Taxi was a very funny sitcom that is most notable for the number of future stars it produced. Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, Tony Danza, and Judd Hirsch all went on to bigger and better things when the Taxi ride ended. Andy Kaufman’s life and early death provided one of the more bizarre stories in Hollywood history. The truth is that season 1 was not quite that funny. Sure, Lloyd makes an appearance here, but the lovable Rev. Jim would not get behind the wheel of a taxi until the second season. We can only be glad …hat Taxi came at a time in history when shows were given time to develop. Today Taxi would not have gone 6 weeks.
Synopsis
Louie DePalma (DeVito) is a short but sadistic dispatcher for the Sunshine Cab Company. Each week the show explored the follies of Tony (Danza) the underdog boxer, Bobby (Conaway) the wannabe actor, Elaine (Henner) the art critic, and Alex (Hirsch) the ace cabbie.
Audio
This is your standard no frills Dolby Digital mono track. The dialogue is clear and there are no major flaws in the dynamics of the sound. This track is pretty flat, but it delivers everything you need.
Video
Each episode of Taxi is presented in its original broadcast 1.33:1 full frame format. The master prints are obviously pretty worn here and it shows. No attempt was made to clean these prints in any way. The colors are relatively stable. Look for a lot of specks and defects in all of the episodes.
Special Features
Nada.
Final Thoughts
I would recommend renting this season just to see how things got started. I hope that sales of this set allow for the future seasons to see release. As I’ve already mentioned, this show got better. After all “We’ve still got cabs to get out here”.
