"I'm mad about you baby. Mad About You...."

February 14, 2014 1:55 PM

"Did you just kiss me?"
"No."
"I didn't think so."

Background
There were 164 episodes of Mad About You, which aired from 1992-1999, across seven seasons. All are available on YouTube. The domestic comedy followed the lives of newlywed documentary filmmaker Paul Buchman (played by Paul Reiser) and public relations executive Jaime Stemple (played by Helen Hunt.) For her work on the show, Hunt won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series four years in a row: 1996–1999. She also won the Best Actress Golden Globe Award twice.

The show was known for the caliber of its guest stars, its romantic elements and storylines and as was typical of many television comedies of the 90's, an unrealistically enormous apartment for newlyweds in Manhattan. It has its own TV Tropes page.

Playlists
* Season One
* Season Two
* Season Three
* Season Four
* Season Five
* Season Six
* Season Seven

Episodes
Season One (1992-1993)
1 Romantic Improvisations
2 Sofa's Choice
3 Sunday Times
4 Out of the Past
5 Paul in the Family
6 I'm Just So Happy for You
7 Token Friend (Guest starring Steve Buscemi)
8 The Apartment (Guest starring Michael "Kramer" Richards from Seinfeld)
9 Riding Backwards (Guest starring Carol Ann Susi, who plays "Mrs. Wolowitz" on The Big Bang Theory)
10 Neighbors from Hell
11 Met Someone
12 Maid About You
13 Togetherness
14 Weekend Getaway
15 The Wedding Affair
16 Love Among the Tiles (Paul and Jaime get trapped in their bathroom. Guest starring Patrick Warburton)
17 The Billionaire (Guest starring Jerry Lewis and Steven Wright (Wright's was a recurring role.)
18 The Man Who Said Hello (Guest starring Phil LaMarr, Regis and Joy Philbin)
19 Swept Away
20 The Spy Girl Who Loved Me (Guest starring Barbara Feldon)
21 The Painter
22 Happy Anniversary

Season Two (1993/94)
1 Murray's Tale (Jerry Adler's first appearance -- a recurring role. The Plot: Lisa takes Murray out for a walk and returns with a dog that looks like, but isn't him. Jamie: "Lisa, this is not Murray! It looks like Murray, but it isn't Murray. Murray has a white spot and vacant eyes. This dog KNOWS THINGS!")
2 Bing, Bang, Boom
3 Bedfellows (Larry Miller's first appearance -- a recurring role)
4 Married to the Job
5 So I Married a Hair Murderer
6 The Unplanned Child
7 Natural History
8 Surprise
9 A Pair of Hearts (Cyndi Lauper's first appearance -- a recurring role -- she was nominated for an Emmy for this episode.)
10 It's a Wrap
11 Edna Returns
12 Paul Is Dead
13 Same Time Next Week
14 The Late Show
15 Virtual Reality (With appearances by André Agassi and Christie Brinkley)
16 Cold Feet (Told in flashbacks, the story of how Jaime and Paul met. "So we'll skate.")
17 Instant Karma
18 The Tape (Look for: Ryan Stiles as the manager of Video Village)
19 Love Letters (Guest star Tom Moore was nominated for an Emmy for his work in this episode)
20 The Last Scampi
21 Disorientation (Look for actress Julia Sweeney playing the French Professor)
22 Storms We Cannot Weather
23 Up All Night (Guest starring John Astin (yes, really) and Garth Brooks)
24 With This Ring... (1)
25 With This Ring... (2)

