Mad About You

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Mad About You

Helen Hunt & Paul Reiser
Genre Sitcom
Running time approx. 22 minutes
Creator(s) Paul Reiser
Danny Jacobson
Starring Paul Reiser
Helen Hunt
Anne Ramsay
Leila Kenzle
John Pankow
Richard Kind
Country of origin Flag of United States United States
Original channel NBC
Original run September 23, 1992–May 24, 1999
No. of episodes 164
IMDb profile

Mad About You was a United States sitcom that originally aired on NBC from September 23, 1992, to May 24, 1999. It is currently being released on DVD and rerun in syndication across the globe.

The popular show starred Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt as a recently married couple living in New York City. Reiser played Paul Buchman, a documentary film maker. Hunt played Jamie Stemple Buchman, a public relations specialist. Near the end of the show's run, the couple had a baby daughter, whom they named Mabel.

The series focused mainly on the newly-married couple's interaction, while dealing with everything from daily minutia to major struggles. The show's willingness to find comedy in realistic situations and observational dialogue garnered it comparisons to Seinfeld, another NBC comedy about thirty-somethings in New York City. Mad About You, however, was known to take on a more serious and sentimental tone from time-to-time.

In its final seasons, the series faced a decline in the ratings, with many critics accusing it of relying too heavily on slapstick humor and "very special episodes".

The show's theme song, Final Frontier, was composed by Reiser and Don Was. The theme was originally performed by Andrew Gold, but a version performed by Anita Baker made its debut midway through the 1997 season. Baker's version was used for the rest of the show's run and appears on the show's soundtrack album. (Gold's version is available on the collection Thank You For Being A Friend: The Best Of Andrew Gold.)

Contents

[edit] Main characters

Paul & Jamie Buchman with their dog, Murray
Enlarge
Paul & Jamie Buchman with their dog, Murray

[edit] Jamie Buchman

Mrs. Buchman was welcomed into the family by her parents, Gus and Theresa Stemple, and her puerile sister Lisa. After seven boyfriends at Yale University, Stemple met Paul Buchman at a New York newsstand by stealing his copy of The New York Times with an impossible excuse. Her relationship with her mother-in-law is a revolving source of jokes on the show.

[edit] Paul Buchman

Buchman was conceived on the table that his mother served "mushed" potatoes on. After attending the New York University Film School, he struggled for recognition before finally succeeding in filmmaking in New York City. His wife, dog and daughter reside with him in Greenwich Village.

[edit] Fran Devanow

Fran Devanow is Jamie's best friend. She held the position as Regional Vice President at Farrer-Gantz Public Relations and hired Jamie as her assistant. Near 1989 Fran quit Farrer-Gantz to spend time with her five-year-old son and husband. (Jamie was then promoted to Fran's position). Fran and Mark's relationship lasted 10 years, and their separation was a shock to Jamie and Paul.

[edit] Lisa Stemple

Three years older than her sister Jamie, Lisa has unfathomable psychological issues. Jamie is referred to as "Stella" in a book written by Lisa's therapist: "It was Stella's overprotectiveness that suffocated her ability to relate to others, and tethered her to a lifetime of insecurity and neurosis." After an envious rage, she blamed Jamie for all of her problems in an interview with her shrink that became a chapter of a book called "Manics." With no place else to go, she does her laundry at Paul and Jamie's apartment while scavenging through her sister's clothes and food. Every visit from her parents triggers her eating disorder.

[edit] Ira Buchman

A "ubiquitous" individual, Paul's cousin Ira first appeared in Mad About You in "The Wedding Affair" episode. Ira is from the Sheepshead Bay section of Brooklyn. He worked for Paul's father, Burt, at Buchman's Sporting Goods. Paul and Ira have a close friendship, but their hidden rivalry came out when Ira obtained the store when Burt retired.

[edit] Mabel Buchman

The arrival of Paul and Jamie's daughter was a turning point in the show. She was finally named when Jamie's overbearing mother proclaimed that "Mothers Always Bring Extra Love."

