# Possible Return of 'Mad About You'... thoughts? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 28, 2018, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-return-of-mad-about-you-thoughts/811376 "2018-03-28T21:10:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-return-of-mad-about-you-thoughts/811376/1 "2018-03-28T21:10:01Z")
This morning, I caught part of an interview with Helen Hunt, saying that while nothing is definite, there is talk of bringing Mad About You back. With the reboot of Will & Grace and Roseanne, it’s not too surprising. Now, I loved Mad About You, right up until the last episode, where Paul and Jamie divorced. In the interview, Helen talked as if that was going to be ignored and the “new” show would concentrate on empty nest syndrome with Mable leaving home. Has anyone else heard about this? How do y’all feel about it? ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-return-of-mad-about-you-thoughts/811376/2 "2018-03-28T21:12:26Z")
> [@PapSett](#): > > Now, I loved Mad About You, right up until the last episode, where Paul and Jamie divorced. They got back together at the end: he bought her pie, took her home, and never left. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-return-of-mad-about-you-thoughts/811376/3 "2018-03-28T21:41:05Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > They got back together at the end: he bought her pie, took her home, and never left. Ah, OK. Been too many years, I didn’t remember that part. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-return-of-mad-about-you-thoughts/811376/4 "2018-03-28T22:00:54Z")
The last episode was horrible (even though they did end up together at the end, it was still horrible) so if they do reboot, they should forget it. That said, I don’t think they should reboot. It was a nice show for a number of years and in the final season, (while there were still some good episodes) it was clear they’d run out of stories to tell. There’s no need to bring it back. There are millions of potential characters in the world. Someone should make a show about some of them. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-return-of-mad-about-you-thoughts/811376/5 "2018-03-28T22:02:23Z")
No Murray no sale. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-return-of-mad-about-you-thoughts/811376/6 "2018-03-28T22:05:17Z")
Kill this wave of TV nostalgia. Kill it with fire. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-return-of-mad-about-you-thoughts/811376/7 "2018-03-28T22:16:06Z")
> [@Kron](#): > > Kill this wave of TV nostalgia. > > Kill it with fire. Please. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-return-of-mad-about-you-thoughts/811376/8 "2018-03-28T22:32:16Z")
Just…no. I don’t understand the appeal of bringing back old sitcoms, which in my mind is even worse than turning ‘Eighties and ‘Nineties shows into feature films, but this show was always full of insufferable characters that lacked even the redeeming wit of _Seinfeld_. I waited for years for Paul Reiser’s character to wake up and find Sigourney Weaver pointing a pulse rifle at him and then burn him alive with a flamethrower. The only character I cared about that show was the dog, and even he seemed kind of smug. And to be fair, this wasn’t just a problem with _Mad About You_; nearly every sitcom of the era is filled with repugnant characters with pointless problems and an almost complete lack of actual humor. It’s as if someone took _Two Broke Girls_ and expanded it to fill dozens of shows across a couple of decades If there is an ‘Eighties sitcom that should be remade, it is _ALF_. I mean, it was a terrible, unfunny show with an idiotic premise, but turning it into a reality challenge show where the actors try to hit their marks without falling through the trap doors or being hit by effects poles, a kind of thespian _American Ninja Warrior_. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Frazzled](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frazzled/32/3368_2.png) [@Frazzled](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frazzled)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-return-of-mad-about-you-thoughts/811376/9 "2018-03-28T22:34:11Z")
I liked Mad about You just fine, but it’s a very 90’s show. After I saw this thread title I wondered what Helen Hunt is up to so looked her up at IMDB. Right at the top of the page it says “Mad About you TV Movie (announced) 2019” So, sounds like it’s more than just talk, but at least it isn’t a full reboot (yet). ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-return-of-mad-about-you-thoughts/811376/10 "2018-03-28T22:58:21Z")
Stranger on a Train: > [@](#): > > I don’t understand the appeal of bringing back old sitcoms It’s easier than creating new shows. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-return-of-mad-about-you-thoughts/811376/11 "2018-03-28T23:22:43Z")
My hatred of Paul Reiser–like the fire of a thousand suns–was largely due to **Mad About You**. Sure he was unctuous in previous movie roles (_Diner, Aliens_), but you weren’t supposed to be rooting for him there, but you were in _MAY_ since he was the lead in a romantic sitcom. But I couldn’t stand him for one second in that part. Only lately has that hatred waned as he’s taken on more subdued character roles (most notably in **Whiplash** ). But the prospect of him returning to that same TV part? Blech. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-return-of-mad-about-you-thoughts/811376/12 "2018-03-29T00:09:55Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > …this show was always full of insufferable characters that lacked even the redeeming wit of _Seinfeld_. I waited for years… Wait, what? To paraphrase Woody Allen, “Life is full of misery and sadness and horrible tragedies, and it’s all over much too soon”. Why would you watch it so long if it was “full of insufferable characters”? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-return-of-mad-about-you-thoughts/811376/13 "2018-03-29T00:44:12Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > It’s easier than creating new shows. Is it, though? Sure, the characters are already established and there is a built-in audience that will turn in for at least the first two or three episodes, but it isn’t as if the sit-com format is some arcane or difficult-to-master entertainment form. You’ve got your single camera and three camera setups, three or four interior sets, either a lead with a love interest and small child/family/unrequited love interest/nagging older parent/talking wax lion that only the protagonist can hear, and then a set of standard plot complications that you draw from a trick bag which is periodically replenished by hiring junior writers, sapping them for their best ideas, destroying their idealism by denying them any credit, and then not renewing their contracts for the next season unless they come up with even more wacky ideas until the entire thing spirals out of control and you end up killing off a character with a drug overdose or having them go to Hollywood and water ski over a shark in order to create novelty. I mean, you can find originality occasionally in the setting and/or personality defects (e.g. _Mork and Mindy_, _Community_, _Parks & Rec_) or by stretching it into a longer format with more intricate plotting and deeper themes (_Wonderfalls_, _Dead Like Me_), but your basic sitcom hasn’t really changed much since the days of _I Love Lucy_ or _The Dick Van Dyke Show_. The biggest things a successful sitcom needs is an appealing lead, an overly cute kid/animal/puppet/goofy-and-hopeless-but-well-meaning-friend-or-roommate, and a catchphrase. Bringing back a long-retired sitcom is really just appealing to nostalgia, and is there really any particular nostalgic demand for this pretty indifferent show and its milquetoast leads who have not really done much of interest in their post-TV careers? > [@DooWahDiddy](#): > > Wait, what? To paraphrase Woody Allen, “Life is full of misery and sadness and horrible tragedies, and it’s all over much too soon”. > > Why would you watch it so long if it was “full of insufferable characters”? I would just catch it every once in a while when it was on and wonder, “How is this show still going?” So I’d watch it every great once in a while and puzzle over the fact that it was about as humorous as a cat barfing up a hairball. I mean, Helen Hunt was still pretty attractive at that point and Paul Reiser has perfected the “Not Quite Billy Crystal But He Might Confuse You For A Second” delivery, but it was kind of like _Seinfeld_ without any sense of irony. And _Seinfeld_ wasn’t really all that funny unless Julia Louis-Drefus was in scene. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-return-of-mad-about-you-thoughts/811376/14 "2018-03-29T01:32:27Z")
It’s not like it’s a new trend, it’s an older trend coming back into fashion. The 80’s-90’s gave us Still the Beaver/The New Leave it to Beaver, What’s Happening Now!, Get Smart! and The New WKRP in Cincinnati as full blown show revivals, plus some one off TV Movies like Return to Mayberry. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-return-of-mad-about-you-thoughts/811376/15 "2018-03-29T01:44:28Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > It’s not like it’s a new trend, it’s an older trend coming back into fashion. The 80’s-90’s gave us Still the Beaver/The New Leave it to Beaver, What’s Happening Now!, Get Smart! and The New WKRP in Cincinnati as full blown show revivals, plus some one off TV Movies like Return to Mayberry. And they were all uniformly terrible. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." While we’re at it, let’s bring back _Webster_, too; he’s now an embittered middle-aged man alienated from his adopted parents from whom he stole everything and left them destitute. And maybe _The Facts of Life_ with the premise that all of the original cast somehow got convicted of felonies at the same time and were forced as part of a work-release agreement to run a halfway house for wayward girls. Bring in George Clooney to be their overseer. (I just looked up Charlotte Rae under the assumption she had most likely died and holy fuck, she’s on Forbes’ 2018 list of billionaires!) Also reboot _My Two Dads_ (Paul Reiser again!) because there is nothing at all creepy about a family court judge forcing two grown men to live with a pubescent girl who has never met either of them before under the premise that one of them might be her father. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-return-of-mad-about-you-thoughts/811376/16 "2018-03-29T02:07:44Z")
> [@Kron](#): > > Kill this wave of TV nostalgia. X-files came back and made about 50% of the episodes really good. That’s kind of on par with the show when it first aired. It’s not always bad. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-return-of-mad-about-you-thoughts/811376/17 "2018-03-29T02:25:59Z")
Stranger on a Train: > [@](#): > > Is it, though? Sure, the characters are already established and there is a built-in audience that will turn in for at least the first two or three episodes, but it isn’t as if the sit-com format is some arcane or difficult-to-master entertainment form. Exactly - what makes a sitcom stand out from the crowd is the characters, but it’s hard to come up with fresh characters that will connect well with audiences. If they can use an existing cast of characters which they know had audience appeal, that’s a BIG chunk of creativity they can dispense with. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-return-of-mad-about-you-thoughts/811376/18 "2018-03-29T02:28:07Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > I just looked up Charlotte Rae under the assumption she had most likely died and holy fuck, she’s on Forbes’ 2018 list of billionaires!) That’s not true. > [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > And _Seinfeld_ wasn’t really all that funny unless Julia Louis-Drefus was in scene. Also not true. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-return-of-mad-about-you-thoughts/811376/19 "2018-03-29T02:46:30Z")
> [@DooWahDiddy](#): > > That’s not true. Yeah, but weirdly it pops up at the top of the page if you google “Charlotte Rae net worth”. As you say it is incorrect - there are two Charlottes that are billionaires on that list, both heiresses( Campbell Soup and H & M ). Charlotte Rae isn’t either one. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-return-of-mad-about-you-thoughts/811376/20 "2018-03-29T03:39:31Z")
You know what’s weird? I remember watching this show every week when it was on, but I don’t remember any dang thing about it. Not story lines, not episodes, not characters, not anything. The only thing I remember about it was…no, wait, that was Seinfeld. Or maybe Friends. This show is a completely vacant memory for me. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-return-of-mad-about-you-thoughts/811376.md?page=2)