After Louise Lasser left Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman in late 1977 most of the original cast remained and the show was renamed Forever Fernwood.
The focus shifted to Mary’s heart-broken ex-husband Tom (Greg Mullavey) – who had taken up residence in his car to avoid the ghosts of his missing wife in his home – and the rest of the oddball residents of Fernwood, Ohio.
The writing was just as daring and the comic situations were just as campy and absurd.
Tom’s father-in-law George Shumway (Philip Bruns) fell asleep on the conveyor belt at the plant, got dumped into a vat of rustoleum, had plastic surgery on his entire body and was unveiled as a new man (Tab Hunter).
Tom’s daughter, Heather (Claudia Lamb) had seen a divine vision in the town, singing star Loretta Haggers (Mary Kay Place) was on the road and had succumbed to handsome temptation, Harmon Farinella (Richard Hatch), and Tom began dating maimed tennis star Eleanor Major (Shelley Fabares) but in the very last episode of the series, he married Eleanor’s stuttering and emotionally wrecked sister, Penny Major (Judith Kahan).
Tom Hartman
Greg Mullavey Loretta Haggers
Mary Kay Place Charlie Haggers
Graham Jarvis Martha Shumway
Dody Goodman Cathy Shumway
Debralee Scott Merle Jeeter
Dabney Coleman Wanda Jeeter
Marian Mercer Raymond Larkin
Victor Kilian Heather Hartman
Claudia Lamb Mac Slattery
Dennis Burkley Mel Beach
Shelley Berman George Shumway (pre-plastic surgery)
Philip Bruns George Shumway (post-plastic surgery)
Tab Hunter Mickey Mo Jeeter
Tony Palmer Reverend Brim
Orson Bean Jeffrey DiVito
Randall Carver Sal DiVito
Joe Penny Dr Popesco
Severn Darden Eleanor Major
Shelley Fabares Penny Major
Judith Kahan Nat Dearden
Lou Frizzell Harmon Farinella
Richard Hatch Bob Truss
Ben Piazza Piersall
Ronnie Schell Annabelle Kearns
Renée Taylor Jerry Hubbard
Fred Willard
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