1981-82: THE FOURTH SEASON

Year-End Rating: 15.8 (53rd place)

Fourth-season producers Ken Estin, Howard Gewirtz, and Ian Praiser write many of the year's scripts, along with executive script consultant David Lloyd, executive story editor Sam Simon, and Glen Charles and Les Charles, who are credited as executive consultants in the fourth year. Richard Sakai is co-producer, and James L. Brooks is billed as executive creative consultant.

67 Jim the Psychic    First Aired: October 8, 1981
Writer: Barry Kemp
Story: Holly Holmberg Brooks
Director: James Burrows
Guest Stars: Diane Peterson, Kiva Dawson

The cabbies prepare for the worst when Jim's latest premonition foretells doom for Alex.

This episode was based on a story submitted by Holly Holmberg Brooks, the wife of executive producer James L. Brooks.

68 Vienna Waits    First Aired: October 15, 1981
Writer: Ken Estin
Director: Howard Storm
Guest Stars: Reuven Bar-Yotam, Gary Phillips, Warwick Sims, Cassandra Gava, Patch Mackenzie

Alex is worried that Elaine might cramp his style during a trip to Europe, but she ends up adapting to the romantic climate far better than he does.

Alex and Elaine's occasional attraction resurfaces in a lovely scene where they both agree that, after four years of helping each other through good times and bad, their bond may actually be strong enough to withstand a single night as lovers.

69 Mr. Personalities    First Aired: October 22, 1981
Writers: Ian Praiser, Howard Gewirtz
Director: Howard Storm
Guest Stars: Barry Nelson, Bernadette Birkett, Wendy Goldman

The cabbies convince Latka to see a psychiatrist after his playboy persona threatens to take over his entire personality.

70 Jim Joins the Network    First Aired: October 29, 1981
Writer: David Lloyd
Director: Noam Pitlik
Guest Stars: Martin Short, Melendy Britt

A spineless network executive taps Jim as a silent partner after the cabbie's programming hunches prove unerringly correct.

71 Louie's Fling    First Aired: November 5, 1981
Writer: Sam Simon
Director: James Burrows
Guest Stars: Andrea Marcovicci, Rhea Perlman

Louie takes advantage of Zena's emotionally unstable girlfriend Emily.

After he exploits Emily, Louie still can't resist entertaining the fantasy that she's in love with him--a dream that comes tumbling down when, like Chaplin's drunken benefactor in City Lights, she sobers up in the cold morning light to declare him disgusting. And yet, despite Louie's despicable behavior, our sympathy goes out to this misguided devil who is brave--or foolish--enough to act out his own mischievous fantasies.

72 Like Father, Like Son    First Aired: November 12, 1981
Writer: David Lloyd
Director: James Burrows
Guest Stars: Jack Gilford, Barbara Babcock

Alex gets involved in a bizarre triangle when he finds himself in romantic competition with his own irrepressible father.

73 Louie's Mom Remarries    First Aired: November 19, 1981
Writer: Earl Pomerantz
Director: James Burrows
Guest Stars: Julia DeVito, Jerry Fujikawa

Louie hits the roof when his mother asks his blessing for her marriage to an elderly Japanese man.

74 Fledgling    First Aired: November 26, 1981
Writer: Ken Estin
Director: James Burrows
Guest Star: Paul Sand

Elaine tries to convince a severely agoraphobic artist to venture outside his studio for the first time in years.

75 Of Mice and Tony    First Aired: December 10, 1981
Writers: Glen Charles, Les Charles
Director: James Burrows
Guest Stars: Ernie Hudson, John Christy Ewing

Tony's dream of managing an up-and-coming young boxer crumbles when a syndicate of well-to-do doctors makes his fighter a better offer.

Writers Ian Praiser and Howard Gewirtz make cameo appearances as two of the well-heeled doctors.

76 Louie Goes Too Far    First Aired: December 17, 1981
Writer: Danny Kallis
Director: Michael Lessac
Guest Stars: Allen Williams, Noni White

Louie's days at the Sunshine Cab Company appear numbered when Elaine files charges against him for spying on her through a peephole in the ladies' room.

77 I Wanna Be Around    First Aired: January 7, 1982
Writers: Glen Charles, Les Charles
Director: James Burrows
Guest Star: J. Alan Thomas

Louie prepares for an imagined apocalypse by recruiting a survival squad for his bomb shelter.

78 Bobby Doesn't Live Here Anymore    First Aired: January 14, 1982
Writers: Glen Charles, Les Charles
Director: James Burrows
Guest Star: Jeff Conaway

Bobby returns to suffer Louie's taunts one last time as he prepares to move on to brighter horizons in Hollywood.

79 Nina Loves Alex    First Aired: January 21, 1982
Writer: David Lloyd
Director: Joan Darling
Guest Stars: Charlaine Woodard, John Mengatti, Audrey Berindey

An optimistic cabbie launches a romantic campaign to attract Alex, who finds himself fiercely uninterested in the ingratiating young actress.

