Mad About You – “There’s a Puma in the Kitchen”

Mad About You Season 7 DVD

Original Air Date: November 3, 1998
Starring: Paul Reiser, Helen Hunt, Anne Ramsay
Directed by: David Steinberg

Cat Out of the Bag Alert!  This review contains spoilers for this episode!

Synopsis: Jamie (Helen Hunt) and Paul (Paul Reiser) discover “nooners” while Lisa (Anne Ramsay) adopts a cat which is too much to handle.

Mad About You - There's a Puma in the Kitchen - cat puma

Cat Cattle Call: When Lisa and Ira (John Pankow) go to the animal shelter there are several cats seen in the background.

Mad About You - There's a Puma in the Kitchen - Lisa Anne Ramsay and Ira John Pankow with cats in animal shelter

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer):  They are surprised to see a reddish brown colored cat leaping straight up into the air and bouncing around the shelter, screeching (the cat actor is somehow tossed up in the air for this effect. All of the yowls and screeches of the wild cat are dubbed in.)

Mad About You - There's a Puma in the Kitchen - Lisa Anne Ramsay and Ira John Pankow watch cat puma jumping into air

Mad About You - There's a Puma in the Kitchen - Lisa Anne Ramsay and Ira John Pankow watch cat puma climbing on chain link fence

Lisa decides she wants that cat and asks the handler (David Dean Bottrell) to get him. The handler puts on a lot of safety gear before picking up the cat.

Mad About You - There's a Puma in the Kitchen - animal handler with protection holding cat puma

Taking the cat on her shoulder, Lisa says she likes the feel of the cat scratching her back. As she turns to leave, it’s revealed her coat is torn up.

Mad About You - There's a Puma in the Kitchen - Lisa Anne Ramsay walking away with cat puma and scratched back

Lisa takes the cat to Jamie and Paul’s place, going up in the elevator where she encounters Maggie (Judy Geeson). Lisa is excited to show Maggie her new “child” and points out that it’s a boy. Maggie is less than thrilled but takes more interest when the cat jumps on her hat and starts attacking (you can see the trainer’s hands drop the cat actor on the hat).

Mad About You - There's a Puma in the Kitchen - Lisa Anne Ramsay showing cat puma gender to Maggie Judy Geeson in elevator

Lisa asks Jamie and Paul if she can leave the cat with them. She and Jamie leave and poor Murray the dog (Maui) is chased into the kitchen.

Mad About You - There's a Puma in the Kitchen - Murray the dog facing cat puma

Mad About You - There's a Puma in the Kitchen - cat puma snarling

Later Jamie and Paul are shocked when they enter the kitchen to find Murray on top of the refrigerator trying to get away from the cat who is hanging into his tail (a fake tail was obviously used). Paul snarls at the cat who snarls back (the snarls are actually just mouth licks and other normal cat mouth openings).

Mad About You - There's a Puma in the Kitchen - Murray the dog on refrigerator with cat puma hanging on his tail

Mad About You - There's a Puma in the Kitchen - cat puma on floor of kitchen

Mad About You - There's a Puma in the Kitchen - cat puma snarling

Paul timidly enters the kitchen and has a peek a boo session with the cat who finally lunges at him.

Mad About You - There's a Puma in the Kitchen - Paul Reiser playing peek a boo with cat puma animated gif

Mad About You - There's a Puma in the Kitchen - Paul Reiser looking scared at cat puma in front of him

Mad About You - There's a Puma in the Kitchen - cat puma on center island in kitchen

Jamie calls animal control and tries to find out what kind of cat her sister has adopted. She finally learns from a book that it is actually a baby puma. “There’s a puma in the kitchen?” she asks herself. Paul and Murray are still cornered in the kitchen when Jamie tells them she is supposed to find a park ranger.

Mad About You - There's a Puma in the Kitchen - Paul Reiser and Murray the dog scared of cat puma on refrigerator

When the Centrak Park Ranger (Rodney Van Johnson) shows up, Lisa and Jamie follow him to the kitchen where Paul and Murray are still cornered. The Ranger plans to shoot the cat with a tranquilizer gun but as he’s about to do so the cat lunges at Jamie. Paul pushes her out of the way and the cat attacks his rear. The Ranger fires and hits Paul, knocking him out. It is not explained how they finally subdue the puma.

Mad About You - There's a Puma in the Kitchen - close up of cat puma snarling

Mad About You - There's a Puma in the Kitchen - Paul Reiser running with cat puma hanging on his rear

Over the end credits, director David Steinberg has a funny interaction as himself talking to one of the cat actors, complaining that the cat doesn’t know how to be a cat and that Murray is more of a cat.

Mad About You - There's a Puma in the Kitchen - David Steinberg director criticizing cat actor on table

Mad About You - There's a Puma in the Kitchen - David Steinberg director criticizing cat actor on table

The “puma” was actually played by what appear to be Abyssinian cats (or possible mixed breeds) who were trained by Beren’s Animals of Distinction.

Mad About You - There's a Puma in the Kitchen - cat puma

Final Mewsings: Producers were obviously going on the assumption that most people don’t know what a baby puma actually looks like.


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