alt.tv.mad-about-you FAQ, Part 6/9
Ramaswamy
Archive-name: tv/mad-about-you/faq/part6
Posting-frequency: quarterly
Last-modified: 97-01-30
Version: 5.1
URL: http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~witelski/may-faq6.html
Copyright: (c) 1994-1997 by Ramaswamy [ra...@ultranet.com]
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Frequently Asked Questions list (6/9) for
"Mad About You" and the
Usenet newsgroup alt.tv.mad-about-you
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Archive-name: tv/mad-about-you/faq/part6
Posting-frequency: quarterly
Last-modified: 97-01-30
Version: 5.1
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This Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) list for the TV Comedy show
"Mad About You" is, as a collection of information,
Copyright (c) 1994-1997 by Ramaswamy [ra...@ultranet.com].
All Rights Reserved.
This document may be freely distributed in electronic form for
personal use only, provided it is distributed in its entirety
and with all original author and copyright information intact.
Distribution by any other means must be by permission of the
copyright holder. This material is for non-commercial use only
and any sale for profit is expressly forbidden. It may not be
included in any commercial documents, archives or CD-ROMs, nor
uploaded to any BBS or online service without the permission
of the copyright holder. The removal of this copyright notice
is prohibited.
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Sections with updates will be flagged with asterisks (*) in the
Local Table Of Contents below. Almost all sections have
updates in this re-organized document, hence none is flagged.
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Please send in corrections/comments to: [ra...@ultranet.com]
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Main Table of Contents
Local Table of Contents
6.0 Can we pursue some MAY trivia?
7.0 What are some of the oddities and inconsistencies in MAY?
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6.0 Can we pursue some MAY trivia?
There are no multiple choice questions in the following section and
no TRUE/FALSE questions either. The answers are to be found elsewhere
in this document. As always corrections are welcome (email to:
[ra...@ultranet.com]). Additions are at the discretion of the editor.
Readers using a Web browser may click on the [X] buttons to access
answers; getting back to this section is the responsibility of your
browser! Readers of the text version will find answers in part7.
6.1 Two significant changes occured after the MAY Pilot episode --
a new Murray showed up, but what was the other change? [X]
6.2 What is the oddest place the Buchman telephone has ever been? [X]
6.3 How many characters from Minsk have been featured on MAY? [X]
6.4 Can you name 6 things tossed out of the Buchman apartment? [X]
6.5 Who among the principal MAY characters doesn't snore? [X]
6.6 What character had a significant role in a MAY episode but
uttered not a sound? [X]
6.7 What change to the apartment occured for "The Apartment"? [X]
6.8 References to modern civilizations like Canada and England abound,
but can you name 2 references to ancient Egypt? [X]
6.9 How many turkeys did the Buchmans buy from Kim on the Day of the
Five Turkeys? [X]
6.10 Which day of the week has not been blessed by the telecast of a
new MAY episode in North America? Naturally syndication and reruns
do not count. [X]
6.11 Can you cite 3 examples of Lisa's brilliant logic? [X]
6.12 Can you name 6 characters that have been played by different
actors? [X]
6.13 We know that Paul cannot dance, but does he really have two
left feet? [X]
6.14 Can you name 3 characters whose names have changed from episode
to episode (at least according to the closing credits)? [X]
6.15 What is Jamie's middle name? [X]
6.16 How many of Jamie's ex-boyfriends has Paul met? [X]
6.17 How many times have we seen Jamie imitate Paul? [X]
6.18 How many times has a kitchen table been known to have been used
by the Buchmans for exertions other than cooking and eating? [X]
6.19 Who else believes as Jamie does that the floors of Apartment
11-D are slanty? [X]
6.20 We all know what can be dredged out of Lisa's purse, but what
can be unearthed from Paul's wallet? [X]
6.21 Apart from Paul and Jamie, who else from the MAY Dreams episode
is at the Laugh-In Party in their livingroom? [X]
6.22 Paul may only have ended up on a slab at Columbia University
Medical School, but how many professors from that august
