| Mad About You | |
|---|---|
.svg) | |
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Created by |
|
| Developed by | Peter Tolan (2019 revival) |
| Starring | |
| Theme music composer |
|
| Opening theme | "Final Frontier" |
| Composer | David Kitay |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 8 |
| No. of episodes | 176(list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time |
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| Production companies |
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| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | September 23, 1992 (1992-09-23) – May 24, 1999 (1999-05-24) |
| Network | Spectrum |
| Release | November 20 (2019-11-20) – December 18, 2019 (2019-12-18) |
| Related | |
| Friends Mad About You (Chinese series) Loco por vos (Argentine remake) | |
Mad About You is an American televisionsitcom starringPaul Reiser andHelen Hunt as a married couple inNew York City as they navigate life together. In later seasons, the couple has a daughter.
It initially aired onNBC from September 23, 1992, to May 24, 1999, winning numerous awards including fourGolden Globe Awards and twelvePrimetime Emmy Awards. In its final season, the show was dropped from itsprimetime slot, leading to a sharp decrease in viewership, and subsequently cancelled.
On March 6, 2019, a limited season 8 revival was picked up bySpectrum Originals for 12 episodes. Reiser and Hunt reprised their roles. The revival showed the couple as newempty nesters whose daughter was starting college at NYU. The events of the original series' finale, which showed the events of the next twenty years of the couple's lives, wereretconned for the revival.
The series focuses mainly on newlyweds Paul Buchman, adocumentary filmmaker, and Jamie Stemple Buchman, apublic relations specialist, as they deal with everything from humorous daily minutiae to major struggles. Near the end of the show's run, they have a baby daughter, whom they name Mabel. They live inGreenwich Village inLower Manhattan. The 2019 limited series focuses on Paul and Jamie as empty nesters as Mabel starts college atNew York University, five blocks away.
Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser were paid $1 million per episode for the last season (with their contracts calling for them to be paid equally). However, ratings fell sharply that year as the series was shuffled away from its Tuesday slot to prop up a fledgling Monday night line-up of comedies onNBC.
The show's theme song, "Final Frontier", was composed by Reiser andDon Was. It was originally performed byAndrew Gold, with a later version covered byAnita Baker, and finallyLyle Lovett andKecia Lewis, who both had minor acting roles in the series.[1]
Exterior views of buildings were filmed inManhattan. Paul and Jamie'sNew York City Apartment was located at 5th Avenue and 12th Street. TheOld Town Bar and Restaurant on 45 E. 18th Street was used for the fictionalRiff's Restaurant in the series.[2]
In April 2018, it was announced thatSony Pictures Television would revive the show with the two lead actors reprising their roles,[3] though Reiser expressed doubt about it in July 2018.[4] In September 2018, Reiser stated that the revival was still on the table, but that "the studio needs to figure out if they know how to do it."[5]
On March 6, 2019, the series was revived for an eighth season bySpectrum Originals, described as a 12-episode limited series, with Reiser and Hunt confirmed to reprise their roles.[6] On September 5, 2019, it was announced that the first six episodes of the revival would premiere on November 20, 2019, and another six episodes would be released on December 18, 2019.[7] The series is available in a traditional manner inCanada, with its episodes airing on theCTV Comedy Channel.
Many of the main and recurring cast members reprised their roles for the revival, which ignored the events of the season 7 finale (a flash-forward story that told how the Buchmans would fare over the next 20+ years). The most notable former main cast member not to reprise her role wasLeila Kenzle, who played Jamie's best friend, Fran Devanow. Kenzle retired from acting in 2003 and became a psychotherapist. Fran's husband, Mark, does return in the revival, but the character is now remarried.[8]
| Season | Episodes | Originally released | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | Network | |||
| 1 | 22 | September 23, 1992 (1992-09-23) | May 22, 1993 (1993-05-22) | NBC | |
| 2 | 25 | September 16, 1993 (1993-09-16) | May 19, 1994 (1994-05-19) | ||
| 3 | 24 | September 22, 1994 (1994-09-22) | May 18, 1995 (1995-05-18) | ||
| 4 | 24 | September 24, 1995 (1995-09-24) | May 19, 1996 (1996-05-19) | ||
| 5 | 24 | September 17, 1996 (1996-09-17) | May 20, 1997 (1997-05-20) | ||
| 6 | 23 | September 23, 1997 (1997-09-23) | May 19, 1998 (1998-05-19) | ||
| 7 | 22 | September 22, 1998 (1998-09-22) | May 24, 1999 (1999-05-24) | ||
| 8 | 12 | November 20, 2019 (2019-11-20) | December 18, 2019 (2019-12-18) | Spectrum | |
Mad About You has had numerous connections to other NBC sitcoms set in New York City, as well as various other programs.
