Image C- Sound B
"Murray's Tale", "Bing Bang Boom", "Bedfellows", "Married to the Job", "So I Married a Hair Murderer", "An Unplanned Child", "Natural History", "Surprise", "A Pair of Hearts", "It's a Wrap", "Edna Returns," "Paul Is Dead", "Same Time Next Week", "The Late Show", "Virtual Reality", "Cold Feet", "Instant Karma", "The Tape", "Love Letters", "The Last Scampi", "Disorientation", "Storms We Cannot Weather", "Up All Night", "With this Ring Parts I & II"
by Travis Mackenzie Hoover Right up there with crop circles and the Bermuda Triangle, one of the great unexplained phenomena of our time is the long and storied success of the '90s sitcom "Mad About You". Somehow its cloying, sub-Woody Allen New York-isms touched a nerve with the public to make it a ratings winner, but it's a collection of fuzzy relationship humour too nice to grab the sensibilities of this viewer. Next to something like "Seinfeld" (whose namesake was constantly being compared–favourably–to "Mad About You"'s star and co-creator Paul Reiser), the show lacked the goods necessary to limp to the end of one season, let alone the seven it would eventually clock.
For the uninitiated: Paul Buchman (Reiser) and Jamie Stemple Buchman (Helen Hunt) are a recently-married couple living in a vast New York apartment. He's a documentary filmmaker, and she, for a while at least, is in marketing; they have a none-too-bright dog named Murray and argue the way people do in sitcoms. Occasionally, their witty repartee is interrupted by various relatives and friends, chief amongst them Jamie's neurotic sister Lisa, who is terminally unemployed and sponges like crazy; Paul's cousin Ira (John Pankow), a would-be lothario with a rapidly-receding hairline; and friend Fran Devanow (Leila Kenzle), whose husband has just left her and thrown her into confusion.
But a sitcom is not just a collection of characters, it's an attitude towards them, and "Mad About You"'s attitude was that they were adorable. The show went out of its way to be innocuous and inoffensive, and the result was about as sexy as a pair of fuzzy slippers and pungent as lavender potpourri. It lowered the stakes for every situation with a domestic, cutesy-wootsy attitude that told you that nothing of earth-shaking import was happening. Compared to this, "Seinfeld" was an exercise in Theatre of Cruelty; even "Friends" seems subversive alongside "Mad About You". And so the prospect of critiquing all 25 episodes of the series' second season–being asked to chart its qualitative fluctuations–was a daunting one rather like checking a dead patient's heart monitor in the hopes that he will suddenly spring to life.
As a side issue, I have no idea for whom I'm writing this review. If you liked the show, you would no doubt love to have a treasure trove of second-season episodes, and no critical pleading will change that; if you would take the time to consider a review of a TV show before purchasing, you probably had the good sense to avoid it anyway. And if you are in the habit of forking over major coin for comedy shows you've never even seen, well, my friend, you have more intestinal fortitude than I.
DISC ONE:
- MURRAY'S TALE
This bears the mark of writers treading water: the best they can come up with for the season's kick-off is a lost dog. Jamie's sister Lisa, already a parasitic annoyance to Paul, exacerbates things by taking his (extremely dumb) dog Murray out for a walk and returning with another, far more intelligent animal of the same breed. A frantic (by "Mad About You" standards) search ensues, including a pooch-loving cop with a photo album and a terrible waste of an appearance by Steven Wright. Clever only in its insertion of a relationship affirmation into the non-action, this episode passes painlessly enough but yields not a single laugh. - BING BANG BOOM
Fresh from the triumph of episode one, the "Mad About You" scribes cobble together another non-episode that details the many interruptions to an evening devoted to Paul and Jamie's lovemaking. The level of invention is similarly low, as the intrusions range from Murray the dog chasing a mouse to the thoroughly gratuitous arrival of a jogging Fran who insists that both principals feel her tight buttocks. In any event, the threat of real sex between the show's cuddly leads never seems believable, as their lovey-dovey antics seem more suited to children's television than the erotic realm. - BEDFELLOWS
This marginally entertaining episode injects much-needed tartness into the show's fuzzy formula. After Paul's father is hospitalized with a mild heart attack, our heroes foolishly offer to spend the night with his mother–who makes them live to regret their kindness. Yes, a disapproving Jewish mother is ancient shtick, but she allows for some fairly enjoyable slow burns as she lays waste to family egos. - MARRIED TO THE JOB
It's take-your-sitcom-to-work day. Paul and Jamie have problems on the job: Jamie's dunderheaded boss steals credit for a slogan she concocted, while Paul's documentary ("New York at Night"–puh-leez) gets a new, meddlesome producer named Lou (Larry Miller). With these two thoughtless antagonists, this could easily have had some of the last episode's bite, but the writing is typically flaccid, and Jamie's eventual firing has all of the drama of a French manicure. A pre-Friends Lisa Kudrow debuts here as ditsy waitress Ursula. - SO I MARRIED A HAIR MURDERER
Jamie, newly relieved of her job, is having a hard time coping, and proceeds to drive Paul crazy with constant busywork. (The title refers to her use of one of those vacuum haircut machines on friends and family). Her constant unhappy activity takes such a toll that Paul blows her off to hide at work; this is a matter resolved with no shouting and nothing being broken. Ah, television. - AN UNPLANNED CHILD
