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With our next pick, The Upper Trash would like to select in the category of Comedy (Situational)... one of the all-time classics...

TAXI! (US Taxi, not the British "Taxi!")

Characters

The cast of Taxi during the final season of production: (back row, left to right) Danza, Kaufman, Kane; (front) Lloyd, Henner, Hirsch, DeVito

* Alex Rieger (Judd Hirsch) - Alex is the sensible, compassionate core of the show, the one everyone else turns to for advice. At one point, he reveals his frustration with this unwanted burden. He once worked in an office, with a good chance of advancement, but lost his job due to his refusal to follow the company line. He was married to Phyllis Bornstein (Louise Lasser). When his wife divorced him because of his lack of ambition, she sought sole custody of their baby daughter, Cathy; he gave in rather than fight. He is also estranged from his philandering father, Joe (Jack Gilford). Alex is a recovered compulsive gambler, although he relapses in one episode. A pessimist, he has resigned himself to driving a cab for the rest of his life.

* Louie De Palma (Danny DeVito) - The dispatcher for the Sunshine Cab Company. He not only has no morals to speak of, he positively revels in his misdeeds. Nothing is beneath him, from taking advantage of a drunken friend of his sometime-girlfriend Zena Sherman (played by real-life wife Rhea Perlman) to gambling with a young boy to stealing from the company. He lives with his mother (DeVito's real mother, Julia, in two episodes). Under the amoral exterior beats a heart of pure lead. That said, he has (on very rare occasions) helped his workers, as in the episode in which an arrogant hairstylist (played by Ted Danson) gives Elaine a garish makeover just before a very important event and further humiliates her by stating he "didn't know how to do taxi drivers." It is Louie who bolsters her confidence to confront him. TV Guide ranked De Palma first on its list of the 50 greatest TV characters of all time.[2]

* Elaine O'Connor Nardo (Marilu Henner) - Elaine is a divorced mother of two struggling to cope, while trying to realize her ambitions in the field of fine art. The object of lust of Louie, she is attracted to characters played by actors ranging from Tom Selleck to Wallace Shawn.

* Tony Banta (Tony Danza) - The sweet-natured, if somewhat dimwitted boxer has little success in the sport. In fact, Louie makes a lot of money betting against him. Finally, the boxing commission takes away his license because he has been knocked out one too many times. Danza actually was a professional boxer.

* Bobby Wheeler (Jeff Conaway) (1978-1982) - Bobby is a shallow, conceited actor whose pretensions are Louie's favorite target. Success eludes Bobby. Once, he is signed up by a famous manager, but it turns out she does not want to represent him; she only wants him as a lover. Another time, he is cast in a pilot for a soap opera called Boise. The show goes into production, but his part is recast. Conaway left the show after Season 3, but continued to make guest appearances in Season 4 before being written out altogether.

* Reverend Jim Ignatowski (Christopher Lloyd) (1979-1983) - A burned-out relic of the '60s, Jim lives in a world of his own. He was once a hard-working, serious student at Harvard University, with an extremely wealthy father (Victor Buono), but one bite of a drug-laden brownie was enough to get him hooked and send him into a downward spiral. (His last name was originally Caldwell; he changed it to Ignatowski, thinking that the backward pronunciation of that name was "Star Child.") The cabbies help him pass a written exam to become one of them, in a particularly memorable episode (see Quotes section below). He occasionally exhibits unexpected talents, such as the ability to play the piano masterfully. TV Guide placed Ignatowski 32nd on its list of the 50 greatest TV characters of all time.

* Latka Gravas (Andy Kaufman) - Latka is an immigrant from a very strange land, often speaking in his invented foreign tongue ("ibi da", "nik nik"). He works as a mechanic, fixing the taxis. Latka was an adaptation of the "Foreign Man" character Kaufman originated in his stand-up comedy act. He eventually grew tired of the gag, so the writers gave Latka multiple personality disorder, allowing Kaufman to play other characters, the most frequent one being a repellent, smooth-talking lounge-lizard persona calling itself Vic Ferrari. In one episode however, he becomes Alex, with profound insights into "his" life. Just when he is about to reveal to the real Alex the perfect solution for all his problems, he reverts back to Latka.

* Simka Dahblitz-Gravas (Carol Kane) (1980-1983) - She is from the same country as Latka. They belong to different ethnic groups which traditionally detest each other, but they fall in love and eventually get married. She is much more assertive than her husband, often standing up to Louie for him.

* John Burns (Randall Carver) (1978-1979) - The naive young man works as a cabbie to pay for college. According to Carver, "...the characters of John Burns and Tony Banta were too similar...Some of the lines were almost interchangeable..."[3], so he was dropped after the first season without explanation.

* Jeff Bennett (J. Alan Thomas) - Sunshine Cab's assistant dispatcher, he shares the "cage" with Louie but rarely speaks or interacts with the other characters. One exception is the Season 5 episode "Crime and Punishment", wherein Louie turns Jeff in for stealing car parts from the company and selling them on the black market (a crime which Louie himself committed).

Awards and Nominations

Taxi is one of television's most lauded shows. During its run, the sitcom was nominated for 31 Emmy Awards and won 18, including three for Outstanding Comedy Series. It was also nominated for 25 Golden Globes, with four wins (three for Best TV Series - Musical/Comedy). In 1979, it received the Humanitas Prize in the 30 minute category. It was also ranked 48th in TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

Awards

Emmy Awards:

* Comedy Series (1979-1981)
* Lead Actor in a Comedy Series - Judd Hirsch (1981, 1983)
* Guest Actress in a Comedy Series - Ruth Gordon (1979)
* Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - Carol Kane (1982)
* Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series - Carol Kane (1983)
* Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series - Danny DeVito (1981)
* Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series - Christopher Lloyd (1982, 1983)
* Directing in a Comedy Series - James Burrows (1980, 1981)
* Writing in a Comedy Series - Michael Leeson (1981)
* Writing in a Comedy Series - Ken Estin (1982)
* Film Editing for a Series - M. Pam Blumenthal (1979-81), Jack Michon (1981)

Golden Globe Awards:

* Best Television Series-Comedy (1979-1981), tied in 1980 with Alice
* Best TV Supporting Actor - Danny DeVito (1980), tied with Vic Tayback in Alice

Nominations

Emmy Awards:

* Comedy Series (1982, 1983)
* Lead Actor in a Comedy Series - Judd Hirsch (1979, 1980, 1982)
* Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - Eileen Brennan (1981)
* Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series - Danny DeVito (1979, 1982, 1983)
* Directing in a Comedy Series - James Burrows (1982)
* Writing in a Comedy Series - Michael Leeson (1979)
* Writing in a Comedy Series - Glen Charles and Les Charles (1980, 1981)
* Writing in a Comedy Series - David Lloyd (1981)
* Writing in a Comedy Series - Barry Kemp and Holly Holmberg Brooks (1982)
* Writing in a Comedy Series - Ken Estin (1983)

Golden Globe Awards:

* Television Series-Comedy (1982-1984)
* Actor in a TV Series-Comedy - Judd Hirsch (1979-1983)
* TV Supporting Actress - Marilu Henner (1979-1983)
* TV Supporting Actress - Carol Kane (1983)
* TV Supporting Actor - Tony Danza (1980)
* TV Supporting Actor - Danny DeVito (1979, 1981, 1982)
* TV Supporting Actor - Jeff Conaway (1979, 1980)
* TV Supporting Actor - Andy Kaufman (1979, 1981)