Marjorie Weitzman Movies

Mad About You launched its fifth season with yet another time slot change, moving to Tuesday evenings opposite ABC's top-rated Roseanne, CBS's new The Promised Land, FOX's package of first-run films, and Moesha from the upstart UPN. Picking up where season four left off, the fifth season began with the temporarily separated Paul and Jamie Buchman (Paul Reiser, Helen Hunt) enjoying a tender reconciliation with Jamie's announcement of her long-awaited (and much-delayed) pregnancy. It was therefore inevitable that this season would end with the birth of the Buchman baby, an adventure that all but required a one-hour finale episode. In between, the stories involved Jamie's search for a decent obstetrician, a choice which was narrowed down to the colorfully yclept Dr. Von Derphal (John O'Hurley) and Joan Golfinos (Suzie Plakson), the girlfriend of Paul's out-of-the-closet sister, Debbie (Robin Bartlett, still one season away from her matriculation from recurring to regular character). Meanwhile, Jamie's filmmaker husband, Paul, busied himself with a documentary about his own family, bringing a whole new array of colorful characters into the Mad About You fold, chief among them the great Mel Brooks as philosophical Uncle Phil. Other new fifth season characters included Marvin (Jeff Garvin), handyman to Paul's cousin Ira (John Pankow) and tough-talking therapist Sheila Kleinman (Mo Gaffney). Elsewhere, Harry Groener replaced Alan Ruck as Jamie's politician boss, Lance Brockwell, while the revolving-door casting of Jamie's parents, Theresa and Gus Stemple, briefly settled upon TV icons Carol Burnett and Carroll O'Connor. Finally, Anne Ramsay, previously a series regular in the role of Jamie's sister, Lisa Stemple, was now seen merely on a recurring basis. This year, Emmy awards went (again) to Helen Hunt as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, and to Mel Brooks and Carol Burnett for their sporadic guest appearances. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Already a bona fide hit, though not a huge hit, Mad About You received a major shot in the arm ratings-wise when, upon entering its third season, the series was moved to Thursday evenings, just before Friends, as part of NBC's "Must See TV" lineup. By the end of the season, the series was posting its best numbers ever, and was a shoo-in for fall renewal. Though there were no cast changes amongst the series' regulars, there were several new faces in the recurring-character department. Jim Piddock replaced Paxton Whitehead as Hal Conway, the insufferable upper-crust British neighbor of Paul and Jamie Buchman (Paul Reiser, Helen Hunt), while the roles of Jamie's parents, Gus and Teresa Stemple, filled by Paul Dooley and Nancy Dussault during season one, were now essayed by John Karlen and Penny Fuller. New to the cast were George O. Petrie as Paul's editor, Sid, Eric Stoltz as Jamie's ex-beau Alan, Anne Bobby as Jamie's former classmate Susannah Gould, and Meg Wyllie as the ubiquitous Aunt Lolly (though exactly whose aunt she was really remained a bit of a mystery). Season highlights included "My Boyfriend's Back!," wherein the series' characters were redefined in animated-cartoon form; "The Alan Brady Show," for which Carl Reiner, recreating the obnoxious TV comedian he'd originally played on The Dick Van Dyke Show, which won an Emmy award; and "Money Changes Everything," which likewise earned an Emmy for its guest star, Cyndi Lauper. A third Emmy was claimed by the Mad About You sound-mixing staff, headed by Peter Damski. The series closed out its third season with arguably its most bizarre episode, the hour-long "Up in Smoke," which emulated It's a Wonderful Life by showing Paul and Jamie what might have happened had they never met. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi