For fans still mourning the end of Schitt’s Creek, one of its stellar cast has booked a new gig, as Emily Hampshire will star in a remake of one of Norman Lear’s classic shows.
Emily Hampshire Returns To TV
According to TV Line, the beloved actress, who played the sardonic Stevie Budd during the comedy’s entire run, rising from clerk to owner of the Rosebud Motel, will soon fill the shoes of Louise Lasser in a retelling of the ’70s comedy, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.
The satirical soap opera aired in daily weeknight syndication from January 1976 to July 1977 and followed an Ohio housewife attempting to cope with the assorted bizarre and violent incidents occurring around her.
Lear developed the show as a way of examining the effects of consumerism on the American housewife, and the repeat of the character’s name in the title was said to be a reference to his observation that dialogue within soap operas tended to be repeated.
Lasser earned an Emmy nod for her portrayal of Mary Hartman in 1976, in a Special Classification of Outstanding Program and Individual Achievement.
Hampshire co-wrote the new Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman script with showrunner Jacob Tierney. In their version, things are a little different. The show is being pitched as a “small-town woman who feels like a nobody in every aspect of her life until she suddenly becomes a ‘Verified’ social media somebody.”
The legendary Lear will serve as an executive producer on the show, alongside Hampshire, Tierney, and Brent Miller. The show is currently looking for a TV home.
Hampshire was a big part of Schitt’s Creek success. She took home the Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Supporting Role or Guest Role in a Comedic Series at the Canadian Screen Awards five years in a row.
In addition to her award-winning role, the Canadian actress has also appeared in the TV shows 12 Monkeys and Rookie Blue.
The original Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman also gave birth to a spinoff series, Fernwood 2 Night, a talk show spoof starring Martin Mull and Fred Willard. How great would it be to see Hampshire’s former co-stars Eugene Levy and Dan Levy pop up as guests in similar roles on her show?!
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