Thoughts on four episodes of Cheers

 

via Giphy/Courtesy CBS Television/Paramount

"You know, Carla, it's nice to see you surrounded by such a loving family."
"It's eerie, Sam. I got a husband who does windows and all the kids are out of jail. For the first time in my life, when morning comes around, I want to open up my eyes instead of my wrists."

Hearing "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" in Applebees' first "post-pandemic" commercial reminded me of an interview I once did. A guy who opened his own bar and restaurant said he had always hoped to have a place like Cheers. Earlier this year, an acquaintance talked about how she only expected to live in my community for a few years, not 35-plus. She compared the experience to Cheers (although, actually, her scenario was like Northern Exposure). The sentiment in all these cases is nice, but I wonder if any of these people had watched Cheers recently or ever. Cheers the location and/or Cheers the state of mind were being evoked, not so much Cheers the series. The show remains a comedy classic, but one with a dramatic core.

Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley) and Carla Tortelli (Rhea Perlman) each lose status over the course of today's episodes. Carla, finally enjoying being a wife and mother, learns she'll be a grandmother in "Slumber Party Massacred." After that, Carla's back to lamenting her lost youth*. While she wallows, Rebecca declares that "I was not born to be a waitress. I was born to manage waitresses." The idea of cheering Carla up with a trip back to her teen years is fine-tuned into a slumber party co-hostessed by Rebecca, Lilith (Bebe Neuwirth) and Lilith's friend Dorothy (Elizabeth Ruscio), who has a tedious interest in South American Communism. Even limited to an hour, it's the first slumber party for all of the women. Not even the "Four Swell Guys" singing "Duke of Earl" -- Cliff (John Ratzenberger)'s unnecessary tenor for the win! -- can lift Carla's spirits.

*Carla first married at age 15 because she was pregnant with son Anthony (Timothy Williams). Anthony's wife of at least more than a year, Annie (Mandy Ingber), is 18 in "Massacred." The young couple admit to having conceived because Annie was getting bored sitting around the house. She couldn't have helped raise any of Carla's four youngest children?

"You can't cheer me up. Why do people always think they have to rush over and talk somebody out of it when they're feeling lousy? This grandmother thing is just something I have to work through. And I will, with time. ... It's nothing any of you guys could do. Unless you can make me 15 again. ... Can any of you make me 15 again? ... Well, can you? ... Look, if you really cared about me, you would just get out of my house and do what I asked you to a long time ago. Just, just leave me alone."

"You mean you really want to be left alone?"

*Rebecca is chauffeuring Evan Drake (Tom Skerritt)* 

"Anyway, now that I've got you alone here, Mr. Drake, the real reason I'm filling in for Martin is so that I could tell you what I wanted to tell you all night. What I've been trying to tell you since the first time I met you. GET OFF MY TAIL, SCUZZBALL!"

We've all heard the reasoning for why Rebecca became more pathetic as Cheers went on. Alley was talented at playing a basket case (admittedly, she is) and the creative staff thought it was better than keeping Rebecca an antagonist or outsider. Fair enough, but did they have to go scorched earth with the poor gal? Seeing her enter Cheers while depressed and disheveled in "How to Recede in Business" was an uncomfortable harbinger of things to come. That's the lowest note in "Recede," which also has some of Alley's best work. Mad at the conditions that come with her rehiring, and that Sam (Ted Danson) wasn't going to reveal them until after they had sex, Rebecca first gets him hot and bothered ("And this is the part that just a little tiny bit illegal ..."). She plans to leave Cheers for good, until Woody (Woody Harrelson) says that the Mercedes dealership called. Her new red car is in. Swallowing her pride and barely her tears, Rebecca waits on a table.

"Recede" and the episode before it, "Backseat Becky, Up Front," significantly advanced Sam and Rebecca's courtship. Sam is the one who hangs out with Rebecca after her last failed attempt to tell Mr. Drake how she feels about him. Evan's leaving for Tokyo ... with his girlfriend. I'm watching these episodes for the women, but Danson is first rate in "Up Front." Sam dealing with being placed in the friend zone by Rebecca, who's still vulnerable enough to maybe respond to a seduction that Sam is trying very hard not to initiate? That's hilarious, and so is the ending gag that Sam had managed to covertly remove Rebecca's bra. The friendship has made it to "Recede," although Rebecca does agree to a date. Sam wants to know what convinced her. "It's just that since Evan went away, my expectations are low. And with my stove on the blink and nothing on the tube tonight, I figured *shrug sound* why not?" "... Thanks. Yeah, I'll have to remember that."

