But that's not the shocker.
The shocker is most people have never heard of it.
Time really does march on. It won the Emmy for Best Comedy three years in a row. You think it'd be famous.
TAXI was created and run by James L. Brooks and the fine folks that brought you THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW. Among the writers were the Charles Brothers (CHEERS), David Lloyd, and Sam Simon (THE SIMPSONS). The director was the incomparable James Burrows. What a staff!
The all-star cast included Judd Hirsch, Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, Marilu Henner, Tony Danza, Jeff Conaway, Randall Carver, Carol Kane, and Andy Kaufman. It was set in the garage of a Manhattan cab company. Most had dreams and were biding their time. The stories were hilarious, smart, and deeply human. One or two of the streaming services are featuring it. Treat yourself.
One of the reasons it has sunk under the radar is that only 114 episodes were made. The show lasted a mere five seasons. The first four were on ABC. They gave it bad time slots and canceled it after three years (despite winning Emmys every year -- now they'd KILL for a prestigious show like that) and NBC picked it up for a fourth season. Unfortunately, that was the period when NBC was in the toilet. TAXI was paired with a brand new show called CHEERS. Between the two the ratings were awful. CHEERS won the Best Comedy Emmy that year and survived. TAXI didn't.
When my son Matt was a teenager we took a trip to Hawaii. Early in the morning one of the local stations was showing TAXI. He had never seen it. So I put it on. He loved it, was laughing out loud. Every morning we watched TAXI. If you're not familiar with it, I invite you to discover it as Matt did. I bet you'll have the same reaction.
The Hollywood Reporter did an article a few years ago interviewing a lot of the principals. You can find it here.
People always ask me what shows I wish I had written for. Tops on my list is always TAXI. I've been saying it for 44 years.
98 comments :
What…does…a…yellow light….mean?
Hey Ken … slow down!
Ken,
FIVE seasons, four of them on ABC, running until 1983. But I'm sure you knew that!
There's a joke near the end of the 1982 Barney Miller episode "Chinatown, Part 2" that's now lost on modern day viewers: Due to a case they're involved with, Dietrich and Harris are holed up in a hotel room, Barney comes to visit, and Dietrich tells him "Have a seat, Taxi's on in five minutes". Taxi followed Barney on the ABC Thursday night schedule, and in actuality, was about to begin in five minutes!
It was one of my favorites back then. And at least 4 actors went on to serious stardom after/because of it; Danny Devito, Christopher Lloyd, Andy Kauffman, and Tony Danza. Jeff Conaway *could* have (he was in Grease after all), but his demons got the best of him.
"The show lasted a mere four seasons. The first three were on ABC."
No -- TAXI ran five seasons. The first four were on ABC -- 1978-'79, '79-'80, '80-'81, '81-'82, and the final season, '82-'83, was on NBC. It could never have reached 114 episodes without that fifth NBC season
Interesting, I totally forgot Taxi and Cheers were on in the same year (for one year)
Great show overall but often spotty depending on which character was the focus of any episode. The Latka episodes were always golden, the Bobby show were always dogs. Viewers who tuned in and caught one of those probably didn't come back..
My favorite Taxi episodes were when Louie lets Jim stay in his apartment and when Louie has a premonition or nightmare that something bad will happen to Alex. I thought the Latka and Simka characters were more of a negative than a positive, whereas Reverend Jim was brilliant.
DecadesTV is showing both CHEERS and TAXI as part of their "smartcom" promotions. I was onboard with that show from day one and remember Danny DeVito's gleeful destruction of the ABC HQ on a SNL episode. Actors with those voices don't exist any more. It's been a cynical technique to bring back those warhorses for ratings and it works (Hirsch, Metcalfe and Baranski on Big Bang, Shelley Long on MODERN FAMILY). It's amazing how Long has kept her bell-like voice playing a grandmother.
A great show, lost to time along with Barney Miller and Big Wave Dave's.
Not to be a nitpicker but the show was on for 5 seasons. it is running here in Toronto right now. what a great show. and it really took off when Christopher lloyd joined in the second season. It is like WKRP in that it never went downhill before it was axed. I keep telling friends to watch it.
I have always wondered how it would have handled Andy Kaufman's illness and passing though if it had stayed on the air.
