Mad About You 3rd Season (DVD)

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During its seven-year run, "Mad About You" made Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt household names, with the latter winning four Emmys and three Golden Globes. Paul and Jamie Buchman were a breath of fresh sitcom air for fans of the genre who had been overwhelmed by contrived situations, pack o' friends shows, or families with overly cutesy kids. "Mad About You" offered counter programming, drawing its humor strictly from a witty, peppy, and neurotic New York couple who just happened to be madly in love with each other.

Paul is an independent filmmaker, which, in New York, is a bit like saying he's an actor. Much of his time seems to be spent looking for funding or a project, and the rest of the time he's needing his ego stroked. Jamie, meanwhile, is a former PR exec with a slightly wilder and more interesting past than Paul. Now she's trying to start her own agency, and she's almost as insecure as her husband. In other words, they were made for each other.

More than the first two seasons, which introduced the couple and focused on the adjustments they made as a newly married couple, the third season plays upon their insecurities to show how the simplest things can complicate a marriage. Little mistakes, miscalculations, and past lives also intrude, which creates yet another level of adjustments that the couple has to make. This is also a season of flashbacks, as we learn more about how Paul and Jamie met and how they were married, and it contains several other episodes that you'd have to call "classic," notably "The Alan Brady Show," "Giblets for Murray," "Our Fifteen Minutes," and "How to Fall in Love." Carl Reiner reprises his role as the fictional variety-show host Alan Brady (from "The Dick Van Dyke Show") in an episode that connects with viewers' TV pasts, while "Giblets for Murray" is almost as classic a Thanksgiving episode as the "WKRP in Cincinnati" show where a newsman throws live turkeys from a helicopter in an ill-conceived promotion. But "Our Fifteen Minutes" and "How to Fall in Love" speak to the heart of this show, which is a basic exploration of what it means to be in love and happily married.

Here's how the 24 episodes play out:

1) "Escape from New York"-When Paul takes Jamie out of town to escape a heat wave, Jamie is rattled to find out that best friend Fran has filled her old PR job.

2) "Home"-The feud between the Buchmans and their British neighbors across the hall in their apartment building worsens when their mutt, Murray, goes for the neighbors' purebred dog Sophie.

3) "Till Death Do Us Part"-In this from bad-to-worse episode, Paul botches remarks at the funeral of Jamie's favorite uncle, and then her sister, Lisa (Anne Ramsey), manages to lose the ashes.

4) "When I'm Sixty-Four"-Jamie learns she has to wear glasses, and a visit to get contact lenses gets complicated; meanwhile, old Mr. Wicker ends up moving in with the Buchmans after a bad piece of advice from Paul.

5) "Legacy"-Paul's father, Burt, wants to hold one last sale before giving up his sporting goods store, and everybody pitches in. Then he shakes Paul with the news that he's giving the store to his cousin, Ira.

6) "Pandora's Box"-Jamie hooks up cable and gets busted, and Paul's attempt to get things back to normal causes a citywide blackout.

7) "The Ride Home"-Paul and Jamie decide not to be joined at the hip at a party, and it sparks rumors of trouble between them, something fueled by the appearance of Jamie's former flame.

8) "Giblets for Murray"-A Thanksgiving episode stuffed with surprises for the Buchmans and their in-laws, with a heaping helping of family meddling leading to a Bah-Humbug attitude for all concerned.

9) "Once More, with Feeling"-Was it good for you? Paul and Jamie get self-conscious over their bedroom relationship, and it ironically comes back to haunt their friends.