WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.240 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we are not 00:00:03.240 --> 00:00:06.179 just analyzing a TV show. We are stepping into 00:00:06.179 --> 00:00:08.660 a time machine. Oh, I love a time machine. Right. 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:11.980 So I want you to picture the world in September 00:00:11.980 --> 00:00:16.519 1986. Right on there. Top Gun is just completely 00:00:16.519 --> 00:00:19.339 dominating the box office. Yeah. The bangles 00:00:19.339 --> 00:00:23.000 are on the radio, you know, walking like Egyptians. 00:00:23.359 --> 00:00:26.280 That classic. And shoulder pads, shoulder pads 00:00:26.280 --> 00:00:28.820 are massive. I mean, they are structural engineering 00:00:28.820 --> 00:00:31.550 marvels at this point. They really were. It was 00:00:31.550 --> 00:00:33.850 definitely a time of excess for sure. Yeah. But 00:00:33.850 --> 00:00:36.649 specifically, we are looking at a cultural ritual 00:00:36.649 --> 00:00:39.149 from that era. Thursday nights. Right. If you 00:00:39.149 --> 00:00:42.030 were alive and anywhere near a television set 00:00:42.030 --> 00:00:44.909 in America in 1986, you weren't surfing channels. 00:00:45.009 --> 00:00:46.929 No, you definitely weren't. You couldn't really. 00:00:47.149 --> 00:00:49.560 Exactly. You were parked on NBC. Yeah. That was 00:00:49.560 --> 00:00:51.719 the absolute center of the universe. We are talking 00:00:51.719 --> 00:00:54.799 about the must -see TV era, but specifically 00:00:54.799 --> 00:00:57.960 today, we are cracking open the case file on 00:00:57.960 --> 00:01:01.460 season five of Cheers. Now, I know what some 00:01:01.460 --> 00:01:03.820 of you listening might be thinking. You know, 00:01:03.920 --> 00:01:06.540 oh, Cheers, that's that old show my dad likes 00:01:06.540 --> 00:01:09.540 where they yell, Norm! Right, the sitcom with 00:01:09.540 --> 00:01:12.299 the bar. But looking at the massive stack of 00:01:12.299 --> 00:01:15.140 research we have for today, season five isn't 00:01:15.140 --> 00:01:18.939 just a collection of bar jokes. It is... Well, 00:01:18.959 --> 00:01:21.439 it's arguably the most high stakes pivotal season 00:01:21.439 --> 00:01:24.599 in the history of the sitcom format. I really 00:01:24.599 --> 00:01:26.939 don't think that's hyperbole, honestly. You don't? 00:01:26.939 --> 00:01:29.379 No, not at all. Because if you study television 00:01:29.379 --> 00:01:33.239 history, most shows... have a very predictable 00:01:33.239 --> 00:01:36.480 shelf life. You know, they hit a peak, they decline, 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:38.840 and then they kind of just fade away into syndication. 00:01:38.980 --> 00:01:41.480 Right, they run out of steam. Exactly. But season 00:01:41.480 --> 00:01:44.500 five of Cheers is the exact moment where the 00:01:44.500 --> 00:01:47.420 show looked death right in the face and decided 00:01:47.420 --> 00:01:49.879 to reinvent itself instead. Wow. This is the 00:01:49.879 --> 00:01:52.260 season that ends the defining will -they -won't 00:01:52.260 --> 00:01:54.620 -they relationship of the entire decade. Sam 00:01:54.620 --> 00:01:56.640 Malone and Diane Chambers. Sam and Diane, yes. 00:01:56.840 --> 00:01:58.480 And it's the season that marks the departure 00:01:58.480 --> 00:02:01.670 of Shelley Long. Which was huge. It was massive. 00:02:01.769 --> 00:02:04.310 And we're going to get into the real nitty gritty 00:02:04.310 --> 00:02:06.629 of that decision because it wasn't just an actor 00:02:06.629 --> 00:02:08.849 quitting to do movies. It fundamentally changed 00:02:08.849 --> 00:02:11.990 the DNA of the whole production. It did. And 00:02:11.990 --> 00:02:15.110 the mission for this deep dive is to explore 00:02:15.110 --> 00:02:19.030 exactly how a show transitions from a romantic 00:02:19.030 --> 00:02:22.169 comedy focused on two people. A two hander. Right. 00:02:22.210 --> 00:02:25.330 A two hander into a true ensemble powerhouse. 00:02:25.469 --> 00:02:28.189 Yeah. We're going to unpack all the production 00:02:28.189 --> 00:02:30.770 secrets, including the fact that they actually 00:02:30.770 --> 00:02:34.110 filmed fake alternate endings to trick the studio 00:02:34.110 --> 00:02:36.689 audience. Which is just wild to think about for 00:02:36.689 --> 00:02:39.210 a sitcom in the 80s. It really is. And of course, 00:02:39.210 --> 00:02:42.569 we are going to deeply analyze the specific narrative 00:02:42.569 --> 00:02:45.129 arc that led to Diane leaving Boston forever. 00:02:45.289 --> 00:02:47.669 We have so much ground to cover, but we have 00:02:47.669 --> 00:02:49.610 to start with the cliffhanger. Oh, the cliffhanger. 00:02:49.729 --> 00:02:52.009 I mean, talk about leaving people hanging. Season 00:02:52.009 --> 00:02:55.349 four ends. Sam Malone, the ultimate Playboy bartender, 00:02:55.449 --> 00:02:57.699 picks up. up the phone and makes a call proposing 00:02:57.699 --> 00:03:00.379 marriage. Yes. But the camera cuts out before 00:03:00.379 --> 00:03:02.620 we see who he's calling. It was excruciating. 