Taxi - The Complete Third Season

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: D     Episodes: B-

 

 

So why did Taxi go on and work so well?  The Complete Third Season shows the actors settling into their roles, more shows with Christopher Lloyd in action, writing that continued to be good and the element that distinguished the humor of the show stayed remarkably in tact.  This is not as easy as it sounds, but when you consider none of the major cast members left at this point, a rarer occurrence these days, that helped big time.  That the show was not faulted for any kind of declining writing like Cheers is something else the show does not get enough credit for.

 

In all that, it was not very groundbreaking at this point, but by just being real and consistent for the most part, that was enough for the audience it was aiming for.  Taxi did this well.  There are less shows this time, but the 20 episodes of the 1980-81 season are:

 

Louie‘s Rival

Tony’s Sister & Jim (with Julie Kavner as Monica)

Fathers Of The Bride

Elaine’s Strange Triangle

Going Home (with Victor Buono as Jim’s father)

The Ten-Percent Solution

The Call Of The Mild

Latka’s Cookies

Thy Boss’s Wife

The Costume Party

Elaine’s Old Friend

Out Of Commission

Zen & The Art Of Cab Driving

Louie’s Mother

Bobby’s Roommate

Louie Bumps Into An Old Lady

Bobby & The Critic

On The Job (in two parts)

Latka The Playboy

 

 

Shows like Elaine’s Strange Triangle took risks the show should have more often, while the series decided enough regulars had been introduced.  Thinking back, this is some of the best works these actors would ever do.  It is just that the repetition means the show is not for everyone, but once it grows on you, you can keep watching and watching, which is exactly this DVD set is for.

 

The full frame 1.33 X 1 image is once again solid and colorful, but some footage looks a bit hazier than expected.  Otherwise, color is about as good as the last set and is still the best the show has looked to date.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is still reproducing the monophonic sound the show was always broadcast in and was produced in as decent a way as possible, give or take Dolby’s compression.  Once again, fans will not be very happy at all after three sets to hear that despite the cast’s availability and who knows what is in the archive, there are no extras here.  At least the humor holds up a quarter century (already!) later.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo