Shout Factory | 1995 | 540 mins. | Not Rated
Fans of older television shows have got to love Shout Factory. They have become champions of releasing television series’ on DVD that the originating studios have abandon mid-stream. Case in point: Mad About You. While Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the first three seasons (the last of which was in February of 2007), they reportedly decided not to release future seasons because of poor sales. Thankfully, Shout Factory bought the rights and Mad About You: The Complete Fourth Season will hit store shelves on June 29, 2010. And though we don’t have the release dates for future releases, history tells us that the folks at Shout! will roll out subsequent seasons on a reasonable timeline.
During its seven-year run, Mad About You was in the Nielsen top twenty for much of that time, made Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt household names, with the latter winning four Emmys and three Golden Globes. It’s easy to see why the show was such a success. At a time when a lot of comedy’s were going for a lot of sight gags, or focusing on a group of friends (that’s in no way meant as an insult to shoes like Seinfeld and Friends), Mad About You represented a change of pace people could relate to. The show focused on Paul and Jamie Buchman (Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt, respectively), New York newlyweds, dealing with the little things in everyday life, and the issues that come up in a marriage. Though the series definitely had serious moments, most things were dealt with using humor and wit.
Paul is a documentary filmmaker, and Jaime works as a public relations consultant. Jaime’s sister Lisa Stemple (Anne Ramsay) visits often, just like their friends Mark Devanow (Richard Kind), his wife Fran (Leila Kenzle) (They later split up for awhile). Paul’s cousin Ira Buchman (John Pankow) and other assorted friends and neighbors.
Season Four saw the show become less about little things (“Hey, honey, where did I put my shoes?!”) and more about the goals maturation of a marriage. After years of working as an independent, for-hire filmmaker, Paul decides to take a job at the Explorer Channel. Jamie lands a job at City Hall.
While the job changes are important, many of this season’s episodes center on the Buchmans desire to get pregnant. Now, the road to pregnancy isn’t an easy one. Sometimes the Buchmans are interrupted during private moments: in “Ovulation Day,” Paul and Jamie try to sneak away for a mid-afternoon rendezvous at the apartment, but his family shows up with a huge announcement; his sister Debbie (Robin Bartlett) is gay. Jamie throws her back out during adventurous sex on the floor and the Buchman’s explore organic fertility enhancements.
I always know it after I see it, that episode(s) where a show “jumps the shark,” the precise moment where a show begins its downward slide. Almost every show does it, and for me the Mad About You slide began with a three-part episode that came at the end of Season Four, ironically titled “The Finale.” That multi-part episode charted the rough course that the Buchmans faced when each was tempted by adultery. It was a show that Reiser told Hunt he wanted to do from the very beginning, because no marriage lasts seven years without there being some temptation (I know some long married couples who would strenuously disagree). Obviously, the couple survived, but for me, the series was never quite the same.
As was par for the course, Season Four boasts an impressive slate of guest stars, including: Yoko Ono, cast members from Laugh-In (Jo –Ann Worley, Henry Gibson, Arte Johnson, Gary Owens), Frank Azaria, Gilbert Gottfried, and Dick Clark.
Check out a clip featuring Yoko Ono below:
Mad About You is presented in 1.33:1 color. There is some noticeable graininess, which is the result of the original, less-than-perfect master and little restoration work. It’s not consistently grainy, but there are moments when you notice it.
Whether or not Mad About You “jumped the shark” after the Season Four finale is debatable. However, there’s no doubt that fans of the show should be thrilled to have another season of on DVD after a three-and-a-half year wait.
The soundtrack is Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, but with all dialogue (except for the theme song and segue clips) it doesn’t matter all that much. No complaints.
We get a few tidbit special features:
Disc one features the first of several episode introductions. Prof. Richard Brown of NYU is seated at a table with Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt, and they discuss the episode “Yoko Said” (4:40). The in-episode references to not making a Beatles joke actually mirrored some real backstage trepidations, which were ultimately relieved by Yoko herself.
Disc four holds the remainder of the features. First is a second episode introduction, this time for “The Finale” (8:14). The set also features 6:16 worth of TV spots for the series from the original NBC airings. The final feature is a piece about the theme song that’s runs 4:09. It’s a segment from the same interview where the episode introductions were gathered.
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