Taxi - The Complete First Season
by James Burrows
List Price:
Our Price: $11.15
You Save: $11.84 (52%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Danny DeVito, Jeff Conaway, Judd Hirsch, Marilu Henner, Tony DanzaDirector: James Burrows
Brand: Paramount
Writer: Barry Kemp
Writer: Barton Dean
Writer: David Davis
Writer: Earl Pomerantz
Writer: Ed. Weinberger
Writer: Glen Charles
Writer: James L. Brooks
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Box set, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 540 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-10-12
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Paramount
DVD Reviews of Taxi - The Complete First Season
DVD Review: A Reminder of Just How Great a Sitcom Can Be
Summary: 5 Stars
Critics of the situation comedy generally agree there've been five truly great sitcoms: I Love Lucy, The Dick Van Dyke Show, All In the Family, M.A.S.H and Seinfeld. Two of those shows were still in first-run during the late 1970s/early '80s. It was a common thing then for people to ask me, "Which do you like best, All In the Family or M.A.S.H.?" My answer was always the same: "I prefer Taxi." Though Taxi lacked the social satire of All In the Family or the grandiose, larger-than-life quality of the best episodes of M.A.S.H., what it had, more than any other sitcom I've ever seen, was a cast of believable, sympathetic, real world characters dealing with real world problems.
Alex Reiger (Judd Hirsh) is the heart and soul of the Sunshine Cab Co. While every other driver considers being a cabbie merely a sidelight to their "real" job, Alex is the only person willing to say, "I'm a cab driver." Alex's compassion and common sense makes him the guy everyone comes to when they have a problem.
Louie De Palma (Danny DeVito) is Sunshine's irascible dispatcher. Snide, abusive, cheap, avaricious, dishonest, lecherous, DeVito's portrayal of this walking emotional toxic waste dump won him numerous Emmies and paved the way for a very successful career as a motion picture actor, director and producer.
Bobby Wheeler (Jeff Conaway) is an aspiring actor with the attention span of a fruit fly.
Tony Banta (Tony Danza) is the world's worst middleweight boxer, and even dumber than Bobby.
John Burns (Randall Carver) - and I hate to say this in case Carver's reading it, I don't want to hurt his feelings - was the weak link in Taxi's first season. John was just boring, he combined the low IQ of Bobby and Tony with none of their charm. After Season 1, the character disappeared.
Elaine Nardo (Marilu Henner) is a hard working divorcee who moonlights at Sunshine to support two kids while pursuing her "real job" at an art galley. I had SUCH a crush on Marilu Henner when I was a teenager. Auburn hair, great face and figure, and, to all appearances, a really nice person to boot. What more could you want?
Latka Gravas (Andy Kaufman) is Sunshine's mechanic, an immigrant from an unnamed Balkan country whose native language sounds like speaking in tongues. As a teenager I couldn't understand why so many people raved about the character of Latka. I didn't like him at all; he was the one jarring note in an otherwise believable real world cast. My girlfriend, while watching the first episode of Taxi on DVD with me (she'd never before seen the show), as soon as Latka appeared on-screen said, "Obviously he's going to be the most popular character." Me: "Why do you say that?" Her: "Because all the other characters are so normal. And here you've got this total weirdo walking around in the middle of all that normalcy. He's something different and exotic." Okay, so after 20-plus years, I understand.
In the very first episode, we see exactly what made Taxi so great: real human emotion. In "Like Father, Like Daughter" Alex meets the daughter he hasn't seen since his divorce 15 years before. They finally meet in an airport departure lounge five minutes before her plane leaves. Their conversation, shown in real time, encompasses that five minutes and contains enough pain, honesty and humor to fill any ten episodes of most other sitcoms. After that first episode - which I saw back on September 12, 1978 - I said to myself, "If they can maintain that level of quality, this show has me as a fan forever."