00:03:02.759 --> 00:03:06.500 Was it the politician, Janet Eldridge? Or was 00:03:06.500 --> 00:03:09.000 it his intellectual sparring partner, Diane? 00:03:09.300 --> 00:03:11.979 It sounds so quaint now, right? In the era of 00:03:11.979 --> 00:03:13.639 streaming where you can just click next episode 00:03:13.639 --> 00:03:15.159 to find out what happens. Yeah, you just wait 00:03:15.159 --> 00:03:17.639 five seconds. But you have to understand, the 00:03:17.639 --> 00:03:21.949 absolute torture the summer of 1986 people had 00:03:21.949 --> 00:03:24.830 to wait months and months to find out who was 00:03:24.830 --> 00:03:27.569 on the other end of that phone that is agonizing 00:03:27.569 --> 00:03:30.189 so let's set the stage properly for this before 00:03:30.189 --> 00:03:32.750 we get to the heartbreak and the comedy of the 00:03:32.750 --> 00:03:35.750 season we need to talk about the juggernaut that 00:03:35.750 --> 00:03:38.539 was NBC at the time we really do Because you 00:03:38.539 --> 00:03:41.560 cannot separate Cheers Season 5 from the lineup 00:03:41.560 --> 00:03:43.879 it lived in. The best night of television. That's 00:03:43.879 --> 00:03:45.939 what they called it. The schedule was incredible. 00:03:46.259 --> 00:03:48.199 You had the Cosby Show kicking things off at 00:03:48.199 --> 00:03:52.340 8 -0. Family Ties at 8 -30. Cheers at 9 -0. Night 00:03:52.340 --> 00:03:55.080 Court at 9 -30. Wow. And then Hill Street Blues, 00:03:55.300 --> 00:03:58.219 which later swapped out with L .A. Law at 10 00:03:58.219 --> 00:04:00.960 -0. That is just a murderer's row of television. 00:04:01.280 --> 00:04:03.469 Oh, it was unbeatable. I mean... The Cosby show 00:04:03.469 --> 00:04:06.270 alone was pulling numbers that modern TV executives 00:04:06.270 --> 00:04:09.710 would literally kill for. Absolutely. And there's 00:04:09.710 --> 00:04:11.789 this concept in TV programming called the lead 00:04:11.789 --> 00:04:14.090 in. Right. Shears benefited heavily from the 00:04:14.090 --> 00:04:15.909 millions of people who were already tuned in 00:04:15.909 --> 00:04:18.589 for Cosby and Family Ties. They just left the 00:04:18.589 --> 00:04:20.990 TV on. Sure. You're already on the couch. But 00:04:20.990 --> 00:04:23.649 here is the crucial data point for season five 00:04:23.649 --> 00:04:27.839 specifically. This is the year. Cheers stopped 00:04:27.839 --> 00:04:30.740 just drafting off that lead in and became an 00:04:30.740 --> 00:04:33.379 absolute monster in its own right. I was looking 00:04:33.379 --> 00:04:35.639 at the ratings data you pulled for this deep 00:04:35.639 --> 00:04:38.139 dive, and the numbers are almost hard to comprehend 00:04:38.139 --> 00:04:40.540 in our current media landscape. They really are. 00:04:40.620 --> 00:04:44.519 By April 22, 1987, Cheers was sitting in third 00:04:44.519 --> 00:04:47.100 place overall in the Nielsen ratings. Third place 00:04:47.100 --> 00:04:49.550 in the entire country. Let's break down what 00:04:49.550 --> 00:04:51.129 that actually means because the metric system 00:04:51.129 --> 00:04:53.569 for TV has changed so drastically. Please do. 00:04:53.850 --> 00:04:57.310 So Cheers had an average rating of 27 .2. Okay. 00:04:57.589 --> 00:05:00.129 A rating point represents a percentage of total 00:05:00.129 --> 00:05:03.430 TV households in the country. So a 27 .2 means 00:05:03.430 --> 00:05:06.370 approximately 23 .8 million households were tuned 00:05:06.370 --> 00:05:09.629 in. 23 .8 million. And that's not people. That's 00:05:09.629 --> 00:05:12.459 households. So if you figure an average of, what, 00:05:12.519 --> 00:05:14.740 two or three people per household sitting around 00:05:14.740 --> 00:05:17.939 the TV. Exactly. You're talking 50, maybe 60 00:05:17.939 --> 00:05:20.500 million people watching Sam Malone pour a beer 00:05:20.500 --> 00:05:23.220 at the same time. Yes. And then you look at the 00:05:23.220 --> 00:05:25.879 share. which was a 41. What does the share mean 00:05:25.879 --> 00:05:29.139 exactly? The share is the percentage of televisions 00:05:29.139 --> 00:05:31.920 that are currently turned on and in use that 00:05:31.920 --> 00:05:34.500 are tuned to your specific program. Oh, wow. 00:05:34.720 --> 00:05:37.199 So a 41 share means that if you walk down a street 00:05:37.199 --> 00:05:40.839 in America on a Thursday night in 1987 and just 00:05:40.839 --> 00:05:43.259 looked in people's windows, four out of every 00:05:43.259 --> 00:05:46.439 10 TVs were playing Cheers. Four out of 10. That 00:05:46.439 --> 00:05:48.639 is Super Bowl territory. It really is. It's a 00:05:48.639 --> 00:05:50.579 true monoculture moment. We don't really have 00:05:50.579 --> 00:05:53.060 that anymore outside of live