institution has he met? [X]
6.23 Apart from Paul and Jamie, who is known to have walked Murray
before Nat arrived on the scene? [X]
6.24 Jamie may think she looks like Jodie Foster, but whom did she
look like once to Paul? [X]
6.25 What pseudonyms has Paul been known by? [X]
6.26 Jamie once threatened to kill Paul; who else in the family
has she killed off at convenient moments? [X]
6.27 Mark Devanow's middle name is David; can you name another
character on MAY whose middle name was David? [X]
(Robert D. Zobel doesn't count, he hasn't been featured on MAY)
6.28 Who doesn't have keys to Apartment 11-D? [X]
6.29 How many of Paul's ex-girlfriends has Jamie met? [X]
6.30 Surely you saw this coming -- how many degrees of separation from
Kevin Bacon are members of the MAY cast? [X]
6.31 Can you name even one of Ursula's boyfriends? [X]
6.32 Can you name 3 items to be found in the Murray box? [X]
6.33 Who besides Paul and Jamie has used their shower? [X]
6.34 Paul and Jamie got dozens of gravy boats at their wedding,
who didn't? [X]
6.35 Who among the many boyfriends of Lisa have we seen on screen? [X]
6.36 How many super-canine tricks up Murray's sleeve can you name? [X]
6.37 Can you name 6 of Paul and Jamie's vacation spots beyond the
Tri-State area (NY, NJ and CT)? [X]
6.38 Can you name 6 of their neighbors in the apartment building? [X]
6.39 New Jersey, the Garden State, is mentioned as such on MAY.
In which episodes are the other 2 states in the Tri-State area
identified by their tourism slogan/names? [X]
6.40 Can you name 6 actors that have played multiple characters
on MAY? [X]
6.41 Can you describe 6 inside jokes played out on MAY? [X]
6.42 Lisa's boyfriend Michael lost his wives under odd circumstances;
can you name them and the circumstances? [X]
6.43 Paul has rolled his eyes at Lisa; who else has done the same? [X]
6.44 A host of aunts and uncles have been mentioned on MAY, but how
many have we seen on screen? [X]
6.45 Mr. Wicker had a pager. Who else on MAY has been shown with
a pager? [X]
6.46 What war-torn countries have merited mention on MAY? [X]
6.47 How many different shoeboxes have been featured on MAY? [X]
6.48 Can you name 3 names used in MAY that just may also be names of
crew members? [X]
6.49 Why can the Buchman answering machine be considered an odd
gizmo? [X]
6.50 How many times has Paul Buchman been shown playing a piano? [X]
6.51 Okay, we won't stop at 50, so can you name 6 of Ira's on-screen
girlfriends? [X]
6.52 How many of the nicknames used for and attributed to MAY
characters can you name? [X]
6.53 How many power outages have Paul and Jamie been involved in,
or caused? [X]
6.54 Lisa started and ended the fourth season in the same job,
thanks to Jamie's purse, but what other decidedly odd jobs had
she held before the stint at Klarik's? [X]
6.55 Can you name some games the Buchmans play? No cute answers
please! [X]
6.56 What items do Paul and Jamie end up buying at the Department
store where he manages to hyperventilate? [X]
6.57 Fran and Mark have gone on a cruise; who else mentions the
possibility of going on a cruise? [X]
6.58 Paul is one of six documentary film-makers asked by PBS to
turn their cameras on themselves. Who are the other five? [X]
6.59 The Buchmans have a bicycle parked in their livingroom, but
has it ever been used? [X]
6.60 The special effects budget for the show has grown since the
matter of the spinning globe in season #2; can you name 3 effects
from more recent times? [X]
6.61 How many times have Paul and/or Jamie been seen in their
bathtub? [X]
6.62 Soap is usually used to clean up one's face, but can you recall
when spit has been used for this purpose on MAY? [X]
6.63 What is the name of Ira's band and when have we seen them in
action? And has the name of Susannah's band ever been mentioned?
[X]
6.64 Can you name the folks that Paul considered for the job of
narrating his "History of Television" documentary after Alan Brady
demurred? [X]
6.65 Can you name Murray's credits, commercial-wise that is? [X]
6.66 How many references to Tom Brokaw can you recall? [X]
6.67 In which episode was the terse exchange "Scrod?" "Royally!"
seen? And what was the significance of the scrod? [X]
6.68 What was "Mad About You" before it became "Mad About You"? [X]
6.69 Okay, I guess we can now talk about Paul's documentary projects.
How many of them can you name? [X]
6.70 Saving the unfair one for last, and folks will recognize this
for what it really is: a way to get the information into this FAQ.
