Becker - General Discussion

[readster]

Quote

Dr. John Becker goes through his daily routine of being a doctor, stopping at his favorite diner, and other various situations, all the while hating life and everything around him.

My wife and I started watching this show more on Antenna TV and Rewind. I forgot how funny it was, I didn't watch is really until season 3 when the show really started to hit it's strive. 

[readster]

Didn't know if anyone was going to start discussions on episodes. I'll go, Season 3 is the best, Season 6 is the worst. Even though I know Season 6 was plagued with limited episodes and actors dropping out of the series. 

[Dimity]

This showed up recently on a channel I get around the same time they started running Wings.  I'd never seen either show in first run and of the two I'd say Becker is very much the most watchable.  I'm only at the finale of the 2nd season right now but if it keeps up this quality I'm in to the end!   I find Wings much more uneven in the writing even though, like Becker, the characters are well drawn and well acted.

[Dimity]

Well this was disappointing.  I've really been enjoying this show but the season 3 opener was just awful.  I'll spoiler it in case anyone hasn't seen it 

Spoiler

for reasons of the plot a woman believes Jake is not blind and throws away his glasses and cane and leaves him in the middle of NYC traffic.  It's not funny - at all. 

 

[OLynn33]

This show just started airing on a retro channel I watch. I was so excited because I did watch it the first time around and thought it was funny. In 2024 I'm shocked like actually shocked at how this show is hitting differently for me now. Maybe it's the political climate. Maybe it's my age now. Full disclosure I'm older than Ted Danson was when he did the series. But a constantly angry white guy screaming about how bad everything is? Gee who does that remind me of? There's Regie who constantly puts herself and her life down and the only solution is ultimately a man not college. And I'm sorry, if I worked with Linda I would be serving prison time. But the thing I really noticed are the jokes at the expense of LGBTQ2IA+ community. Every other episode has some "joke" that's really a slur. It reminded me of how bad the 90s and early 2000s were for this. Conversely this channel is also airing Will & Grace which for me for the most part holds up. At least there was a gay actor. And I will never not find Karen funny.

But ya for Becker not so much.

Edited October 19 by OLynn33

[Dimity]

3 hours ago, OLynn33 said:

I was so excited because I did watch it the first time around and thought it was funny. In 2024 I'm shocked like actually shocked at how this show is hitting differently for me now.

What I am finding is that as I am moving through the third season stuff I found funny before is just not funny anymore.  The biggest issue I have is the way Jake's blindness is treated so dismissively.  It's like the powers that be wanted to give a nod to having a handicapped character and it's nice that he isn't being presented as saintlike (as was so often the case with a disabled character in days gone by) but the jokes at his expense are falling very flat for me.

With regard to Angry Becker I wonder if part of my problem (and possibly yours?) is watching to many episodes back to back.  Once a week I don't know if I'd notice it as much but watching 3-4 episodes of an evening I am finding his "old man shaking his cane at the sky" routine is more irritating than funny.

There was an episode I saw last night where Becker tried to quit smoking and instead of anyone being supportive they placed bets on how soon he'd start again and then set up situations where he would want to reach for a cigarette.  Not funny.

[OLynn33]

The stuff with Jake for sure. I thought that too. I think it's the tone of the show more than intentionally being dismissive but for sure I felt this too.

I'm still trying to process my reaction. I think for me I'm just tired of the anger in general of the time we are living in right now. I can't turn on the news without seeing angry people protesting or the political craziness or the economy or whatever. I'm also older now so I have that perspective. The funny thing is the most annoying character is supposed to be Bob and he actually grew on me. He just is who he is. Doesn't worry about being anything more. And sometimes he can be kind of sweet in his own weird way. Plus I love how he talks about himself in the third person.

You could be right about too many episodes at once.

[Dimity]

Well I made it to the end - or at least to the last episode the channel I watched it on decided to air.  For some reason they didn't show the last two episodes.  Which really sucked.  The second to last was one with Frances Sternhagen (she played Cliff's mother on Cheers) and she was the mother of someone killed during 9/11.  The reviews I read said this was an awesome episode.  And the finale was a true finale apparently, as they knew they had been cancelled so gave the writers a chance to give the characters some closure.  I'd like to have seen both of these.

Anyway all that said,  overall I liked this series.  It had some issues but it was refreshing for me to see an older show that I'd never seen before rather than endless Big Bang reruns!