sports or maybe 00:05:53.060 --> 00:05:55.079 a... massive finale. Yeah, everyone was watching 00:05:55.079 --> 00:05:56.699 the exact same thing. And obviously, when you 00:05:56.699 --> 00:05:59.680 have that kind of rapt attention, the advertising 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:02.199 revenue just explodes. I bet. We have a report 00:06:02.199 --> 00:06:04.939 in the sources from October 1986, noting that 00:06:04.939 --> 00:06:07.240 a single 30 -second commercial break during Cheers 00:06:07.240 --> 00:06:11.319 was generating $230 ,000 in revenue. In 1986 00:06:11.319 --> 00:06:13.980 money, that's, I don't even want to do the inflation 00:06:13.980 --> 00:06:15.360 math on that. It'll make me depressed. That's 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:18.439 millions. But it shows the stakes. NBC could 00:06:18.439 --> 00:06:21.480 not afford to mess this up. And the audience 00:06:21.480 --> 00:06:24.180 investment was terrifyingly high. It really was. 00:06:24.379 --> 00:06:26.779 There's actually a great anecdote in the research 00:06:26.779 --> 00:06:29.480 about a telephone survey conducted just before 00:06:29.480 --> 00:06:32.360 the season five premiere. Oh, right. The hotline. 00:06:32.439 --> 00:06:35.439 Yeah. They set up this 1 -900 hotline and asked 00:06:35.439 --> 00:06:38.480 fans to vote on the cliffhanger. Yeah. Who did 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:42.160 Sam call? Janet or Diane? I just love that people 00:06:42.160 --> 00:06:44.920 actually paid for a long distance phone call 00:06:44.920 --> 00:06:47.300 to vote on a fictional bartender's love life. 00:06:47.500 --> 00:06:49.720 It shows the absolute engagement of the era. 00:06:50.269 --> 00:06:52.889 And the results were incredibly telling. What 00:06:52.889 --> 00:06:55.569 were they? Nearly 140 callers voted for Diane. 00:06:55.769 --> 00:06:58.269 Okay. Only about 60 voted for Janet. Wow, so 00:06:58.269 --> 00:07:00.610 it wasn't even close. Not at all. The audience 00:07:00.610 --> 00:07:02.329 was basically screaming through their phones, 00:07:02.470 --> 00:07:05.069 we want the romance, we want Sam and Diane. Which 00:07:05.069 --> 00:07:07.009 puts the writers in a really difficult position, 00:07:07.129 --> 00:07:09.250 doesn't it? Oh, an impossible position. Because 00:07:09.250 --> 00:07:11.490 if you give the audience exactly what they want, 00:07:11.610 --> 00:07:14.129 a happily ever after, the tension is completely 00:07:14.129 --> 00:07:17.889 gone. The show might become boring. Right. But 00:07:17.889 --> 00:07:19.850 if you deny them what they voted for, they might 00:07:19.850 --> 00:07:23.269 revolt and stop watching. That is the tightrope 00:07:23.269 --> 00:07:26.189 walk of season five. And it begins right away 00:07:26.189 --> 00:07:28.750 with the resolution of that cliffhanger in episode 00:07:28.750 --> 00:07:32.230 one, which is titled The Proposal. So what happens? 00:07:32.350 --> 00:07:35.490 We find out Sam called Diane. Okay, so the fans 00:07:35.490 --> 00:07:38.889 get what they want. He called her. But this is 00:07:38.889 --> 00:07:41.050 Cheers, so it can't be that simple, right? No. 00:07:41.610 --> 00:07:44.009 Diane actually says no. Wait, hold on. I have 00:07:44.009 --> 00:07:46.069 to play devil's advocate here for a second. Go 00:07:46.069 --> 00:07:48.889 for it. Diane has been pining for Sam in her 00:07:48.889 --> 00:07:53.050 own weird, high -strung way for four years. She's 00:07:53.050 --> 00:07:55.410 jealous of every single woman he looks at. He 00:07:55.410 --> 00:07:58.639 finally proposes and she says no. Is this just 00:07:58.639 --> 00:08:01.319 bad writing to stretch the show out? It feels 00:08:01.319 --> 00:08:02.959 frustrating when you're watching it, but I think 00:08:02.959 --> 00:08:04.959 it's actually very true to the psychology of 00:08:04.959 --> 00:08:06.980 her character. How so? Remember the context. 00:08:07.079 --> 00:08:09.560 Sam called her right after breaking up with Janet. 00:08:09.699 --> 00:08:12.920 Right. Diane is highly insecure. She's neurotic. 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:15.220 She analyzes everything. So she thinks, he's 00:08:15.220 --> 00:08:17.300 on the rebound. He doesn't actually want me. 00:08:17.339 --> 00:08:19.420 He just doesn't want to be alone. Oh, I see. 00:08:19.560 --> 00:08:21.740 So she declines the proposal to protect her own 00:08:21.740 --> 00:08:24.860 ego. Okay, that makes sense. So Sam, being Sam. 00:08:25.389 --> 00:08:27.769 decides he needs a grand gesture to prove he 00:08:27.769 --> 00:08:30.529 means it. And this leads to one of the most famous 00:08:30.529 --> 00:08:33.490 visuals of the entire season, the boat scene. 00:08:33.950 --> 00:08:37.769 Yes, the sailboat. Cliff Clavin, the resident 00:08:37.769 --> 00:08:40.549 bar know -it -all, suggests a romantic setting. 