MAD ABOUT YOU Impulsive PR executive marries thoughtful and cautious filmmaker. 164 episodes of 30 minute duration. NBC 1992-99

In a decade when singles and families with cute children dominated the sitcom form, Mad About You successfully bucked the trend by showing a married couple whose personal life was as wild, as free and as sexually satisfying as any unmarried pair. It also dealt with tough subjects-including the attempt to have a child and the near-breakup of a committed relationship-and left viewers with a lump in the throat in addition to the well-deserved chuckle.

Co-star and stand-up comic Paul Reiser teamed up with producer Danny Jacobsen to create this comedy about a newlywed couple. (Both had just become married men when they came up with the series, based on their experiences; Reiser wanted the show to be "like a couple's car ride home after a party, where you can finally say what you've been thinking all night".)

Reiser played Paul Buckman, a bright documentary filmmaker, is also thoughtful and cautious. Not so wife Jamie (Helen Hunt), an impulsive public relations executive with her own quirks. The pair lived in a high-rise apartment in the Manhattan section of New York City with their large dog Murray (Maui).

Right from the first episode (which aired September 23rd, 1992), viewers quickly realized this couple was no Ozzie & Harriet: Paul and Jamie wanted to spend an evening alone (it had been five days since they last had sex). But they forgot that they had dinner plans with friends Fran and Mark Devanow (Leila Kenzle and Richard Kind); Jamie's sister Lisa (Anne Elizabeth Ramsay) was dumped by her latest boyfriend; and Paul's friend Jay Selby (Tommy Hinkley) was coming over. The episode ended with Paul and Jamie coupling in the kitchen while everyone else was in the living room next door. (Of course, they couldn't see what was happening. Let's say that Paul and Jamie were not quiet people when it came to sex.) True, Ozzie & Harriet would never have done that...but then, this was the 1990's.

Also in the cast was Paul's cousin Ira Buckman (John Pankow) and Paul's parents Sylvia and Burt Buckman (Cynthia Harris and Louis Zorich). Different actors played Jamie's parents early on, but occasional guest stars Carol Burnett and Carroll O'Connor later portrayed them. Paul and Jamie's British neighbors, Maggie and Hal, were played by Judy Geeson and Paxton Whitehead.

As the seasons progressed, Paul and Jamie faced small daily obstacles (who should change the toilet paper when the roll is gone?) and some major ones-including career choices for both, and whether to have a baby. The pair also flirted with infidelity and a near-breakup in the fourth season; by Season Five, the pair finally had a baby, little Mabel (she was born for the May 1997 ratings sweeps).

Mad About You eventually became a top-20 series after a slow first season. It also did wonders for Reiser, who was first seen in such films as "Diner" and "Beverly Hills Cop". He later appeared in the 1987-1990 NBC sitcom My Two Dads. (Reiser co-starred with Greg Evigan as the former boyfriends of a woman who end up raising her teenage daughter, played by Staci Keanan.)

Hunt, the daughter of acting teacher Gordon Hunt, first appeared as Murray Slaughter's daughter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show before landing roles on various, short-lived TV series and some movies. Reiser was nominated for a number of Emmys for his "Mad" role, but it was Hunt who walked away with four Emmys in a row for Best Actress in a Comedy Series. Her exposure on the show (she was also an executive producer) helped her budding film career, with such hits as "Twister"; "What Women Want" and "As Good As It Gets" (which co-starred her with Jack Nicholson and gave her an Oscar).

Despite declining ratings, NBC-which lost top-rated Seinfeld in 1998-agreed to pay Reiser and Hunt $1 million an episode for a final year of Mad About You. Sadly, the 1998-99 season was the worst for the show, as the cast and crew strained to find humor. Despite appearances by Jerry Seinfeld, Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks, the show went heavier toward sexual situations and lost the light, lively touch of the earlier years. The final one-hour episode, which aired in May 1999, guest starred comic Janeane Garofalo as a now grown-up Mabel, who made a documentary about her parents. It showed what happened to the extended family over the years: Fran and Mark remarried; Hal and Maggie turned out to be spies; Ira became a husband and a father to eight kids; Paul's sister Debbie (Robin Bartlett) married her lover, gynecologist Joan Herman; and Burt died, leaving Sylvia to move in with Paul and Jamie. As for the stars of the show, the final episode showed Paul and Jamie breaking up-but as they say in the fairy tales, they reunited and lived happily ever after.

'Mad About You's' jazzy theme song was entitled "The Final Frontier" ("Tell me why/I love you like I do/Tell me who/Can stop my heart as much as you...Let's take each other's hands/As we jump into the final frontier/I'm mad about you baby"). It was written by Paul Reiser and Don Was and performed on the series by Andrew Gold (singer Anita Baker also recorded a version for an album of music based on the show).

Mad About You showed the ups and downs of married life with humor and grace-and was a truly nice contrast to the sitcoms that featured single people in the 1990's.