Taxi: Season 4

Seasons four and five are without question Taxi's best two seasons. Thus, the long wait since the season 3 box set release has been interminable. But better late than never. Season four is particularly notable as the first season in which Jeff Conaway is no longer a member of the cast (although he does make one last appearance in the series for the episode "Bobby Doesn't Live Here Anymore" and one other episode in which he appears, "Fledgling," was shot during season 3 but not aired until season 4). While the Bobby character was an important part of the show during the first three episodes, his departure actually allowed the cast to get even tighter and the writers to explore the relationships between the characters even deeper. The fourth season also contains the hilarious Emmy award winning episode "Jim the Psychic," which deservingly won the award for best writing. Another highlight is "Elegant Iggy," which the authors of the book Hailing Taxi, a comprehensive look at the series, cite as their favorite episode of the entire series' five-year run. As for this DVD set, I'm so happy to see this season released. But it's not without compromises. The first, while probably relatively subtle to most buyers, is that the entire set was squeezed onto only 3 DVDs, which means they had to compress the video with a slightly lower bitrate than we'd normally see with professionally released DVDs. As a result, if you have a high-end display, you might notice more MPEG-2 compression artifacts than normal. The other is the removal of all Billy Joel "Vienna Waits" audio clips in the episode of the same name. This is a shame, but not a huge surprise. A box set like this is only going to make a modest amount of money and the cost of licensing music by a well-known artist is incredibly high. Using a known recording on a TV show requires a specific synchronization license, a mechanical use license, AND a master user license. What surprised me, though, was not the deleted Billy Joel clips, but that even the performance by the actor playing guitar on the airplane had to be cut, which wouldn't require the master use license. But again, this is a compromise we'd have to deal with in order to see any of this season's content out on DVD. Along the lines of the above, there is at least one other music-related edit that really surprised me. At the end of the episode "Tony's Lady" as originally broadcast, Jim leaves the garage singing the old standard "Got a Date with an Angel." But on this DVD, it's abruptly cut out. I'd be surprised this song is still in copyright. But even if it is, it's hard to image that the synchronization and mechanical use license for that 15 seconds would cost very much at all--especially at the expense of a wonderfully funny moment. But in all, it's still wonderful to see this season finally coming out and here's hoping season five (my favorite of all the seasons) will follow shortly thereafter.

Just announced today! TAXI SEASON 5th and Final Season is tentatively being released near Christmas! Now our collections will be complete for all Taxi fans out there. Frankly, it's a mystery why this classic series has taken so long to complete. At least Paramount has done a great job of finishing up what they started, which is rare for many dvd companies, even if there are slight music alterations. (Mary Tyler Moore being the perfect example of another long wait) Season Four continued to stretch our understanding of the gang. This was the year we saw far more in-depth coverage of all of them. What I found so profound about TAXI was how some of the episodes ended on a sad, poignant note. It understood that with comedy comes pain, and never shied away from human flaws and sadness. Watching Taxi was like watching 24 minute theatrical well written plays. You got the laughs, but you never left an episode without the writers and producers sharing a new revelation about Elaine, Alex, Jim, and even Louie. It is such a shame we never see Taxi episodes in repeats any longer. I always felt it was because of how "deep" Taxi got. I think this is why the series has not had it's due in the syndication afterlife. Taxi is not about a string of insults or quick comebacks, as most sitcoms and comedies rely on. (Think Will and Grace, or anything else that has cartoon-like characters) A laugh was never cheap; it was always immediately followed up with something discomforting, and forced the viewer to really think.

We have all been waiting years for the release of "Taxi" Season 4! It was unfortunate that politics became involved in its release. This show is absolutely one of the funniest I have ever seen and what's even better - it's timeless! As a pe-teen, I waited anxiously every week for the newest episode..This show was so well written and just a cab full of fun...Timeless..I believe it is this season that has the episode where Rev. Jim loses his Dad. His dad leaves Jim his suit and in the suit pocket is a tape of Stevie Wonder's "You Are the Sunshine of My Life". As funny a show as 'Taxi" was, this episode made me cry so. Then my Dad past away a couple of years ago and playing on the radio one day was that Stevie Wonder song. It made me smile so because I thought of Rev. Jim's dad and my dad and I said.."I know how Jim felt". Dad was my sunshine..:-)

The main difference content-wise between this season 4 release and all the previous seasons is that the season 4 set contains episodic promos(quick previews for each upcoming episode). As far as packaging, season 4 comes in one neat DVD case with 3 discs securely attached. The earlier seasons came with an outer cardboard package and 3 or 4 separate slim DVD cases each with its own DVD. As far as the characters go, Bobby Wheeler is no longer part of the regular cast. There's an episode dedicated to his return and a couple others where he makes inconsequential appearances. The Latka character is given more focus where he gets to play out his multiple personalities(sometimes funny, sometimes not). There's one special episode where Simka makes a return. I enjoy seeing the Simka and Latka character together, they have nice chemistry. Overall season 4 carries on the strong Taxi tradition. The only mild disappointment for me is in this release. While it's nice to have the episodic promos, I would've loved to have some type of cast commentary or a retrospective special. Also a few things are cut out from the original airings.

If you love taxi buy it. Classic thoughtful comedy from start to end. Get your dvd changed to multi region if you live in the UK (just google for the "cheats" to change your model of DVD player). Or buy a second hand one from the USA. use your computer to play it etc etc. Do not be put off by the region 1. Just buy it!

Great Series.Awesome talent.Thank you.Fast shipping +++AAA*** God Bless Don.

just as good as all the rest!

If you are into comedy and slapstick, this is a series not to be missed. Great acting and story lines.