Does anyone like these shows?

APK

New member
I listed my favourite shows in the thread posing the question, and I wondered if anyone else here liked them. For those that don't know anything about them, I've included descriptions, which unfortunately are quite lengthy, so if you already know about them, or just aren't interested, feel free to skip them. :)

Cheers - This American sitcom ran from 1982 - 1993 and was about the workers and regular customers at a small bar in Boston, Massachusetts. The owner was Sam Malone, an ex-baseball player and frequent womaniser. His staff initially consisted of his ex-baseball coach Ernie Pantusso (called "Coach" by everyone) who was quite old, and rather dim-witted, and the sharp-tongued, mean-spirited waitress Carla, who made mean jokes about everyone in the bar except Sam. The regulars at first just consisted of the overweight, beer-loving Norm Peterson, who spent his whole life in the bar, and ran up a huge tab which he never paid off, and postman Cliff Clavin, who spouted off useless trivial facts that no one was interested in. The first episode centred around snobbish intellectual Diane Chambers being forced to take up work in the bar after her fiance jilted her. Carla never liked her, but a romance soon started between Diane and Sam.

In the third season, another slightly snobby intellectual was added to the customers in the character of Dr. Frasier Crane, a psychiatrist who had treated Diane for her nervous breakdown after he break-up with Sam at the end of the second season. Consequently, Frasier became her new boyfriend, until the end of the third season, when Diane left him at the altar.

Towards the end of the third season, the actor Nicholas Colasanto, who played "Coach", sadly died, so the character of Woody Boyd, a young farm boy from Indiana, was added as bartender. He was just as dim-witted as Coach had been. Diane left at the end of the fifth season, so the character of Rebecca Howe was introduced in season six. Finally, Frasier's girlfriend and eventual wife, the icy Lilith, became somewhat of a regular in the later seasons.

Frasier - This was a spin-off of Cheers and ran from 1993 - 2004. It centred around the character of Frasier Crane leaving Boston after his divorce from Lilith, and moving back to his hometown of Seattle. There, he took a job at the KACL radio station as a radio psychiatrist. Listeners called in during his show, told him their problems, and he offered them advice. He soon became friends with his producer, Roz Doyle, who was always hungry for men, and reconnected with his younger brother, Dr. Niles Crane, who was also a psychiatrist. However, Frasier was not to enjoy the benefits of living home alone for long, as his beer-loving, sports-loving father Martin, the total opposite to Frasier, moved in, along with his dog Eddie and his English physical therapist Daphne Moon, a working class lady all the way from Manchester.

Up until the fifth season of the series, Niles was married to the character of Maris. Although Maris was often talked about, she was never actually seen (the closest viewers came to seeing her was when her shadow was seen in a season five episode.) Despite the fact that she never appeared, she was mentioned so frequently that the viewer got a good idea of her personality and what she looked like. From the way she was talked about, she came across as a selfish, ghastly, cruel and cold woman who treated Niles like a slave. Therfore it was no surprise that as soon as Niles saw Daphne, he fell in love with her, something which Daphne remained unaware of until the seventh season (Niles and Daphne finally got together at the end of the seventh season, by which time Niles was divorced from Maris.)

Taxi - This was another American sitcom which ran from 1978 - 1983. It centred around the lives of people who worked as cab-drivers from the Sunshine Cab Company in New York. Alex Reiger was the longest-serving cabbie; he was practically devoid of ambitions, and was resigned to being a cab-driver for the rest of his life. He tended to act as a father figure for the younger drivers, and they often came to him for advice.

Elaine Nardo was the only female regular cabbie, and she worked part-time, as did most of the other cabbies. In her spare time, she worked at an art gallery. Tony Banta, as well as being a cabbie, was a boxer who hardly ever won a fight, and Bobby Wheeler was a struggling actor who, at the end of the third season, left for a career in Hollywood. In the first season only, there was the character of John Burns, a newcomer to the city, who was soaking up the city life with enthusiasm. There was also a foreign mechanic, Latka Gravas. It was never stated where he came from, and his native language was a form of gobbledygook. In the fifth and last season, Latka was given a girlfriend who came from his own country, called Simka (her character had already made a couple of appearances on the show), whom he married in the same season.

In the second season, the character of John Burns was dropped, and the magnificent character of Reverend Jim Ignatowski was added ( Christopher Lloyd, my favourite actor, played him.) Jim was an ex-hippie whose brain had been fried by his drug use in the 1960s. He was kind, sweet-hearted, generous man who loved to do nice things for people, only he often came across as slow, spaced-out and a bit of a flake.

The other regular was the cabbies' mean boss, Louie De Palma. Most of the time, Louie was mainly mean to the cabbies, who, for their part, disliked him most of the time. Yet at times, the viewer got the impression that Louie was still one of them, even though he was unpopular with most of them. Ironically, Jim, possibly the sweetest character of the lot, said Louie was his best friend, even though Louie was constantly nasty to Jim a lot of the time.

Family Ties - this American sitcom ran from 1982 - 1989 and centred around the Keaton family. The parents, Steven and Elyse, were left-wing in their political thinking, and were very liberal-minded. They supported the sharing of money, helping people less fortunate than themselves, and equal rights for everyone.

However, their eldest child and son, Alex P. Keaton (it was never revealed what the "P" stood for), who was 17 at the beginning of the series, was entirely the opposite in his political leaning. Alex was a firm Republican (Conservative in British terms) and Republican presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, who was President at the time Family Ties was airing, were his heroes. Although Alex was not racially or religiously prejudiced, he loved and worshipped money, and was always out to further his own interests, or make money for himself. He was very bright, and could sometimes come across as arrogant and insensitive. However, he was basically a good, decent person, who loved his family and, most of the time, would end up doing the right thing, even if it meant ignoring his own self-interests.