Only four nitpickers regarding how many seasons TAXI had, so far. I am laying odds that there will be a total of a dozen or more (nitpickers) before the end of business today. For the record, I enjoyed TAXI. It was good fun.
Rhea Perlman also made several appearances before going on to CHEERS.
Favorite ep.: Elaine falls for a monk, played by Mark Blankfield, who's allowed a week's break from his vow of silence. Danny DeVito directed, and the scene where Marilu Henner and Blankfield are dancing alone in the garage is lovely and contains some elegant, unique camera angles.
TAXI has always been one of my favorites. The writing and casting were, of course, superb. And the theme song and incidental music by Bob James added a unique combination of melancholy and sophistication.
Audience reaction mixer Carroll Pratt has mentioned that he did not particularly enjoy sweetening TAXI, mainly because he found it hard to really invest in any of the cast since it seemed to lack any sort of a sympathetic character, which he liked a show to have at least one of, but he also added, "I may be a wuss about that."
I was always lukewarm toward TAXI, and I put MTM and Cheers in my top ten favorite shows ever. I can watch a TAXI episode and admire everything about it but I just don't "like" it all that much yet I can't put my finger on why. The ugly dreary set? The overuse of Christopher Lloyd ? His character was amusing in small doses. Judd Hirsch always seemed so smug in this show; his character was always such a know-it-all.
Wonderful show. Favorite episode is apparently for some sort of rights reason not available on streaming: the one where Marilu Henner's character hosted a party for arts swells and Jim showed up and took a memorable turn at the piano.
What’s a yellow light mean?
Tony Danza had a supporting guest role as a Staten Island cop with a troubled son on last Friday's "Blue Bloods." Danza's no stranger to drama, but this was a reminder he's a solid actor, period.
I never wanted to watch TAXI until I saw it. I loved it. Amazing characters. All lovable. Well, maybe except for Louie.
Back in 1984 I was sitting in a cinema watching Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. For about half the film the Klingon character Commander Kruge mildly bugged me because I couldn't quite place who was playing him, under all that make-up and prosthetics,
When it finally hit me that the actor was Christopher Lloyd I came this close to shouting "Reverend Jim!" in the middle of a crowded cinema.
I loved Taxi, and Jim was my favourite character. Christopher Lloyd hasn't done badly since, has he?
I had some time to kill in LA in early 83 so I thought I'd see a TV show. Taxi was my first choice but the tapings were full. There was a new show taping next door called "Cheers". I heard of it but never saw it,so I went. It was "The Boston Barmaid" episode and I was hooked.
"Taxi" had a brilliant cast. Just having Christopher Lloyd and Andy Kaufman was inspired casting. Show should have lasted longer. Brilliant
I was a kid when Taxi originally ran. There has to be a reason why the viewing audience wasn't there or abandoned it, resulting in two cancelations.
It might be that the characters were all "sad sacks". One driver was an actor. One was a boxer. One was an artist. Only Alex was a taxi driver for a living. They were created and written to be losers.
I watched the first three seasons, maybe into the fourth, but eventually gave up on Taxi. The first season featured "the new guy", introduced in the first episode. That character was so weak, he was dropped from the show. I loved Reverand Jim! One of my all time favorite TV characters. The episode with his father (actor Victor Buono-?-, he played King Tut on Batman) was hysterical. Latka was a fun character when he was used sparingly. The episode in which he turned "normal" was great. I didn't like the Simka character. She seemed to zap the energy out of Latka.
I never liked the Louie character. (Remember, I was a kid.) He was a bully and loud and mean. Also a letch. His treatment of Marilu Henner's character was terrible.
Then there was Alex. The main character. He seemed to (imo) just get more boring as a character as the series progressed. I also remember that even as a kid, I thought Tony Danza was a terrible actor.
To me, there was just something "not right" about Taxi. Something missing.
I loved Barney Miller. Loved every character except the one young detective brought in late in the series. (Name?) But he was written to be unlikeable, even expecting his new fellow detectives and Captain to "probably" have been on-the-take. So a negative character, quickly dropped. As were some of the characters on Taxi also negative as they were written to be, again, sad sacks.
That's my take on it going by my kid-self recollection. I agree that the actors, writers and directors are obviously all-stars. But I've never watched an episode of it in syndication.
