Customer Reviews

Taxi - The Complete Second Season

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

One of the funniest series ever on TV. Danny DeVito, Andy Kaufmann, Judd Hirsch, Tony Danza, Marilu Henner and Christopher Lloyd, some of the funniest people ever. It is my pleasure to write a review for this TV series. This season has Louie not knowing what to do when he dates a "nice girl", Christopher Lloyd (Reverend Jim) starting as a regular cast member in the third episode, and Rhea Perlman, Herve Villechaize and Eric Severeid as guest stars. Marc Anthony Danza, who plays a sick child, is Tony Danza's real-life son.

01 Louie and the Nice Girl gs: Rhea Perlman: Zena, the woman who refills the vending machines has a crush on Louie.
02 Honor Thy Father: Alex visits his estranged father in the hospital.
03 Reverend Jim: a Space Odyssey: The cabbies help Reverand Jim get a job as a cabbie.
04 Nardo Loses Her Marbles: After Elaine loses it at an art gallery reception, she comes on to Alex.
05 Wherefore Art Thou, Bobby?: Bobby helps a new young actor, who gets a job his 2nd day in New York.
06 The Lighter Side of Angela Matusa: Alex's overweight date from Season 1 has lost 100 pounds.
07 A Woman Between Friends: Tony and Bobby are dating the same woman and they ask her to choose between them.
08 The Great Race: After Louie brags about what a great cabbie he was, he and Louie have a contest to see who can book more fares.
09 The Apartment gs: Dick Butkus: Latka rents a fabulous penthouse, after misunderstanding what it will cost him.
10 Alex's Romance: Alex falls in love with an actress friend of Bobby's, who then gets a job in Los Angeles.
11 Latka's Revolting: Latka finds out that he has become a general in his country's army, and he is called home to fight in the revolution.
12 Elaine's Secret Admirer: Elaine receives love poems from a secret admirer.
13 Louie Meets the Folks gs: Rhea Perlman: Louie is worried about meeting Zena's father, a minister.
14 Jim Gets a Pet: Jim starts gambling and buys a horse with his winnings.
15 The Reluctant Fighter: gs: Marc Anthony Danza: When Tony is to fight a former champ, he finds out that a sick child, Brian, idolizes the champ.
16 Tony and Brian gs: Marc Anthony Danza: Brian is better, and Tony wants to adopt the orphaned boy.
17 Guess Who's Coming for Brefnish: Latka dates a woman from his own country, until he finds out her lower class background.
18 What Price Bobby? When Bobby's fare is a theatrical agent, he takes the opportunity to tell her what a good actor he is.
19 Shut It Down (1) Tony's cab's brakes fail and Elaine, the shop steward, goes to Louie.
20 Shut It Down (2) Elaine has to go out on a date with Louie as part of the strike settlement.
21 Alex Jumps out of an Airplane: Alex becomes an adrenaline junkie.
22 Art Work: Elaine encourages the gang to bid in an auction on the work of a terminally ill artist.
23 Fantasy Borough (1) gs: Herve Villechaize, Eric Sevareid: When Herve Villachaize (from Fantasy Island) rides in Tony's cab, the gang discusses their fantasies.
24 Fantasy Borough (2) Continuation of the gang discussing their fantasies.

I was editing for television in the mid 70s and into the late 80s and the idea that any network would allow a sitcom to run longer than 25 minutes back then is absolutely rediculous. Although I never personally worked on "Taxi" I can assure you that the episodes in both season collections are the full ep's. 27 minutes long? LOL! No way!

I love how these amazon "reviews" are supposed to inform other buyers about product, but end up getting used for various misguided rants by people who don't know what they're saying. I would bet dollars to donuts that the person who has gotten him or herself worked up believing that they've been ripped off from missing Louie DePalma dialogue is responsible for these multiple postings by allegedly different people warning the entire world that Jim's hat and 3 extra minutes have been snatched from us in some diabolical plot to rip off consumers.