Friends (owned byWarner Bros. Television):Lisa Kudrow played the recurring role ofUrsula, a flakywaitress at Riff's Bar, a local restaurant that Paul and Jamie frequented. Kudrow went on to star in the NBC sitcomFriends, playing the also somewhat flaky character ofPhoebe Buffay, and for a time both series shared the same Thursday night line-up. While not originally intended, the characters of Ursula and Phoebe were later found to be identical twin sisters. In aFriends episode ("The One With The Two Parts", 1st Season), as part of a night of NBC sitcom crossovers, Jamie and Fran walk intoCentral Perk and mistake Phoebe for Ursula. Hunt and Kenzle were not identified on screen as Jamie and Fran. In the season three episode "Pandora's Box", Jamie causes a citywide power blackout in New York City, and the effects of the blackout are seen in theFriends episode, "The One with the Blackout", and there was also a blackout in the episode "Birthday in the Big House" of the NBC sitcomMadman of the People. All three episodes originally aired during the evening of November 3, 1994, alongside aSeinfeld episode which did not incorporate the blackout premise.
Seinfeld: In one episode ("The Apartment", 1st Season), Paul, pressured by Jamie, decides to sign over the lease of his old "bachelor pad" to the current tenant who is subleasing. When the tenant is revealed to beCosmo Kramer (Michael Richards) ofSeinfeld, Paul asks Kramer "What ever happened to that Jerry guy who used to live there?"Seinfeld, however, twice contradicted this connection, once even featuring a running joke about George's distaste for his fiancée Susan's fondness for watchingMad About You. In theMad About You season seven episode "Season Opener", Paul, under the effects ofViagra, ran intoJerry Seinfeld in the street, who tells Paul to go away. At this point inSeinfeld's chronology, Jerry Seinfeld was supposed to bein prison.
The Dick Van Dyke Show:Carl Reiner reprised the role of Alan Brady from the 1960s sitcom. The episode made several references to the older show, such as Jamie at one point crying and whining "Oh, Paul!" – a take onMary Tyler Moore's character Laura Petrie's frequent refrain "Oh, Rob!" – Ten episodes earlier, Paul almost trips over a box and says, "Get me, I'mDick Van Dyke."
Style & Substance: In the 2019 revival ("Real Estate for Beginners", 8th Season),Jean Smart appeared as Chelsea Stevens-Kobolakis,[15] a controlling, abrasive, short-tempered character that she had previously portrayed in showrunnerPeter Tolan's[16] 1998 series. Paul and Jamie attend a weekend team-building workshop that Chelsea hosts, mistakenly thinking that it's the marriage counseling seminar which is being held in a nearby room.
Mad About You won aGolden Globe Award, aPeabody Award, aGenesis Award, received fiveEmmy Award nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series, and was chosen Best Quality Comedy by theViewers for Quality Television.Helen Hunt won thePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Comedy Series four years in a row (1996–99).
In 1997, Atlantic Records released aMad About You soundtrack. The soundtrack from and inspired by the sitcom, is composed of fun and sentimental songs and clips from the show. The tracks are organized chronologically marking the milestones of the couple's relationship. The album is bookended by the two versions of Paul Reiser's song "Final Frontier"—the first track is the classic version used in the show's opening, and the last track is Anita Baker's jazzy, full-length rendition, with Reiser on keyboard. The 21 tracks are as follows:
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has released the first three seasons ofMad About You on DVD in Region 1 and 4. The first two seasons were also made available in Region 2. No subsequent seasons were released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
In February 2010,Shout! Factory acquired the distribution rights to the remaining seasons ofMad About You on DVD. They subsequently released seasons 4 and 5 on DVD.[21][22]
On August 27, 2013, it was announced that Mill Creek Entertainment had acquired the rights to various television series from the Sony Pictures library includingMad About You.[23] They subsequently re-released the first and second seasons on DVD on August 5, 2014.[24]
Mill Creek released the complete series on a 14-DVD set on May 3, 2016.[25]
As of August 1, 2019, the entire series has been available toSpectrum subscribers as part of the run-up to the premiere of the revival series.[26]
On December 8, 2020, the revival season, alongside the original series, was added toAmazon Prime Video.
| DVD name | Ep. # | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| The Complete 1st Season | 22 | October 22, 2002 |
| The Complete 2nd Season | 25 | April 22, 2003 |
| The Complete 3rd Season | 24 | February 6, 2007 |
| The Complete 4th Season | 24 | June 29, 2010 |
| The Complete 5th Season | 24 | November 2, 2010 |
| The Complete 6th Season | 24 | June 29, 2010 |
| The Complete 7th Season | 24 | June 29, 2010 |
| The Complete Series | 164 | May 3, 2016 |
| DVD name | Release date | Ep. # | Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mad About You Collection | February 8, 2005 | 22 |
|
A Chilean adaptation under the titleLoco por ti (translated asCrazy About You) aired on TVN during 2004.[citation needed]
An Argentine adaptation under the titleLoco por vos (translated asCrazy About You) stylized asLoco x vos aired onTelefe from September 5 until December 29, 2016. The second season was originally going to air in 2017 but was scrapped later on.[27]
A British adaptation under the titleLoved by You aired for two seasons onITV from 11 March 1997 until 27 August 1998.[28]
AChinese adaptation aired onDragon TV on January 4, 2016.[29]
Smart will portray Chelsea Stevens-Kobolakis, an eccentric best-selling author, lifestyle guru and podcaster who runs a weekend seminar that Paul and Jamie attend — accidentally.
Tolan is the showrunner, executive producer and writer for the series, premiering Nov. 20 on Spectrum Originals.