00:08:40.789 --> 00:08:43.610 Typical Cliff. So Sam takes Diane out on a beautiful 00:08:43.610 --> 00:08:46.409 sailboat in Boston Harbor to propose properly. 00:08:46.690 --> 00:08:49.570 And surely, on a beautiful boat, with the wind 00:08:49.570 --> 00:08:52.169 in her hair, Out on the water, she says yes. 00:08:52.470 --> 00:08:54.970 She refuses again. You're kidding. She cites 00:08:54.970 --> 00:08:57.149 Janet Eldridge again, saying he's not over her. 00:08:57.350 --> 00:08:59.850 And this is where the famous physical comedy 00:08:59.850 --> 00:09:02.789 of the show kicks in. What does Sam do? Sam is 00:09:02.789 --> 00:09:05.389 so furious, so completely done with her constant 00:09:05.389 --> 00:09:08.070 rejection, that he hops into the tiny emergency 00:09:08.070 --> 00:09:10.590 dinghy and just rows away. Leaving her stranded 00:09:10.590 --> 00:09:12.769 on the sailboat. Leaving her completely stranded 00:09:12.769 --> 00:09:15.009 in the middle of the harbor. That is incredible. 00:09:15.009 --> 00:09:17.330 It's a perfect visual metaphor for their relationship 00:09:17.330 --> 00:09:19.289 at that point. They're literally adrift. And 00:09:19.289 --> 00:09:21.049 then we get the flip -flop. Because they can 00:09:21.049 --> 00:09:22.889 never be on the exact same page at the exact 00:09:22.889 --> 00:09:26.190 same time. Days later, Diane realizes she made 00:09:26.190 --> 00:09:29.570 a huge mistake. She goes back to Sam. She essentially 00:09:29.570 --> 00:09:33.169 says, okay, I'm ready. Ask me again. And Sam 00:09:33.169 --> 00:09:35.710 says no. You reject her. He tells her the proposal 00:09:35.710 --> 00:09:38.149 has expired. Like a carton of milk at the back 00:09:38.149 --> 00:09:40.230 of the fridge. Sorry, pass the sell -by date. 00:09:40.610 --> 00:09:43.309 Exactly. It's a total defense mechanism on his 00:09:43.309 --> 00:09:46.840 part. But this dynamic, Sam chases, Diane runs, 00:09:47.039 --> 00:09:50.600 Diane chases, Sam runs, it really defines the 00:09:50.600 --> 00:09:53.059 entire first half of the season. It's a dance 00:09:53.059 --> 00:09:55.019 of dysfunction. That's a great way to put it. 00:09:55.080 --> 00:09:57.519 It feels like the writers were really trying 00:09:57.519 --> 00:10:00.179 to exhaust every possible angle of why these 00:10:00.179 --> 00:10:01.899 two shouldn't be together, almost to prepare 00:10:01.899 --> 00:10:04.440 the audience for the eventual end. Yes, they 00:10:04.440 --> 00:10:06.399 were laying the groundwork. There's a mid -season 00:10:06.399 --> 00:10:08.960 arc that I found particularly wild in the notes, 00:10:09.059 --> 00:10:13.039 the episode Chambers vs. Malone. Oh. This is 00:10:13.039 --> 00:10:15.500 a very pivotal one. It starts with Diane being 00:10:15.500 --> 00:10:17.519 absolutely convinced Sam is going to propose 00:10:17.519 --> 00:10:19.899 again. But he doesn't. He doesn't. He holds out. 00:10:19.980 --> 00:10:22.419 But eventually he breaks down and does propose. 00:10:22.720 --> 00:10:25.840 And guess what? She says no again. At this point, 00:10:25.860 --> 00:10:27.460 I would have thrown her out of the bar permanently. 00:10:27.700 --> 00:10:30.740 Sam essentially tries to do just that. He chases 00:10:30.740 --> 00:10:33.759 her out. She trips and falls. And she ends up 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:36.779 in a neck brace. Oh, boy. And then in a twist 00:10:36.779 --> 00:10:39.559 that is just pure sitcom logic, she takes him 00:10:39.559 --> 00:10:42.580 to court. Over a fall? Wait, and a judge gets 00:10:42.580 --> 00:10:45.279 involved in their engagement? Yes. The judge 00:10:45.279 --> 00:10:48.279 looks at this chaotic, shouting, messy couple 00:10:48.279 --> 00:10:51.700 in his courtroom and basically compels Sam to 00:10:51.700 --> 00:10:53.519 propose to her right there on the record. Are 00:10:53.519 --> 00:10:56.159 you serious? And Diane accepts the proposal. 00:10:56.800 --> 00:11:00.259 mostly just to keep Sam from going to jail for 00:11:00.259 --> 00:11:02.960 assault or negligence regarding the fall. Well, 00:11:03.019 --> 00:11:05.919 nothing screams eternal love quite like a court 00:11:05.919 --> 00:11:08.539 -ordered proposal to avoid incarceration. It's 00:11:08.539 --> 00:11:11.179 the absolute antithesis of romance, and I think 00:11:11.179 --> 00:11:12.980 that's exactly the writer's point. They're showing 00:11:12.980 --> 00:11:15.639 us it's doomed. Right. They're showing the audience 00:11:15.639 --> 00:11:18.500 that this union is completely forced. It might 00:11:18.500 --> 00:11:20.799 be legally binding in that moment, but it's not 00:11:20.799 --> 00:11:23.769 organic. It's toxic. And then we have the ring 00:11:23.769 --> 00:11:26.529 debacle, the episode Diamond Sam. This story 00:11:26.529 --> 00:11:28.590 really highlights the class difference between 00:11:28.590 --> 00:11:30.769 them that was always the engine of the show's 00:11:30.769 --> 00:11:33.230 conflict. It does. It really brings it to the 00:11:33.230 --> 00:11:35.509 forefront. Sam agrees to buy her an engagement 00:11:35.509 --> 00:11:40.710 ring, and the price tag is $5 ,200. Wow. In 1987, 00:11:41.090 --> 00:11:43.490 that is a massive amount of money for a bartender, 00:11:43.570 --> 00:11:46.539 even one who technically owns the joint. I actually 00:11:46.539 --> 00:11:48.980 checked an inflation calculator for this. That's 00:11:48.980 --> 00:11:52.360 like spending $14 ,000 or $15 ,000 today. Exactly. 