MovieChat Forums > Mad About You (1992) Discussion > The *First* Mrs. Buchman

The First Mrs. Buchman

posted a year ago by CarolTheDabbler (570)
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In S6E15, "The Second Mrs. Buchman," Jamie is upset that Paul never told her he had been married once before, even though he assures her it was "only a paper marriage" so that a nice Russian woman could get a green card.

I see a couple of significant problems with the way this is presented:

1. Paul claims that the whole thing only lasted a couple of days. Of course he may be saying that just to calm Jamie down, but it can't be true. In the late 70s (when Paul's first marriage apparently occurred), I was casually acquainted with a couple consisting of an American and an immigrant, and they told me they were having frequent, required meetings with Immigration officials over a significant time span (a year or two, I think). They were taken into separate rooms and asked questions about their home life, in order to verify that they both said the same thing.

2. I suspect the other thing may be a deliberate set-up for a later episode, but Paul says nothing about ever getting a divorce from Svetlana (and Jamie doesn't ask). Legally speaking, there is no such thing as "only a paper marriage." In order to marry Jamie legally, Paul would have needed a divorce -- and the same for Svetlana, who appears to be re-married as well.

[–] stevewyzard (1583) a year ago

This is a perfect example of a late-season "desperate for ideas" episode.

What makes the premise of this episode so hard to believe is that when applying for a marriage license, both applicants have to state IN WRITING whether they have ever been married before. Maybe this could be explained away by suggesting that Jamie never saw (or wasn't interested in) Paul's responses on the paperwork.

This kind of plot should never have been allowed outside of daytime soap operas.

[–] CarolTheDabbler (570) a year ago

Judging by what Paul says, though, he doesn't seem to realize that he ever was -- and presumably still is -- legally married to Svetlana, because he thinks of it as "just a paper marriage" that was over and done with in a couple of days. As I said above, the "over and done with" part is not realistic, but apparently the writers weren't aware of the hurdles involved in a green-card marriage. But anyhow, it probably never occurred to Paul to mention that "fake" marriage on his application to marry Jamie.

There is indeed a later episode where Paul & Jamie find out they're not legally married -- but NOT because of Paul's prior marriage! So apparently the writers didn't realize (any more than Paul did) that "paper marriages" don't just evaporate in a few days.

If this had been a movie or a novel, I'd be more critical of the writers, because they should have done more research. But in a series episode that has to be completed (written, cast, rehearsed, filmed, dubbed, scored, etc.) within just a few weeks, there may simply not be enough time, so people tend to go with their assumptions. Either that, or they assume that the audience won't think too hard about it. Which is generally true, I suppose -- though not as true as it was pre-DVD.