Favorite Episodes: Mad About You

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

I recently finished watching every episode of Mad About You. My husband and I enjoy watching a show from start to finish, as I believe I have mentioned before (like with Joey). You really get a feel for the writing, how the characters evolve, and how storylines rotate focus. He can even sometimes tell the writers apart after watching the episodes like that!

Mad About You contains the best Thanksgiving episode ever, and there's a drinking game to the show. The secondary characters change just a little too much for my taste, but I just got so attached to Paul and Jamie that it didn't really matter. At the end of the day, the show is solid, although it does have one of the very worst series finales ever.

But enough of the bad, let's talk about the good!

Season 1: "Sofa's Choice" (S01E02) It's time that Paul and Jamie buy their first couch together, and Jamie is making a ridiculously big deal about it. She brings in multiple friends to second-guess their choices, and the conversations span the gamut as Paul gets to know Fran & Mark a little better. [no video available]

Season 2: "Disorientation" (S02E21) In perhaps one of the funniest episodes in the series, Fran, Lisa, and Ira have to help Paul get Jamie registered for college classes when he realizes he forgot to mail in her tuition paperwork... the morning of the first day of the semester! Everyone weasels their way around (and gets yet another student ID photo taken) and they manage to pull it off without Jamie knowing completely(despite the fact that she's there most of the time!). Yes, it's dated (registering for classes in person??!?), but it's soooo funny. Not the greatest clip, as the first half has nothing to do with the storyline and the second half only shows Jamie with all of the IDs, but it's something.

Season 3: "Purseona" (S03E18) Again, it's only funny to those of us old enough to appreciate that you really did have to track people down without using a cellular phone. But, as Paul gets ready to leave the country, Lisa takes Jamie's purse by mistake as she heads off to a job interview. Jamie's purse contains Paul's passport, and as he keeps trying to put off his flight, they have to track down Lisa (who is incredulously unaware that the purse is not hers for the LONGEST time). [no video clip available]

Season 4: "Do Me a Favor" (S04E16) Ira's girlfriend's daughter wants an autographed picture of the mayor. With Jamie working in the mayor's office, it should be fairly simple. But, nope! Instead, a series of misunderstandings starts when Paul's new camera captures a photo of a shady deal going down. [no video clip available]

Season 5: "The Feud" (S05E22) Everyone has a different idea for the style of crib for the baby, particularly Paul's and Jamie's respective mothers. Paul is getting into poker, but ends up winning big, only to have the earnings paid through random household chores instead of cash. The only video clip online is the end credits with Jamie winning at poker.

Season 6: "The Second Mrs. Buchman" (S06E16) So the main storyline is about how Jamie learns that Paul was married once before, in college. He doesn't tell the whole story upfront, so Jamie goes in search of the woman and finds out she's an elderly Russian who wanted citizenship. But the funnier plot involved Paul's side of the family while Paul acts as a baseball umpire. [no video clip available]

Season 7: "The Silent Show" (S07E05) In therapy, it comes to light that Paul and Jamie aren't listening to one another anymore, so it's suggested that they go an entire day without verbal communication. At first, it's just a hassle. But as time goes on and crazier things happen, Paul cracks and shouts when Mabel crawls (which she had been doing earlier but nobody saw). Additionally, the guys from STOMP have moved in above. [no video clip available]