00:11:52.360 --> 00:11:54.480 And Sam, being a bit cheap and always knowing 00:11:54.480 --> 00:11:56.899 a guy who knows a guy, tries to cut some corners. 00:11:57.080 --> 00:12:00.080 Classic Sam. He buys a knockoff ring from a shady 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:03.799 friend of Norm's for $1 ,200 instead. Ha! The 00:12:03.799 --> 00:12:06.299 classic, it fell off a truck discount. Right. 00:12:06.519 --> 00:12:08.730 But... And this is actually really important 00:12:08.730 --> 00:12:10.529 for Sam's character growth over the seasons. 00:12:10.909 --> 00:12:13.429 He feels guilty about it. His conscience kicks 00:12:13.429 --> 00:12:15.750 in. It does. His conscience gets the better of 00:12:15.750 --> 00:12:18.429 him. He secretly switches the fake ring back 00:12:18.429 --> 00:12:21.490 for the real expensive one. But Diane doesn't 00:12:21.490 --> 00:12:23.870 know he switched it back. No, she doesn't. She 00:12:23.870 --> 00:12:26.009 finds out about the original deception. She thinks 00:12:26.009 --> 00:12:28.090 the ring currently on her finger is the $1 ,200 00:12:28.090 --> 00:12:31.590 fake. Oh, no. So in a fit of high class, self 00:12:31.590 --> 00:12:33.350 -righteous rage, she throws it right out the 00:12:33.350 --> 00:12:37.279 car window. She throws a $5 ,200 ring out the 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:40.539 window onto the highway. Yes. And the look on 00:12:40.539 --> 00:12:43.960 Sam's face. Yeah. It's not just comedy in that 00:12:43.960 --> 00:12:46.740 moment. It's genuine pain. I bet. It's his financial 00:12:46.740 --> 00:12:49.740 ruin literally flying out onto the asphalt. All 00:12:49.740 --> 00:12:52.419 of this chaos, the court cases, the lost rings, 00:12:52.600 --> 00:12:54.679 the fighting, it's all leading to the season 00:12:54.679 --> 00:12:57.600 finale. The big one. The episode titled, I Do 00:12:57.600 --> 00:13:01.490 a Do. Now, looking back, that title is a massive 00:13:01.490 --> 00:13:04.330 spoiler. It really is, isn't it? But at the time, 00:13:04.350 --> 00:13:06.490 people genuinely thought this was it. They thought 00:13:06.490 --> 00:13:08.769 they were tying the knot. The wedding is actually 00:13:08.769 --> 00:13:10.509 happening in the episode. They're at the altar, 00:13:10.629 --> 00:13:13.730 essentially. But the writers needed a powerful 00:13:13.730 --> 00:13:15.850 catalyst to stop it from going through. So they 00:13:15.850 --> 00:13:18.429 brought back the original villain. Exactly. Sumner 00:13:18.429 --> 00:13:20.690 Sloan. For listeners who haven't memorized the 00:13:20.690 --> 00:13:23.049 pilot episode from years prior, Sumner Sloan 00:13:23.049 --> 00:13:26.750 is Diane's ex -fiance. Right. He's the stuffy 00:13:26.750 --> 00:13:29.049 literature professor. who brought her to the 00:13:29.049 --> 00:13:32.169 bar in episode one and then completely abandoned 00:13:32.169 --> 00:13:34.509 her there to go run off with his ex -wife. So 00:13:34.509 --> 00:13:37.129 his return is perfectly symmetrical. He started 00:13:37.129 --> 00:13:39.950 the entire series, and now he's here to end this 00:13:39.950 --> 00:13:42.309 chapter of it. He brings a deus ex machina with 00:13:42.309 --> 00:13:45.950 him. He tells Diane that a very prominent publisher 00:13:45.950 --> 00:13:49.149 is impressed with one of her manuscripts. A lifeline 00:13:49.149 --> 00:13:51.830 to her old dreams. But he gives her a harsh warning 00:13:51.830 --> 00:13:55.289 along with it. He says, if you marry Sam, you 00:13:55.289 --> 00:13:58.230 will become a barfly. You will never finish this 00:13:58.230 --> 00:14:01.289 book. You will lose your brilliance. It's the 00:14:01.289 --> 00:14:03.549 cruelest thing he could possibly say to her, 00:14:03.629 --> 00:14:07.149 but is he wrong? That's the real tragedy of the 00:14:07.149 --> 00:14:09.730 scene. He might not be wrong. And this is where 00:14:09.730 --> 00:14:12.289 Sam Malone really surprises us as an audience. 