[edit] Cast

[edit] Main

[edit] Regular guests

[edit] Guest stars

[edit] Syndication

Lifetime used to air reruns of Mad About You. Currently, Mad About You airs on the Oxygen Network and Nick at Nite. In addition, the series is syndicated and may be found on individual television stations around the world.

[edit] Trivia

  • Helen Hunt was the second person (after Cloris Leachman) to win an Oscar while still doing a weekly TV show.
  • On September 12, 1999, Helen Hunt won her fourth consecutive Emmy Award for her performance in Mad About You.
  • The role of Jamie Buchman had been offered to Bonnie Hunt, who turned it down. Helen Hunt was awarded the role over Teri Hatcher who was also considered.
  • Helen Hunt's father, Gordon Hunt, won a Director's Guild Award for directing "The Alan Brady Show" in Mad About You's third season. It was named one of the greatest episodes in TV history by TV Guide.
  • Lisa Kudrow played Ursula, the forgetful waitress at Riff's. She also played Phoebe in Friends, who was Ursula's twin sister. Ursula, played by Kudrow, appeared as a recurring minor character in Friends. (See "Connections to other sitcoms" below.) She also once played a woman called Karen who was on a date with Paul Buchman in a flashback episode at a time before he met Jamie.
  • Mad About You was produced in association with TriStar Television Inc. under Sony. Hunt currently owns her own production company called Hunt/Tavel Productions under Sony.
  • Lifetime Television paid USD$58 million for the rights to broadcast Mad About You.
  • Hunt's favorite episodes of Mad About You are: "Our Fifteen Minutes" in season three and in season six "Moody Blues" (she won her third Emmy Award for the latter).
  • Both Hunt and Reiser have written episodes of Mad About You. Helen Hunt also directed five episodes, including the series finale, which was called, appropriately enough, "The Final Frontier".
  • Jamie and Fran made a cameo appearance on Friends (See "Connections to other sitcoms" below).

[edit] Awards

Mad About You has been honored with one Golden Globe Award, a Peabody Award, a Genesis Award, five Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series, and was chosen Best Quality Comedy by the Viewers for Quality Television.

[edit] Soundtrack

In 1997, Atlantic/Wea released a Mad About You soundtrack. The soundtrack from and inspired by the sitcom, is composed of fun and sentimental songs and clips from the show. The tracks are organized chronologically marking the milestones of the couple's relationship. The album is bookended by the two versions of Paul Reiser's song Final Frontier--the first track is the classic version fans are used to, and the last track is Anita Baker's jazzy, full-length rendition, with Reiser on keyboard. The 21 tracks are as follows:

  1. "Final Frontier (TV Theme)" - Andrew Gold
  2. "Who I Am" - Faith Hill
  3. "No Pressure" - Paul Reiser & Helen Hunt
  4. "I've Been Lonely Too Long" - The Young Rascals
  5. "At Last!" - Etta James
  6. "That's Marriage?" - Paul Reiser & Helen Hunt
  7. "Ice Cream" - Sarah McLachlan
  8. "I Love The Way You Love Me" - Eric Martin
  9. "Nobody Knows Me" - Lyle Lovett
  10. "Sneaky Feelings" - Elvis Costello
  11. "A Talk In The Park" - Paul Reiser & Helen Hunt
  12. "Love And Forgiveness" - Julia Fordham
  13. "A Magic Moment" - Paul Reiser & Helen Hunt
  14. "The Things We've Handed Down" - Marc Cohn
  15. "Lullaby For You" - BeBe Winans
  16. "She Crawls Away" - Hootie & the Blowfish
  17. "My First Child" - Nil Lara
  18. "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)" - John Lennon
  19. "Baby Girl" - The Tony Rich Project
  20. "Unconditional Love" - Paul Reiser & Helen Hunt
  21. "Mad About You - The Final Frontier" - Anita Baker

[edit] DVD releases

Season Releases

DVD Name Release Date Ep #
The Complete 1st Season October 22, 2002 22
The Complete 2nd Season April 22, 2003 25
The Complete 3rd Season February 6, 2007 24

Best Of Releases

DVD Name Release Date Ep # Additional Information
Mad About You Collection February 8, 2005 22 Blooper Reel: The Seven Warning Signs of Madness, Audio commentaries: Paul Reiser & Helen Hunt on "The Final Frontier" and "The Pilot", Featurette: Paul Reiser & Helen Hunt Are Mad About the Theme, Featurette: Paul Reiser & Helen Hunt Are Mad About the Guest Stars, TV spots, Paul and Helen Introduce and Discuss each episode.

The Complete 3rd Season has recently been announced for release in early 2007[1], marking almost four years between DVD TV season box sets. It was announced in 2004 that the series would not be continued with full season set releases, and that fate seemed sealed when in 2005 they released a "Best of" collection that featured episodes from the entire run of the series. When released, this will mark the longest period of time between subsequent TV-DVD full season sets in the relatively young history of the medium.

[edit] Connections to other sitcoms

Friends : Lisa Kudrow had the recurring role of Ursula, a flakey waitress at Riff's, a local restaurant that Paul and Jamie frequented. Kudrow went on to star in the NBC sitcom Friends, playing the also somewhat flakey character of Phoebe Buffay, and for a time both series' shared the same Thursday night line-up. While not originally intended, the characters of Ursula and Phoebe were later found to be identical twin sisters. In one episode of Friends, as part of a night of NBC sitcom "crossovers", Jamie and Fran walk into the Central Perk and mistake Phoebe for Ursula. Possibly for legal reasons (Mad About You was produced by Columbia/Tristar, Friends by Warner Brothers), Hunt and Kenzle weren't identified on screen as Jamie and Fran.

Seinfeld : In one episode, Paul, pressured by Jamie, decides to sign over the lease of his old "bachelor pad" to the current tenant who is subleasing. This tenant is revealed to be Cosmo Kramer of Seinfeld. Seinfeld, however, twice contradicted this connection, one even featuring a running joke about a character's distaste and his fiancee's fondness for watching Mad About You. In another episode, Paul, in effects of Viagra, ran into Jerry Seinfeld in the street, who tells Paul to go away.

The Dick Van Dyke Show : Carl Reiner reprised the role of Alan Brady from the 1960s sitcom (a series acknowledged as an inspiration for Mad About You). The episode made several references to the older show, such as Jamie at one point crying and whining "Oh, Paul!!!" - a signature move by Mary Tyler Moore's character Laura Petrie.

[edit] Mad About You outside the U.S.

Mad About You is shown regularly in the United Kingdom by either Living TV (From August 2006), ABC1 or Paramount Comedy 1.In Latin America, the show is still running on Sony Entertainment Television at daytime slots.

Sony Pictures sold the rights to produce a Chilean local version of the show. Called Loco por ti, it has aired on TVN.

All episodes of Mad About You have been dubbed into German, where the series is called Verrückt nach dir. The German episodes were first broadcast by the Austrian TV station ORF starting in January 1996, but ORF cancelled the series about one year later, showing only the first two seasons. All seven seasons were broadcast in German by the German station RTL between September 1997 and March 1999.

In France, "Dingue de Toi" was shown on TF1.

In Mexico and most of Latin America Mad About You has daily reruns on the restricted television channel Sony Entertainment Television.

In Italy, "Innamorati pazzi" was shown on Italia 1 without major success, since the show was mainly broadcast late at night.

In Croatia, "Lud za tobom" was shown on RTL Televizija.

In Slovenia, "Noro zaljubljena" was shown on Kanal A.

In Catalonia (Spain), "Boig per tu" was shown on TV3.

In Portugal Mad About You ("Doido Por Ti") was first broadcast by TVI starting in early 1996. At first it was allotted a prime time slot, later it was shown at any time between 1 A.M. and 4 A.M. It is currently being rerun on cable channel SIC Mulher.

In Denmark Mad About You is shown regularly on TV2.

In Serbia, "Ludo zaljubljeni" was shown on B92.

[edit] External links


[edit] References

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