The only problem I have with older sitcom is the laugh tracks. Really takes me out of the story when you hear random laughter from O.S.
Every time I cross the Queensboro Bridge, I hear Bob James' "Angela" (on Tappan Zee records and tapes!) in my mind's ear. One of the few shows that truly captured the essence of NYC at the time.
TAXI is one of my favorite shows. Interesting to hear you describe it as “forgotten,” though upon reflection, that’s probably true. I used to watch the reruns as a kid at 11:30 every night on a local station. I loved the haunting theme music and even borrowed a “book of TV theme songs” from the library and convinced by orchestra teacher to teach me how to play it on the violin. (I was a geeky middle-schooler.)
TAXI depicted a version of New York I miss: Working-class stiffs trying to keep their heads above water. It was so different from the more overtly well off characters on FRIENDS, SEINFELD, WILL & GRACE, or HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER. On TAXI, Rachel would’ve been a waitress indefinitely, constantly going for second or third interviews at a fashion company but never getting hired. Monica would’ve worked at that cheesy diner for most of the run. Joey would’ve had the same challenges as Bobby. And of course, their apartments wouldn’t have been as swank.
Despite all this, TAXI felt nonetheless uplifting. The characters got knocked down but would get back up. And of course, it was damn funny.
"Taxi" was so good that when I saw the ads for "Cheers" I, at first, refused to watch it, thinking "This is just Taxi in a bar!".
Soooo, yes, I have both series on DVD. And Humble Pie with a Crow chaser is deee-lish!
Still on Decades TV and Paramount+.
PEEL ME LIKE A GRAPE
Louise Lasser, as Alex's ex-wife Phyllis, delivering the Christmas prayer at Latka and Simka's Christmas party: "...and bring back...two refills...per prescription...on Valium."
It makes me a bit sad, watching these old shows, and remembering just how good TV used to be.
It does seem like many of the great comedies of that era had bad ratings at first, but got saved after their first season by a dedicated and intelligent following, including network people who recognized quality.
I didn't watch TAXI to the same extent that I did MASH and CHEERS, both of which I loved right away, as a kid when they were in syndication, although I watched the show. The great shows from the 70s and 80s are still very much respected and appreciated.
Taxi is a gem and I loved it ever since I was in the sixth grade. It's on par with other iconic ensemble sitcoms like Barney Miller, Mary Tyler Moore, Cheers etc. But you're right it's not treated as such. Today most networks or streaming services would kill for a sitcom as well written, perfectly casted and smartly funny as Taxi was. The closest ABC has now is Abbott Elementary but even that show isn't Taxi.
@Kent I wouldn't call Barney Miller lost to time. If anything it's far more popular and beloved now than it was for 8 years on ABC back then. It's still on syndication and the entire series is popular on Youtube. I'd say Taxi is far more lost to time than Barney Miller, but both are truly genius sitcoms that we don't see the likes of today.
How could anyone not know about Taxi?! Kudos to Nick at Nite for introducing it, and several MTM properties, to me back in the '90s. Alas, I haven't watched in years, but I'm subjected to the music regularly as a jazz fusion fan, as Kevin alluded to. If Hulu had all the episodes, I'd watch there. (Does Paramount+ have them all?)
Speaking of Bob James's music, "Angela" (the theme) was an ascended incidental (TV Tropes calls it a "bootstrapped theme") for the episode "Blind Date." The titular Angela, Alex's literal blind date, was played by Suzanne Kent, who I came to know as Mrs. Rene on Pee-wee's Playhouse. Since writing that sentence, I see she was a member of The Groundlings. No wonder Paul Reubens made her Mrs. Rene. The character and stage show originated there, after all. (I originally listed most of the Playhouse cast, but held back.)
If anyone was wondering, George Marge played the recorder and oboe parts on the Taxi theme. Like Bob, George was a New York session musician and played on many New York area jazz albums of the '60s and '70s. Bob recorded a trio version of "Angela" (still on Rhodes piano) for his latest album, Feel Like Making Live (recorded live, together, in one take). All songs were simultaneously video recorded as part of a Japan-exclusive Blu-ray and internationally on YouTube. I've seen Bob live four times in my life: twice at the defunct IMAC theater in Huntington, New York (Long Island), and twice at Blue Note Jazz Club in Greenwich Village. The first IMAC engagement (2006) was with his quintet, the second (2007) with his Asian band Angels of Shanghai. The first Blue Note show (2015) was with Fourplay (RIP Chuck Loeb), and the second (2018) with the aforementioned trio.
