Sometimes you can be so close to something that you can't really sit it for what it is. Such is the case with "Mad About You" stars (and producers) Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt.
As far as they're concerned, their sitcom is as good as it ever was. And they're getting out at just the right time."I think I speak for both of us when I say that the shows this year were as good or better than anything we've ever done," Reiser said in a recent telephone interview with TV critics. "And the finale is, perhaps, one of the best things we've ever done."
And, indeed, Hunt agreed.
"The most important thing for us was to never stay too long at the fair," she said. "And we always said from the beginning that we would end the show when one of two things happened -- either we weren't enjoying it or the show wasn't maintaining the same quality. And we felt right up to the end that both of those weren't the case."
Those are lovely sentiments. Would that they were true.
In its seventh season, "Mad About You" has declined dramatically in quality. Not only was the show consistently unfunny, but it was at times downright offensive.
Which is a shame, because for its first five years it was among the best comedies on TV. This story about two newlyweds -- Paul and Jamie Buchman -- building their relationship was warm, funny, realistic and smart.
And, while some critics complained that the birth of the Buchman baby, Mabel, hurt the show in its sixth season, "Mad About You" remained well above average in terms of quality.
That birth led to considerable criticism that the child was taking over the show in the sixth season -- criticism that Reiser rejects.
"I think we very successfully avoid the pitfalls," Reiser said. "I think it remained what it always was -- a look at a relationship between the two people and how the people changed because of that relationship. And I think we've done it intelligently, honoring both the characters and the audience.
"The stories were never about the baby -- they were about how this couple reacted to having the baby."
Still, Reiser and Hunt were unsurprisingly defensive about their final season -- a season that was loaded with additional pressure, given the fact that NBC was so desperate to hang on to the show that it agreed to pay Reiser and Hunt a million bucks a piece to do a seventh year. (And given the big drop in the ratings, it wasn't the best investment the network ever made.)
Hunt insisted that, "By definition, I think you know you're doing something right when some people like it and some people don't."
(By definition?!?)
Reiser said he "would take issue" with any criticism. "We're very proud of the show."
"There has been a change in the sheer numbers of people watching the show. And I think we have been, unfortunately, shuffled around the schedule so many times that it gives the impression" that there was something wrong with it.
And, indeed, NBC has not been kind to "Mad About You." At various times, the show has been seen on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. The ratings have dropped significantly, however. From a high of 21.4 million viewers a week during the 1994-95 season, the show has fallen to 9.5 million this season.
"I think we certainly paid for it. I think our audience had a hard time following us," Reiser said. "I didn't even know when it was on at the end."
And Hunt insisted that, first, this season wasn't just about money. And, second, that the decision to end the show was was a mutual one for her and Reiser.
"Last year we thought, 'Well, maybe we should stop,' but it didn't quite feel over," Hunt said. "This year, we knew that we were in the process of telling the last stories that we wanted to tell.
"But there has never been a single moment when one of us was ready (to end it) and the other wasn't. It was a completely unified decision."
And during this seventh season in particular, the show has been creatively questionable at best. There have been extremely vulgar episodes (the infamous Viagra episode) and far more that were just plain boring.
Which is why you've got to wonder when Reiser says, "One of the reasons we decided to end it was before we felt any change in the quality."
Still, anyone who was ever a fan of the show will want to see Monday's hourlong finale. It manages to overcome working from one of those hoary old sitcom premises -- the characters discover they aren't legally married. (That's a device we've seen in everything from "I Love Lucy" to "I Married Joan," from "Dick Van Dyke" to "The Flintstones.")
The episode, which Hunt directed, is framed by a flash-forward to a grown-up Mabel Buchman (guest star Janeane Garofalo) who recalls the story of the next 20 years or so. It ranges from Paul and Jamie's 1999 anniversary through comic moments, deaths, tragedies, heartwarming scenes and various surprises.
"Our final episode is bold, it's risky, it's not what people expect," Hunt said. "It's not like anything anybody has seen.
"We tried to honor the fact that audiences have been watching for seven years and there's certain things they expect," Reiser said. "And among the things they expect are surprises. So we've tried to do all that.
"We were sort of locked in a bunker these last six weeks . . . to make it special."
And all that effort paid off. All in all, it's a nice ending to what used to be a very good show.
Too bad it didn't come a season or two ago.
The final, hourlong episode of "Mad About You" will be seen Monday at 8 p.m. on NBC -- KSL-Ch. 5 locally.