It's Halloween, and Paul and Jamie must care for a visiting nephew; unfortunately, Paul is called away to work on his documentary, leaving Jamie to take the boy out trick-or-treating. Low-level hilarity ensues involving video store clerks and spilled beverages. The episode's high point comes when Jamie and her nephew trick-or-treat in their swank and unfriendly building (the explanation of Halloween to an English couple gets the biggest laughs). Also of note: Lou gets high on candy corn and proceeds to annoy the rest of the crew. Has its moments. - NATURAL HISTORY
The show ventures into Nora Ephron territory with a cutesy meditation on fate and romance. After a highly contrived spat, Paul and Jamie meet up accidentally at the Museum of Natural History: Paul is following Ira as he pursues a tour guide Ursula (Lisa Kudrow again) and Jamie is accompanying hard-luck Lisa as she meets a blind date. An argument on fate ensues, whereupon it is discovered that our heroes actually encountered each other at the museum as children. Coincidence? Probably, but it can't save this episode from its forced whimsy and gee-whiz cosmology. - SURPRISE
Paul tries to surprise Jamie on her birthday with tickets to "Tommy" but finds the object of his search a tad elusive. Still, he hides his plans from her, winds up losing her on the subway, and throws his planned evening into disaster. There's a good gag involving a recalcitrant answering machine, and the mounting SNAFUs are reasonably well handled. Alas, the cloying sentiment that all but defines "Mad About You"makes an appearance at the end, destroying the meagre goodwill that preceded it.
DISC TWO:
9. A PAIR OF HEARTS
A mysterious all-expenses-paid vacation takes most of the regulars to Atlantic City; it turns out that it's all a ruse to get Ira closer to his long-concealed ex-wife (Cyndi Lauper!) so that she might get him to sign their divorce papers. An unusually twisty episode for the series (which admittedly isn't saying much)–Ira gets to be more of a character this time, and a bleached-blonde Lauper is a bizarre anomaly in the show's Wonder-white universe.
- IT'S A WRAP
A two-pronged instalment in the series: Paul finishes his film and Jamie wrestles with what to do with her unemployed self. The former plot strand involves Paul and Lou arguing over the length of a montage sequence; Lou goes over his head and removes it, prompting Paul to sneak into the editing room and replace it. The latter gives us Jamie berating herself until she makes a decision. Again, painless without being funny. - EDNA RETURNS
More conflict than usual surfaces in this episode, in which the hopeless case of Lisa finally pushes her sister over the edge. Somehow proud that her case history has wound up in her shrink's new book, Lisa shows her passages to Jamie, who freaks at being portrayed as "domineering," causing a rift between the two. Real anger is rare in "Mad About You", even at these low levels, so it's disappointing when the sitcom-thinking kicks in and solves everything. - PAUL IS DEAD
Our heroes find themselves in a financial nightmare as their credit cards are destroyed at the local restaurant. It is soon discovered that an entirely different Paul Buchman has died, causing the bank to freeze the wrong man's assets. This starts out promisingly, with Jamie frantically raiding the furniture for loose change, and builds to a potentially tasteless bit where they check out the deceased Buchman's corpse. But once again, the show can't leave funny alone, and suddenly there's some maudlin what-would-she-do-without-me fantasizing that kills the mood. - SAME TIME NEXT WEEK
Paul shoots a film in Chicago, requiring him to be away for a month and a half; the episode is devoted to his and Jamie's weekend visits and phone conversations. Some phone sex that isn't really phone sex ensues, which is naturally interrupted by relatives calling at inconvenient moments. All the humour possible is milked out of Paul's acquiring a blazing orange parka (which is to say, not much). The show ends with an annoying "Gift of the Magi" mix-up that doesn't have the punch it's clearly trying to deliver. - THE LATE SHOW
This is easily the best episode on Disc 2, as it sticks to escalating madness and never drifts into boy-girl cuteness. Fran, who trysted briefly with Ira during the Atlantic City show, believes that she's pregnant; a series of deceptions later, they're painting her apartment with Paul and Jamie, who eventually come to believe that Ira owes money to the mob. Not half bad, with a nifty surreal twist over the closing credits. - VIRTUAL REALITY
"Mad About You"jumps on a bandwagon. Ira finds a new moneymaking scheme in a company producing virtual reality: Paul tries it out, and after a cheesy VR adventure with Christie Brinkley he agrees to invest. Unfortunately, he fails to mention this to his wife, who is furious that he never consulted her (and isn't so keen on his Christie Brinkley trip, either). This show is dated not only by the VR premise but by the faintly "I Love Lucy"–ish sense of hysteria. You're better off not knowing. - COLD FEET
This flashback episode, in which Paul and Jamie recall their moving into their apartment, gives us the show at its most cloying. Jamie fears that they're making the wrong decision until Fran tells her that Paul will propose on Valentine's Day; unfortunately, Paul gets cold feet and surprises her with… ice skates. Again indicative of the series' sub-Woody Allen approach to New York romance, it's all gush and no real jokes.
