Screen: Sony
Mad About You Season 1: Meet The Cutest Newlyweds In America!*
*Manhattan-dwelling interfaith improbably wealthy edition.
It will probably be a while before the new FX spinoff, FXX, has enough programming to fill out the better part of its schedule with original series that fall under its rubric of edgy, risk-taking comedy. So until then, it's filling in daytime and late-night with one of the least edgy comedies ever: Mad About You.
During its initial run in the mid-'90s, I loved Mad About You so much and thought it offered a template for what my future married life would be like, and since I am a straight white person who married another straight white person...it's embarrassing how often I recognize stupid couple stuff that I have actually experienced when these two neurotic characters portray them. I know it's riddled with clichés and gets more and more unbearable as the actors harden into their roles and their early chemistry fizzles out (Helen Hunt's Oscar win didn't help). But I love it, and I'm happy that FXX is showing the whole series in order. Here's the just-ended first season in several new nutshells.
- Meet Paul (Paul Reiser) And Jamie (Hunt)! Now Watch Them Fight During A Dinner Party
- Instead Of Spending The Day Each Doing The Separate Activities The Other Isn't Interested In, Paul And Jamie Agree That They Got Married To Be Codependent Unlike Their Chumpy Single Friends
- Jamie Is Jealous Of Paul's College Girlfriend, Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein), Not Realizing That Paul's Love Was 100% Unrequited
- Meet The First Of Three Pairs Of Actors Who Will Play Jamie's Parents On This Show
- Jamie Has A Huge Win At Work, And Paul, Having Just Gotten A Film Rejected By PBS, Is An Ungracious Dick About It
- Paul Is Bummed Out To See Steve Buscemi, The Film-School Classmate He Outshone, Selling Tokens In The Subway
- Paul Finally Gives Up The Bachelor Pad He Had Sublet To -- Guess Who -- You'll Never Guess: Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards)
- Flashback To The Buchman/Stemple Meet-Cute Which I'm Sorry Is Actually Pretty Cute
- A Trip To Vermont Features Jamie's Brief Fantasy Of Moving Out Of New York And Also The Second Non-White Character Of The Series (Chinese Food Delivery Person; Non-Speaking Role)
- Meet Ira (John Pankow), Paul's Cousin/The Imminent Replacement For Selby (Tommy Hinkley)
- Crazy Billionaire Jerry Lewis Gets To Do His "Comedy" Chinese; Also Featuring Steven Wright
- Meet Paul's Dad (Louis Zorich), The Most Likable Member Of Paul's Family, And That Includes Paul
- Mistah Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy) Romances Lisa (Anne Ramsay) And Jamie Worries That They're Moving In Together Too Soon But She Shouldn't Because You'll Never See Mistah Sheffield On This Show Again
- Paul Reiser Continues Using The Show To Meet His Childhood Idols -- This Time, Barbara Feldon
- Fran (Leila Kenzle) Sleeps With Jamie's Ex From Top Gun (Rick Rossovich), Reveals Mark (Richard Kind) Left Her
- Paul And Jamie Abandon Their Party Guests To Have Kitchen Sex, Again