Paramount | 1982-83 | 571 mins. | Not Rated
Created by James L. Brooks (The Mary Tyler Moore Show), Stan Daniels (Phyllis), David Davis, and Ed. Weinberger (Amen), Taxi focuses on the everyday lives of group of New York City taxi drivers at the Sunshine Cab Company, and their abusive dispatcher. The main characters are cab drivers Alex Rieger (Judd Hirsch), Elaine Nardo (Marilu Henner), Tony Banta (Tony Danza), and Jim Ignatowski (Christopher Lloyd), mechanic Latka Gravas (Andy Kaufman) and his wife Simka (Carol Kane), and dispatcher Louie De Palma (Danny DeVito). Over its five year run, the series won 18 Emmy Awards, including three for “Outstanding Comedy Series.”
Cancelled by ABC after disappointing fourth season ratings, NBC picked up the show for what would be its fifth aSnd final year. The season begins with newlyweds Latka and Simka hosting a traditional Schloogel, which finds them setting up the whole gang on blind dates. As it turns out, the Schloogel has implications that reverberate throughout the season. Tony is set up with Vicki (Anne De Salvo), an abrasive brunette and immediately starts arguing with her. She later turns up pregnant in, “Tony’s Baby.” Elaine is set up with Arnie (Wallace Shawn), who has serious self esteem issues. However, when their relationship advances later in the season to where Arnie Meets Elaine’s children, he tries way too hard. Louie is set up with a blind woman named Judy (Murphy Cross), and later in “Louie and the Blind Girl,” Louie fears Judy will get her sight back, and dump him once she sees what he looks like. Rev. Jim has what’s left of his mind blown by actress Marcia Wallace (The Bob Newhart Show). Turns out he’s such a fan of her old show that he’s created a theme song for her. Alex has an uneasy time with his date Susan (Carlene Watkins), which leaves Latka and Simka fearing their marriage is cursed. Did Simka choose the wrong woman for Alex?
The fifth season devotes more time to Latka and Simka, as well as Rev. Jim. One of the season’s best episodes is “Jim’s Inheritance; in which Jim has to defend himself in court against charges of incompetence from his brother, but is happier with a Stevie Wonder tape his millionaire dad left him than any sane person would be. In “A Grand Gesture” Jim gives each of his friends $1000 to give away so they can experience the joy he’s been feeling . . . and understand why he gives most of his inheritance away.
“Scenskees from a Marriage” is a two-part episode in which Latka has sex with Allyce Beasley (Moonlighting) to keep warm inside a snowbound cab. He confesses his survival sex to Simka. They take it to their native priest (the late Vincent Schiavelli). He declares the only way move beyond the incident is to have Simka sleep with one of Latka’s co-workers. The couple throws a party and the last guest to arrive will get to sleep with her.
The fifth season of Taxi was a solid one; the final first run episode of the series would seem to suggest that that the producers thought a sixth season was in the offing. Of course, that wasn’t to be, and NBC cancelled the show after only one year on the network. Oddly enough, during its run on NBC, Taxi had been partnered with a new series called Cheers. Although NBC had what would become some of the great programs in television history–the comedies were sandwiched by dramas Fame and Hill St. Blues–the ratings were terrible and Taxi finished the season in 73rd place. Fearing Taxi had run its course, executives decided to give Cheers another season, but dimmed the lights on Taxi. One can never know for sure, but I think Taxi could have had three or four more solid seasons, if given the chance.
Taxi isn’t in great shape video wise. The 1.33:1 aspect ratio has been stretched to fit a widescreen, so you’ll likely notice some distortion. There is also a great deal of grain throughout the episodes. While none of this is likely to affect the viewing experience, be aware that this isn’t one of CBS/Paramount’s better video presentations.
The audio is nothing special either: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono. There’s a very, very slight hiss, but otherwise it’s average.
There are episodic promos, but no real special features.
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