Ryan Stiles does a great Reverend Jim. It's his stock Christopher Lloyd* impression, even as Doc Brown. *Not to be confused with the son of David Lloyd, no relation.
Tony Danza was featured in an episode of the current season of Finding Your Roots on PBS. The other celebrity in that episode was Terry Crews of Brooklyn Nine-Nine (and a zillion other things, but we're talking sitcoms).
Marilu Henner came up in Burt Reynolds' memoir, But Enough About Me, when discussing Evening Shade. I may remember certain dates and events vividly, but she has hyperthymesia/HSAM (highly superior autobiographic memory).
Mine is where Jim strips the sheet metal sides from his van to make a castle for Elaine in her living room.
The episode where Jim has a premonition that Alex is going to die still gets me every time.
This might seem like a trifling thing but...
Has anyone here ever actually DRIVEN a taxi? Or visited a taxi garage/lot?
Spoiler: taxi drivers make their living Out There. The goal is to stay Out There long enough to pay off their medallions (NYC reference, sorry!). Garages are where they return the taxis (sometimes) in their off-hours, presumably where they'll get maintained.
No taxi driver hangs out at a taxi garage long enough to forge bonds and have a 22-minute adventure. Knowing the reality spoils the core premise of "Taxi" for me, although the stories and the characters are, admittedly, quality stuff with great actors.
The first three seasons are free to stream on demand on PlutoTV. One of my favorites is "Artwork," where the gang goes to an auction to bid on a painting by an artist who might die soon so they can cash in on the jump in value. But when they're outbid, they instead decide to each buy a piece of art just because they like it.
One thing I appreciated about this show was that they got the "issue" of Danny DeVito's height over with rather quickly. He steps out of the cage, everyone sees that he's short, the audience laughs, but the cast never addresses it.
There was the occasional reference to his size, even a major plot point in which he explains the humiliation of having to go to the "husky" department to buy clothes (a variation on this story happened to DeVito), but it is not a constant go-to for laughs. Louie was a jerk first and foremost and that was where the bulk of the laughs came from. That was practically unheard of in the late 1970's.
Most of the MTM characters were "losers." Mary couldn't find love or throw an orderly party, Rhoda couldn't find love and struggled with her weight (then the writers took love away from her on Rhoda), Lou's wife left him and wouldn't take him back, Murray was jealous of old classmates that were more successful than him while he was stuck writing for a pompous (but lovable) buffoon, Phyllis's husband cheated on her (with Sue Ann!), and everyone at WJM but said buffoon got fired in the finale. Ted was a "winner": a loving wife in Georgette, a marriage officiated by John Ritter, an adopted son played by Robbie Rist, and a biological daughter named Richards Grant...I mean Mary Lou. Meanwhile, Ted's alter ego in San Francisco was a cartoonist and had a loving wife, two daughters, and Monroe. (Never mind the move to Marin County.)
Anita, oddly, I didn't have "Angela" in my head when I rode on the Queensboro Bridge 22 years ago this month after a field trip to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum and lunch at Ratner's. (Maybe I do have HSAM.)
I forgot about Henry and Muriel's son Andrew in my Too Close for Comfort reference. That makes two daughters and a son...and Monroe.
You counted Randall Carver among the "all-star" cast? I can't even place him in anything else other than "Taxi"!
Recurring character Jeff Bennett, played by J. Alan Thomas, is also the name of a prolific voice actor. That Jeff was 16 when Taxi premiered, presumably watching on KTRK-TV, Houston's ABC affiliate.
Caught an episode on MeTV or something recently and laughed/cried as hard as ever. I'll never forget the one where Alex's dog is dying...and the one where Reverend Jim rents an upscale apartment for one month...and the one where Alex goes on a blind date ...and every episode with DeVito and Perlman....
I get what you say, Russ, but it's called suspension of disbelief. Real psychiatrists, mailmen and accountants don't spend all day sitting in a bar either. OK, maybe mailmen.