00:14:12.429 --> 00:14:14.750 What does he do? Throughout the series, Sam has 00:14:14.750 --> 00:14:18.009 been selfish, he's been womanizing, and often 00:14:18.009 --> 00:14:20.730 very shallow. But in this specific moment at 00:14:20.730 --> 00:14:23.149 the altar, he sees the look in Diane's eyes. 00:14:23.309 --> 00:14:25.309 He knows her too well. He sees that she actually 00:14:25.309 --> 00:14:27.559 wants to finish the book. more than she wants 00:14:27.559 --> 00:14:29.720 the marriage and he makes the agonizing decision 00:14:29.720 --> 00:14:32.500 for her he does he completely takes the burden 00:14:32.500 --> 00:14:35.000 off her shoulders he persuades her to cancel 00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:37.220 the wedding he tells her to go pursue her dream 00:14:37.220 --> 00:14:41.100 it is a moment of genuine heartbreaking selflessness 00:14:41.100 --> 00:14:44.539 from a character not known for it he lets her 00:14:44.539 --> 00:14:46.840 go because he loves her enough to want her to 00:14:46.840 --> 00:14:49.820 be happy even if it's not with him and diane 00:14:49.820 --> 00:14:52.059 makes a promise as she leaves she says i'll be 00:14:52.059 --> 00:14:53.899 back in six months i'll be back in six months 00:14:53.899 --> 00:14:58.820 it is one of the most famous lies in TV history. 00:14:58.980 --> 00:15:01.220 It gives me chills just thinking about it. Sam 00:15:01.220 --> 00:15:04.379 says, have a good life under his breath as she 00:15:04.379 --> 00:15:06.200 walks out the door. Yeah. He knows she's not 00:15:06.200 --> 00:15:08.620 coming back. We know she's not coming back. It's 00:15:08.620 --> 00:15:11.059 absolutely devastating. But let's peel back the 00:15:11.059 --> 00:15:13.759 curtain a bit here. This narrative arc wasn't 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:15.960 just a purely creative choice by the writers. 00:15:16.100 --> 00:15:18.340 It was a production necessity. Oh, absolutely. 00:15:18.779 --> 00:15:21.490 We need to talk about Shelley Long. Right. This 00:15:21.490 --> 00:15:23.490 wasn't a case of the writers getting bored with 00:15:23.490 --> 00:15:25.330 the character of Diane or feeling the romance 00:15:25.330 --> 00:15:28.690 had run its course. Shelley Long herself wanted 00:15:28.690 --> 00:15:30.769 to leave the show. When did she decide this? 00:15:30.990 --> 00:15:33.889 She announced her plans way back in January 1986. 00:15:34.450 --> 00:15:36.929 Wow. So before season five even finished, let 00:15:36.929 --> 00:15:40.169 alone season six. Exactly. Before season six 00:15:40.169 --> 00:15:42.590 production would have even been a thought. And 00:15:42.590 --> 00:15:46.250 by December 1986, the decision was a completely 00:15:46.250 --> 00:15:49.230 done deal. Why leave the biggest show on television? 00:15:49.509 --> 00:15:52.330 I mean, it was a juggernaut. The usual reasons 00:15:52.330 --> 00:15:54.370 you see in Hollywood? She wanted to concentrate 00:15:54.370 --> 00:15:56.590 on her film career. Right. She had movies like 00:15:56.590 --> 00:15:58.830 True Beverly Hills and Outrageous Fortune coming 00:15:58.830 --> 00:16:01.049 up. And she also wanted to focus more on her 00:16:01.049 --> 00:16:04.710 family. The network sitcom grind is really demanding. 00:16:04.950 --> 00:16:07.250 Contrast that with Ted Danson's situation. Complete 00:16:07.250 --> 00:16:09.950 opposite. Ted Danson signed a brand new contract 00:16:09.950 --> 00:16:13.610 for the 1987 -1988 season. He was locked in. 00:16:13.750 --> 00:16:15.909 So the producers were left with a major math 00:16:15.909 --> 00:16:18.389 problem. Exactly. We have Sam, but we don't have 00:16:18.389 --> 00:16:21.009 Diane. Yeah. We can't have them happily married 00:16:21.009 --> 00:16:22.929 and living in different cities. It completely 00:16:22.929 --> 00:16:25.009 kills the comedy of the show. So they really 00:16:25.009 --> 00:16:26.570 had to break them up. There was no other way. 00:16:26.750 --> 00:16:29.409 They had to. And as a result, they decided to 00:16:29.409 --> 00:16:32.090 completely pivot Sam's character moving forward. 00:16:32.289 --> 00:16:34.429 What was the new strategy for him? They wanted 00:16:34.429 --> 00:16:36.529 to strip away the emotional heaviness of the 00:16:36.529 --> 00:16:39.269 long -term relationship and make him a carefree 00:16:39.269 --> 00:16:42.580 bachelor again. A goof off. They wanted to bring 00:16:42.580 --> 00:16:45.539 the lightweight fun back to the bar. And obviously 00:16:45.539 --> 00:16:47.799 they had to start searching for a replacement 00:16:47.799 --> 00:16:50.879 female lead, someone who looked and felt very 00:16:50.879 --> 00:16:53.139 different from Shelley Wong. Right, which eventually 00:16:53.139 --> 00:16:55.519 leads to Kirstie Alley. But that's a whole different 00:16:55.519 --> 00:16:58.340 story. Now, I really want to get into the security 00:16:58.340 --> 00:17:00.779 measures surrounding this finale because this 00:17:00.779 --> 00:17:03.100 sounds like something straight out of a spy novel. 00:17:03.299 --> 00:17:05.630 It really does. We hear about Marvel filming 00:17:05.630 --> 00:17:09.230 fake scenes today to avoid script leaks on Reddit 00:17:09.230 --> 00:17:13.230 or Twitter, but Cheers was doing this in 1987. 