Can you name 6 members of the crew of MAY that have managed to get
on-screen? [X]
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7.0 What are some of the oddities and inconsistencies in MAY?
The following section will not consider any continuity errors (as are
caused by editing output of multiple takes of a scene), nor anything
to do with conflicting universes or strange props. Fantasy will be
allowed to be fantasy, and only perceived errors in logic are being
listed.
Some major errors have merited separate sections of their own, among
them the issue of when Paul and Jamie met, goings on at their wedding,
their escapades on the New York subway system, the fire-escape at
their apartment, the gender of Lisa's shrink and the matter of
when Mark Devanow first heard of Paul.
In roughly episodic order, with forward references as necessary, and
the relevant episode numbers marked:
- Fran suggests that the 'baking sound' from the kitchen may indicate
Jamie is making a cake to celebrate Fran's recent birthday [1.1].
Since the time-frame is 5 months after Jamie and Paul were married,
i.e. September, this conflicts with Fran's established birthday of
October 28 [2.9].
- Jamie claims she is 30 [1.5] at a time she should have been only
29. She turned 30 a year later [2.8].
- A casting nit-pick: Jamie's assistant Ricky is made out to be much
larger than Paul [1.6], yet is not an imposing figure when finally
featured [2.4].
- Jamie calls Eddie the doorman to retrieve the shirt she tossed out
of the bedroom window, but she dials a 3-digit number [1.8]. It is
unlikely to be a speed-dial option, usually not 3 digits.
- Fran mentions that she proposed to Mark and had him moving boxes
out of his apartment within an hour [1.8], yet talks in tears of
how Mark proposed to her [2.10].
- Precisely when Kramer started subletting Paul's apartment is
subject to question, since it had to have happened after February
14, 1991 when Paul moved out [2.16]. "Seinfeld" and Kramer's
role in it would appear to pre-date 1991.
- Maggie is allergic to all flowers [1.10], yet grows paperwhites
[3.11] and delivers bouquets to the Buchman door [3.14, 5.7].
- Masha the maid picks up and whacks the doormat at 11-D and then
shakes Jamie's hand at the introduction [1.12]. A bit odd for a
cleaning machine.
- Laconia, NH cannot be 3 hours north of any place in Vermont [1.14].
While Pine Junction, VT is a ficticious town, Laconia is not.
- Fran, Ira and Lisa all watch Regis Philbin's show in the morning
[1.18]. What are Lisa's chances of being up by 9AM? :-) Indeed it is
a fact well established that noon is an early hour for Lisa [2.5].
- Jamie says she was in Junior High when Paul was in High School
[2.3]; however, the difference in their ages has to be more than
4 years. In fact it is more like 6 years, 1957 vs 1963.
- Jamie talks to a caller (Natelle) without selecting the line after
her assistant Ricky had put the caller on hold [2.4].
- A possible error, or a tougue-in-cheek plant: In the opening scene
[2.5] Paul is looking for the tape of his latest project to show
"Lou." Jamie asks if he means "Lou the doorman" whereupon Paul
indicates he meant "Lou the Producer." Their doorman is Eddie,
played by actor Lou Cutell, though it is possible there is more
than one doorman, one of them named Lou.
- Jamie turns 30 in [2.8], which was telecast on November 11, 1993,
and later, in the alternate reality episode [3.22] she is shown
examining a TRW fact-sheet on herself which indicates her date of
birth as November 11, 1963. It is very likely that this prop was
influenced by the air-date of [2.8]. However in the Dreams episode
[4.11] she complains that the carton of milk (dated February 12)
went sour on her birthday. The writers could just as easily have
dated the milk to go bad on February 14, the anniversary of their
engagement!
It could very well be another case of must-be-for-my-birthday-itis
that afflicts writers from time to time, the other cases in MAY
being Fran's remark (noted above) in [1.1], as well as Ira wondering
if Uncle Phil has asked him and Paul over for Ira's birthday [5.2].
