Taxi opening and closing

Taxi

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Taxi
• opening
• and
• closing

[gameshowguy2000]

Which season was this? I don't remember the opening credits zooming up during the theme song.

[thesafekind]

@gameshowguy2000 It's season 2. They added the zooming credits that season (and from then on) to help disguise the fact that they were looping the same taxi footage over and over.

[gameshowguy2000]

@thesafekind

Well, I thought in the seasons in which Jeff Conaway was no longer a cast member they didn't use the zooming for the opening credits; at least that's how I saw it when I watched it.

[thesafekind]

@gameshowguy2000 They still use the zooming in the season 4 credits, at least on the DVD. I think they may not have used the zooming when the titles were shortened for syndication though.

[76carmel]

Okay New Yorkers, did you notice the cab going over the Queensboro Bridge? Have you noticed the cab didn't quite get over the bridge?

[thesafekind]

@76carmel They had only a short bit of footage of Tony Danza driving the cab, so they looped it.

[boofdfast]

"Good Night, Mr. Walters........... Grrrrrrrr." Friggin CLASSIC. Love this theme song and the show. So many talented stars and future greats on an EPIC show. Love the shots of Manhattan, NY, too. :)

[YentonianCarlos]

@76carmel

Or the buildings in the background not getting any further away either.

[lightmajor1]

@Wattingers DITTO! He nailed it! I would watch this on Nick at Nite as a kid and just wait until the end so I could hear that melody. I just dl'd it from iTunes the other day. I whistle this theme periodically during any given day. Timeless

[Wattingers]

@jpmnewyork Wow!  I agree with every word you have said! Doesn't often happen with comments I see written on the internet!

[Milesco]

@Milesco [continued] ...But on the other hand, because this atypical theme is so different and intriguing, it might draw in other viewers who might otherwise not have bothered to try a new sitcom. (There were many on the schedule lineup in those days.) Fortunately, I fell into the latter group and was rewarded with an original and well-written series.

[Milesco]

@jpmnewyork Great description, jp. I feel the same way -- I always found this theme to be kinda lonely and depressing. Yet, as you said, it sorta drew me in, too, because of its sophisticated jazz sound and electric piano. It seemed to fit in with the grungy, "lonely-in-a-crowd" zeitgeist of New York in the '70s.

Using a tune like this is risky for a sitcom. Not the typically upbeat melody that one would normally expect. Might turn many viewers away. [to be continued...]

[jpmnewyork]

That theme, combined with that scene, for some reason always made me feel incredibly sad...but it also drew me in and wouldn't let go. Especially this version of the theme...they re-recorded it a few times, but this particularly arrangement is the one that got to me every time, and amazingly still does. I don't know what it is about it. Melancholy, hypnotizing, unsettling and reassuring all at once. And I always get ticked when I see the shortened version. How dare they!

[rubberguard83]

holy shit! pass the china white!

[WildBill6942]

I always wondered how Judd Hirsch got top-billing. Nothing against him but I this show was a collaboration of talent.

[iloveheavyd]

Never realized it was a loop. I mean, the cut is so obvious. Ah, the young, naive me. Still is one of my favorite songs, not just theme songs.

[RightWingHunter666]

The Great Bob James. Great Intro... great show.