Taxi - The Complete Third Season |  | Directors: James Burrows, Jeff Chambers, Will Mackenzie
Actors: Judd Hirsch, Jeff Conaway, Danny DeVito, Marilu Henner, Tony Danza
Studio: Paramount
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.98
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Rating:  35 reviews
Sales Rank: 27958
Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Unrated
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 4
Running Time: 491 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.4 x 1.3
MPN: PARD069934D
ISBN: 1415707057
UPC: 097360699340
EAN: 9781415707050
ASIN: B000A0GOP0
Theatrical Release Date: September 12, 1978
Release Date: September 13, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The comedic lives and adventures of a group of New York City taxi drivers.
Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 13-SEP-2005
Media Type: DVD
Amazon.com
From the melancholy opening notes of the theme song, Taxi promised to be a different kind of sitcom, epitomized by the show's central character, Alex Reiger (Judd Hirsch, Ordinary People): down to earth and compassionate, with neuroses that smacked of real life and not the forced zaniness of too many television shows. Alex was the conscience and emotional caretaker of a makeshift family of cab drivers working out of a grungy garage in New York City, run by the domineering Louis De Palma (Danny DeVito, who would go on to be a bigger star than the rest of the cast in movies like Get Shorty and Batman Returns). Taxi didn't always maintain a degree of realism--if you haven't seen it in a long time, you may be surprised by some of the cornier jokes and bits of slapstick--but at its best, the show managed to merge sadness and humor into rich and satisfying stories. The third season has many standout episodes. Alex learns that his daughter is getting married but hasn't invited him to the wedding, which leads to a surprisingly sparky confrontation with his ex-wife (guest start Louise Lasser, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman). When single mom Elaine (Marilu Henner) is embarrassed by meeting a more successful high-school friend in her cab, she lies to save face and Alex steps in to back her up. Aspiring boxer Tony (Tony Danza, Who's the Boss?) can't decide how to tell Elaine that her new boyfriend made a pass at him. Tony's sister (guest star Julie Kavner, the voice of Marge on The Simpsons) falls in love with the addled but affable Jim (Christopher Lloyd, Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit), much to Tony's dismay. Also crucial to the show's success was the oddball presence of Andy Kaufman, whose quirky, unspecifically-Eastern-European mechanic Latka Gravas sometimes made an awkward fit with the rest of the ensemble. But even at his most eccentric, Kaufman was always weirdly watchable, especially in his bizarre, season-closing transformation into the loungy Vic Ferrari. All in all, the third season is an excellent sampling of this sterling sitcom. Sadly, there are no commentaries or other extras. --Bret Fetzer
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 35
 The best season of Taxi July 5, 2005
smoothsoul (New Zealand)
60 out of 65 found this review helpful
I think there are four great sitcoms: The Mary Tyler Mooore Show, Taxi, Cheers, and Seinfeld (note, many of the same writers actually worked on the first three). Seasons of a show vary a lot. Most get worse over time: Seinfeld was embarassing after Larry David left; Cheers was at its best in the first five years; Taxi really wasn't very good in its first or last years. Oddly, MTM was excellent even in its seventh (perhaps one reason why it often ranks as the greatest sitcom of all time).
Taxi was not a consistently brilliant show. It was generally good, often very good, and on occasion superb. I can't think of another sitcom episode as brilliant as either "Latka the Playboy" or "Mr Personalities." For both daring and execution, they are the most intelligent - and I think funniest - episodes of TV comedy I've seen. (Seinfeld's "The Contest" is easily as funny, but conceptually it's not as original as the two Taxi eps.)
As I've said, the first season of Taxi was nothing special. Randall Carver wasn't very good. And Jim hadn't yet arrived. Season 2 showed how good the show could be: "Reverand Jim, A Space Odyssey" was one of the show's best episodes (it was Jim's first as a regular). "Elaine's Secret Admirer" was touching and poignant in a way few situation comedies are. But many of the other episodes were so-so.
