AllMovie

Norman Lear's hilarious soap spoof about a dim, pigtailed housewife makes hay of seemingly every serial staple. In Fernwood, Ohio, there are kidnappings, affairs, scandals, disappearances and a multitude of other small-town traumas, all served up in droll, underplayed fashion. Early on (and famously), Mary Hartman worries about a mass murder down the block while she agonizes equally over the 'waxy, yellow buildup' on her kitchen floor.