Furthermore, not every series stuck to the "always must have a tag scene" rule. "Taxi" sometimes did and sometimes didn't have a tag scene before the closing credits. The Norman Lear shows were like that as well (had the pleasure of working for that crowd back in the day, incidentally). And sometimes shows had to be cut for time before they even aired for the first time. "Taxi" had a rough look to it and often in their first-run broadcasts the episodes WOULD look like something was cut. Well, that's because it WAS. But it landed on the cutting room floor long before the public had the pleasure of seeing it for the first time.

Don't know how much more plainly I can spell this out, but if CBS (or whoever) dictates that you can only run 24:35, for example, and you have a total running time of 26:17, then you won't be going home until you've shaved off a total of 1:48. And you weren't always blessed with the same amount of time each week. If ABC (or whoever) demands that you cut an extra minute off so they can promo something else, you do it. Whether or not any of that cut-before-it-could-air footage is salvaged was/is up to whoever was running the show, and it wasn't/isn't consistent from one guy to the next.
Leave it to someone who's obviously never worked in the industry to proclaim what the rules are.
Amazing.

Folks, I bought both "Taxi" sets. All are excellent, and all are about as complete as they could ever be. ABC, NBC and CBS were not letting half hour comedies run longer than 24:30 or 25:00 because ad time was - and still is - way too precious. If you're convinced that you should be seeing at least 27 minutes of material in each episode then you're kidding yourself.

Taxi's second season was one of it's best seasons, but if you were to buy it just for the episode where Reverend Jim takes his driver's license test - it would totally be worth the price!

That is, without a doubt, one of the funniest scenes ever in the history of television.

The reviewer who said that this set was complete is right. Syndicated reruns never looked or sounded this good, and there are no scenes missing. Jim never got a hat as a congratulations for becoming a cab driver. He got keys to a cab and a handshake. That scene is intact in the episode I affectionately call "What Does A Yellow Light Mean?!" There might be a moment in a later episode where Jim is given a hat for some reason, but it doesn't happen in that episode. I just wish there were some interviews or outtakes... SOMETHING! Oh well, can't complain about what's here though. Season 3 comes out in September (says tvshowsondvd.com) so I can't wait!

"Taxi" is one of the all time greats. Any show that featured Andy Kaufman's "Latka" and Chris Lloyd's "Jim Ignatowski" has to be a classic. Add the always down to earth and idealisic Alex Reiger, and of course Danny Devitos's one of a kind "Louie DePalma" and how can you go wrong?

Ensemble comedies with smart writing are rare. "The Mary Tyler Moore Show". "Cheers" "Seinfeld" and "Frasier" come to mind to add to "Taxi". The show was never a huge hit,but had respectable ratings. Some of the shows turned downright bizarre near the end of it's run.

I thought Season 3 would be out already. Whats the delay? It would be nice to have some extras, but I suppose this is not the case.

I was a young teen when TAXI first hit the airwaves. It was "must see TV" for me then and watching the shows now is no different. The writing is top notch but it's the cast that gets you hooked. What a terrific group of talented actors. One of the best casting jobs in TV history. Let's not forget that several future stars of Cheers had small parts TAXI in one or more episodes. I laugh each time I watch these shows. It's classic TV and Rev. Jim rules!!!!

What do you get the man who has everything? Taxi! This is a wonderful show - I remember hearing my parents laugh at it when I was a kid. Dad's already watched his favorite episode - Reverend Jim's driver's test - several times. You can't go wrong with this.

With its acerbic humor and quirky characters, Taxi is widely considered one of the funniest sitcoms in television history. Created by James L. Brooks (whose magic hand played a role in such hits as The Andy Griffith Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and The Simpsons), Taxi maintains a loyal following to this day via syndicated reruns. Sporting an all-star cast, the show introduced the world to the comedic talents of such superstars as Danny DeVito, Tony Danza, Marilu Henner, Andy Kaufman, and Christopher Lloyd...

Taxi follows the inner-workings of the Sunshine Cab Company, a New York City taxicab operation run by an insulting and tyrannical dispatcher named Louie De Palma (Danny DeVito). De Palma's onerous tactics are dispensed from the safety of his small office "cage" in the corner of the body shop, while various cab drivers such as Alex Reiger (Judd Hirsch), Tony Banta (Danza), and Elaine Nardo (Henner) associate with one another. Throw in foreign mechanic Latka Gravas (Kaufman), and all the ingredients are in place for endless hours of laughter. As the characters perform their numerous runs, meet back at the shop, and deal with varying problems in their personal lives, audiences are treated to some of the best comedy ever to grace the small screen...

The Taxi (Season 2) DVD features a number of hilarious episodes including the season premiere "Louie and the Nice Girl" in which Zena (Rhea Pearlman), a woman who refills the vending machines (and a friend of most of the cabbies), reveals to Alex and Elaine that she has a crush on Louie. When the two begin dating, Louie boats of their sexual escapades, but Zena tells the gang that nothing has happened. Confronted, Louie admits that he doesn't know what to do with a "nice girl" like Zena, at least until he learns that Zena might not be the nice girl he once thought... Other notable episodes from Season 2 include "Wherefore Art Thou, Bobby?" in which Bobby quits his dream of becoming an actor after a young protégé lands a job on his first try, and "Jim Gets a Pet" in which Jim wins $10,000 at a race track and uses the winnings to purchase the long shot horse on which he bet...

Below is a list of episodes included on the Taxi (Season 2) DVD:

Episode 23 (Louie and the Nice Girl)
Episode 24 (Honor Thy Father)
Episode 25 (Reverend Jim: A Space Odyssey)
Episode 26 (Nardo Loses Her Marbles)
Episode 27 (Wherefore Art Thou, Bobby?)
Episode 28 (The Lighter Side of Angela Matusa)
Episode 29 (A Woman Between Friends)
Episode 30 (The Great Race)
Episode 31 (The Apartment)
Episode 32 (Alex's Romance)
Episode 33 (Latka's Revolting)
Episode 34 (Elaine's Secret Admirer)
Episode 35 (Louie Meets the Folks)
Episode 36 (Jim Gets a Pet)
Episode 37 (The Reluctant Fighter)
Episode 38 (Tony and Brian)
Episode 39 (Guess Who's Coming for Brefnish?)
Episode 40 (What Price Bobby?)
Episode 41 (Shut It Down: Part 1)
Episode 42 (Shut It Down: Part 2)
Episode 43 (Alex Jumps Out of an Airplane)
Episode 44 (Art Work)
Episode 45 (Fantasy Borough: Part 1)
Episode 46 (Fantasy Borough: Part 2)

The DVD Report

I never saw "Taxi" until Nick@Nite was showing them and I fell in love with it. I managed to get most of them on VHS but all the episodes were out of order and the tapes took up so much room. I want them to release all the other episodes too so I can finally junk these worn out tapes! The best part of these discs is being able to see scenes that I never saw before. If you ask me, these have to be the full shows because the versions that Nick was rerunning didn't have so many lines and moments that I now get to see. And I don't know which tape I have it on, but there is probably an episode from later on where Jim does something notable with a hat but it can't be the one where he joins the garage because that doesn't make any sense. Oh, and I watched the episode again and the reason the audience laughs is because of the punchline he delivers as he puts the hat on. When he crashes the cab with Alex in the back seat I still LOL! And don't get me started on that drivers ed test routine. Whoever thought that up is a genius!!

Come on, guys, get seasons three to five out soon!!! I'm dying to see the episodes where Simka marries Latka and then goes crazy with PMS ("PEEL ME LIKE A GRAPE!").

The first season of Taxi was fantastic. Right away, the show's creators seemed to have a great sense of the characters, their relationships, and how the episodes would be structured. Somehow, as great as it was, season two manages to be a vast improvement! The key is perhaps the addition of Rev. Jim as a full-time cast member. It was quite a risk for a show with a character as unique as Latka Gravis to add another completely off-the-wall character to the group, but the drug-addled 60s leftover only adds to the perfect group dynamic and gets some of the biggest laughs I can remember. Who could forget the Rev. Jim asking what to do at a yellow light during his driving test?

Tony's a lovable dope, Bobby is spot-on as a frustrated actor, Louie's the guy you love to hate, and Elaine provides the garage with some real class. But anchoring everything is the great Judd Hirsch. Not without his own quirks, he's nevertheless the sane center of a crazy world.

If you like your sitcoms to be both intelligent and funny, Taxi's an absolute must-see, and season two is as good as they come.