Taxi - The Final Season

Taxi is a very funny situation comedy that tells the exploits of the employees of the Sunshine Cab Company. 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).

After ABC cancelled it, the series was picked up by NBC for what would be its fifth and final season, airing 22 new episodes and an hour-long retrospective, broken into two parts here, during the 1982/'83 television season. Comedy Series Emmys were awarded to Hirsh for Lead Actor and Lloyd and Kane for Supporting Actors, both of which won the previous year for the same roles.

The season opens with newlyweds Latka and Simka hosting a traditional Schloogel whereby they play matchmaker with friends, and this has implications that run through the season. Tony is set up with Vicki (Anne De Salvo), who returns pregnant in "Tony's Baby." Elaine is paired with Arnie (Wallace Shawn), who tries too hard when he "Meets Her Kids." Louie is set up with a blind woman named Judy (Murphy Cross), and later in "Louie and the Blind Girl," influenced by Charlie Chaplin's "City Lights," Louie fears Judy getting her sight back and seeing what he looks like.

Latka and Simka have their own relationship issues in the two-part "Scenskees From A Marriage" when Latka has sex with a cab driver to keep from freezing to death in a blizzard. Their minister suggests that to save their marriage, she must sleep with one of his co-workers. When unable to choose, they leave it up to fate by seeing who the last person is to appear when they say they are having a party.

The only other major change to a character is Jim becoming a millionaire after his father passes away. He buys Mario's, the bar he and his friends hang out at, and gives everyone $1,000 so they can give it to someone in need.

Many episodes feature people from the characters' past. Emily (Andrea Marcovicci), the woman who Louie threw away his relationship with Zena (Rhea Pearlman) for only to be dumped by her, comes back into his life. Zena also returns, but it's not to ask Louie back as he expects, but to announce her wedding. Alex's ex-wife (Louise Lasser) comes back into his life and so does his dog, Buddy. When Tony's Dad, Angie (Donnelly Rhodes), appears, he says he saw the guys six months previous, but it's his only time on the series according to IMDB. Alex is attracted to an old friend of Jim's and Elaine falls Zimka's cousin, a monk from Caspiar who is on a week-long break from his vows.

While the show is consistently laugh-out funny, as the studio audience frequently demonstrates, there are many touching moments as well. From Jim dealing with the loss of his father to Louie admitting to Zena she was the one who got away, the writers show they are also quite adept at drama.

Unfortunately, the series ended without any resolution to the characters' stories. Another disappointing aspect to this release is the liner notes claim of special features, but CBS/Paramount doesn’t understand episodic promos don't count.

Sitcoms lovers will "veddy much" want to add Taxi – The Final Season to their collection.

Taxi - The Fourth Season

CBS/Paramount presents the continuing adventures of the employees of the Sunshine Cab Company with the release of the Fourth Season of Taxi, the final year it aired on ABC. The following year on NBC would its last.

The cast of characters feature fulltime cabbie Alex Rieger (Judd Hirsch), divorced mother Elaine Nardo (Marilu Henner) who also works in an art gallery, former boxer Tony Banta (Tony Danza), ‘60s burnout Reverend Jim Ignatowski (Christopher Lloyd), and mechanic Latka Gravas (Andy Kaufman) an immigrant from the island of Caspiar. They all work under the mean and vengeful eye of head dispatcher Louie De Palma (Danny DeVito), one of the more despicable characters in television sitcoms.

This season, Louie’s shenanigans include sleeping with his girlfriend’s drunken friend, attempting to ruin his mother’s wedding to an elderly Japanese man, and getting caught peeping on Elaine as she changes clothes. Actor Bobby Wheeler (Jeff Conaway), a former series regular, makes a return appearance after having left for Hollywood in “Bobby Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” as does Simka (Carol Kane), a young woman from Caspiar who Latka fell in love with though she’s a different ethnicity.

The strength of the show comes from the writing. Creators James L. Brooks, Allan Burns, Stan Daniels, David Davis, and Ed.Weinberger have an amazing pedigree in television comedy. Their combined resume of series they created, produced, or wrote for include The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda, The Bob Newheart Show, The Simpsons, Get Smart, The Munsters, and The Cosby Show. Writer Sam Simon went on to develop The Simpsons with Brooks and Mtt Groenig, and Glen & Les Charles created Cheers.