Finally, we have "Those Lips, Those Ice," with Carla worrying about Eddie (Jay Thomas) being faithful to their marriage vows. As it turned out, Carla had every reason to doubt Eddie, but at this point in Cheers, he was still being written as a devoted husband, bringing sanity and stability to Carla's life. Then again, you can argue that Cheers itself was providing these qualities**. East German skater Franzi (Isa Jank) is alluring, but also inhuman. Before Carla gets proof from Sam that Franzi isn't hooking up with Eddie, she takes desperate measures. Carla dolls herself up and tends to Eddie while he hosts a poker game with guests including Norm (George Wendt), Cliff and Frasier (Kelsey Grammer). In the end, Carla realizes that Eddie's really a good guy. He also loves her for her.

**Which is why I'm disappointed that Frasier gave Rebecca a dark and so far final fate of being a lonely alcoholic. Surely she deserved better.

"I don't want you to be the perfect wife. I want the girl I married. Feisty, strong-willed and, well, downright nasty. In a beautiful way."

"You really mean that, Eddie?"

"Oh, you bet I do."

"Then get your sorry butt into the kitchen. There's a sink full of dirty dishes, the garbage disposal is clogged and there's a cat box with your name on it."

"What are you doin'? ... Oh, my sweetie is back!"

"*won't let him embrace her* Beat it."

Thoughts:

-- "This is Cheers, Dorothy. Isn't it amusing?"

-- Awards Watch: "Massacred" and "Up Front" were apparently Perlman and Alley's submissions for the Primetime Emmy Awards recognizing 1987-88. The Cheers duo lost to Estelle Getty and Beatrice Arthur. After a two-year drought, Perlman won her fourth and last Emmy playing Carla for 1988-89 with a reel including "Ice." Alley wouldn't win her lone Emmy for playing Rebecca until 1991. Also of note, Perlman was nominated for the Golden Globe, while Alley wouldn't get nominated until her work in 1989.

-- Today in Subtle Humor: I really loved Grammer's delivery when Frasier talked about spending an evening with Dorothy's books and a roaring fire.

-- I also loved Carla "encouraging" Cliff to write a book in "Recede." "No, I mean right now. I mean it. Look, here's a pencil and some paper. Go on in the back room and don't come out until you have 60,000 words."

-- Which look was better? Rebecca in season six ...

via Simkl

via IMDB

-- Anthony and Annie made their last appearances in "Massacred." They at least went out with an okay joke. After Carla's tantrum, which included breaking a loaf of Italian bread, Annie's ready to move out. Anthony says that they haven't eaten yet. "Your hair is full of bread crumbs. We could butter your head and make a sandwich." "I had a sandwich for lunch."

-- Different Times: We have the bar existing with only one TV, even if Rebecca sprung for a better one and a good cable package ("Massacred") or Frasier's "new portable cellular telephone" with its own carrying case ("Ice"). The lock's combination is Jung's address.

-- Behind the Camera: James Burrows directed all four episodes, which were written by Phoef Sutton ("Massacred"), Cheri Eichen & Bill Steinkellner ("Up Front"), David Angell ("Recede") and Peter Casey & David Lee ("Ice").

-- Before the Credits: Vera calls, hoping Norm knows where their fire extinguisher is ("Masscared"). Cliff is suspiciously knowledgeable about men's primping techniques ("Up Front"). Nobody actually believes that Sam will be able to make Rebecca his ("Recede"). Woody doesn't grasp the concept of not disturbing Rebecca when she has work to do ("Ice"). In a nice bit of synchronicity, "Cheers is filmed before a live studio audience" was said twice in this batch by Perlman and twice by Woody Harrelson. 

-- Carla did find happiness again by the end of "Massacred." She witnessed Cliff split his pants.

-- "Well, you have to take a ... slight pay cut, and go back to school for your MBA, and share the office with me, consult with me on all major decisions and since you lack any practical experience, you'll have to wait tables when the bar is busy, which puts you under the immediate supervision of Carla. Any wonder it slipped my mind?"

-- Next: The Golden Girls. On deck: thirtysomething.