Steven and Elyse's other children at the beginning of the series were daughters Mallory and Jennifer. Mallory was 15 at the beginning, and was into clothes and boys. She tended to perform poorly at school, although she was capable of better work. Jennifer was 9 at the beginning, was a bit of a tomboy, and wanted to be a normal kid. In the third season, Elyse gave birth to their last child, Andy. As Andy grew (and, although he had been about 18 months old at the end of season four, at the beginning of season five, he had jumped in age to about four years old), he grew to worship Alex, who took it upon himself to be a sort of role model for Andy, encouraging his young brother to share his Republican political beliefs and teaching him to place importance on money.

Another, semi-regular was the character of Skippy Handelman (his real name was Irwin, although he was called "Skippy" by everyone), who was the same age as Mallory. Skippy was a close friend of Alex's and lived near the Keatons. He wore big glasses and was somewhat nerdy; Alex was basically the only friend he had. Skippy was also completely in love with Mallory, who never shared his feelings, and often found the lovesick Skippy to be a bit of an annoyance.

Anyway, I'm sorry this post is so long, but these are my favourite shows, and I wondered if anyone else here had seen/liked them.
 

admin

Retired Administrator
Wow, big thread :D

I can't say I am an avid fan of any of those shows, but I don't mind watching Fraiser and Cheers if I have nothing else to do.

Family Ties I've never seen, but it stars Michael J Fox does it not?

Taxi I've seen once or twice, but not really enough to say I like or dislike it :D
 

MITM-Fan

New member
admin said:
I can't say I am an avid fan of any of those shows
dito...but it's nice to see, that some people here are into "classics" :)
Personally...I know about all the mentioned shows and watched a couple of episodes now and then. But neither of these really kept me watching. Maybe Frasier a little bit but for the rest..it's not really my taste.
But we have one thing in common...we both like Christopher Lloyd. :D

:cool:
 

APK

New member
admin said:
Family Ties I've never seen, but it stars Michael J Fox does it not?

Taxi I've seen once or twice, but not really enough to say I like or dislike it :D
Yes, Michael J. Fox was one of the stars on "Family Ties." He played Alex. I think it's quite a funny show, although some people may find it too - shall I say - "sweet" - at times. But I don't think the emotional impact of the show is overdone.

As for Taxi, I find it hilarious - particularly the episode from the second season "Reverend Jim: A Space Odyssey", in which the cabbies get Jim a job at the cab company and he takes his driving test. Because his brains are so fried, he gets stuck on the very first question, and hisses to the cabbies, "Psst! What does a yellow light mean?" Bobby mutters, "Slow down." So Jim then goes, "Okay. What...does...a...yellow...light...mean?" Bobby hisses, "Slow down!" even more urgently, so Jim says, "Okay! Whaaat...dooees...aaa...yeelloow...liigghht...meeaan...?" It goes on for several times, and the studio audience just cracks up!

It used to be on Paramount, although they seem to have taken it off their schedule. If it comes on again, I'd recommend it to you. :)
 

APK

New member
MITM-Fan said:
But we have one thing in common...we both like Christopher Lloyd. :D
:cool:
Oh, you like him too! :) It's nice to find another young person who's somewhat of a fan. Most young people I know either don't know who he is or, even if they do, aren't particularly fans. I think he's quite underrated as an actor, actually.

What are your favourite roles of Chris's? Have you seen him in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"?
 

gottaluvem

Hollywood actr on the way
to tell you the truth, the only show that i have ever even heard about on that list if Fraiser.. i didn't exactly watch it all the time, but of the few episode i've seen, they were all funny.. as for the other shows, i've never seen them, but i'm sure that i would love them if i ever sw an episode
 

admin

Retired Administrator
Doc Brown said:
Oh, you like him too! :) It's nice to find another young person who's somewhat of a fan. Most young people I know either don't know who he is or, even if they do, aren't particularly fans. I think he's quite underrated as an actor, actually.

What are your favourite roles of Chris's? Have you seen him in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"?
I am a big Christopher Lloyd fan as well, I really enjoyed the Back to the Future Trilogy, as well as the MITM episode Family Reunion. I've seen quite a few of his other films as well, and some of them are very good :D He really is a talented actor!
 

MITM-Fan

New member
Doc Brown said:
What are your favourite roles of Chris's? Have you seen him in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"?
Unfortunately not but I like the Back to the Future series as well (I've got the 3-Disk DVD Set) and I've seen him in a lot of other movies and shows (including "Amazing Stories" :D) and he's always great!

:cool:
 

Jamie

New member
Christopher Lloyd is a genius. So is Michael J. Fox. I also enjoy reruns of Growing Pains and Home Improvement.
 

Garbage Kills Megan

parties with your mom
I think I love Christopher Lloyd because he was such a big part of my childhood. I LOVE the Back to the Future movies, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. And he was in Angels in the Outfield, which I loved when I was little. AND he was in the Adams Family movies, which I loved as a kid, and still love. And I love the movie Clue. Great movie. Man, he's just the best. I grew up with him. If I met him I'd give him a big hug.
 

Ryebeach

Moderator
Of your list, I have only ever seen Frasier. I always found that show so sophistated. The actor's had an amazing chemistry and the writing was sharp and crisp. I miss that show and it's hard to accept it's no longer on the air. It wasn't as good towards the end as in the first number of years but I never found the show dull or out of touch. I don't think we'll ever again see a sitcom as smart as Frasier was.
 

Malcolm

New member
I dont watch TV shows (excepting Malcolm, of course!). I dont even know most of the shows in your list.

My sister and my Mom are big fans of Friends, so I have seen some eps, but that's all. Im 100% MitM man. :D
 
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