Casting
Curtin was recruited to play Mary by friend Bonnie Turner after another actress was deemed too sweet for the part. Co-star John Lithgow said, "We really needed a very strong human comic presence. . . . Someone who could give it out and dish it out." Curtin had earlier worked with Bonnie and Terry Turner on Saturday Night Live and in the 1993 film Coneheads. She originally signed for just seven episodes, but soon agreed to extend her commitment. "I loved the character, but I also loved the sense of humor on the show," she later explained. "I had known John in New York, and I'm very comfortable with him. It made me laugh when John and I were working together -- there just would be puddles on the floor."
Reflecting on the show in 2005, Lithgow remarked "Jane was just perfect for it. She's a great comedy partner. She understands the role of a straight man; however, she also has a terrific streak of wildness herself so she creates this wonderful repressed character who occasionally spins out just as much as the aliens do."
Read more about this topic: Mary Albright
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“All we know
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—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
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