Taxi had one of the best theme songs.
Thanks for the nudge to go back and watch Taxi again. I'll get to it after I finish Wings. Sure beats watching most of what's on today.
I've seen all the Taxi episodes. There is such an undercurrent of sadness, I can't watch them again. The theme song is depressing.
I'm glad to know Randall Carver and his lovely wife Shelly. Randy is generally sanguine about his time on Taxi, but boy, it had to suck being in his shoes: playing a nice character with virtually no comic flaws.
Do you know if Randy ever read for the Woody Boyd character on Cheers? I don't think anyone could beat Woody Harrelson, but Randy almost certainly would have shined more than he did with the John Burns role on Taxi.
I showed my 22yo son the yellow light scene a few months ago. My son is a stone face, never even remotely sniggers or shows a hint of a smile. This scene made him laugh like I'd never seen him laugh before. Sure, he tried to fight it and hide his face until finally, he gave up and let it loose.
BTW, look at the other cast members starting to break up towards the end of the scene. I forget whether it's Jeff Conaway or Tony Danza who had to hide his face. I'm amazed they got that far in the scene without cracking.
Talking about forgotten TV sitcoms, there is a plot point in the US version of Ghosts where the current owners of the house had never heard of the TV show Newhart. It would be interesting to have a time slot dedicated to “Cultural Competency” where they show a sitcom episode from each year, starting with the Phil Silvers show and ending with something from last year. It would be a whole lot better than CNN’s “History of the Sitcom”.
Taxi is one of the best of all-time.
Russ, my grandpa Artie was a taxi driver before retiring completely (he'd been a salesman). He kept his taxi "Out There" at his home in Freeport. Being a kid, I didn't think to ask if he brought it to a garage for maintenance. Interestingly, the car he drove in retirement was a Mercury Grand Marquis, luxury twin of the Ford Crown Victoria that was commonly used, along with the Chevy Caprice, for taxi (and police car) fleets.
I got voice actor Jeff Bennett's age wrong. He didn't turn 16 until a few weeks after the premiere.
O.K. I admit that I'm in the minority among Ken's readers. I DID NOT like "Taxi." The "only three networks" thing was the main reason I watched. In fact, I disliked it so much I almost didn't watch "Cheers" because the promos said "from the producers of 'Taxi.'" Fortunately, "Cheers" turned out to be a funny show.
There's not much I can add to what has already been said. Except to say that I understand why it was canceled twice. I don't watch the show in syndication either.
However, three episodes stand out for me. Someone already mentioned The Apartment. Then there was the episode where Bobby pretends to be Louie at Louie's high school reunion. And the one where Jim comes into some money and buys a wall of TVs. "Delawarian or Delawarite?"
Off Topic: Kyen, you haven't made any comments about the baseball situation. It must be killing you to think that the season might be delayed.
M.B.
I did a rewatch last year. Still a great series.
Some episodes to recommend:
-Louie gets sued by an old lady.
-Elaine and the gang go to an art auction.
-Jim has a vision of Alex dying.
-Jim gets his driver's license (a classic!)
-The one where Louie works in an office
-Elaine gets a really bad haircut (featuring some guy named Ted Danson)
Mike Chimeri: To your point, many comic characters are "losers", in one form or another, not just MTM's. Would people enjoy Frasier if was still well-off AND he found the love of his life and had three happy kids? That'd be "Father Knows Best" and that's kinda dull.
There is an anecdote in "The Wit and Wisdom of Hollywood" that describes the alternative:
"Here's the pitch: This guy's a millionaire, has a different girl on his arm when he goes out and when he goes out, he eats at the best places and drinks the best liquor. Here's the catch: how does this SOB make his second million?"
Further Suzanne Kent roles: She shows up in the first "It's Garry Shandling Show" as a cable installer that is adamant about how much better Vanna White is than Susan Stafford on "Wheel of Fortune" and she is also on "Becker" as a woman who gets offended about references to her body.
