Shark Bytes

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 poem 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?????

came close, but never jumped. when famous amos descended down to latka in a drug-induced baking marathon and the cast all got freaky on cocaine. i love that episode, though. but, the show isn't always as great as i remember it.

2 words: Latka Gravas. Andy Kaufman was a HORRIBLE comedian, and don't even get me started on his completely asinine wrestling crap. I winced everytime I saw him, whether it be on Taxi or anywhere. His only use was that R.E.M. sing a very good song about him called 'Man on the Moon' (which is also the name of the biopic made about him, starring Jim Carrey).

Alex was hilarious - his facial expressions cracked me up to no end. Tony and Bobby were cute, Elaine was pretty, Jim was very funny, Simpka was as horriffic as Latka and Louie kept me in stitches, to wit: "Die with festering boils, DIE!!"

I liked the show quite a bit, however for me, it it never became a show that I will automatically watch in reruns, whereas I have a number of shows that I do watch repeatedly.

A fantastic show! Jeff Conoway and Tony Danza were pretty good actors, but my all-time favorite would have to be Louie. He's the sort of guy you just love to hate.

"Slow Down"!...WHAAAAT...DUZZZZZZ...AAAAA...YELLLLOOOO...Classic Stuff!...Only jumped during the last season!

It was a great show. Jumped the shark when too much focus went to Latka and Simka. I also found Reverend Jim cheapened the show, in the same way that Ted (Knight) became TOO unbelievably dense on the Mary Tyler Moore Show,and the farce element stopped working - and becomes stupid and an insult to the viewer.
A Taxi episode that I loved was when Elaine got the extremely freaky hairdo and demanded her money back. Hairdresser Ted Danson (!) refused to refund her, and Elaine got revenge when Louis paid an unexpected visit to the salon...