Louise Lasser for starring as the neurotic, unhappy housewife Mary Hartman in the serialized satire "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" appearing on the covers of "Newsweek", "People", and "Rolling Stone" during the run of the show. "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" aired five nights a week for two seasons from 1976-1977. In his autobiography, producer Norman Lear says that the casting of Lasser took less than a minute after Charles H. Joffe told him there was only one actress to play the part of Mary Hartman and Lear met the former Mrs. Woody Allen. Lasser refused the role at first. Of the casting process,
Gas-s-s-s and he only made one more movie before a twenty-year sabbatical. " A great deal of care went into what I was saying and how I was going to say it," he said of "Gas-s-s-s". "The finished picture does not evidently make all these points. It discourages me and so for a little while I prefer to step away ... Directing is very hard and very painful. Producing is easy. I can do it without really thinking about it." Corman did, however, go on to produce "Boxcar Bertha" for AIP. "Gas-s-s-s" found a fresh audience on late night television in