-- On the James Burrows celebration special, which included appearances by the casts of "Cheers", "Taxi", "Friends" and "The Big Bang Theory", Matt LeBlanc dropped a bombshell. When the "Friends" cast were on stage talking with the emcee, LeBlanc said that Burrows intended their characters to mirror the "Taxi" characters. For instance, not-all-there Phoebe was like Reverend Jim, and Joey was the equivalent of Tony Danza's "Noo Yawk" Italian galoot. In the audience, Christopher Lloyd looked surprised, and LeBlanc smiled at an equally surprised Danza.
-- That special also influenced a "Big Bang" guest appearance. Johnny Galecki approached Judd Hirsch and told him how big a fan he was of him and his "Taxi" work. That led to Galecki's recruitment of Hirsch to play Leonard's father for Leonard and Penny's wedding.
-- Danny DeVito's audition for Louie may be the shortest successful audition in Hollywood history. DeVito said that he understood Louie's character perfectly when he read the pilot's script, and when it was his turn to audition, he marched up to the table, threw down the script, and yelled, "Who wrote this %*+#@?" The rest is history.
-- I was disappointed at first to hear that Andy Kaufman never saw the completed episodes, he thought it was just a silly sitcom. However, given that Kaufman operated on a different sensibility than the rest of us, I shouldn't have been surprised.
There was the occasional reference to his size, even a major plot point in which he explains the humiliation of having to go to the "husky" department to buy clothes.
Holy crap! I thought that only happened to me! High school,senior prom. My mom decided that she wasn't going to pay that much money for a one time use of a tuxedo so she hauls me off to Sears to get a suit. I am very short, very wide [think wrestler wide, not fat] and at the time weighed about 120. After much browsing with a sales lady and finding EVERYTHING they had was too large and wouldn't fit me, the sales lady looks at my mom and says "I hate to suggest this but you probably need to go to the children's section and find a suit that would fit a husky-sized kid." Talk about humiliation. We trudged on over and found a suit that would fit me only for my mom to get into a fight with another lady who wanted it for HER kid who was going into 3rd grade or something like that. Kid still in single digits but 4 inches taller than me and FAT. To me, the suit looked like something that would have been rejected as a couch cover but it was all they had that would fit me. It was some color that could vaguely be referred to as "beige". And to make matters worse, I was the only guy at prom in a suit, all the guys wore tuxedos. I stood out like a rash on Dolly Parton's chest. Wore it maybe twice after I graduated but it hung in my closet for years gathering cobwebs. [Things didn't get any easier. Flash forward to 2001. Men's Wearhouse for a new suit. They had to call in their senior tailor to get the thing to fit me. 3 adjustments and 4 fittings later they finally had it right and it cost me a small fortune]
I recently watched the pilot, which featured a young, stunning Talia Balsam as Judd Hirsch's daughter.
I thought, the name sounds familiar - turns out she played Roger Sterling's wife Mona - great in every scene - and STILL STUNNING.
I look forward to see more Taxi. The ONLY think I remember - DeVito was anticipating giving testimony "under oath". He said he LOVED giving testimony "under oath" because:
"they gotta BELIEVE YA!"
Why not write a TAXI spec - adapt it to a one-act play?
I will never forgot the very first time Louie exits the cage and we all got to see his size! So funny.janice b.
Jim selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door.....
I loved the nice editd in the Main Title that kept that taxi from ever getting across that bridge
Yes, Brian, I forgot about Frasier. Yeah, he was a loser, too. I'm surprised I manage to like the show in spite of that. I just wish he hadn't followed Charlotte to Chicago, but the reboot will take of that, won't it? (Rhetorical question; do not answer.)
I loved "Taxi." Interesting to read the reactions to various characters by different people. Some were both loved...and hated. Bobby was pretty uninteresting overall but there was an episode in which he had a gig entertaining at a kid's birthday party dressed as a bunny rabbit. When he discovered the kid's father was a famous talent agent (or something like that) he lays down on the couch and does a scene from a most-depressing play about a quadriplegic called "Whose Life Is This Anyway?" which was hilarious coming from a bunny rabbit.
Latka was funny in small doses, but I got really turned off by him when they brought in his "wife" Simka and made too many shows all about them. I'm sure Carol Kane is a nice woman, but I've never been a fan of anything she's done.
Same with Reverend Jim. Very funny when used sparingly. Remember when he and Alex were lost in the woods? They were starving and Jim found some blue berries. Alex tells him that not all blue berries are blueberries. It was a brief but very funny exchange, made all the more by Jim's confused expressions.
