Taxi: The Complete Second Season

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.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 30 reviews  4.6 out of 5 stars