Season Three (1994/95)
1 Escape from New York
2 Home
3 'Til Death Do Us Part (Guest star Ernie Sabella's voice should be recognizable to fans of The Lion King. He played Pumbaa)
4 When I'm Sixty-Four
5 Legacy
6 Pandora's Box (This episode was part of NBC's "Blackout Thursday": Three "Must-See Thursday" comedies were centered around a blackout in New York City. After Jamie creates a blackout on Mad About You, characters on "Friends" and the short-lived "Madman of the People" were also left in the dark.)
7 The Ride Home (Guest starring Eric Stoltz, in what would become a recurring role.)
8 Giblets for Murray (The Infamous Thanksgiving Episode)
9 Once More With Feeling
10 The City
11 Our Fifteen Minutes (This episode was shot in real time: One take per act.)
12 How to Fall in Love
13 Mad About You (1) (Lyle Lovett stars in this two-part episode)
14 Mad About You (2)
15 Just My Dog
16 The Alan Brady Show (Carl Reiner guest stars, reprising a role he created for The Dick Van Dyke Show. This episode was directed by Gordon Hunt, father of Helen Hunt, and both men won Emmy Awards for their work in this episode.)
17 Mad Without You
18 Purseona
19 Two Tickets to Paradise
20 Money Changes Everything (Guest star Cyndi Lauper won an Emmy Award for this episode.)
21 Cake Fear
22 My Boyfriend's Back
23-24. Up in Smoke

Season Four (1995/96)
1 New Sleep-Walking PLUS
2 The Parking Space
3 The Test (A clip show. Features a full-length rendition of the theme song ("The Final Frontier") at the end.)
4 The Good, the Bad and the Not-So-Appealing
5 I Don't See It
6 Yoko Said (Guest starring Yoko Ono)
7 An Angel for Murray (This episode introduces Hank Azaria as Nat. At the time, he was dating Helen Hunt.)
8 The Couple
9 New Year's Eve (With Kathy Griffin and Dick Clark)
10 Ovulation Day
11 Get Back
12 Dream Weaver
13 Hot and Cold
14 Fertility
15 Everybody Hates Me
16 Do Me a Favor
17 The Glue People
18 The Sample
19 The Procedure
20 The Weed
21 The Award
22 The Finale (1)
23 The Finale (2)
24 The Finale (3)

Season Five (1996/97)
1 Dr. Wonderful
2 The Grant (First of four appearances by Mel Brooks as Paul's "Uncle Phil." On DVD commentary, Paul Reiser said that Mel Brooks improvised most of his scenes in every episode he was in. If you watch closely, you can see Reiser and Pankow (Ira) trying to keep their composure and turning away from the camera to avoid corpsing. Brooks guest starred in four Mad About You episodes. He won "Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series" Emmy Awards for three of them.)
3 Therapy (Guest starring Mo Gaffney -- a recurring role)
4 The Clip Show
5 Burt's Building (A wonderful, sweet father-son episode. "Hey, let me tell you something. I appreciate everything you do for me. Believe me, it hasn't gone unnoticed. How you take care of me. How you keep me out of trouble. But let me remind you of one fact that will be true forever, no matter how stupid I get. I'm still your father.")
6 Jamie's Parents (100th episode of the series, starring Caroll O'Connor and Carol Burnett -- the third and final set of actors to play Jamie's parents. Burnett would win an Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy Award for her work on the show.)
7 Outbreak (Look for: Kevin Bacon)
8 Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge
9 The Gym (Guest starring Bruno Kirby)
10 Chicken Man
11 The Recital
12 The Handyman
13 Astrology
14 The Penis
15 Citizen Buchman (A spoof of Citizen Kane. Paul's uncle dies on camera during the teaser. His final words: "Who Moos?" The rest of the show shows the family planning his funeral, while Paul tries to figure out what it means, leading to one revelation after another about members of his family. Guest starring Sid Caesar, as Uncle Harold.)
16 Her Houseboy, Coco
17 On the Road
18 The Cockatoo
19 The Touching Game
20 The Dry Run
21 Guardianhood Guest starring Seth Green)
22 The Feud
23-24. The Birth (Guest starring Estelle Getty, Michael Moore and Bruce Willis)

