Becker
|
|
Becker was a CBS comedy TV show that ran from November 2, 1998 to January 28, 2004, starring Ted Danson as the title character, Dr John Becker. Although a good doctor, Becker finds annoyance with the world in general, its people, and little things that irritate him. He is also unafraid to speak his mind about anything. As such he lacks sociability, although his patients are mostly loyal to him and keep returning to the surgery as Becker occasionally displays a caring side, hard as it is to see.
Becker attended Harvard University and currently runs a medical practice in the Bronx, New York. Assisting him are head nurse Margaret Wyborn, who is one of the few people who can tolerate with Becker and his ways. She is married to the often mentioned but never seen Lewis. Also at the doctor's office is a girl of wealthy parents known only as Linda (her surname is never revealed), who "helps" out at the office to be independent but doesn't actually work much.
When away from the office, Becker socialises at a local diner owned by the striking Reggie Kostas, played by Terry Farrell, who inherited it from her late father. Reggie used to be a model and is not happy stuck running a diner. Becker's best friend, Jake Malinak, also works at the diner selling newspapers. Jake is blind following a car accident several years before. Also at the diner is Bob, an old high school classmate of Reggie's who is short, annoying, and refers to himself in the third person. Bob becomes the superintendant of Becker's apartment building in the third season, although he tries to do as little work as he can. As with Linda, Bob's last name is never revealed, although we do discover his middle name is Benito.
At the end of Season 4, Nancy Travis joined the show as new neighbour Chris Connor, who moves to the neighbourhood after travelling the world. Chris, originally supposed to be in the show for only 4 episodes, became a regular cast member in Season 5 after the producers of the show decided to get replace Reggie with Chris instead. Chris takes over the diner and begins a love-hate relationship with Becker. She's his opposite - always nice and cheerful, but they eventually got together by the end of the series.
The show's main theme was Becker and the things that annoyed him, although the supporting characters also had their moments. Becker was annoyed by things such as a flickering street lamp outside his window, or his noisy neighbors, or the couple having sex in the apartment above him, or the numerous times he tried giving up smoking. But the show was not afraid to tackle more serious issues as well, such as race, homosexuality, AIDS, overeating, the 9/11 terrorist attacks and politically correct views. The show performed well for its first 4 seasons. However, CBS moved its timeslot in 2002 and whilst the show still had good ratings, they began to drop as many fans kept missing the new timeslot. Becker was put on hiatus at the end of Season 5, but returned for a half season of 13 further episodes to tie up loose ends, airing the final episode in January 2004.
Cast:
- Ted Danson as Dr. John Becker
- Terry Farrell as Regina 'Reggie' Kostas (1998-2002)
- Hattie Winston as Margaret Wyborn
- Shawnee Smith as Linda
- Alex Désert as Jake Malinak
- Saverio Guerra as Bob (1998-2003)
- Nancy Travis as Chris Connor (2002-2004)de:Becker (Fernsehserie)