Mad About You: The Tape

I'm pretty sure I squealed in recognition when I originally saw
Ryan's striped overshirt, something he would've worn on
Whose Line Is It Anyway?  Notice Jamie in the background,
violating privacy by getting a customer's address off the
computer.

Mad About You: The Tape
NBC
February 24, 1994
Sitcom
VHS
B-

I watched this series sporadically, and obviously when I was in the midst of a divorce, I was not tuning in often to watch a happily married couple on a regular basis.  But Ryan was on, so I taped this second-season episode.  (It's actually his second appearance as the Video Vogue Manager, but I taped the first one later, possibly in summer reruns.)  He doesn't even show up until fairly far into the story, written by Reiser, which is about Paul accidentally switching videotapes, including a sex tape of him and Jamie (Helen Hunt) when they were younger.  You have to suspend disbelief to think that no one, even a video store, would label their VHS on the tapes themselves, not just the boxes, but the farce is pretty well done, and there's some nice little observational humor about marriage and relationships in the quieter moments.  Note that "The Family Network" is a transparent satire of "The Family Channel."

Kenneth Tigar, who was Spinkus on Bosom Buddies and Mr. Timmons on Who's the Boss, plays Norman Lark.  Perry Anzilotti, who plays Roy Osterback, would be a Minister on Ellen.  Steve Paymer also plays Ryan's employee Dutch in the episode we'll look at next.  Maui the dog has his regular role as Murray the dog.  And, yes, that's Lisa Kudrow as waitress Ursula Buffay (pre-Phoebe).