TAXI: HONOR THY FATHER (TV)
Summary
One in this comedy series about the employees of a New York City cab company. In this episode, Louis yells at Latka for yet another mistake and calls him lazy, and Latka decides to "make a grievance," objecting to his poor treatment. A woman arrives looking for Alex and they are all surprised to learn that she is his estranged sister Charlotte, and are further shocked when she converses with Latka in his native language. She explains that she cannot wait around for Alex, but tells the group that their father had a heart attack and is in a New York hospital. When Alex arrives, he seems unfazed by the news, and informs his friends that he and his father are "not close," not having spoken for thirty years.
Latka gets into a disagreement with a Spanish-speaking mechanic, much to Louis' annoyance. Charlotte arrives again to persuade Alex to come and visit their father, but he refuses. She reminds him about the death of their childhood cat and the pain of not getting a chance to say goodbye, but he shoots back that he was a lousy father who cheated and did not support the family. Charlotte admits that she had a better relationship with the man than Alex did, but points out that he attended their mother's funeral, although Alex counters that he brought a date. Eventually she wears him down and they go to the hospital, meeting the woman who was "with" their father at the time of his heart attack. Alex enters the room alone and approaches the elderly man in the bed, awkwardly greeting him and attempting to remember some good times between them, with little luck. Finally, he becomes emotional, admitting that he wanted to come and make amends…only to have his father come out of the restroom, wondering why Alex is hugging his roommate. Flustered, Alex talks briefly with his actual father and declines to repeat the "kinda personal" speech, parting on cordial, if self-conscious, terms. Back at the garage, Latka gets into another argument with the mechanic, and Tony is forced to break it up. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: September 18, 1979 9:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:24:44
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:65880
- GENRE: Comedy
- SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 1978-1982; NBC - 1982-1983
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- James L. Brooks … Executive Producer, Created by
- Stan Daniels … Executive Producer, Created by
- Ed. Weinberger … Executive Producer, Created by
- Glen Charles … Producer, Writer
- Les Charles … Producer, Writer
- Richard Sakai … Associate Producer
- David Davis … Created by
- James Burrows … Director
- Bob James … Music by
- Judd Hirsch … Cast, Alex Reiger
- Jeff Conaway … Cast, Bobby Wheeler
- Danny DeVito … Cast, Louis De Palma
- Marilu Henner … Cast, Elaine O'Connor-Nardo
- Tony Danza … Cast, Tony Banta
- Andy Kaufman … Cast, Latka Gravas
- Joan Hackett … Cast, Charlotte Reiger
- Jack Gilford … Cast, Joe Reiger
- Ian Wolfe … Cast, The Old Man in The Hospital
- Margaret Ladd … Cast, Miss Stallworth
- Richard Beauchamp … Cast, The Mechanic
- J. Alan Thomas … Cast, Jeff