Sony's botch of a great series.
The episodes are, of course, very enjoyable (along with a young Helen Hunt with hair that's actualy attractive, as compared to the pin-stright, flat, lifeless hair she sported, after Mabel came along, that made her look plain & older than she was).
I liked this series mainly through to the season 4 finale, when Jamie discovers she's pregnant, after their marriage nearly ends. After that, seasons 5 through 7 are all about the pregnancy, birth, and "poop-stories" of Mabel (acronym or not, what a disappointing choice of a name. I'll take "S.O.N.Y.A." any day! LOL). The positives are the amazing parade of stars Paul Reiser & company got to sign on for appearances throughout the entire series, including the wonderful introduction, and repeated appearances, of ad-lib magician Mel Brooks as the irrepressable Uncle Phil, and the re-casting of Jamie's parents with the incomparable Carol Burnett and Carroll O'Connor (who we don't see enough of). Carol Burnett is hysterical as always, and easily outshines what's-her-name, cast from the beginning as Paul's annoying, childish, self-centered, manipulative mother. Fortunately, the character of Burt Buchmann is so lovable that he's always a delight to watch, and so it's especially heart-breaking & poignant that the series finale includes his death and funeral.
As for season 1 specifically, all 22 episodes are worthwhile, and a great start of a comic story of a neurotic, newly-married couple. The problems I have with this 2-DVD set is in the manufacturing of the disks themselves. The episodes were compressed to fit 11 on each double-layer DVD disk, so the video playback is somewhat grainy. Second, the last 2 episodes (21 & 22) on disk 2 are reversed, so unless the viewer knows this, the finale of season 1 will not make sense. Lastly, for both seasons 1 & 2, Sony Pictures didn't manufacture the DVD's with a "Play All" button in the main menu. So, the viewer has to navigate to each, successive episode and start them individually, rather than being able to play the disk through automatically, and stop playback wherever they want, if they want. Sony didn't get around to correcting this issue until it released season 3. Oddly, although seasons 2 & 3 are recorded on 3 DVDs, so there are only 8 or 9 episodes per double-layer disk, the graininess is still there in the video playback (maybe not quite as bad as season 1).
Nevertheless, these early seasons have major "gem" episodes, especially season 3. So, enjoy all of it - "Mad About You" is a great sitcom.Read full review