And Louie pushing the old woman in a wheelchair down a flight of steps to prove she wasn't really disabled. Bump bump bump bump bump. BUMP! (A few seconds pause, then a slightly fainter "bump bump bump bump bump. BUMP! A few more seconds pause and...you get the idea. Sadistic? Yes. Funny? Also yes.
I don't think they were losers, any more than anyone who does a job and tries to make ends meet as best they can every day.
Interesting that others see the characters on The Mary Tyler Moore Show as "losers". I never did. Mary was hired for a job on a TV news show having no experience. (And even though she had spunk.) Plus, she lived in cool apartments. Rhoda was always pretty (even in bulky sweats) and sharp and witty. I even saw Murray as having it all: Intelligence, a writer, pretty wife and a nice home when we saw it. Also sharp at Ted Baxter's expense.
Phyllis seemed to be wealthy being that she and Lars owned the apartment house. Sue Ann Nivens had her own TV show. Also, she had a great apartment complete with heart-shaped bed with a mirror over it. Lou Grant was in charge and seemed to be making a good living. Also, he had been a football player in his youth as evidenced by the framed photo of him in fb uniform on the wall. Always saw him as a strong character. Incidently, that framed photo shows up in other TV shows Ed Asner appeared in. Including an episode of The Fugitive.
Ted Baxter was the one character I did think was a loser. Rude, ignorant and awful at his job. Often terrible to the woman who (for some reason) loved and adored him. But then, he was the best paid and was the only one kept on when everyone else was fired in the final episode.
Of course, Mary was a loser when it came to hostessing a party.
So that's my take on TMTMS. Winners compared to those sad sacks on Taxi, imo. I've had a lot of time on my hands today.
Chuck, my "loser" and "winner" designations for The Mary Tyler Moore Show were tongue-in-cheek. If I really thought the characters were losers, I wouldn't watch.
My favorite Ed Asner character outside MTM is Sgt. Mike Cosgrove on Freakazoid!. Oh, and Ted Baxter is great as the original Super Friends narrator, much as I like Bill Woodson in subsequent iterations.
I apologize for not writing TAXI in all caps in earlier comments.
I'd never seen anyone like Latke, Louis or Jim on television before. My daughter had never seen the show. Taxi made me forsake acting for writing. We started recording it from some obscure channel way up the "dial" and it's just as funny as I recall. She loves it.
Loved Taxi and was a fan from the debut of the series, Ken. I rank it up there as one of the stellar, smart comedies right along with Cheers, Wings, Newhart, MTM Show, Valerie and Frasier.
A dumb comedy? That'd be stuff like Laverne & Shirley and Three's Company in spite of the very talented John Ritter. Never understood their popularity.
Happy Days was entertaining but never in the same league as Taxi and the other excellent sitcoms I named.
My Friday Question -MeTV just runned the last episode of Henry Blake. Why is it considered funny that he forceably kissed Hoolihan. That has always bugged me. It's not funny - at all. Different times, I don't know. And they had to make it like she love it.
Jim: "You know, I had to appear in court once."
Tony: "They get you on drugs?"
Jim: "No, I was already on drugs."
As a kid I was all over the new Fall TV shows.
TAXI was an instant home run for me. Great characters, great comedy!
Slow down.
Oh yes
Great show
You have to sort of feel sorry for Randall Carver. It's another one of those cases where some characters from a show early on are let go and forgotten about and they miss out on the glory years of the show. It happened on Mash, Happy Days and some other shows. It was a weak character.
I enjoyed the ensemble stories set in the garage and give them credit for inventive use of the limited space. The one with the Hollywood producer (Martin Mull) and crew invading the garage for research is one of the funniest in the series.
But some of the most memorable scenes took place inside the taxis on the nighttime streets, usually with a driver alone with oddball passengers and having surprising encounters in that liminal space. The show reminded us of the danger and risks of the job...anyone could get in and anything could happen. I think the extended scenes inside the cabs added a lot to the show's depth and humanity.
I loved Suzanne Kellermann as Latke's mother in three episodes. More recently she was delightful playing the Czech hotel concierge in Last Holiday.