Season Six (1997/98). Episode nine is out of order in the playlist. It is linked in proper sequence below.)
1 Coming Home
2 Letters to Mabel
3 Speed Baby
4 Uncle Phil and the Coupons
5 Moody Blues
6 The Magic Pants (Guest starring Lili Taylor, in a recurring role.)
7 Le Sex Show
8 The New Friend (Guest starring Mare Winningham)
9 The Conversation ("One shot? Twenty minutes? Do you know what that involves?" A bottle episode, shot in real time and filmed in one take, that was broadcast without commercials. The camera remains focused on the Buchmans' bedroom door throughout the show.)
10 Breastfeeding
11 Good Old Reliable Nathan (Guest starring Nathan Lane)
12 Separate Planes (Guest starring Rita Wilson)
13 Cheating on Sheila (Guest starring Sydney Pollack)
14 Back to Work
15 The Second Mrs. Buchman
16 The Coin of Destiny
17 The Caper
18 The Baby Video
19 Fire at Riff's
20 Mother's Day
21 Paul Slips in the Shower
22 Nat & Arley (Guest starring Eugene Levy)
23 The Finale (Guest starring Ellen Degeneres)

Season Seven (1998/99)
(Ratings dropped precipitously during the show's final season, but 20 million people watched the series finale, which was arguably one of the show's best episodes.)
1 Season Opener
2 A Pain in the Neck
3 Tragedy Plus Time
4 There's a Puma in the Kitchen
5 The Silent Show
6 Weekend in L.A.
7 The Thanksgiving Show
8 The Buried Fight
9 Farmer Buchman
10 Win a Free Car
11 The Honeymoon
12 Valentine's Day
13 Virtual Reality II
14 Uncle Phil Goes Back to High School (Guest starring Mel Brooks, Steven Tobolowsky, Edie McClurg and Stuart Pankin.)
15 Murray at the Dog Show
16 Millennium Bug
17 Separate Beds
18 Stealing Burt's Car (Guest starring Richard Belzer)
19 Paved with Good Intentions
20 The Dirty Little Secret
21 The Final Frontier (1) Narrated by Janeane Garofalo, as Mabel, also guest starring Tim Conway.)
22 The Final Frontier (2)


Bloopers
The Seven Warning Signs of MADness

posted by zarq (56 comments total)

It was on for seven seasons? Seriously?
posted by Thorzdad at 2:03 PM on February 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

I enjoyed that show. And I also believe it's solely responsible for the now-common usage of the phrase "not so much."
posted by mudpuppie at 2:04 PM on February 14, 2014 [20 favorites]

I kept waiting for Paul to apologize for trying to smuggle xenomorphs inside Jaime.
posted by benzenedream at 2:07 PM on February 14, 2014 [22 favorites]

A few years back, the producers released a 4 dvd set of Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt's favorite episodes. They are:
* The Pilot (Season 1)
* Met Someone (1)
* Virtual Reality (2)
* Cold Feet (2)
* Giblets for Murray (3)
* Our Fifteen Minutes (3)
* The Alan Brady Show (3)
* Yoko Said (4)
* The Finale (Parts 1, 2, & 3; Season 4)
* Citizen Buchman (5)
* The Penis (5)
* The Birth (Parts 1 & 2; 5)
* Letters to Mabel (6)
* Moody Blues (6)
* Le Sex Show (6)
* The Conversation (6)
* Paved with Good Intentions (7)
* The Final Frontier (series finale)

Personally, I would have included several others, including "Burt's Building." But if you're looking to check out the series, it's a decent list.
posted by zarq at 2:08 PM on February 14, 2014 [5 favorites]

Thank you, zarq, for this list. Perfect list for Valentine's Day!
posted by China Grover at 2:10 PM on February 14, 2014 [4 favorites]

Mad About You is one of my late night guilty pleasures. Well, it used to be when I had cable back in the day.
posted by Kitteh at 2:13 PM on February 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

China Grover: "Perfect list for Valentine's Day!"

You're welcome! I couldn't resist waiting to post this today!
posted by zarq at 2:15 PM on February 14, 2014 [4 favorites]

It was on for seven seasons? Seriously?

