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Great Entertainment Television Acquires House; Remembering Louise Lasser of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman

Great Entertainment Television welcomes the acclaimed series House to its lineup, weeknights beginning Monday, July 13 from 9-11pm.

Brilliant, cynical, and brutally honest, Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) is one of the most gifted diagnosticians in medicine. As the head of diagnostic medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, House leads a team of young specialists tasked with solving the hospital's most mysterious and life-threatening cases. Armed with razor-sharp instincts and an unorthodox approach to patient care, House routinely defies medical conventions—and hospital protocol—to uncover the truth behind baffling illnesses.

Actress Louise Lasser, who starred as Mary Hartman in Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and as Maggie McBurney in It's a Living, has died. She died at her home in Manhattan on July 6. Ms. Lasser was 87.

Lasser's first television series credit was as Jackie Ricardo in a 1965 episode of The Doctors. Some of her early sitcom guest appearances included Love, American Style (1971), The Bob Newhart Show, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. She hosted the penultimate episode of Saturday Night Live's first season on July 24, 1976.

She starred as Mary Hartman in the 1976-1977 first-run syndicated satirical soap opera Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, which was produced by Norman Lear. The series follows Mary Hartman, a small-town Ohio housewife attempting to cope with various bizarre and sometimes violent incidents occurring in her daily life. Lasser was nominated for an Emmy Award for her performance in 1976. The series also starred Greg Mullavey, Dody Goodman, Mary Kay Place, Graham Jarvis, Debralee Scott, Victor Kilian, Philip Bruns, and Claudia Lamb.

Lasser had a recurring role as Phyllis Bornstein Consuelos and Phyllis Reiger in three episodes of Taxi from 1980 to 1982. Phyllis is Alex Reiger's (Judd Hirsch) ex-wife, with whom he had a daughter. Phyllis became fed up with his lack of ambition and remarried, but they remain strongly attracted to each other. She once goes out on a date with Louie (Danny DeVito), just to irritate Alex.

She starred as waitress Maggie McBurney in the second season (1981-1982) of It's a Living, which aired on ABC for the first two seasons. The series was renamed Making a Living for season 2 before returning as It's a Living for season 3 when it moved to first-run syndication in 1985. The season 2 cast included Barrie Youngfellow, Gail Edwards, Marian Mercer, Paul Kreppel, Ann Jillian, and Earl Boen.

Lasser guest starred as Sister Margaret in a 1983 episode of Laverne & Shirley. She appeared as Louise Polsky in a 1992 episode of Empty Nest. She had a recurring role as Beadie, an artist for whom Jessa Johansson (Jemima Kirke) briefly works as an assistant, in three episodes of the HBO comedy-drama Girls from 2014 to 2015.

Some of her other television guest appearances included Love Story, McCloud, Medical Center, and St. Elsehwere (2 episodes).

Some of her film credits included Take the Money and Run (1969), Bananas (1971), Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972), Happiness (1998), and Funny Pages (2022).

She was interviewed for The Interviews: An Oral History of Television on May 16, 2017.

Ms. Lasser became a household name and appeared on the covers of Newsweek, People and Rolling Stone during Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman's run. She did a great job portraying the unhappy, neurotic Mary Hartman. We thank her for work on television and in films. She will be deeply missed.

We also remember Canadian-born American actor and painter Joby Baker. He starred as Dave Lewis in Good Morning World. He died at a hospital in Yonkers, New York, on June 22. Mr. Lewis was 92.

Baker starred as Dave Lewis in the 1967-1968 CBS sitcom Good Morning World. The series starred Baker and Ronnie Schell as Dave Lewis and Larry Clarke, morning drive time disc jockeys and hosts of the eponymous Lewis and Clarke Show on a small AM radio station in Los Angeles. The cast included Billy De Wolfe, Julie Parrish, and Goldie Hawn in her first professional role.

He starred as Col. Harvey Mann in the short-lived 1980 NBC military sitcom The Six O'Clock Follies. The show is set in 1967 Saigon just before the Tet Offensive. It follows the offbeat, behind-the-scenes production of an evening TV and radio news show broadcast by the U.S. Army to GIs serving in Vietnam. The show also starred Larry (Laurence) Fishburne, A.C. Weary, Philip Charles MacKenzie, Randall Carver, Aarika Wells, George Kee Cheung, Dave Hubbard, and Phil Hartman.

Some of his sitcom guest appearances included Bachelor Father (3 episodes), The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, The Dick Van Dyke Show (2 episodes), F Troop, and Love, American Style (1971).

Baker had a recurring role as Bob Tepps in three episodes of Dragnet from 1957 to 1959. Some of his other television guest appearances included The Red Skelton Hour (2 episodes), Surfside 6, Cain's Hundred, Dr. Kildare, Alfred Hitchcock Presents (3 episodes), Wagon Train, Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, Combat! (3 episodes), The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Ben Casey, Death Valley Days, Mannix, The Streets of San Francisco, Barnaby Jones, Police Story (2 episodes), Medical Center, Bronk, Stone (4 episodes), Simon & Simon, Quincy, M.E. (4 episodes), and The Paper Chase.