It’s hard to believe ABC cancelled the series after this season because it is consistently very funny. “Jim The Psychic” finds Alex tempting fate after Jim predicts the bizarre circumstances of his death. “Cooking For Two” finds Louie in one of the few instances where he acts like a compassionate human being when he takes a recently homeless Jim into his apartment. Naturally, the fates punish his kindness.

Alex and Louie seek team up and revenge for Elaine in “The Unkindest Cut” after she receives a terrible haircut, which cost a whopping $200, and is insulted by the stylist (Ted Danson). The best part of this season occurred due to Kaufman’s boredom with playing Latka. To accommodate him, the writers gave Latka multiple personality disorder, which manifests itself in sleazy womanizer Vic Ferrari and co-worker Alex Rieger, to Alex’s frustration.

The DVDs are presented in an aspect ratio of 4:3 and the audio is mono.

If you are looking for quality sitcoms, hail Taxi – The Fourth Season. It offers almost 10 hours of laughs as the meter runs.

My Breakfast with Blassie (Special Commerative Edition)

As the DVD begins, an old man with an unkempt beard gives a bizarre recitation of the FBI warning seen on all DVDs. It is later revealed in the extras to be Johnny Legend, who has been a rockabilly musician, a film producer, and a wrestling manager.

My Breakfast with Blassie spoofs Louie Malle’s classic filmed-conversation My Dinner with Andre. Here, Andy Kaufman, still in a neck brace after getting piledrived by Jerry “King” Lawler during his first wrestling match against a man, sits for breakfast at a downtown Hollywood Sambo’s with famed wrestler and self-proclaimed “King of Men” Freddie Blassie, who famously coined the term “pencil-neck geek.” Over the course of about an hour, they cover a number of subjects as they discuss fame, international travels, breakfast choices, hygiene, and dealing with fans.

They also interact with a pregnant Thai waitress, who worked in the restaurant; a group of female autograph seekers, including a young woman named Lynn, who Kaufman is very interested in; and an oddball, played by Kaufman’s off-screen cohort Bob Zmuda, who pulls things from his nose. They get slightly obnoxious arguing with the women, but it’s more silly than sexist, and is something both men did in their wrestling act.

Kaufman is funny when he throws his name and resume around, pointing out he’s Latka from Taxi to both impress and belittle people, another element taken from his wrestling persona. Blassie is consistently amusing, particularly his phrasing, and totally unpredictable throughout. He comes off so completely authentic at times I couldn’t tell if he was in on what was taking place, which makes perfect sense considering there is a performance component to wrestling. He reveals that while on the circuit, he was shot at by the KKK, had acid thrown on him, and was friends with Elvis.

The video quality is poor. It was shot on 3/4” videotape in the early ‘80s when the format was relatively new and certainly shows its age.

There is quite a bit of material in the Bonus Features. “Lost Footage: Andy in the Raw” presents almost 50 minutes of recently discovered footage, mainly taken from the single shot of Andy in the restaurant. “Bonus Footage: Blassie Graffiti” (15:31) is awesome, showing classic footage of Blassie in action. He’s hysterical and feisty in the newsreels, as he points out the local women are pigs that dress in potato sacks. The audience in that town must have been so enraged when they went to see him. Blassie is shown in the ring during a quick fight against The Hangman, losing his title to Rikidozan, in a cage match, and later in life performing a live rendition of his novelty song “Pencil-Neck Geek,” which was written by Legend.

“Home Movies: Legendary Graffiti” (18:16) presents footage of Legend at different wrestling gigs and interviews. During “Lunch with Lautrec: The Making of My Breakfast With Blassie,” filmmakers Legend and Linda Lautrec, who appeared as an autograph seeker, tell the tale of the video’s creation and the difficulties associated with it a few weeks before “Man on the Moon” opens. It is for the devoted fan, as it is one single take that runs 34:27.

There is also “Film Premiere Footage” (7:39) shot at the Nuart Theatre in Los Angeles. Legendary ring announcer Jimmy Lennon introduces the film. Harold Ramis is seen in the lobby where Eggos are served to audience members. Andy shows up with a mohawk in what would be his final public appearance. He would die in less than a year.

My Breakfast with Blassie is more performance art than comedy, which was typical for Kaufman. This is sure to be enjoyed by his fans, but it might be a long hour for those who don’t get him. Either way, it is undeniably memorable.