Taxi

The personable cast carries the creators' vision of a New York full of false hope, made tolerable by a network of friends. And then there's that Bob James theme song, so pretty and forlorn, playing in the opening credits over an endless shot of a cab crossing a bridge and never getting anywhere. It's the whole mood and meaning of the show, established in less than a minute.

Like "the Mary Tyler Moore Show" this something-for-everyone comedy touches the nerves of character without forsaking the pratfall. [11 Sep 1978, p.25]

As a situation, Taxi is no better or worse than any other situation comedy on television. But the series has two distinctive assets. The scripts tend to be better than average. And the cast, headed by Judd Hirsch as the somewhat sour, deadpan AleX, happens to have coalesced rather rapidly into a first‐rate repertory company.

Taxi is a joyride, a warm, breezy, character-oriented comedy in the tradition of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "Barney Miller." [12 Sep 1978, p.72]

Judd Hirsch, Jeff Conaway, Tony Danza, Randall Carver, Marilu Henner and Andy Kaufman are a New York cab crew in a sitcom that does produce some genuine comedy.

Even if it gets permanently blocked in traffic, Latka and Hirsch are a lot for the average TV sitcom. [12 Sep 1978, p.35]

There could be a lot of laughs in the daily lives of cab drivers and tales to be spun out of their reasons for hacking. But Brooks and company have let their concept sputter away into a shapeless gagbag, wasting entirely their principal actor, Judd Hirsch, to say nothing of the supporting players aspiring to some kind of steady employment. [12 Sep 1978, p.134]