In 1960, he co-starred with Jack Lemmon and Ricky Nelson in The Wackiest Ship in the Army. Some of his other film credits included Gidget (1959), Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961), Gidget Goes to Rome (1963), Girl Happy (1965), When the Boys Meet the Girls (1965), The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin (1967), Blackbeard's Ghost, Superdad (1974), and Avalanche (1978).

After he stopped acting in 1984, he established himself as a painter, sculptor and jewelry artisan.

Mr. Baker was best known for his lighthearted, low-key comedy roles. He died ten days after his Good Morning World co-star Ronnie Schell. The series was released on DVD in 2006. We thank him for his work on television. He will be greatly missed.

Television producer Harris Katleman worked on The Don Rickles Show. He died in Los Angeles on July 8. Mr. Katleman was 97.

Katleman worked as a producer on the short-lived 1972 CBS sitcom The Don Rickles Show. The series focused on an advertising agency executive, and his "life and endless problems" with his job and his family. It starred Don Rickles, Louise Sorel, Erin Moran, Robert Hogan, and Joyce Van Patten.

Some of his other television producing credits included Branded, The American Girls, From Here to Eternity (miniseries), and Salvage 1, which starred Andy Griffith and Joel Higgins.

As President of MGM Television and Senior Vice President of MGM Inc., he was instrumental in developing How the West Was Won, CHiPs, Medical Center, and The Courtship of Eddie's Father. In 1980, he was named President/CEO of Twentieth Century Fox Television. He developed and sold The Simpsons, Anything but Love, Doogie Howser, M.D. (1989-1993), Hooperman, and Mr. Belvedere.

Mr. Katleman guest starred as Colonel Charles Marshall in a 1960 episode of the ABC western The Rebel. We thank him for his work on television. He will be sorely missed.

Television writer and producer Wilford Lloyd Baumes created The Love Boat. He died in Cincinnati, Ohio, on June 28. Mr. Baumes was 86.

Baumes created and developed the 1977-1986 ABC romantic sitcom The Love Boat. The series was based on the 1974 book The Love Boats by Jeraldine Saunders. In addition, three TV movies aired before the regular series premiered and four specials and a TV movie aired after the series ended.

He worked as an associate to executive producer on the 1972-1973 CBS sitcom Bridget Loves Bernie, which starred Meredith Baxter and David Birney. He was an executive producer on Wonder Woman from 1976 to 1977.

Mr. Baumes's The Love Boat was part of ABC's popular Saturday-night lineup of the time, which also included Fantasy Island until 1984. We thank him for creating The Love Boat. He will be greatly missed.

Actress and television writer Ellen Weston had a recurring role as Dr. Steele in Get Smart. She died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on May 28. Ms. Weston was 87.

Weston had a recurring role as Dr. Steele in three episodes of the third season (1967-1968) of the NBC sitcom Get Smart. Dr. Steele is a beautiful, sexy, and brilliant CONTROL scientist who develops formulas while undercover as a dancer and strip-tease artist. She remains oblivious to Maxwell Smart's (Don Adams) clearly discomfited attraction to her. The character was replaced the next season by Dr. Simon who has the same cover, played by different actresses in two episodes.

Some of her other sitcom guest appearances included The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, Bewitched, The Little People, and The Bob Newhart Show. She had a recurring role as Betty Harrelson in the police procedural action crime drama S.W.A.T., which aired on ABC from 1975 to 1976.

Weston's other television guest appearances included Run for Your Life (2 episodes), N.Y.P.D. (1967), The F.B.I. (2 episodes), Bonanza, The Young Lawyers, Mannix, Night Gallery, The Sixth Sense, The Wide World of Mystery, Hawkins, Harry O, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Barnaby Jones, Caribe, Ellery Queen, Cannon (3 episodes), Baretta, Most Wanted, Logan's Run, Lucan, and Wonder Woman.

Her first notable television role was a stint as Robin Fletcher on Guiding Light from 1963 to 1964, followed by another daytime role as Karen Gregory on Another World from 1964 to 1965. From 1979 to 1981, she appeared as Suzanne Thurston, Derek's ex-wife, on The Young and the Restless.

Weston's first television writing job was as a staff writer for the CBS soap opera Capitol. She was the head writer on Guiding Light from 2002 to 2004.

Ms. Weston was a talented and versatile actress. We thank her for her work on television as an actress and writer. She will be deeply missed.

Posted by Todd -- SitcomsOnline.com at 12:15 PM

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Labels: Get Smart, getTV, Good Morning World, House, Mary Hartman, Obits, The Love Boat