
Taxi (1978)
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M. Pam Blumenthal — Editor
Episodes 9
Blind Date
Alex finds himself inexplicably attracted to an overweight and abrasive blind date.
Read MoreGuess Who's Coming for Brefnish
Latka falls in love with a woman from his homeland.
Read MoreOn the Job (1)
The cab company goes bust, and the gang is forced to get other jobs. They meet at Mario's a month later to discuss their new jobs. Tony is a collector for a bookie, but feels guilty about this line of work, especially when he needs to collect on a priest. Elaine is an executive assistant, but after she convinces her spineless boss to speak his opinions at a board meeting, they both get fired. Jim takes a job as a door to door salesman, but forgets that he is selling encyclopedias rather than rug shampooers and ruins a woman's carpet in the process. (Part one of a two part episode)
Read MoreOn the Job (2)
In part two, the gang continues talking about their new job experiences. Louie gets a job as a stock broker, after convincing the boss that his persistence and lack of morals will make him successful. While this proves to be true, he is fired nonetheless, because his colleagues can't stand him. Bobby takes a job as a bunny for children's party, but when he discovers that a kid's mother is a famous director, he acts out a monologue from ""Whose Life is it, Anyway,"" to the disappointment of the children. Alex gets a job as a night watchman, which is dull until he aims the surveillance camera at himself and pretends to be on ""the Alex Reiger Show."" At the end, Louie learns that the cab company is back in business, and everyone returns to their old jobs.
Read MoreLatka the Playboy
After Latka is rejected by a snobbish, but beautiful woman at Mario's, he decides to change his image by taking some time off and studying Playboy magazines and English language tapes. When Latka reemerges from his sabbatical, he has lost his accent and now is a lounge lizard who goes by the name, Vic Ferrarri. He soon easily picks up on the woman who had rebuffed him earlier. Although amused, the cabbies become concerned about the changes Latka has gone through, since he has now lost all of his nice qualities and is constantly hitting on Elaine. Alex tells Latka/Vic off, and later Latka appears at Alex's apartment, saying that he's sorry and doesn't want to be Vic anymore. Alex works with Latka and manages to get the old Latka back, although there is a twinge in Latka's eye that suggests Vic isn't gone forever..
Read MoreVienna Waits
Alex and Elaine decide to take a vacation together through Europe. However, Alex feels it necessary to tell Elaine in no uncertain terms that they are going together as platonic friends, so there's no resentment if he meets and wants to spend time with any other ladies on vacation. Elaine agrees to this and they decide to do things mostly separately during the days, but to meet up once a day to write post cards together. During the trip, it turns out that Elaine is getting all the action, while Alex is lonely and unhappy. The last night, however, Elaine takes pity on Alex (more or less) and propositions him, suggesting that their friendship is strong enough to endure one night of ""love."" They then go off together...
Read MoreI Wanna Be Around
Louie becomes scared of nuclear war after hearing someone talk on Donahue, and he sets up a bomb shelter in the garage. He schedules a weekend drill with Jeff and Tony in tow, but finds he's too ""soft"" to survive if war really broke out, since he is unwilling to throw Jim (who has stowed away in a radiation suit) out of the shelter.
Read MoreCrime and Punishment
Louie lets Jeff, his assistant dispatcher, take the rap for skimming money from the company (that Louie is actually responsible for), assuring Jeff that he'll smooth everything over. Louie overdoes it when he reprimands Jeff in front of the garage owner, though, and the owner not only fires Jeff but has him arrested. Louie eventually tells the owner the truth before Alex has a chance to turn him in, but the owner thinks that Louie is only doing it to protect Jeff. The owner decides as a favor to Louie to drop the charges against Jeff and hire him back, so Louie's crime ends up going unpunished despite his good intentions.
Read MoreAlex the Gofer
Alex, who loves the theater, takes a part time job as a gofer for a young producer and director, but soon feels mistreated by his younger bosses. Louie, spying on Alex at his new job, spots Alex being humiliated and uncharacteristically does not make fun of him; rather, he tries to convince Alex to stand up for himself and tell the director off. Alex is considering this when the director suddenly has a change of heart and apologizes for mistreating Alex and ignoring one of his earlier suggestions. As a result, Alex regains his dignity.
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