It felt like forever!
posted by rhizome at 2:18 PM on February 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

Mad About You is responsible for me being able to articulate the fact that I was queer. True story, 1995. I was on the phone with my best friend from high school. We were both watching MAY at the time. She told me she had to tell me a secret, and the secret was that she thought Helen Hunt was more attractive than Paul Reiser. And I agreed with her, and told her that I thought I might be bisexual.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 2:19 PM on February 14, 2014 [3 favorites]

People thought Paul Reiser was hot? I think you buried the lede there.
posted by selfnoise at 2:27 PM on February 14, 2014 [5 favorites]

"Our 15 Minutes" is such an amazing episode - I'd say that if you only watch one, watch that one, but you have to know the characters so it probably wouldn't work as an introduction to the show. Anne Ramsay's scene is just a tour de force of comedic acting for me.

The show fell apart in the later seasons, but every young married couple I knew at the time (including me and my then-husband) was convinced it had been written about us. So good.
posted by Mchelly at 2:28 PM on February 14, 2014 [4 favorites]

benzenedream: "I kept waiting for Paul to apologize for trying to smuggle xenomorphs inside Jaime."

I saw Aliens a bunch of times when it came out and then not again until the mid-nineties and had a holy-shit moment when I realized that Paul was Carter Burke.
posted by octothorpe at 2:29 PM on February 14, 2014

The show also serves as a paean to the many billowing vests and button-down shirts of the early '90s, so there's that.
posted by mynameisluka at 2:31 PM on February 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

It was on for seven seasons? Seriously?

It was a bad call, Thorzdad. It was a Bad Call.
posted by entropicamericana at 2:33 PM on February 14, 2014 [9 favorites]

Mchelly: "Anne Ramsay's scene is just a tour de force of comedic acting for me. "

The shot where she takes off her shirt and Paul whips around to stare at the door... and then the thumbs up he gives Jaime as they're walking out of the room... completely hilarious.

octothorpe: "Paul was Carter Burke."

When I was putting this together, I came across a bit of trivia (that I was just too lazy to try and track down,) that said in one of the episodes someone asked Reiser's character if he had seen the Alien movies. He apparently replied "Just the first one."
posted by zarq at 2:34 PM on February 14, 2014

Every time I go to TV Tropes, I can't help but think that there's a way to turn those tropes into a card game of some kind.
posted by davejay at 2:35 PM on February 14, 2014

...I've written tropes on index cards and shuffled them and then used that as a 30 min writing prompt- plot stack, character stack, you can figure out your own method.
posted by The Whelk at 2:42 PM on February 14, 2014 [3 favorites]

This is a pretty cool thing to have bookmarked. Thanks!
posted by cribcage at 2:43 PM on February 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

This clip comes into my head at least once a week.
posted by billiebee at 2:55 PM on February 14, 2014 [5 favorites]

Amazing it's all available online! Thanks!
posted by Dragonness at 2:55 PM on February 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

This show was somehow incredibly important to the Spouse and me as we were newly married when it started and their conversations occasionally mimicked our own. It's a million years later and we still make the sloping floor joke.

Thanks, zarq!
posted by blurker at 3:10 PM on February 14, 2014 [2 favorites]

For us, "LEMON ZINGER?!?" has been a running joke for years and years.
posted by jquinby at 3:11 PM on February 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

This clip comes into my head at least once a week.

Let me guess - always while you're in the bathroom, right?
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:18 PM on February 14, 2014

Also, I'm not a font geek at all (hell, I don't even have much of an opinion of Comic Sans), but that mix of regular/sans-serif fonts and serif/italicized characters in the titles sets my teeth on edge to a surprising degree.
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:29 PM on February 14, 2014

Oh I loved this show, and I'd forgotten all about it. Thanks.
posted by gerstle at 3:41 PM on February 14, 2014

This clip comes into my head at least once a week.

Let me guess - always while you're in the bathroom, right?

I have been using "Walla" ever since...
posted by srboisvert at 3:41 PM on February 14, 2014

The show fell apart in the later seasons, but every young married couple I knew at the time (including me and my then-husband) was convinced it had been written about us. So good.

