Thoughts on Mad About You, episodes 1-5

via IMDB

I'm finally bringing back the TV edition of Thoughts On. Since I left off at an awkward place, the next few days are rerun material.

“I don’t know why this is all so hard!”

“What?”

“This! Everything! Marriage! It’s supposed to be different than this.”

“Says who?”

“Everyone.”

“Well, they’re wrong. It’s just like this. It’s exactly like this.”

“According to who?”

“Everybody, I asked around.”

— Paul and Jamie, “Romantic Improvisations”

“Instead of a laugh track, they have a ‘how true, how true’ track.”

— “Too Bad About You,” MAD, January/February 1996

— Married couples, even naturalistic ones, weren’t new to sitcoms. Neither was observational humor. But to have a sitcom rely mostly on those concepts rather than plotting? Mad About You isn’t a documentary, but it might have felt that way in 1992. 

— This batch features a mix of low-concept and very low-concept storylines. Four out of the five episodes are directed by Barnet Kellman (Murphy Brown). Most of the writers — Danny Jacobson & Paul Reiser, Jeffrey Lane and Steve Paymer — hang around for the new few seasons.

— I’ll give my crown to the one-two-three punch of “Romantic Improvisations,” “Sofa’s Choice” and “Sunday Times.” The chemistry between Reiser and Helen Hunt is immediate, as is Paul and Jamie’s loving but realistic relationship. I didn’t find it grating to hear Paul complain about inevitably spending four hours going furniture shopping, or Jamie and Paul complaining about how neither wants to go to the same activity that they want to attend. You know they’re going to solve things, whether through laughter or fooling around in the kitchen.

— “Improvisations” establishes that Paul and Jamie have been celibate for five days. Jamie’s particularly edgy about this, especially once it looks like they’ll go a sixth night without sex. Jamie invites a miserable Lisa (Anne Ramsay) to stay for dinner, Paul invites Selby (Tommy Hinkley) over out of spite, and Fran and Mark (Leila Kenzle and Richard Kind) keep their dinner invitation.

— “Don’t mind me. I just need some ice.” “Maybe you could chip some off my wife’s mood.” After the party briefly gathers in the kitchen, Paul and Jamie are alone. He lets her know that there’s always going to be stuff, but they’ve got to put up with each other’s crap. If they don’t, he’ll either burst into flames or end up strangling Jamie. “I really don’t want to do either one.” “What do you want?” “I just want to be married to you.” With the guests ordered to stay in the living room, Paul and Jamie end their dry spell. “You know, speed is usually considered a bad thing in this event.” “This is the most fun we’ve ever had with Fran and Mark here.”

— Before I get too far, let’s do a supporting character inventory. Lisa and Selby appear in three out of the five episodes. So do Fran and Mark, although Kenzle and Kind are credited as guest stars. While Hunt acts well opposite either Ramsay or Kenzle, I though Reiser was better opposite Kind. He’ll do even better opposite John Pankow, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Also, Murray’s in all five episodes, but his personality’s not yet developed.

— “Sofa’s” has Jamie cajoling Paul into helping her pick out their new couch. The tea-dipped Irish linen will be the first major item that’s Paul and Jamie’s, so it’s a big deal. The couch itself, however, isn’t. It’s more of a love seat. Paul hates the term and the responsibility. “On a love seat, I feel like I have to be necking.” Mark, on the other hand, seems to be more romantically liberated. He wore red briefs because Fran bought them for him.

— With a decision on the couch not yet reached, the quartet banter and try on clothes. Jamie: “This would look great on you.” Fran: “Yeah, it would fit great if I could take my ass off.” Paul, meanwhile, is convinced by a mother (Estelle Harris, less than two months before first appearing on Seinfeld) to try on a sweater she wants for her son. “So where is Barry today?” “Who knows? We don’t speak.”

— During this episode, Mark mentions being a gynecologist. Once the white coat comes on, the libido goes off. From where he sits, there’s no difference among women. While Mark’s professionalism is admirable, he crosses the line by revealing Jamie is a former patient. Riddled with anxiety, Paul does not want to follow Jamie’s advice. “I don’t want to show Fran my penis.” *old lady hears this* “I don’t want to show … Stan … my Zenith.” Jamie smooths things over by telling Paul she needs him around for situations like sofa-buying because she likes being with him.

— The same ending, or close enough, plays out in “Sunday Times.” It’s a busy day in New York. There’s a 10K in the park, a gay pride parade and the true Sophie’s choice of an Amish quilt exhibition or a Belgian film festival. Disturbed by Paul’s vivid dream of the couple sharing a boring experience — eating chips and watching the Weather Channel — Jamie sets out to do things different. They’ll have a cassoulet rather than a casserole for dinner, and go to the exhibit instead of a movie. Paul, of course, doesn’t want to go to the exhibit.