00:17:13.369 --> 00:17:16.750 They were intensely paranoid about leaks. They 00:17:16.750 --> 00:17:19.490 knew that if the real ending leaked, the fact 00:17:19.490 --> 00:17:21.430 that Diane actually leaves Sam at the altar, 00:17:21.569 --> 00:17:23.849 it would completely ruin the suspense and potentially 00:17:23.849 --> 00:17:26.470 hurt the ratings. So what do they do? They filmed 00:17:26.470 --> 00:17:29.490 three entirely different endings for I Do A Do 00:17:29.490 --> 00:17:31.549 right in front of the live studio audience. Three. 00:17:31.630 --> 00:17:33.690 Walk me through them. Okay. Ending number one. 00:17:34.289 --> 00:17:36.990 Sam and Diane actually get married. They went 00:17:36.990 --> 00:17:39.269 through with it. They say the vows, they kiss, 00:17:39.349 --> 00:17:42.390 the crowd goes wild, the audience cheers. Imagine 00:17:42.390 --> 00:17:44.130 being in that studio audience, right, thinking 00:17:44.130 --> 00:17:46.670 you just saw television history and then watching 00:17:46.670 --> 00:17:49.130 the show months later at home and seeing a totally 00:17:49.130 --> 00:17:51.529 different ending air. It must have been so confusing. 00:17:52.950 --> 00:17:55.509 Then ending number two was the real one. She 00:17:55.509 --> 00:17:57.190 accepts the offer to finish the novel and leaves 00:17:57.190 --> 00:17:59.549 the bar. And the third. There was a third ending 00:17:59.549 --> 00:18:03.440 film that remains unrevealed to this day. Rumor 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:06.240 has it, it was just a very vague cliffhanger 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:08.400 to keep everyone guessing. Did anyone ever see 00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:10.799 that fake wedding footage? The one where they 00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:13.460 actually tie the knot? It sat hidden in a vault 00:18:13.460 --> 00:18:17.299 for over a decade. It finally aired in 1998 on 00:18:17.299 --> 00:18:20.880 a special hosted by Fox. That is so cool. But 00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:22.740 just think about the sheer cost and effort to 00:18:22.740 --> 00:18:26.059 script, block, rehearse, and film a fake wedding 00:18:26.059 --> 00:18:28.500 just to keep a secret from the press. That is 00:18:28.500 --> 00:18:31.250 next -level dedication to the story. Now, while 00:18:31.250 --> 00:18:33.750 all this intense Sam and Diane drama was sucking 00:18:33.750 --> 00:18:36.150 up all the oxygen in the room, something else 00:18:36.150 --> 00:18:37.930 was happening quietly in the background of Season 00:18:37.930 --> 00:18:41.470 5. Yes, the evolution of the ensemble. This is 00:18:41.470 --> 00:18:44.049 really the core thesis of our deep dive today. 00:18:44.569 --> 00:18:47.869 Season 5 is the bridge. It really is. It's where 00:18:47.869 --> 00:18:50.589 cheers prove it isn't just the Sam and Diane 00:18:50.589 --> 00:18:54.819 show. The supporting cast... steps up in a massive, 00:18:54.920 --> 00:18:57.880 massive way. They had to. The writers were testing 00:18:57.880 --> 00:18:59.619 the waters to see if this show could survive 00:18:59.619 --> 00:19:02.200 without its central romance. Let's talk about 00:19:02.200 --> 00:19:05.140 Frasier Crane. Kelsey Grammer is finally in the 00:19:05.140 --> 00:19:07.259 opening credits this season. He's officially 00:19:07.259 --> 00:19:10.880 made it. He has. And we really see the solidification 00:19:10.880 --> 00:19:13.960 of his relationship with Lilith Sternen, played 00:19:13.960 --> 00:19:16.680 by the absolutely incredible Bebe Neuwirth. She 00:19:16.680 --> 00:19:19.059 is brilliant. Now, here's a shocker for you. 00:19:19.259 --> 00:19:21.940 Bebe Neuwirth is only in two episodes this entire 00:19:21.940 --> 00:19:24.480 season. That feels completely impossible. She 00:19:24.480 --> 00:19:26.960 looms so large in the show's overall history. 00:19:27.259 --> 00:19:29.359 It really speaks to the power of her performance. 00:19:29.599 --> 00:19:32.720 The episode Abnormal Psychology is an absolute 00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:35.180 masterclass in comedic acting. Remind me what 00:19:35.180 --> 00:19:37.099 happens in that one. Frasier and Lilith go on 00:19:37.099 --> 00:19:38.859 a television talk show to debate psychiatric 00:19:38.859 --> 00:19:41.019 theories. But it's not really an academic debate, 00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:43.819 is it? No, it's entirely foreplay. They are using 00:19:43.819 --> 00:19:47.779 this incredibly dense, dry academic jargon, but 00:19:47.779 --> 00:19:51.390 the subtext is purely sexual. They start playing 00:19:51.390 --> 00:19:53.750 footsie under the table while aggressively discussing 00:19:53.750 --> 00:19:56.970 Freud on live TV. And then Fraser takes her home. 00:19:57.130 --> 00:19:59.450 He does. Lilith literally lets her hair down. 00:19:59.869 --> 00:20:02.650 And in this season, despite her very limited 00:20:02.650 --> 