Goodbye, Becker

Bobs-9

I watched the final "Becker" episode last night, and will miss this series. Critics have beaten up on this show quite a lot lately, but I watched it regularly and always enjoyed it.  The characters are diverse and likeable, and I particularly admire Shawnee Smith, who played Linda, for taking a character that could have been annoying in the extreme and making her sweet and funny.  One of the funniest things I've seen in a sitcom is when Linda, in trying to fix the hanging skeleton in Becker's office, managed to crazy-glue her hand to that of the skeleton.  She ended up walking around the office all day holding hands with the skeleton, which rolled alongside her on its stand (you had to see it to appreciate it).

Ted Danson was quoted in TV Guide as saying that they decided to end the show with some grace, which I think they did quite nicely, tying up loose ends for the various characters.  A couple of the jokes were particularly apt, i.e. Dr. Becker looking at the chart for a patient named "Mr. Nielsen" and saying he didn't know what he was complaining about because "these numbers don't look so bad to me."  Danson's wife, Mary Steenburgen, appeared briefly as a deluded patient, and Becker exclaimed after she left "I pity the poor man who's married to her."

Anyway, I commend the makers of "Becker" for giving some closure to the characters in this show while they had the chance.  As a regular viewer I appreciated it, and found it a very satisfying end to the series.

score /10

Bobs-9 29 January 2004

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0602064/