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Mad About You:
The Complete First Season!
Click
picture to order this DVD set
(review posted October 29th, 2002)
Mad About You
could best be remembered as "NBC's most [unfairly] forgotten Must See TV
member." First airing on September 23rd, 1992, it
was moved to NBC's Thursday night line-up upon its second season, making
NBC Thursday's a mainstay of quality sitcoms long before Frasier, Friends, Will & Grace, and Scrubs
were even conceived. It would then be unfairly flip-flopped all across the schedule, until 1999, when
an ill-placed
Sunday night time slot ended its seven-season run. While by season seven
it had lost its edge, its first seasons surely were
not. At its peak, it was one of the best sitcoms NBC ever offered.
The story was simple
enough: newlyweds Paul (Paul Reiser) and Jamie (Helen Hunt) are "mad about" each other, ever since
meeting at that small little newsstand, both looking
for the latest New York Times. This first season chronicles
their first year of marriage, where they often find themselves comparing
their possible future together to their relatives, who have been married far longer (and less successfully).
Will they wind up like Paul's parents? ...Jamie's cousin? ...her sister?
Nah; such marriage woes won't ever happen to
Jamie and Paul, because
they're "Mad About" each other, right? Right; and that's
the sort of romantic fresh air which made this sitcom so enjoyable those
first few years.
The best sign
of a classic sitcom like this, are all the other sitcom roads that lead to it. If it wasn't for this
show, there would be no Phoebe Buffay (Friends), since Lisa Kudrow was first noticed as flighty
café waitress Ursula Buffay; a recurring character in this series.
Her first sitcom appearance ever is showcased in this first season, in the
episode "Met Someone" (on disc 2), who during a flashback was as a blind date of Paul's, the same night he first meets Jamie.
Kudrow's comedic strengths were so apparent via this recurring character, folks behind Friends
concocted the role of Ursula's "twin sister," Phoebe, especially for Kudrow.
However, don't think that's the only example of a crossover to another
sitcom;
in "The Apartment" (disc 1), it's revealed that none other than Kramer (Seinfeld)
bought Paul's old bachelor pad.
However, to be honest, no first season
of a series is without its
rough edges that must be smoothed out later on. There's Selby, Paul's perennial
bachelor friend, who by episode 13 was never seen
again. There's also a plot device
that the show quickly forgot, where Jamie was an uptight businesswoman
by day, and not the more carefree personality she was in later
seasons. However, that isn't to say that everything forgotten in season
one is all bad: it's amusing to note how this season was filmed at a time long
before Helen Hunt was a big name in Hollywood, making her naive,
girl-next-door performance quite refreshing.
While I must admit this is
all enough for fans to purchase this two-DVD set,
it would've been even nicer if this was a three-disc set filled with
extras. I know Paul and Helen are busy with bigger, better projects by
now, though couldn't they at least have offered an audio commentary for
the pilot episode, or a video interview or...something? I guess what I'm
saying is; this is perhaps the most bare-bones full-season set I ever
reviewed. As a long time fan of the show, that's a big disappointment.
What Mad About You's
first season does have is the same the series always had; it never felt like it had to
hold your hand and lead you through every plot nuance. In "Met
Someone," there is no time wasted on a cheesy narration in
"present-day"; Jamie's different hairstyle and the opening subtitle of
"October, 1989" was good enough. Nor did the series ever truly
explain why Paul and Jamie are mad about each other; like all
good romances, they just are. So, all that being said, I really am
glad that the first season is now on DVD. This can only lead to its later seasons,
to follow...or at least,
we can only hope.
---Techtite
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| All text, Title
graphics, and pix not of reviewed products, are created by Techtite,
copyright 1999-2002; all rights reserved. Title picture of Birds
of Prey promotional poster taken from the official web site.
Both this photo, and screen captures of the program itself, are used only for the purpose of
review, and by no means represent any affiliation with Techtite
and the distributors of this entertainment product. For further "legalese"
& disclaimers, click here... |
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