TV-related toy cars (or do I really need to collect something else?): Part 1: Taxi

One of my recent discoveries is small-scale toy cars based on (or associated with in cool-looking packaging) TV shows of the BOTNS era. The Greenlight Hollywood line has my eye right now. There are several good things about these: They look good in the packaging (in fact, I think it's better to leave these in the packaging given their size), they are often overlooked in the oft-barren toy shelves of today's big box retailers, and they are affordable collectibles to toss into the cart along with essentials like Urkel-O's and Swanson's Hungry Man dinners.

Some of these are a little sketchy, but one of my favorites is this beauty. I mean, a show called Taxi is a natural for this series:

We may not have Alex and Louie Funkos yet (Actually, Reverend Jim and Latka would be cool, too, but I'd get any of them), but we have this, and we can use our imagination. If only Corgi would have made Taxi vehicles back in the day to go along with my Supermobile and Spider-Copter!

Happy birthday, Danny DeVito!

One of the best heels in TV history, Louie DePalma, is iconic because of the great work by Danny DeVito. Check out our look at Taxi right here, and enjoy him below in this ad for Little--Wait. I'm being told this is not Danny DeVito, but Rich Little impersonating him (and a certain film icon) in this Little Debbie's ad:

Happy birthday to the late Jeff Conaway!

Jeff Conaway (October 5, 1950-May 27, 2011) was of course Bobby Wheeler on Taxi, but you don't need us to tell you that. He'll remind you in this cool ad for a now-defunct talent agency:

Remember, folks, please don't call the number in the ad even if you think you have what it takes!

You can grab our episode talking about Taxi right here!

Show Notes: Season 3, Episode 8: Taxi

*"The Great Race" premiered November 6, 1979 on the American Broadcasting Company television network.

*TAXI aired on ABC from 1978 to 1982 and on NBC from 1983-1984.

*The New York article that inspired the series can be found right here.

*The series won a whopping 18 Emmy awards, including the top prize for comedy show in 1979, 1980, and 1981. It also won a Humanitas Prize, which sounds pretty impressive, doesn't it?

*Co-creator Edwin B. Weinberger went by 'Ed." from the age of 8 according to Variety via Wikipedia, and in the same article he said it was "an affectation that got out of hand."

*Notable episodes we mention in the podcast:
"Cooking for Two" S4 E22 (Jim moves in with Louie)
"Jim's Mario's" S5 E22 (Jim buys the restaurant)
"Reverend Jim: A Space Odyssey" S2 E3 (Jim takes the driving test)
"Alex the Gofer" S5 E7 (Alex, uh, becomes a gofer for a theater)
"Louie Moves Uptown" S5 E13 (Louie competes with Penny Marshall for a spot in a ritzy high-rise)

*Louie DePalma was TV Guide's pick for the best TV character of all time in a special edition of the mag in 1999.

*Jeff Conaway was 29 when this episode aired.

*CBS All-Access offers 50 of the series' 114 episodes; Hulu has 75

*The closing title card for the John Walters Company (the production company created by 4 ex-MTM producers, including James L. Brooks and Weinberger, and funded by Paramount), featured the line, "Good night, Mr. Walters," followed by a weary harrumph. Weinberger plays the fictional "Mr. Walters" in the segment. The other notable show the company produced was the short-lived sitcom The Associates, a 1979 legal comedy with Martin Short that reran on A&E in the 1980s.

Episode 3-8: Taxi "The Great Race"

Rick and Mike discuss a classic sitcom, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Alex and Louie in a taxi race, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Andy Kaufman doesn't do much in this one, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Nardo might have to date Louie, eww, eww, eww, eww

Check out this episode!

Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...