Martha, Inc.: The Story of Martha Stewart

This show was good and actually kind of funny. The show displayed her temper and that's kinda fun to watch. Cybill did a good job portraying Martha but I find it hard to think ill of Martha because she is actually a hard worker, driven by her need to be successful. This is the American way these days. Keep up the good work Martha and Cybill.

What better actress to play Martha than Cybill. I think they're both nuts! I have always wondered why Martha is so popular, and to be honest, I'm still trying to figure it out. Most of the things she comes up with are just common sense, but so many people think she is so brilliant. She is an excellent con woman. That's her claim to fame.

As the movie opens, Martha Stewart is cheerfully entering the studio where her TV series is filmed, behaving exactly like the charming, sickeningly perfect Martha we all know. Then she gets angry because things aren't exactly as the should be. Once on camera, she returns to the familiar calm, serene personality--until something else goes wrong!

Then comes the scandal that ruined Martha's reputation in the eyes of many, but not all. I remember the scene on the CBS morning show going a little differently, but then I only saw a partial clip. It was a little more exciting and dramatic here.

Then we see flashbacks. I find it hard to believe Martha would have sabotaged a competitor as a young child, but not everything has to be the truth in movies such as these. Then we see the teenage Martha and we begin to understand why she turned out the way she did. Her father was also a perfectionist, and nothing was ever good enough for him. Meanwhile, Martha has a hard time making friends because of her need to be perfect and better than everyone else.

Martha goes to college and begins a modeling career, and she meets her future husband. We see the events that led to her becoming the icon she is today. In short, even when it finally happened, she was not content to be a suburban housewife. She saw the opportunity to make her housewife status into something much more, and she risked a friendship and her marriage to become famous.

I thought Cybill Shepherd did a wonderful job. She did the on-screen perfect Martha very nicely, even to the point of being almost satirical. She could be perky as well, but when she was, she seemed like Cybill. But she was mostly the determined, confident and generally intolerant Martha that we have never seen. And she did that quite nicely. When she had to make the big business deals herself, rather than depending on others, it was quite exciting to watch. The actors playing Martha's father (who was demanding but occasionally tender) and the teenage Martha (charming and actually adorable) also made quite an impression.

It wasn't pleasant, but this may very well have been the way it happened. As is true of many movies like this, it presented mostly the negative side, but there is only so much that can be done in two hours. I wasn't expecting nearly as much from her early years, but we needed to see that background. At least we got to see that Martha wasn't as perfect as we may have thought. A good job by everyone. Not a masterpiece, but a good TV-movie.

When I first heard about a year and a half ago that Cybill was going to play Martha I was excited for Cybill and Martha. I thought Cybill's career would get back on track and Martha might enjoy having such a glamour girl play her...however, as Cybill ages she becomes more and more campier--she hardly EVER lost her southern accent in her portrayal of Ms. Martha. Martha would never say "beauuutifullll" she would say "BEAU-TI-FUL". There are moments where Cybill actually does resemble Martha but then there are moments where she looks like she is about to have her gallbladder removed. Hey Cyb--there is such a thing as under eye concealer! Don't even get me started on TURKEY HILL (the name of Martha's home), it doesn't even resemble the real Turkey Hill. The score is a great supporting player in the film. Classic line--HEY S**T! Not bad--but Cyb should have worked with a dialect coach. Also, has ANYONE remembered the GOOD and POSITIVE things Martha has done?

This is a fairly simple morality tale about what happens when you become an overachiever, when vaulting ambition demands ever higher achievement.

Martha in her demand to make a splash, ignores her husband and child.

If Martha were male, she might be looked on as a heroic figure who sacrificed personal happiness.

I have always been amazed at how effortlessly Martha creates domestic perfection. Here, you see behind the covers at the panic and stress to create that illusion.

The movie points out Martha was once a stock broker, so when she was nailed on insider trading, she could not very well claim naiveté.