DISC THREE:
- INSTANT KARMA
After a department store clerk forgets to charge Jamie for a taupe blouse, Paul fears that her keeping it will cause bad luck–a prophecy that comes true when Yoko Ono invites him to a party and everything that can go wrong, does. This is another episode that benefits from the lack of the love-and-cuddles that always kills the mood–not as funny as "The Late Show," but it features a couple of good bits and a nice final pratfall. - THE TAPE
During spring cleaning, Jamie and Paul discover an old tape of themselves having sex–and proceed to lose it. The frantic search leads them to The Family Channel and a local video store before they wind up at a lonely bachelor's apartment. One of the better episodes–especially good is the climactic haggling with the bachelor, where they pose as FCC agents and warn that the tape will cause "invectification." - LOVE LETTERS
After their toilet overflows, Paul and Jamie discover some old love letters from a previous tenant; Jamie tries to transform them into a story, and seeks out the now-aged couple who wrote them. This is the antithesis of the good episodes, in that it's all gee-whiz romanticism and precious little humour. - THE LAST SCAMPI
Paul and Jamie go to dinner with their parents, and live to regret it. For one thing, they bring out all of each other's insecurities and resentments; for another, it's bringing down Murray the dog, who has "mothering issues" of his own. This one starts out with a plot strand that seems reasonably realistic, and then veers off into the ridiculous zone when the dog comes down with depression, distracting from a promising rom-com premise. Most annoying is the climactic meeting of Murray and his mother (no joke), with their barking "conversation" revealed in subtitles. - DISORIENTATION
By far the best show of the season. As Jamie heads off for her first day of classes, Paul realizes that he forgot to mail her class choices; mobilizing the rest of the regulars, he hurries to the campus and frantically goes through the motions of registering her in classes. The spectacle of Paul and friends deceiving, confounding, and pleading with various professors to let them into full classes is surprisingly funny; best is a sequence where Paul confronts a French teacher (Julia Sweeney) who refuses to speak in English. - STORMS WE CANNOT WEATHER
While planning to do a documentary on a very fast short-order cook (it's that kind of show), Paul bumps into Fran's ex-husband Mark. Now working as a busboy, Mark reveals his wanderlusting ways to Paul, and is eventually reunited with Fran. This episode has an interesting moral dilemma–how to condone Mark's apparent irresponsibility–and as drama it plays out fairly well by sitcom standards, barring the unfunny bits with the short-order cook, who naturally can't perform in front of the cameras. - UP ALL NIGHT
Another episode in which the writers wring as much as they can out of a very limited situation. Jamie has a test in the morning, but can't get to sleep; she naturally rouses Paul from his slumber. The two somehow manage to get locked out of their apartment, then hijack the elevator, then get locked into the basement, and finally wind up on the roof with… John Astin. Full marks for utilizing Astin and Garth Brooks in the same show, as well as managing to keep things from fraying as the non-sequiturs begin to pile up. - WITH THIS RING, PART 1
Anniversary blues. Plot strand one involves Paul and Jamie trying to get some peace and quiet on the big day, cleverly telling everyone that their A-day is one day later than it actually is; naturally, the manoeuvre backfires. Plot strand two features Paul frantically looking for his lost wedding ring (not the thing to do on your anniversary), finally tracing it back to a hot dog vendor. The episode fizzles out in the trumped-up crisis of the ring, which is made to seem more important dramatically than it would ever be in real life. - WITH THIS RING, PART 2
Mark is now working in a small grocery near Paul and Jamie's apartment, which leads to their being around when the owner's wife goes into labour; this naturally brings up the question of when our heroes will have a bundle of joy themselves. It's an interesting point to end a season, but it's a tad anticlimactic as well.
THE DVD
Columbia TriStar's DVD release of "Mad About You: The Complete Second Season" is a disgrace. The picture quality is beneath what one should expect from any DVD–you'd be better served taping the reruns in syndication. Fine detail goes sailing out the window only to be replaced by a muddy, pixel-strewn image that does not serve even the limited visual requirements of a television series; it might have helped if they had not crammed eight or nine episodes onto each platter. Sound is somewhat better: There's nothing to give your subwoofer something to tell the grandkids, but unlike the picture it's at least clear and unencumbered by extraneous noise. The only extras are on Disc One: a trailer for Maid in Manhattan and a spot selling more TV on DVD. If the transfers for the latter are anything like this one, I say thanks, but no thanks.
23 minutes/episode; NR; 1.33:1; English Dolby Surround; CC; English subtitles; 3 DVD-9s; Region One; Columbia TriStar
