1993 was a landmark year for Sesame Street. Not only were they celebrating 24 amazing years on the air, but they also got the opportunity to share that celebration with the cast of Taxi.
With almost two dozen anniversary celebrations under their belt already, it seems that the Sesame writers were starting to run out of ideas on how to properly homage the groundbreaking children’s show. So it makes a lot of sense that they’d invite the hack drivers from the Sunshine Cab Company along for the ride.
Taxi had gone off the air ten years earlier, and the cast seemed excited to reunite for this momentous occasion. Despite the fact that Danny DeVito and Tony Danza had already appeared on Sesame Street, this special was a great opportunity to allow Judd Hirsch, Jeff Conaway, and Marilu Henner to spend a little time with the Muppets. In fact, I loved how the Sesame cast felt comfortable getting out of the way and letting the Taxi gang take the spotlight for a bit.
I mean sure, it was weird that after the opening number, it seemed like Big Bird and Oscar just sort of disappeared. Bert and Ernie made their big introduction to bring in the cast of Taxi, and then they all just sort of sat in directors chairs and reminisced about filming their sitcom.
I definitely learned a lot about Taxi, especially once director James L. Brooks took the stage to discuss the research that went into developing the series into a realistic garage with a group of damaged personalities dealing with the tribulations of love and broken dreams. I can’t say I learned quite as much about Sesame Street.
Unfortunately, Andy Kaufman had passed away several years earlier, so Mr. Snuffleupagus appeared in his place. And if you haven’t seen Snuffy recreate Latka’s classic “Vic Ferrari” scene, you should definitely head straight to YouTube and watch it now.
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by Joe Hennes – Joe@ToughPigs.com