Us too. The episode where Jamie turns 30 aired the same year that my ex-wife was turning 30. I actually stopped watching when we broke up since I identified it so closely with our relationship.
posted by octothorpe at 3:47 PM on February 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

This is a great post.

But I blame this show for "not so much".
posted by ftm at 3:53 PM on February 14, 2014

The show died when the baby came along.

Like most sitcoms, it had a mid-first-season retooling when it got the green light for a full season after its limited episode order as a try-out series. But it wasn't as radical a retooling as some shows, and it kept its charm for quite a while.

But seriously, once the baby came, it was all downhill from there.
posted by hippybear at 3:54 PM on February 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

I always thought it was curious that Jaime wore such shapeless clothes. I mean she really hid her body. It always struck me as a Helen Hunt thing rather than a character thing but I have no idea. I watched the show a lot and always noticed her outfits that way.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 3:59 PM on February 14, 2014

My favorite line from that show (paraphrased quite a bit):

"I keep having to follow you around with a net."

"Who's Annette?"

The look on Helen Hunt's face during that scene was priceless.
posted by xingcat at 4:06 PM on February 14, 2014

I always thought it was curious that Jaime wore such shapeless clothes. I mean she really hid her body. It always struck me as a Helen Hunt thing rather than a character thing but I have no idea. I watched the show a lot and always noticed her outfits that way.

I didn't realize that was particularly abnormal for the time period. On the other hand, my other major memory of female fashion on TV for that period was Scully, and Gillian Anderson was straight-up pregnant during some of those scenes so yeah, they gave her clothes to hide her body.
posted by chrominance at 4:20 PM on February 14, 2014

Ahahahaha, last year my husband's new gig (reviewing TV in addition to films) meant we had to get cable for the first time in, well, ever. I spent the first few weeks searching for "Mad About You" because I could not believe that it wasn't in syndication somewhere.

But it wasn't.

This autumn when a basic cable channel started airing in in 8-hour marathons overnight, I filled up our DVR with episodes, and ended up watching them all in a week when I was as sick as I've ever been in my life. It was delightful, and then we hit the point where I'd stopped watching the original broadcast run and the episodes started making me really sad.

And I also believe it's solely responsible for the now-common usage of the phrase "not so much."

After every episode when Paul Reiser said "… not so much," my phone would ring and someone would ask me, "So, do you know this guy?" What I'm saying is, the phrases were around, is all I'm saying here.

My single favorite not-a-joke from the series: Jamie's mother (before Carol Burnett was cast as her mother) walks into their home, heads straight for the fridge, and starts throwing things out. In passing, her mother asks "How old are these olives?" Jamie shrugs. Mom says "You know the rule" and chucks them out.

And I thought "Yup. Moms."
posted by Elsa at 4:31 PM on February 14, 2014 [2 favorites]

The toilet paper roll changing scene was sheer brilliance. I loved this show.
posted by biscotti at 4:40 PM on February 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

Two cold opens that hit so close to home I changed a habit:

1) Paul is at the table and Jamie walks into the room with a roll of toilet paper in one hand and the holder in the other. She looks at him, places the roll on the holder and walks back out.

2) There is a plastic bag of bagles that has a hole in it. Jamie looks at Paul and untwists the tie, takes out a bagle, and then recloses the bag.

On preview: jinx, biscotti!
posted by Room 641-A at 4:45 PM on February 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

Two cold opens that hit so close to home I changed a habit:

1) Paul is at the table and Jamie walks into the room with a roll of toilet paper in one hand and the holder in the other. She looks at him, places the roll on the holder and walks back out.

2) There is a plastic bag of bagles that has a hole in it. Jamie looks at Paul and untwists the tie, takes out a bagle, and then recloses the bag.

On preview: jinx, biscotti!

Shouldn't those items be first "A" and second "2"?
posted by yoink at 4:49 PM on February 14, 2014 [7 favorites]

But I blame this show for "not so much".