A superb comic script that captures the essence of Alex's tragic inability to synchronize head and heart. At his most caustic, he dismisses his would-be companion as a naive fool: "She's like every actress or Hindu I've ever met!" The inevitable turnaround comes when Alex consoles Nina after her first defeat, and he finally comes to recognize his attraction to her despair. He inspires her to strike out on her own, only to find himself standing alone once more at the top of the stairs.

80 Tony's Lady    First Aired: January 28, 1982
Writer: Ken Estin
Director: Michael Zinberg
Guest Stars: Rebecca Holden, Joel Brooks, John Calvin

Tony lands a job as chauffeur for a wealthy young woman and soon finds himself falling in love with the untouchable beauty.

81 Simka Returns    First Aired: February 4, 1982
Writers: Ian Praiser, Howard Gewirtz
Director: Michael Zinberg
Guest Star: Carol Kane

Latka discovers an unlikely rival for Simka's affections when she falls under the spell of his alter-ego, Vic Ferrari.

Carol Kane had already appeared in more than a dozen films when she approached Jim Brooks for advice on whether she should do television. The executive producer's response was to offer her the role of Latka's girlfriend in a third-year episode. "It went through the roof," he remembers, which brought about Simka's reprise in this episode--an appearance that would earn the actress an Emmy.

82 Jim and the Kid    First Aired: February 11, 1982
Writer: David Lloyd
Director: Michael Zinberg
Guest Stars: Tony La Torre, Rebecca Clemons, Mark Harrison

After Tony brings a runaway into the Sunshine garage, Jim decides to raise the wayward kid as his own son.

83 Take My Ex-Wife, Please    First Aired: February 18, 1982
Writers: Ian Praiser, Howard Gewirtz
Director: Noam Pitlik
Guest Stars: Louise Lasser, Candi and Randi Brough, Alex Rodine

Alex is frantic when his ex-wife develops an unexplainable attraction to Louie

De Palma.

84 The Unkindest Cut    First Aired: February 25, 1982
Writer: Sam Simon
Story: Barbara Duncan
Director: Noam Pitlik
Guest Stars: Ted Danson, Gela Jacobsen, Karen Anders

Louie and Alex extract revenge on a snooty hairdresser who has bilked Elaine out of $225 for a perfectly hideous hairstyle.

During a lull in shooting, director Jim Burrows asked guest star Ted Danson if he might be interested in reading for a part in a new series the director was developing with Glen and Les Charles. The show was called Cheers, and Danson walked off with the lead role.

85 Tony's Comeback    First Aired: March 4, 1982
Writer: Sam Simon
Director: Michael Lessac
Guest Stars: Bubba Smith, Naomi Stevens

An unemployed pro football player inspires Tony to attempt a boxing comeback.

86 Elegant Iggy    First Aired: March 18, 1982
Writer: Ken Estin
Director: Noam Pitlik
Guest Stars: Fran Ryan, Nina Van Pallandt, Robert Denison

Elaine prepares for the most embarrassing night of her life when Jim escorts her to an elegant dinner party hosted by an influential society matron.

87 The Wedding of Latka and Simka    First Aired: March 25, 1982
Writers: Howard Gewirtz, Ian Praiser
Director: James Burrows
Guest Stars: Carol Kane, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Susan Kellermann, Vincent Schiavelli, Peter Elbing

Latka and Simka's marriage plans fall in doubt when the pair fails to pass the bizarre rituals of their old-world wedding ceremony.

88 Cooking for Two    First Aired: April 8, 1982
Writers: Ken Estin, Sam Simon
Director: James Burrows

Jim proves a most unwelcome houseguest when he sleeps through a fire that reduces Louie's apartment to cinders.

89 The Road Not Taken (Part 1)    First Aired: April 29, 1982
Writers: Sam Simon, Ken Estin
Director: James Burrows
Guest Stars: J. Pat O'Malley, Wendy Phillips, Tom Hanks, Eugene Roche, Charles Cioffi, Michael A. Salcido

The cabbies recall crucial turning points in their own lives when they help Elaine face a momentous decision of her own.

Future film star Tom Hanks has a role as one of Jim's college chums in a hilarious flashback that reveals the cabbie's first fateful brush with mind-expanding drugs.

90 The Road Not Taken (Part 2)    First Aired: May 6, 1982
Writers: Ian Praiser, Howard Gewirtz
Director: James Burrows
Guest Stars: Susan Kellermann, Max Wright, Jill Jaress, David Mendenhall, Melanie Gaffin, Matthew Faison

Despite all the well-meaning advice from her fellow cabbies, Elaine still can't decide whether she wants to pull up stakes and move to Seattle.

Flashbacks reveal Latka's tearful farewell to his frigid homeland on the eve of his emigration to America, and a second vignette reveals Alex's final confrontation with the petty tyranny of office politics.