: TBS, TV | Tagged: emily hampshire, mary hartman, Norman Lear, TBS

Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman: TBS Reboot Taps Emily Hampshire as Lead

The classic 1970s comedy-drama Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman will be rebooted on TBS, starring Emily Hampshire, who will also co-write, executive produce, and star as the eponymous heroine. All this in time for series producer Norman Lear's 99^th birthday. The original show was created by Lear as a satirical take on consumer culture as the housewife heroine had to deal with nutty and violent situations that kept erupting in her life. It was the show that captured the weirdness of the 1970s as an oddball soap opera farce.

"The kick of kicks as I turn 99 today is learning that TBS is developing MHMH and will allow us to make a new version of it starring Emily Hampshire," Lear said. "As someone who believes his 99 years on this planet is owed to the amount of laughter he enjoyed through the years, here's to the next 99.  Bless you all!"

As reported at Deadline, Letterkenny creator Jacob Tierney will co-write the series and executive produce with Hampshire, Lear, and Brent Miller, executive producing via Act III Productions. Tierney will be the showrunner of the series, which will be produced by Sony Pictures Television. The series had been in development since February before it landed at TBS.

The updated Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman is about a small-town woman in Ohio (Hampshire) who feels like a nobody in every aspect of her life until she suddenly becomes a "Verified" social media somebody after her nervous breakdown goes viral. Considered one of the top cult classic TV shows of all time, the original series aired in on weeknight syndication from January 1976-July 1977. It was a groundbreaking spoof of the soap opera format and a subversive satire of America's media and consumer culture. Louise Lasser won an Emmy nomination as the eponymous heroine who went through increasingly complex and compounding life events and scenarios that reflected the changing social fabric of America in the 1970s. The new version brings a modern twist to the original characters and the fictitious small town of Fernwood, OH. It also marks Emily Hampshire's first ongoing TV series since the end of Schitt's Creek.

Bleeding Cool TV on Instagram: For all of the stuff too random and bizarre to make the site, make sure to follow us on Instagram (with an official launch on June 19): Bleeding Cool TV (@bleedingcooltv).

BCTV Daily Dispatch: For a look at what's going on across the television and streaming landscape, sign up for Bleeding Cool's daily email round-up of the news you need to know here.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!