I actually blame Rachel on Friends for making it stick, but of course those streams crossed so I'm willing to spread the blame around. The most important thing is that we assign blame.
posted by Room 641-A at 4:54 PM on February 14, 2014

Like most sitcoms, it had a mid-first-season retooling when it got the green light for a full season after its limited episode order as a try-out series.

The biggest casualty was likely Paul's best friend Jay Selby, who joined Chuck Cunningham and Mandy Hampton in the recycle bin. I want to say he was never mentioned again, but I recall that -- in TVTropes terms -- there was a Brick Joke because somewhere around season six someone mentions his name and Paul asks, "What ever happened to that guy, anyway?" as the scene ends.

I watched this show semiregularly back in the nineties but have barely thought about it since. It seemed to be in the same league as, say, Frasier: well-cast and decently funny, but ultimately kind of pleasantly unmemorable. The last time before today that I watched even a moment of it was in a hostel room in Paris in 2008 when I watched a German-language channel showing Verrückt Nach Dir (Crazy For You).
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:56 PM on February 14, 2014

I loved Mad About You as a really nicely put together sitcom and a portrait of an unusually genuine relationship (for a sitcom), but it fell apart really, really badly towards the end when it decided it wanted to be a Serious Show that addressed Important Issues. It tried to become a kind of thirtysomething in a half-hour format with jokes thrown in here and there. It just didn't work.
posted by yoink at 5:27 PM on February 14, 2014

And I also believe it's solely responsible for the now-common usage of the phrase "not so much."

After every episode when Paul Reiser said "… not so much," my phone would ring and someone would ask me, "So, do you know this guy?"

Don't leave us hanging... What was your answer? ;)
posted by swr at 5:41 PM on February 14, 2014

I have no idea why this is my fave MAY moment:

Lisa: [drink out of milk carton] Yuck, what happened to the lactose?
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:40 PM on February 14, 2014

Don't leave us hanging... What was your answer? ;)

"Not so much."
posted by Elsa at 7:57 PM on February 14, 2014 [2 favorites]

Mad About You was just a well put together show. So many things I appreciated:

-Cyndi Lauper was just fantastic as Ira's ex.
-the episode where Helen and Lisa switch purses and gradually switch personas is very well done storytelling
-this may be wrong but I feel like MAY sorta pioneered the end credits joke tag.
-favourite episode was probably Paul shooting a film in Chicago. Funny and accurate portrayal of an LDR, however briefly, in the days before Skype and texting
-"Hey, how did Murray do with the mouse today?"

Sometimes uncomplicated fun does the trick.
posted by dry white toast at 9:21 PM on February 14, 2014

The "watch me" toilet paper lesson sticks fast in my mind too. I'd employ that line in my every day life, except that it would start a war. They were stronger than my partner and I are, judging by that scenario.

I also vividly remember Paul and Jamie walking into the living room and seeing Murray the dog happily standing on the table. Just standing there. Panting and wagging.

One of them says, "Well, this is new."

That's still my reaction upon coming home to some sort of pet-related fiasco. Well. This is new.
posted by mudpuppie at 9:30 PM on February 14, 2014 [3 favorites]

I loved this show in the early years. The two things I never forget:

The toilet paper roll scene. Used that many, many times on my then-partner.

The dinner discussion that mentions Harvey Keitel, and Paul's mom saying, "I don't like his penis."
posted by emcat8 at 9:34 PM on February 14, 2014

In all fairness, Harvey Keitel has been rather public with his penis....
posted by hippybear at 9:49 PM on February 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

Loved this show so very much. I ended up rewatching just about all of it on (Canadian) Netflix sometime last year, after I threw out my back. Hilariously, I had forgotten entirely about the episode where Jamie hurts her back (Get Back). I laughed so hard while rewatching that one I nearly threw my back out AGAIN. Oh my God, the tears of laughter as she looks up at the toilet...

And speaking of the toilet, I must also add my voice to the others saying the toilet paper roll scene is fantastic.

