The Conversation (Mad About You)

Paul Reiser (left) and Helen Hunt (right) are the only cast members featured in the episode.

The sitcom's executive producer Victor Levin wrote the script, believing that an episode focusing on Ferberization, a technique that allows a child to cry itself to sleep, would have "strong emotional ground".[2] Levin spoke with the writing staff and the actors about his idea of Paul and Jamie being unable to leave the doorway to their bedroom as they listen to their daughter's cries. He explained to Nancy McAlister of The Florida Times Union: "What would be the surprises that would be unearthed if two people sat down just to talk since they've had a kid? Maybe they've been so busy they haven't had time to have a substantive talk. What do you think would come out?"[2] Levin felt the plot would showcase Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt's talents, also hoping that the episode would resonate with parents and elicit empathy from the rest of the audience, saying, "I hope that they feel that it's real and honest and funny."[2]

Reiser told The Record's Virginia Rohan that all parents go through a version of Ferberization at some point.[3] As the episode plays out, Paul and Jamie come to realize they have very different parenting styles.[2] They argue and converse, which brings up "surprising revelations", including Paul's views on where they raise their daughter.[3] Reiser said that the bottle episode format was something the show's personnel had always wanted to try, following a season one episode set in the bathroom.[4] He commented, "if the story is compelling enough, you could put an entire episode in an elevator".[4] However, they were unable to find such a story until the sixth season.[4] Levin said that Mad About You had plans for an experimental episode before medical drama ER aired its live episode that same year. He told McAlister that the format was the right way for the story to be told and that it was not a stunt.[2]

Hunt's father Gordon Hunt directed "The Conversation".[5] To prepare for filming, the cast and crew had to know the exact length of the script, so they would not run over the time or run too short. Levin told McAlister that the script was "accurately timed out", so they knew how long the lines took to say.[6] Rehearsals did not differ from regular episodes, but there were two "practice runs" during the afternoon of the shoot.[3] The episode was filmed with a single camera in one take, so it plays out in real time.[5][6] Reiser confirmed the episode took 25 minutes to film compared with the usual three hours.[3]

The episode was filmed twice, with and without a studio audience. The take with the audience was the version that was broadcast.[2] Levin confirmed the audience had a positive reaction to the script and jokes saying, "I think they felt they were part of something unusual."[2] At one point, Paul and Jamie realize their dog Murray is in the bedroom with Mabel, and Paul has to crawl in to get Murray out.[3] The dog's timing surprised Reiser and he was appreciative that the scene went well, saying "we were working on our lines, and he was working on his little belly crawl".[3]

"The Conversation" was originally broadcast without interruption from commercials, which were aired at the beginning after the theme song and just before the credits.[5][7] Levin expressed his gratitude to the NBC network for helping with the process.[2] He also revealed the lack of commercials impacted the writing. Despite being one scene, he made sure that the episode had a beginning, middle and end. He told McAlister that he wanted it to be "as impactful and big feeling" as any show with multiple scenes.[6] In the episode's tag, Paul and Jamie watch a film in a similar style as the episode, and Jamie expresses her dislike of the one-take approach.[7]

For its original broadcast, "The Conversation" finished 12th in the ratings for the week of December 15–21, 1997. It was seen by 17.94 million viewers according to Nielsen Media Research, giving Mad About You its largest audience since the sixth-season premiere in September.[8] It was the seventh most-watched show on NBC that week, behind episodes of ER, Seinfeld, Veronica's Closet, Friends, Union Square and Frasier.[8]

Writing for The Akron Beacon Journal, James Endrst thought "The Conversation" was "in its own quiet way, a greater success" compared to the live ER episode.[5] Endrst praised Reiser and Hunt for their "touching and, under the TV circumstances, nearly flawless performances", and the script for creating distinctive and honest moments.[5] He concluded it was not a groundbreaking episode, but "special".[5] Walt Belcher of The Tampa Tribune said Mad About You succeeded with the one-take format, because it did not "overpower" the plot or performances, unlike experimental episodes of ER and Chicago Hope.[9]

David Bianculli of the New York Daily News was impressed that the episode was filmed in one take and that Gordon Hunt directed it "without a false note".[10] Bianculli felt despite its "strong" script, the episode would "sink, rather than soar" if it was not for Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt.[10] He also joked that the episode featured more non-stop crying since the broadcast of the telemovie The Women's Room.[10] In his review, The Capital's John Martin described the episode as "inspired".[11] He wrote, "funny and heartwarming, it touches the uncertainties all good parents face".[11] Martin also attributed "outstanding performances" by Reiser and Hunt for making the episode so memorable.[11]

In contrast, The Baltimore Sun's David Zurawik found that 22 minutes of a crying baby was "way too much", and he believed that "The Conversation" was a good example of how "baby-obsessed" the sitcom had become.[12] Zurawik also reported that USA Today gave the episode a thumbs-down saying that Mabel was the "most ill-conceived television baby since Murphy Brown's controversial Avery."[12] Mike Duffy of the Detroit Free Press branded "The Conversation" the "most annoying Mad About You episode ever". He added commercials would have been a welcome interruption.[1]

A reporter for The Desert Sun had a mixed reaction, saying it was "a sweet episode that's a little slack in the middle, but ends quite poignantly".[13] Diane Shipley from the British newspaper The Guardian thought the plot was "ill-conceived", but the filming format "was an impressive acting achievement, but one that replicated the noise and tedium of early parenthood far too effectively".[14]

In 2013, Jennifer Wood of Mental Floss included "The Conversation" in her feature on the "10 Best Bottle Episodes of Your Favorite TV Shows". Wood wrote "director Gordon Hunt channeled his inner Ingmar Bergman to do the unthinkable: drop a camera on the floor of the Buchmans' apartment and leave it there. For the entire show. Whether the actors were in the shot or not."[15] She called it "pretty revolutionary stuff" and said the tag was "a clever nod" to the format.[15] Kaitlynn Smith of TV Fanatic included the episode in her feature on "Amazing Bottle Episodes", calling it "one of the most challenging and well-executed" of the format.[16]

Vulture's Daniel Kurland named "The Conversation" as "one of the boldest bottle episodes ever".[7] He found the idea to be ambitious and thought the subject would resonate with parents going through the same thing with their children. He also said it was "a showcase of Paul and Jamie as unconfident new parents, and it encapsulates this beautifully."[7] Kurland acknowledged that it was an unpopular episode with some viewers, but wrote "it might not be a perfect experiment, but it's a sort of brilliant, evolving idea".[7]

Actress Natalie Morales chose "The Conversation" as her most influential television episode in a feature for Decider.[17] Morales explained that on her first viewing, she could not to look away as she realized that it was all one take, making it "so starkly dissimilar from any other thing on TV".[17] She said the episode influenced her to think about breaking the mold and "the different ways I could do things that were already established as, 'Well, this is just how it's done'."[17]