With Season 3 the show achieved its true height. "Tony's Sister and Jim" is quirky and delicate, and it humanizes the nornally caricatured Jim (Tony's Sister is played by Julie Kavner, who would later "play" Marge Simpson). "The Call of the Mild" sees most of the gang roughing it in a cabin in the mountains. It's an unforgettable episode (partly because of a turkey called "Ernie"). "Latka's Cookies" is on most people's list of favourite episodes. "Zen and the Art of Cab Driving" is a clever episode which celebrates television itself. The season ends with the great episode "Latka the Playboy."
If you buy only one season of Taxi, it has to be this one. It was the kind of literate show that you just don't see today (the only one that comes close in intelligence is Curb Your Enthusiasm, but that's a different kind of show, exploring the nature of comedy, and involving improv, etc.). It's worth pointing out that many of the best episodes of the show were written by Glen and Les Charles, and keep an eye out for their eps in earlier and later seasons. (Some of their best work was done for Cheers - the pilot being a prime example). Celebrate the art of TV and get this DVD.
OK, this third season came out over a year ago. Where's the next season DVD release? October 15, 2006
Rykre (Sacramento, California)
18 out of 18 found this review helpful
"Taxi" still has a great many more fabulous episodes. Episodes like Ladka's and Simka's wedding, divorce, re-marrying, etc etc. and other great episodes that are essential prime time television entertainment.
Shows like "Taxi", "M*A*S*H", and "WKRP in Cincinnati" were when television was at it's funniest, while it still remained innocent enough for the whole family to sit down and watch together. Today's television is way too adult oriented and offensive for the whole family to enjoy together. These shows represented television during it's finest hour. So, now, if only I could get the last two seasons of "Taxi". However, forget "WKRP in Cincinnati". They changed all the original music on the the first season DVD release, plus the picture quality really sucks.
UPDATE:
Hey! Guess What? Volumes four and five of "Taxi" will be released in 2009 from CBS.
I felt stuck. I'm a completist so I really hate being stuck with an incomplete concept like, for instance, the entire 5 seasons of "Taxi".
I was beginning to become afraid to start buying any TV shows on DVD for fear that they may decide not to finish what they started.
Well, thank God we will finally get to own all five seasons of "Taxi". I was wondering what CBS was waiting for.
......THE SERIES GOT R E A L L Y GOOD DURING THIS PERIOD July 21, 2005
N. N Wahlert (seattle, wa United States)
19 out of 20 found this review helpful
Despite keeping agonized fans waiting due to the '80-'81 season actors' strike, "Taxi" more than made up for the wait by gradually entering the greatest half of its history. It had gone out of the slump weighing it down during the previous season, mainly with New Blood among the writers: rookies Ken Estin & the team of Ian Praiser/Howard Gewirtz (who'd all be promoted to producer for the even-better fourth season); veteran David Lloyd (who copped the writing Emmy 5 years before with his "Chuckles Bites The Dust" episode of Mary Tyler Moore); future "Married With Children" producer Katherine Green; and future "Simpsons" creator Sam Simon.
It was THEIR variety that provided the spice for the latter part of this season.......and the magnificent fourth & fifth seasons, when the series was able to be all it could be. The inspiration, too, must've rubbed off on The Old Guard: writers/producers Glen & Les Charles, and Barry Kemp & Earl Pomerantz.
Among the ALL-TIME CHAMPS among the classics this season are the Charles brothers' "Zen & The Art Of Cab-Driving," in which a couple of Reverend Jim's fares discuss positive thinking enabling one to reach any goal, so Jim decides to become Sunshine's prizewinning cabbie, raking in the loot......all so he can get "ultimate TV," which he proudly displays to his colleagues.