Thanks for yet another amazing post, zarq!
posted by juliebug at 9:56 PM on February 14, 2014

I don't remember (I was slightly younger than the target audience for the show, but liked it) the "infamous" Thanksgiving episode. What happened?
posted by maryr at 10:22 PM on February 14, 2014

maryr, the plot is... Jamie and Paul are preparing Thanksgiving dinner for the family for the first time. Jamie is nervous that everything isn't going to go well. Everyone arrives, things are chaotic but manageable and about 12 minutes in, they walk into the kitchen and Murray is standing on the counter, eating the 30lb turkey.

Paul: "This is what we do. We go out, we buy another turkey and we bring it back when no one is looking."

17 minutes in, this happens to the third turkey.

Not quite "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly," but still funny. :)
posted by zarq at 10:39 PM on February 14, 2014 [2 favorites]

zarq & maryr: "I PANICKED." :D
posted by juliebug at 10:52 PM on February 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

-"Hey, how did Murray do with the mouse today?"

As a kid, I determinedly endured the relentless breeze of so much boring adult stuff about relationships flying over my head just to giggle at the occasional Murray's-chasing-the-insisible-mouse-again gag.

I think there was one episode where they had an end-tag where the actors explained that Murray wasn't really slamming into the wall when he runs off-camera.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 5:31 AM on February 15, 2014 [1 favorite]

And come to think of it, I remember proudly leading my mom through a gift shop at Rocky Point to an incongruously placed Mad About You-themed t-shirt with the two main characters and that that "Bing-Bang" quote on on it. Hey! Look! It's a t-shirt for that show you watch, with that silly-sounding onomatopoeic line that made the studio audience laugh uproariously! Of course you want to buy this!

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some deferred embarrassment with twenty years of accrued interest to own up to.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 6:00 AM on February 15, 2014 [2 favorites]

Man between this and the gargoyles post, I'm set for the first few weeks of breastfeeding. Thanks, zarq.

Also I know the common wisdom is that the show jumped the shark when the baby was born but I remember the cry it out episode being really good.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 6:24 AM on February 15, 2014 [3 favorites]

"The show died when the baby came along."

Preach. The addition of the baby was the catalyst for my belief that you cannot add a baby to a show without killing it. You can have comedies where there's a baby present from the start, but adding a baby to an established show is the touch of death.
posted by The Blue Olly at 4:53 PM on February 15, 2014 [1 favorite]

Just spent 20 minutes on an essay which got nuked because I had to swap tabs in iOS. Fuck you, Uncle Steve.

I remember enjoying "Mad About You" with my wife, and especially appreciating how it recognized its heritage in the "Dick Van Dyke Show" and the "Bob Newhart Show" via direct casting of Sid Caesar's Your Show of Show alums such as Sid and Mel Brooks.

I became excited on seeing this post and showed it to my wife, who was nonplussed. She doesn't remember watching the show with me, and much preferred "Living Single". Thinking back, I do recall several unfruitful attempts to share the joys of Dick Van Dyke and Bob Newhart with her, and, strangely, no actual instance of watching "Mad About You" with her.

Turns out, I am thinking of my blonde Polish-German first wife of two years duration, not my brunette Ibero-Cuban current wife of twenty years to date.

In her defense, she will watch "I Love Lucy" in rapture.

This is a positive story about how persons that love the sensibility of the writer's sitcom can cohabit in harmony with persons who prefer the performer's.
posted by mwhybark at 7:25 PM on February 15, 2014

The addition of the baby was the catalyst for my belief that you cannot add a baby to a show without killing it. You can have comedies where there's a baby present from the start, but adding a baby to an established show is the touch of death.

As in real life, when a family has a baby, it turns from being A Family to A Baby And Some Other People. A Family will eventually return to being in real life after a couplefew years, but you can't just burn that time on a TV show. Family Ties did it best, by just saying after one season, "Fuck it, the baby isn't interesting anymore, so he's four years old now."
posted by Etrigan at 8:40 AM on February 19, 2014 [2 favorites]