- Maggie Conway has the mee-grane/a-sprine exchange with Paul in the
morning [2.12], yet shows up at the door later that day with eats,
claiming to have read Paul's obituary in the papers.
- Paul tries to recall the name of the actor who had played Hannibal
Lecter in "The Silence of the Lambs" on Valentine's Day, 1991.
The scene is played out as if the movie had been released quite some
time back, yet by an odd coincidence, it was released in New York
City that very day, making the conversation with Ira at Buchman's
Sporting Goods store somewhat improbable. There is no indication
that Paul saw the movie that day; in fact Ira asks him if he wants
to go see a movie after popping the question to Jamie.
By contrast, the other mention of "The Silence of the Lambs"
is right on target [3.20], since it won the Oscar on March 30, 1992,
just a few weeks before Paul's birthday on April 19.
- Mr. Wicker's first day on the job is mentioned in Millie's letter
to Leo [2.19], sometime in 1943-44, more than 50 years ago. Yet he
is 64, has been married 40 years [3.4] and mentions his "33 years
of experience" [2.23].
- Mr. Wicker complains about how the owner of the apartment building
will not upgrade the manual elevator to automatic [2.23], yet the
elevator is sometimes manual [3.6] and automatic other times [3.12].
- Sylvia talks as if she and Burt have lived in their apartment
since getting married [2.24]. This was in 1951 [4.22], yet they
moved once when Paul was 10, presumably in 1967 [5.5]. If only she
had not talked of *this* kitchen and *this* apartment!
- Paul was born 9 months after his parents went to see "Gigi" and
Burt's impression of Maurice Chevalier led to an amorous adventure
on the kitchen table [2.24]. "Gigi" was released in May 1958,
making Paul's birth on April 19, 1959 awkwardly late, 2 years late.
- Paul's birthday in 1992 (shortly after the wedding) was supposed
to be an exceptionally snowy day in New York City [3.20]. April 1992
saw no freak or major snow storms in NYC, except by way of poetic
licence. A stickier point is that April 19, 1992 was a Sunday and
although Jamie was a hardworking "suit," she is unlikely to have
ventured to work that day.
- Sharon was described as a divorcee in [2.3], but as separated from
her husband Steve in [4.3]. It is highly unlikely she remarried in
the meantime.
- Jamie and Paul discover that their friends (the other couple) are
having an affair, return home and Ira visits them and leaves in a
huff [4.7]. Paul hurries after Ira to Riff's, yet in the ensuing
conversation Ira already knows about the cheating nature of the
other couple.
- Paul calls the Radisson in Albany a second time and the telephone
receptionist tries the room unsuccessfully [4.20]. Since Jamie never
got to Albany, no specific room number would have been assigned and
the switchboard operator would have known that Jamie hadn't checked
in, much as she did when Paul called the first time.
- Burt complains of having been outbid by Ziggy Klarik in 1954 for
an exclusive dealership of the Hula Hoop [4.22]. That craze was
in 1958.
- Jamie indicates that the character played by Anthony Edwards in
"ER" was based on the gynecologist they are considering,
except Anthony Edwards does not play an ob/gyn in "ER" [5.1].
- Just for the record: Sylvia talks about how Burt faced down Frank
Costello on their first date and about how Costello died two days
later [5.3]. Since this incident took place before 1951, probably
1949 or 1950, she is obviously mistaken in mind. Frank Costello
the mobster, died in his bed in New York City on February 18,
1973. Costello would have been in the news in 1951 since he was
testifying before the McClellan committee in Washington DC. Lou
Costello of the Abbott and Costello duo died on March 4, 1959.
Such flawed memory is not an inconsistency in itself. A similar
incident occured in [4.4] when Ira talked about Lance (Alworth)
of the San Diego Chargers, when he probably meant Lance Rentzel.
- The baby is felt by Jamie to be moving in the first trimester, an
unlikely event [5.4]. However such incorrect interpretation is not
unusual for a first-time mother; it could be due to something as
mundane as gas. A true movement in the second trimester tends to
clarify impressions to the mother.
- Paul gets to Joan's office at 5:30PM [5.5], but NBC Evening News
with Tom Brokaw has already been on the air in an earlier scene,
presumably by 5PM. A bit early that!
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Please send in corrections/comments to: [ra...@ultranet.com]
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