Shark Bytes

Paramount--I will never buy any of their dvds ever again!!!

They released the first 4 seasons of TAXI, then left us hanging. This is inexcusable. It's a breach of trust.

BOYCOTT PARAMOUNT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I respectfully disagree with you, Philip. I was always a big AK fan -- some of his performances are pure genius. I also genuinely liked the Latka character. Unfortunately, the producers over-used him and he became more of an irritation than anything else after a point. If he had remained on a more-or-less equal billing with the rest of the cast, he would have been tolerable, but when the show threatened to become "The Latka Show" it upset the balance of everything and ruined the series.

Taxi in general was a really good series with some really great episodes. It was never the all-time great that you make it out to be, but it was always solidly done and I would say that there are some episodes that rank as all-time greats.

Never JTS. While Latka was not the heart of the show (someone said Jim, Alex & Louie were, and I totally agree), he definitely added a great deal! I think, for all the people who say they never thought Andy Kaufman was funny, that says more about them, and their inability to understand his odd, irreverent (and yes, groundbreaking) humor! At worst, the show occasionally had some less-than stellar moments, but they were few & far between, and forgettable. At best, Taxi was one of the all-time great sitcoms, and definitely deserved at least one more season. I believe it was the shuffling around of it's timeslot that effectively killed it's ratings.

I have to agree with some of the other posters that the show began jumping when they featured Latka way too much. I liked Andy Kaufman and I enjoyed Latka as a character, but too much is too much.

Reverend Jim was the one character that I truly loved on Taxi. He was so unpredictable and could always be relied upon for a laugh. None of Christopher Lloyd's other characters has ever quite lived up to the genius of Reverend Jim.

This was a great show - started to turn when there was too much Latka. I dont want to sound mean spirited, but Andy Kaufman was just not funny.
I have a sickmonkey fetish for redheads though and must say that Elaine was hot - nice and curvey like a real woman. Oh and had nice nipples

Taxi slowly JTS w/ Latka & Simka. Andy Kaufman was o.k., but I wouldn't rave over him intensely. I may be one of the few people who thought the Vic Ferrari angle improved the character. Simka got annoying after a while as well. Ignitowski saved the show to some degree, and his bits w/ Louie were unbelievable. At it's best the show was hilarious, and overall I still have it listed amongst my own personal favorites.

for Robin August 17,2007
the episode you referred
to is called The Road Not
Taken--the title taken from
a 1916 **** by Robert Frost.

I do think 'Taxi' tempted the Shark with a couple of toes on a few occasions, with horrors like "Vienna waits" but I don't think it actually jumped.

Maybe I'm a sap or something but I think that as early as the First Season (Louie sees the Light) you got to see a somehwat caring side to the DePalma character, when he tells Alex that if he dies not to tell his mum.

For me, Alex, Jim and Louie were the three that kept this show glued together.

In all honesty, I have never got the 'genius' that is supposed to be Andy Kaufman. Latka was okay, more of a novelty though when you first saw the character, but for me, it quickly wore thin and although I still laughed on occasion it was because of *what* was being said and not because of some wonderful delivery. *shrug* (I wonder if Andy, wherever he is, would be happy to hear that, considering the last thing he apparently wanted to be renowned for was a comedian)

Aaaanyway, I don't think Taxi ever jumped the shark and I enjoyed the latter seasons as much as the early ones. My favourite episodes are "Alex's Old Buddy" (His dog Bruno dies *sniffle*) "Alex goes off the wagon" (Great scene with him and Jim) "Elegant Iggy" (Jim in tails and plays the piano) "Bobby doesn't live here anymore" (because I was so pleased that that ep would be the last Bobby Wheeler appearance) "Louie bumps into an old lady" (Classic Taxi - chuckle) "Elaine's Old friend" (because Alex was just too hot in this episode - Shame it was towards Nardo though Ugh!). There are others too, but my ultimate, ultimate favourite has got to be "Elaine's strange triangle" (if only because of the disco dancing at the end - it had me in fits of laughter the first time I saw it and it still has me in fits of laughter to this day - Classic Classic stuff!!)

JTS when Simka joined the cast. I absolutely adored "Reverend Jim" Ignatowski, a dark and complex character and not at all the caricature some may have mistaken him for. Also, Judd Hirsch as Alex Rieger doesn't seem to be getting the recognition he really deserves.

In an early ep Alex says his mom is 67 later in the show she is supposed to have been dead for I think like decades (pretty much uneven!). This ep could show a person who burned out their brains on dope as funny but the Andy Griffith Show dropped the character of drunk Otis because he was an alcoholic and it wasn't considered right to make fun of alcoholics anymore! This Taxi was not a perfect show!

Taxi was a great show which did go on too far. The jumping point for this show was when the extremely irritating and unfunny carol kane joined the cast. Too bad it had heart and was very funny at the same time.

Not really a JTS moment, but I can't watch this great never-jumped show any more. What Celebrity Fit Club did for Saved by the Bell (think Dustin Diamond), Celebrity Rehab has done for Taxi. To think I once fell, hard, for a guy like Bobby -- a mimbo who was all hair, cute smile, and legs up to there. And to see Jeff Conaway in CR now, a drooling, puking, incoherent shell of a human being. Sad, so sad.

Another great show that went on too long and became a caricature of itself.

The first jump was Andy's Vic character, then there were various and sundry minor hitches until it ground to a slow halt and died.

What do you do at a yellow light?

In my opinion, this show never jumped. Shows like Cheers, Taxi, Golden Girls were all about examining the human condition. These shows were written by thinking adults for a sophisticated audience. That's why they've lasted. Whenever a season is released on DVD, I run out and buy it. But, I digress. Alex and Louie anchored the show. Bobby seemed to be in a world of his own.

Funny as hell....never jumped....remember how great it was to see Danny DeVito appear in "Romancing The Stone" a year after this show was canned?????