The first half of the new Mad About You is now available on Spectrum.
By Rachel M.
If you were a fan of Mad About You for the seven seasons it ran on NBC (1992-1999) you are probably just the right age to enjoy this reprisal. Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt are back, playing Paul and Jamie Buchman, now a couple in their 50s, whose daughter Mabel (Abby Quinn) has just left for college. Despite the fact that she’s right nearby at NYU (they live on Fifth Avenue downtown) they are suffering from an “empty-nest” and are learning how to navigate this new stage of their lives.
The pace and banter and humor is very much like the old show with Reiser and Hunt throwing fast-paced one-liners at each other. Many of the important supporting co-stars (John Pankow, Richard Kind, and Anne Ramsay as, respectively, Paul’s cousin Ira, Paul’s friend Mark, and Jamie’s sister Lisa) are back as well. Even Jerry Adler as Mr. Wicker, the building’s super makes a few appearances.
Mad About You was critically acclaimed and won several awards, including a Golden Globe, a Peabody Award, a Genesis Award, and received five Emmy nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series. Helen Hunt won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress—Comedy Series four years in a row. While the twelve episodes for this series (six drop today and another six on December 18) aren’t award-worthy, they are fun. It’s unusual that the protagonists of a sitcom are a married middle-aged couple. Reiser and Hunt make a great team at any age and parents of college students will totally relate to the dilemmas they face in parenting a child with growing independence.
If you really want to have a good time, all 164 original episodes are now available free for Spectrum subscribers.
TV and City 