Another GREAT great episode is the series' all-time howler, "Louie Bumps Into An Old Lady." Penned by David Lloyd, it's lethally funny: while driving a pretty new cabbie around, Louie hits an elderly gal, who sues him for a cool million. Alex informs Louie that the lady in question is an notorious scam artist, making Louie scheme his revenge......the only twist (to what otherwise would've been a "cliche-comedy" plot) is that the poor gal REALLY WASN'T FOOLING! A scream.
Also, there's Katherine Green's debut script, "Call Of The Mild," taking its cue from Estin's breakthrough "Alex Jumps Out Of An Airplane" episode of the previous season: it takes place almost ENTIRELY outside the garage. Tony, Bobby, Alex & Jim decide to rough it at an isolated mountain cabin--getting more (less?) than they bargained on: being snowbound & without food during a horrendous blizzard (someone stole all their food which they stupidly left outdoors for lack of a fridge)......they're finally forced to make do with a wandering turkey whom Jim calls "Ernie" ("He LOOKS like an Ernie!"); a reluctant Alex is the designated assassin. The series' unsurpassed expertise at combining comedy with pathos is seen to best advantage during Jim's somber (but still unintentionally humorous) table-prayer.
In "Elaine's Strange Triangle," Tony finds out that the handsome gent whom he thought had winked at Elaine, is really interested in HIM. When Alex is asked to intervene at the young man's favorite hang-out, the hilarity REALLY begins! (This episode copped Emmys for directing & editing; writer Lloyd got nominated but didn't win.)
Ranking just below these all-time greats are those episodes which, in many ways, were what actually made the series so special: episodes with creative story-slants of some sort that were quite engaging, and more than justifying the purchase of any of the "Taxi" complete-season sets. Here, we have "Fathers Of The Bride" where Alex becomes furious when he finds his ex-wife (Louise Lasser) didn't invite him to their daughter's wedding; "Latka's Cookies," written by the Charles brothers, in which Latka dreams of being cookie-king with his grandmother's strange recipe (watch for the cameo from Wally "Famous" Amos himself); and the two-parter "On The Job" (written by Praiser & Gewirtz) in which the cabbies pound the pavement for other jobs when the cab company goes under.
Television at its finest! September 26, 2005
Brian Kerecz (Bethlehem, PA, USA)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
The third season of Taxi represents what television can be, when excellent characters, talented writers, and gifted producers all come together. What we see in Taxi, Season 3, is an evolution to a quirky show, to one of the best written sitcoms in television history.
When I opened the DVD's and started watching, one episode would turn into two, and two into three. I have the first three seasons, and this by far is the most enjoyable. I had to turn the sound up watching these because I was laughing so loud. This is a thoroughly enjoyable season with many memorable moments. Who can forget Louie doing a running jump into bed with Mrs. Mackenzie? Or Latka's transformation into Vic Ferrari? Or Jim's mistakenly repeatedly calling Bobby "Booby" in "Zen and the Art of Cab Driving."
One of the most touching moments was when Jim went home to see his father, and his father realized that Jim is not interested in his money at all, contrary to what he believed all along.
Episodes:
Louie Bumps Into an Old Lady
Louie's Rival
Latka the Playboy
Zen and the Art of Cab Driving
Thy Boss's Wife
Fathers of the Bride
Going Home
Elaine's Strange Triangle
Bobby's Roommate
Tony's Sister and Jim
Call of the Mild
Latka's Cookies
The Ten-Percent Solution
Elaine's Old Friend
The Costume Party
Out of Commission
Louie's Mother
On the Job (Part 1)
On the Job (Part 2)
Buy this set- highly recommended for those who laughed along with the original series......and if you are younger and are not really familiar with Taxi, you are in for quite a treat.
Oh, and a word of safety advice: Make sure you are not eating any food items which are large in size when watching this series;-)
 Another good season of Taxi November 6, 2005
Kurt A. Ragsdale (Afton, Tn)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
I do have one major complaint about the first disc on this season it has 5 minutes of promos for other tv show dvd's which you cannot fast foward through and have to go through each time you put the first disc in and play it.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 35
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