A tribute to the writers. It's no secret that Kauffman was bored with TV COMEDY.So they devise a Latka multiple personalities! And it ends with Latka taking Alex's personality! Genious
I just remembered one of my favorite eps of "Taxi": It's the one where Latka and Simka invite them for blind dates at a restaurant. Louie gets a blind woman, Tony gets Anne DeSalvo (who later appeared on "Cheers" as Eddie LeBec's other wife at his funeral), Elaine gets Wallace Shawn who is obviously not the handsome type she usually gets, and Jim gets Marcia Wallace because he's a fan of "The Bob Newhart Show"! Predictably, Louie fills the blind woman's drink to the top! Oh, and Jim sings to Marcia what lyrics he thought for the BN show. Quite a unique ep and very funny. They'd eventually do sequel eps to Louie, Elaine, and Tony's dates later in that final season...
One of my favorite shows when I was in high school, and that was a lonnnnggggg time ago.
Great show.
Andy Kaufman should have received at least a Emmy Nomination for the split personality shows when he was bouncing around between playing Latka, Vic Ferrari and Alex. He did a great job.
Marilu Henner turns 70 soon, and I'll bet she can remember every episode.
Loved all the episodes mentioned but also loved:
--On The Job
The garages closes down and they all have to get different jobs. (Jim as a door to door salesman was one of them).
--Jim Gets a Pet
Jim wins a race horse. The eulogy he gives the horse at the end is one of the most moving tales about getting old that I still remember to this day
.
Taxi and Barney Miller embodied the New York I grew up in. In 1999, when my now-wife and went there on vacation (my family moved to California in ‘78), my wife inadvertently left her purse in our taxi to the hotel. What made that incident totally worth it was the NYC police station where we reported it in Manhattan—squeezed into a nondescript office between business buildings, it looked like a 1970s Barney Miller time capsule!
By the way, we never recovered the wallet, but it otherwise didn’t mar our vacation aside from the loss of some of her cash. That said, i wonder how we would have managed that post 9/11 since my wife’s ID was in the purse! I don’t recall any problem boarding the plane home at the airport without it. But it taught me to travel with photocopies of our IDs and stash an extra credit card in our luggage just in case!
She sure remembers the day of the moon landing.
I LOVED Taxi! It was not only hilarious, but it also had heartwarming and poignant moments. The writing was top-notch.
FQ - Any thoughts or comments on the passing away of Farrah Forke?
@Chuck
> I thought Tony Danza was a terrible actor
This might be apocryphal, but it was said that the boxer originally had a different first name, but Danza wouldn't respond to it, so they renamed the character Tony!
@JS
> Why is it considered funny that he forceably kissed Hoolihan? [sic]
It's funny because Blake and Hot Lips didn't get along. In spite of that, she had a positive reaction to the kiss, much to Frank's chagrin. Remember, the past is a foreign country: they do things differently there. Throw in the fact that it's a period piece, and you are judging something that is 70 years old with modern lenses. Also, everyone tends to be happy when the guy gets the girl. No one saw Revenge of the Nerds as problematic in 1984.
As far as the henry/hot lips thing. it was different time. Go watch how women were treated in movies and tv in the 60's and 70's. They were manhandled like they were meat all the time. Watch the Sean Connery Bond films. He forced himself on women more than once. Now Bond treats women with respect. It was considered cool and amusing back in the day. It's not anymore.
Well, now I feel the fool.
As to my above TMTMS post: I'll put on my Emily Litella face and say, "Nevermind."
Well, now I feel the fool.
As to my above TMTMS post: I'll put on my Emily Litella face and say, "Nevermind."
For anyone interested there is taxi reunion from about a year ago on youtube. It was a zoom reunion but it's still fun to see. Danny, Christopher, Judd, Marilu, and Carol Kane chat.
Revtim...that was a great year of TV. Fame, Cheers/Taxi and Hill Street Blues. To me it was the first "must see tv" that i remember.
Bizarre but true fact: When Jeff Conaway died in 2011, he wasn't even included in the "In Memoriam" segment later that fall during the Emmys show.
FWIW I'm 40, familiar with the series, have seen several episodes. And that was before you mentioned the "slow down" gag in at least two different posts. Didn't playing scumbag Louie launch Danny Devito's career? I always assumed it did.
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