Now that we’ve disconnected our 2008 TV, we watch television from past decades. “Taxi” first aired in an era when I didn’t watch much ‘vision (late ’70s, early ’80s), so I became a fan in reruns. Somewhere along the way, someone in the house gave me a season of “Taxi” on DVD. We periodically watch that, as we did tonight.
One thing that hooked me about “Taxi”–beyond the delight in watching the occasionally brilliant ensemble work of Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, Andy Kaufman, Marilu Henner, Judd Hirsch, et al.–was the theme. I love what I’ll call it’s winsome (if not melancholy) quality at the opening and what I’ve always heard as the lonely sound of the little reprise at the end. What other sitcom theme has such a sad tug to it?
For the record, the theme was the work of “smooth jazz” master Bob James, who assembled a pretty amazing crew to record the “Taxi” music during the show’s five-year run. The theme itself is called “Angela,” and I’m guessing it refers to a series of episodes involving the Judd Hirsch character, Alex Rieger, and a bitter and unattractive blind date. (The MP3 is for sale at Amazon.)
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