— Time moves quickly. Much of Paul and Jamie’s day is eaten up with them on the phone. Fran prattles on about cumin. Their mothers both call. Lisa is depressed. Selby, who cheats on the 10K — and succeeds! — shows up with McDonald's. He’s bummed about not getting hit on by the gays waiting for the parade. It passes by the Buchmans’ building. “Oh, honey, come here, you’re gonna miss the Judy Garland balloon.” Finally, Mark spoils the movie Paul and Jamie were going to see.

— Deciding they could go to separate activities, that they’re not sitting around waiting for somebody to hold their hand, Paul and Jamie immediately realize they want to be be together. After fooling around, the couple decide it was a perfect Sunday. It concludes with chips, a newspaper hat for Jamie and watching TV. “This is the Weather Channel.” “Oh, this is it. This is my dream come true.”

— Next up is “Out of the Past,” most notable for an early guest appearance by Lisa Edelstein. She’s Lynne Stoddard, who Paul may or may not have had sex with once. It’s a little vague. They pulled an all-nighter and he did see her naked, but the times were different. It was college, and the ‘70s …

— Honestly, this was my least favorite episode in today’s batch. I couldn’t help thinking how much better Ira would slide into Selby’s role. There seems to be a connection between Selby and Lynne, which Paul is jealous about. Paul’s treatment of Jamie — inviting her to watch as he reunites with Lynne, then “drooling down memory lane” in front of her — is also pretty ugly. For her part, Lynne reveals she’s always just thought of Paul as a friend. Jamie lets Paul have his fantasy. “Boy, I tell ya, I’m glad I saw her, but believe me, you have nothing to worry about.” “I know.”

— The batch concludes with “Paul in the Family,” a one-and-done for director Paul Lazarus and the first script from the one-season-and-done team of Daryl Rowland & Lisa DeBenedictis. Adding to the lighting in a bottle feel, it’s the only time Paul Dooley and Nancy Dussault play the to-be-named Gus and Theresa Stemple.

— Despite all this, it really is a good episode. Jamie’s nerves are frayed when her parents come to visit, especially since they’re not staying for an hour, they’re staying for the day. Like many parents, the Stemples say so much without actual words. Their disapproval of, disappointment with and disregard for anything and everything is quick and leaves an impression. 

— That doesn’t mean they’re not loving people, of course. But who doesn’t feel for Jamie when she asks her dad not to criticize their pipes? Jamie and (a bribed) Lisa end up entertaining the folks and Paul with a rendition of “Sisters” from White Christmas. “How come my parents can still push all my buttons?” “Oh, well, that’s easy. They installed them.”  

— If Paul and Jamie having sex on a kitchen table wasn’t pushing the envelope, please notice that Paul apparently doesn’t always wear underwear (“Times”). He goes from the bathtub and puts on jeans in an unbroken sequence.

— Today in Continuity: Paul and Jamie have been married five months (“Improvisations”), meaning they were married in April 1992. Later seasons had them married in May. “Sofa’s” introduces the idea that Jamie worked for Fran. Jamie is a former smoker, she and Sylvia don’t get along and Ira’s band played the Buchmans’ wedding (“Times”). Paul went to college in 1975, making him approximately 34 years old. The ill-fated reunion with Lynne is at Riff’s, making its debut (“Past”). The Stemples are from New Haven, Connecticut (“Family”).

— Wonderful Town: I’m bringing back this feature from my old Barney Miller reviews. If Paul and Jamie don’t hurry up, the non-sticky subway seats will be taken. Jamie and Fran later refuse to let Lisa ride the degenerate-ridden subway, although Lisa points out it's her best way to meet a man (“Improvisations”). Hearing about a guy shot in his apartment has Paul considering getting a gun, which Jamie mocks (“Sofa’s”). Paul’s relief that they’re not living in a war zone is undercut by the sounds of downtown noise. Seeing The Will Rogers Follies ends up depressing Lisa, as she’s convinced that if he met her, he wouldn’t like her (“Times”). Jamie is amused by the gossip that Trump bounced an $82 check at The Gap (“Past”). Mrs. Stemple says she doesn’t want to be left alone in Paul and Jamie’s neighborhood (“Family”).

— Fun with Non-Product Placement: Check out the bag of GL (or is it E GL?) chips (“Times”) and the bottle of Blud Light (“Past”).

— Before the Credits: Paul does not like the idea of sleeping on the opposite side of the bed (“Sofa’s”). Jamie, then Paul, is tied up with a phone call (“Past”). Paul tries to change a pizza order (“Family”).

— Scheduling Corner: Mad About You aired on 9:30 p.m. on Wednesdays in the fall of 1992. Quite the eclectic evening, with Unsolved Mysteries as the lead-in to Seinfeld and MAY, which were followed by Law & Order.

— Ratings Roundup: Wikipedia and TV Tango have different numbers. I’ll just say that during this batch, the show started as a solid middle of the range performer for Wednesday, then reached as low as ninth place (with “Family”). ABC’s sitcom block was leading Wednesdays.