In the 8th episode, arguably the most memorable character in Taxi history makes his first appearance. In "Paper Marriage" the Reverend Jim (Christopher Lloyd) officiates at Latka's marriage of convenience to avoid deportation. During the service Reverend Jim, a total drug burnout, goes through a long, impassioned speech about the sanctity of marriage, then crows triumphantly, "I bet you all thought I was gonna screw up, didn't ya!" In that moment Lloyd won the hearts of Taxi fans everywhere, ensuring his return in Season 2 as a series regular.
In "Sugar Mama" Ruth Gordon, in an Emmy winning performance, is a rich and lonely widow who pays Alex, repeatedly, to drive her around town and talk to her. Eventually he begins to feel like a kept man.
In "Mama Gravas" Alex meets and winds up in bed with Latka's mother. The role of Greta Gravas required a woman very tall, somewhat rawboned, and sexy as hell. Whoever cast Susan Kellermann should have received a special Emmy.
The first season ends with a two-parter, "Memories of Cab 804" in which each cabbie reminisces about special moments experienced in a recently totaled cab. Of note, in Cab 804 Elaine met the man of her dreams who looked amazing like a young Tom Selleck. Wait a minute....it WAS a young Tom Selleck! Alex delivered a baby in Cab 804 whose father looked amazingly like a young Mandy Patinkin. Wait a minute....okay, you get the idea.
Season 1 of Taxi proved just how much humanity could be shoehorned into a half hour sitcom. And they did it week after week; few indeed were the missteps. It's great to have these episodes on DVD. There are no "extras," not even captioning. But who cares? What's important is the show itself, one of the best sitcoms ever. Period.
Description of Taxi - The Complete First Season
TAXI:COMPLETE FIRST SEASON - DVD MovieBestsellers in DVD
![The Story of Jeremiah [VHS] Image](/images/noimg.gif)
The Story of Jeremiah [VHS]Vision Video; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Wresting With God [VHS]by Vision Video
Vision Video; Published: 1990-10-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
Study Bible Video with Workbook [VHS]Spring Arbor Distributors; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops:
Tempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops:
Tempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/ Party Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
![Strike the Original Match [VHS] Image](/images/Strike-the-Original-Match-VHS-0001374079-X.jpg)
Strike the Original Match [VHS]New Liberty Films; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
![Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS] Image](/images/Medjugorje-The-Miracles-and-the-Message-VHS-0001373293-X.jpg)
Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS]JPN Film Production; Release date: 1995-12-15; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.99
Mayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008by Mayo
DVD
Price in other shops:
Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single Userby Oakstone
DVD
Price in other shops:
Cost Accounting [VHS]by Charles T. Horngren, George Foster, Srikant M. Datar, Howard Teall
Pearson Canada, Toronto; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
The Bob Newhart Show - The Complete First SeasonNEWHART,BOB; Release date: 2005-04-12; DVD
Best price: $7.59
Price in other shops:
The Odd Couple - The First SeasonParamount; Release date: 2007-04-24; DVD
Best price: $12.99
Price in other shops:
Cheers: The Complete First SeasonParamount; Release date: 2003-05-20; DVD
Best price: $12.00
Price in other shops:
WKRP in Cincinnati - The Complete First SeasonFox; Release date: 2007-04-24; DVD
Best price: $14.15
Price in other shops:
Welcome Back, Kotter: The Complete First SeasonWarner Brothers; Release date: 2007-06-12; DVD
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
Barney Miller - The First SeasonSony; Release date: 2004-01-20; DVD
Best price: $7.50
Price in other shops:
Taxi: The Complete Fourth SeasonParamount; Release date: 2009-09-22; DVD
Best price: $17.03
Price in other shops:
Taxi: The Final SeasonParamount; Release date: 2009-12-22; DVD
Best price: $11.37
Price in other shops:
Taxi - The Complete Third SeasonHIRSCH,JUDD; Release date: 2005-09-13; DVD
Best price: $17.50
Price in other shops:
Taxi - The Complete Second SeasonParamount; Release date: 2005-02-01; DVD
Best price: $18.25
Price in other shops: