Taxi (TV series)

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Taxi
Main title caption
Genre	Sitcom
Running time	30 minutes
Creator(s)	James L. Brooks Stan Daniels David Davis
Starring	Judd Hirsch Tony Danza Danny De Vito Marilu Henner Christopher Lloyd Andy Kaufman J. Allan Thomas Jeff Conaway Carol Kane Randall Carver
Country of origin	United States
Original channel	ABC NBC
Original run	1978–1983
No. of episodes	114
IMDb profile

Taxi is an American sitcom that originally aired from 1978 to 1982 on ABC, and from 1982 to 1983 on NBC. The series focused on the every day life of a handful of New York City taxi drivers working for the Sunshine Cab Company, as well as their abusive boss, Louie De Palma, played by Danny DeVito. The show was produced by the John Charles Walters Company and funded by Paramount.

1 Premise and Themes
2 Cast
3 Reviews and ratings
4 Trivia
5 Awards & Nominations
- 5.1 Awards
- 5.2 Nominations
6 DVD releases
7 External links

[edit] Premise and Themes

Much of the show focused on the main characters wanting to achieve something more than driving a taxi, which gives the show a working class feel. Nearly all the cabbies do not self-identify as drivers: they instead identify with their other jobs despite being unable to make a living working them. Elaine is a receptionist at an art gallery, Tony is a boxer with a losing record, and Bobby is a struggling actor. John Burns, who was written off the show after the first season, drives a cab to work his way through college. "Reverend Jim" Ignitowski, an aging hippie minister burnt out from drugs, works as a cabbie because the rest of the drivers were concerned that he would be unable to support himself without the income. Many episodes involved one of the characters having an opportunity to realize his or her dream and move up in the world, only to see that opportunity yanked away.

Only Alex, older and disillusioned with life, considers himself a cab driver. He did not work another job and harbored no illusions about driving to make ends meet while he pursued his true calling. Prior to the events depicted on the show, Alex was married with a daughter and worked an office job with a good chance to advance within the company. He lost his job due to his gambling addiction and refusal to follow the company line, and his wife divorced him. When she sought to have Alex give up any claims of custody over their daughter, he gave in rather than fight. He is left estranged from his family and former life, and he resigns himself to driving a cab for the rest of his life.

Despite the zany humor regularly featured on the show, there was an undercurrent of despair and sadness to Taxi. The show often tackled such dramatic issues as drug addiction, single parenthood, blindness, bisexuality, teenage runaways, failed marriages, sexual harassment, PMS, and the loss of a loved one.

[edit] Cast

Judd Hirsch - Alex Reiger
Danny DeVito - Louis DePalma
Marilu Henner - Elaine O'Connor-Nardo
Tony Danza - Tony Banta
Jeff Conaway - Bobby Wheeler, from 1978 to 1981
Christopher Lloyd - Reverend Jim Ignatowski
Andy Kaufman - Latka Gravas
Carol Kane - Simka Dahblitz-Gravas, from 1981 to 1983
Randall Carver - John Burns, from 1978 to 1979
J. Alan Thomas - Jeff Bennett

[edit] Reviews and ratings

Taxi remains one of the most lauded television shows in American history. During its run, the sitcom was nominated for 31 Emmy Awards and won 18, including 3 for Outstanding Comedy Series. Taxi was also nominated for 25 Golden Globes, with 4 wins (including 3 for Best TV Series - Musical/Comedy), and in 1979 received the Humanitas Prize in the 30 minute category.

The show was acclaimed by critics, but it was never a major ratings success. It performed respectably during its first two seasons, even placing in the Top Ten in its first season behind the ABC powerhouse line-up of Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, and Three's Company, but numbers plummeted when it was moved from that secure time-slot into more competitive positions. The show was cancelled in 1982 by ABC. (DeVito hosted Saturday Night Live soon after, and a filmed bit had him driving around New York looking morose until inspiration strikes and he blows up the ABC building.) The show was then picked up for its fifth and final season by NBC, being paired at first on Thursday night with Cheers.

The show's seasonal ratings were as follows:

1978-1979: #9
1979-1980: #13
1980-1981: #53
1981-1982: #53
1982-1983: #73

[edit] Trivia

In order to meet Wikipedia's quality standards, this article's trivia section requires cleanup.
Content in the trivia section should be integrated into other appropriate areas of the article.

The opening credits show a cab driving across the Queensboro Bridge.

A persistent urban legend says that the show was based on the Harry Chapin song, "Taxi". In fact, the inspiration for the show was a non-fiction article entitled "Hip-Shifting for the Night Fleet" by Marc Jacobsen, which appeared in the September 22, 1975 issue of New York magazine.^{[verification needed]} The article was a profile of several drivers who worked the night shift for a New York cab company.^{[verification needed]}

Deep Space Nine producer Ira Steven Behr tried and failed to sell a script to this series about Louie DePalma's outrage when the sleazy uncle he idolizes has a religious conversion and becomes a nice guy. Behr reworked the story for a Deep Space Nine episode where Quark the Ferengi has a similar experience with the Grand Nagus.

Decades later, most of the cast returned to play their younger selves and briefly re-enact Taxi scenes for the Andy Kaufman biopic, Man on the Moon. Judd Hirsch, Marilu Henner, Jeff Conaway, Carol Kane, Randall Carver and Christopher Lloyd all reprised their original roles. The only two who didn't were Danny DeVito, who produced and co-stars in the film as Kaufman's manager, George Shapiro; and Tony Danza, who declined to participate.

Kaufman disliked the show and made many demands in order to continue appearing as his popular character, Latka. In order to display Kaufman's acting range, Latka developed multiple personality disorder. Kaufman also wanted his stage character Tony Clifton to appear on the show. Clifton was hired for a guest role, but after throwing a tantrum on stage, had to be escorted off of the ABC studio's lot by security guards, which was recreated for the Man on the Moon.

According to actor Tony Danza and the Internet Movie Database, Danza was driving the cab in the opening title sequence. Producer Dave Davis, who shot the sequence, confirmed this in Hailing Taxi: The Official Book of the Show.

The show's instrumental theme song is "Angela", written and performed by Bob James.

Danny DeVito's real-life mother, Julia DeVito, makes guest appearances in the episodes "Louie's Mother" and "Louie's Mother Remarries".

On the episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by Danny DeVito, in addition to the blowing up ABC sketch, the cast of Taxi was granted the "final bow" they, at that point were denied due to the sudden cancellation. The entire cast then took their final bow on SNL during DeVito's opening monologue. This episode also featured the televised apology by Andy Kaufman for the Inter-Gender wrestling, and the fight with Lawler was shown.

The external shot of the Sunshine Cab Company was an actual garage in NYC's West Village. The building has since been demolished. The site now contains an apartment building and a Rite Aid.