The previous thread was shut down so I am starting this to keep all our cancelled shows visible. I'll bring over some of the old articles from the old thread but will start with this one.
@EricMontreal22 may be interested.
HOLLYWOOD - While reruns of “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman’’ are being considered by CBS as possible latenight competition for Johnny Carson’s NBC “Tonight Show,’’ the co-creator and bead writer of "Hartman” is developing a new comedy soap opera that promises to be just as bizarre, uproarious and sexually oriented as the original The newcomer is “The Life and Times of Eddie Roberts.” As with "Hartman,” It will be a nightly half hour aimed for telecast somewhere between 10 p.m. and midnight, a funny serial featuring the sort of sociopolitical satire that scares the pants off the networks. It’s those occasional political and sexual subplots that militate against the program being telecast by one of the three big nervous-nellie networks Thus, after the fashion of "Hartman," "Eddie Roberts” is being sold to individual stations in dozens of cities across the country.
"THE BASIS of ‘Eddie Roberts’ is very realistic, just like ‘Mary Hartman,’ ” declared Ann Marcus, who with her husband, Ellis, is writing and producing the new show. "I suppose the big difference is that Mary was a blue-collar woman, and Eddie is a white-collar man.” Before quitting "Mary Hartman” in mid-1976 in the wake of a dispute with producer Norman Lear, Ann Marcus had been the major creative force behind "Hartman.” She and Lear created the landmark program from scratch. Then she settled as head writer for the first six months of the program's existence as it received almost universal critical acclaim and big audiences in 100 cities.
When she resigned, "Hartman” fell into less talented hands and quickly slipped into the pretentiousness often associated with Lear productions. Now she is teaming with her husband, a former CBS program executive, to give birth to the "Eddie Roberts” saga. THE TITLE role is handled by Renny Temple, a virtual unknown to the mass television audience. He once appeared as a draft dodger on “All in the Family” and has performed with a New York improvisational group called the War Babies. The eight remaining regular cast members have few major TV credits.
When the show premieres next January, we’ll see Eddie’s wife, Dolores, leaving him after nine years of marriage because of his sexual problems. Dolores, a shortstop for a women’s baseball team, takes the couple’s small daughter, who also aspires to be a professional ballplayer. Meanwhile, Eddie, an assistant professor of anthropology at a small California college, is being chased by a beautiful coed who’s interested in improving her grades at any cost. He’s also being pursued by a lovely researcher who wants him to serve as a guinea pig for her new male contraceptive drug.
IN ANOTHER subplot, Eddie’s quest for tenure as a full professor is plagued by competition from another assistant professor — who’s female, Mexican-American and handicapped. This "triple minority” constantly frustrates Eddie’sstruggle for promotion. If these story lines are vaguely reminiscent of the multitude of troubles that continually crashed down on Mary Hartman, it’s admittedly deliberate. The Marcuses sense that many stations are yearning for "a new Hartman’ ” in the late-night arena. And their feeling is that millions of viewers have been hungry for a “Hartman”-type program since the prototype left the air two years ago.
In the meantime, in a shameless turnabout from its original attitude, CBS is contemplating the acquisition of “Mary Hartman" repeats to throw against Johnny Carson two or three nights a week next fall or winter. CBS officials believe that when Carson quits his NBC late-night gig. probably next March, the ’’Hartman” episodes can wipe out whoever replaces Johnny.
ITS IRONIC that CBS now is ready to embrace "Hartman” unequivocally. During 1974-1975, when Lear and Ann Marcus put the program together, the network refused to buy it One CBS official called it “a dirty show.” Fred Silverman, then the program chief at CBS, failed miserably even to understand the appeal of "Hartman.” In a textbook example of his silly ideals, Freddie suggested to Lear that be add a laugh track to the program. Eventually, of course, a somewhat angry Lear put “Hartman” into syndication as a first-run program. Its enormous success not only embarrassed CBS and the other networks that rejected the show; it also ate giant holes in the audience ratings of the late newscasts on many network owned and network-affiliated stations. With “Eddie Roberts,” Ann and Ellis Marcus are hoping history will repeat itself. Indeed, if CBS does follow through on its thought of reviving “Mary Hartman” in late night rerun form, there could be a head-to-head battle for viewers in many cities between the original satirical soap opera and its very legitimate offspring
By
Paul Raven ·
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