Why This Photo of Reunited Taxi Stars Had Me Feeling All the Feels

When it comes right down to it I am a deeply sentimental individual. I regularly weep uncontrollably reading children’s books to my sons. Death, mortality, the passing of time, unlikely friendships, childhood, the end of childhood, old age: all of these things make me unbecomingly emotional. 

Yet for some reason, reunions have never really done anything for me. When I read that the Friends cast is coming close to finalizing a reunion special in exchange for an unconscionably vast amount of money I understood why people are interested and why it is considered newsworthy. 

Friends is one of the most popular and iconic television shows of all time, and even though its run ended long ago it has never really gone off the air. People keep watching it and quoting it the same way they do The Office. 

Yet on an emotional level I can’t help but wonder why, for the love of god, so many boring, basic white people would lose their shit over the possibility that on some magical day, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Courtney Cox will sit in a television show and drink coffee and reminisce about what it was like to star in Friends. 

Now THIS is a reunion I can get behind

It makes more sense to me when a reunion takes the form of a beloved show like Futurama or Arrested Development rise from the grave with new episodes and seasons but even in that case I tuned out pretty early despite being a huge fan of both shows during their original run. I was psyched when I found out that Mr. Show would be returning, after a fashion, as With Bob and David and then watched maybe part of one episode. 

It was perfectly fine, but it took very little to completely satiate my curiosity as to what a Bob Odenkirk and David Cross sketch program would look like in 2015. 

Yet when I saw a photograph of surviving Taxi cast-members Tony Danza, Marilu Henner, Judd Hirsch, Danny DeVito, Carol Kane and Christopher Lloyd reunited and looking shockingly good it made me feel all kinds of different emotions. 

To put things in John Green terms, it made me feel all the feels. My overwhelming immediate response was surprise bordering on shock; everybody looked fantastic, even Danny DeVito, whose look, and persona is “mischievous troll who lives under a bridge.” Christopher Lloyd is similarly known and revered as a funny-looking dude who seemed middle-aged or older forty five years ago when he and DeVito starred together in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest as mental patients.

Yet in this wonderful, blessed image Lloyd looks sharp and distinguished, like an eccentric but beloved humanities professor at a small liberal arts college. I was also excited to see Hirsch looking good because, to be perfectly honest, I have vague but obviously incorrect memories of Hirsch dying five or six years ago. 

I am glad to see that Judd Hirsch is not dead. I’m happy that all of these people are still alive. Death has a lot to do with why that particular picture had a surprisingly profound impact on me. My brain had an unexpected vivid, profound reaction to this image because it’s grateful that performers whom I love, and have given me enormous pleasure and comfort through the decades, are still alive because that is not always going to be the case. 

Considering the advanced ages of the surviving members of a television show that went off the air thirty seven years ago, it seems safe to assume the living members of the Taxi cast may not be here for much longer. If nothing else, this picture serves as a poignant reminder that we need to appreciate the people in our lives who give us joy and make the world a happier, more soulful place, whether they’re our friends and family members of the actor who played Doc Brown in Back to the Future. 

With me the personal and the professional are inextricably intertwined. So part of my response was undoubtedly rooted in stumbling upon this beautiful photograph of Danny DeVito looking as amazing as possible surrounded by other magical souls like the great Carol Kane while working on the first articles for Danny DeVito Month. 

We appreciated Ernest Borgnine when he was alive. But did we appreciate him enough?

I was so moved by this photo that I shared it on Facebook, where it quickly wracked up likes and shares. Bear in mind, I would not actually watch a Taxi reunion special; I don’t need to hear anecdotes and reminiscing; it’s enough just to know that these people are still alive, and looking good, to bring a smile to my face. I know I’m not alone in that respect, so maybe the appeal of reunions isn’t so hard to understand after all. 

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