The parody of a soap opera Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman debuted in January of 1976, to become the "Bicentennial Soap"—much like Rocky became the Bicentennial movie. But while Rocky hearkened back to a simpler type of hero, Mary Hartman was at once simple—the long-suffering successor to radio's "Mary Noble"—yet complex, for her struggles involved dealing with outlandish crises such as a neighborhood mass murder, the "exposure" of her grandfather as the notorious "Fernwood Flasher," and the basketball coach's drowning in a bowl of her chicken soup.

Louise Lasser in a scene from Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.

Also, like Rocky, this was the underdog which initially no major network would touch, until producer Norman Lear sold the show to independent stations and produced an unexpected hit which became a cultural phenomenon. The Wall Street Journal deigned it "the funniest show in...