00:20:05.170 screen time, they actually become engaged and 00:20:05.170 --> 00:20:07.390 move in together. That's a huge step for his 00:20:07.390 --> 00:20:09.710 character. It gave Fraser a real life outside 00:20:09.710 --> 00:20:12.599 of just... Being the pretentious guy Diane dumped 00:20:12.599 --> 00:20:14.960 at the altar in season three. It made him a fully 00:20:14.960 --> 00:20:17.599 realized independent character. And then we have 00:20:17.599 --> 00:20:19.920 Carla Tortelli. She finally gets a love interest 00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:23.380 who fits her perfectly. Eddie Lebec. The French 00:20:23.380 --> 00:20:25.480 -Canadian goalie for the Boston Bruins. It's 00:20:25.480 --> 00:20:28.200 such a hyper -specific Boston trope, but it works 00:20:28.200 --> 00:20:31.059 perfectly for her. It works because it taps directly 00:20:31.059 --> 00:20:33.299 into Carla's deep -seated superstition. Yeah. 00:20:33.710 --> 00:20:36.289 In the episode Never Love a Goalie, Carla becomes 00:20:36.289 --> 00:20:39.269 completely convinced she has a jinx on him. Why? 00:20:39.549 --> 00:20:41.589 Every single time she dates him or goes to a 00:20:41.589 --> 00:20:44.049 game, the Bruins lose. So she breaks up with 00:20:44.049 --> 00:20:46.390 him for the good of the hockey team. Exactly. 00:20:46.569 --> 00:20:49.710 Yeah. It shows her true priorities. Her loyalty 00:20:49.710 --> 00:20:52.509 is to the Bruins first and romance is a distant 00:20:52.509 --> 00:20:55.710 second. That is so funny. But they reconcile 00:20:55.710 --> 00:20:57.930 when he finally breaks his losing streak and 00:20:57.930 --> 00:21:00.890 wins a game. It's a great arc because it gave 00:21:00.890 --> 00:21:04.160 Rhea Perlman Something vulnerable to do besides 00:21:04.160 --> 00:21:06.960 just standing around insulting people. Speaking 00:21:06.960 --> 00:21:08.819 of Carla, we have to talk about the House of 00:21:08.819 --> 00:21:10.960 Horrors episode. Oh, this is such a great B -plot. 00:21:11.019 --> 00:21:14.019 Okay. Carla buys a house that is suspiciously 00:21:14.019 --> 00:21:17.160 cheap. Always a red flag. Right. She soon finds 00:21:17.160 --> 00:21:19.940 out it was built directly on top of a 17th century 00:21:19.940 --> 00:21:23.160 prison graveyard. Ookie. The walls shake violently. 00:21:23.319 --> 00:21:25.240 Bright lights flash through the windows at night. 00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:27.759 She naturally thinks it's poltergeists punishing 00:21:27.759 --> 00:21:30.019 her. Of course she does. But then she finds out 00:21:30.019 --> 00:21:32.730 the mundane truth. The house is just located 00:21:32.730 --> 00:21:34.950 directly under the very low flight path of Logan 00:21:34.950 --> 00:21:37.329 Airport. And her reaction to that news is just 00:21:37.329 --> 00:21:40.450 priceless. Most normal people would be devastated 00:21:40.450 --> 00:21:43.130 by the noise pollution. But Carla is immensely 00:21:43.130 --> 00:21:48.349 relieved. She screams, it's just a 747. She doesn't 00:21:48.349 --> 00:21:51.230 mind the deafening noise at all. She just didn't 00:21:51.230 --> 00:21:53.789 want ghosts in her house. It's a perfect specific 00:21:53.789 --> 00:21:56.109 character beat. Now what about the guys holding 00:21:56.109 --> 00:21:59.680 down the end of the bar? Cliff and Norm. They 00:21:59.680 --> 00:22:01.559 are essentially the Greek chorus of the show. 00:22:02.380 --> 00:22:05.680 In season five, we see the writers really experimenting 00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:09.140 with giving them more agency in their own storylines. 00:22:09.279 --> 00:22:12.319 Like Norm's business venture. Yes. Norm tries 00:22:12.319 --> 00:22:15.299 to start a business called Tan and Wash. A laundromat 00:22:15.299 --> 00:22:17.740 and tanning salon combined into one storefront. 00:22:17.980 --> 00:22:19.980 It's a terrible, terrible idea. And it collapses. 00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:22.599 Literally collapses. The roof caves in, right? 00:22:22.819 --> 00:22:25.299 The roof caves in from heavy snow because Norm... 00:22:25.470 --> 00:22:27.829 being Norm, didn't bother to secure insurance. 00:22:28.089 --> 00:22:30.569 Oh, Norm. It reinforces the core truth of his 00:22:30.569 --> 00:22:33.509 character. Norm is lovable, but he is fundamentally 00:22:33.509 --> 00:22:36.049 a loser in the outside business world. He truly 00:22:36.049 --> 00:22:38.349 belongs safely on that bar school. And Cliff 00:22:38.349 --> 00:22:40.769 has his own disaster this season in an episode 00:22:40.769 --> 00:22:43.289 called Dog Bites Cliff. He meets a woman named 00:22:43.289 --> 00:22:45.670 Madeline Keith. He thinks he's found true love. 00:22:45.809 --> 00:22:48.220 But there's a catch. There is always a catch 00:22:48.220 --> 00:22:50.900 with Cliff. It turns out she's only dating him 00:22:50.900 --> 00:22:52.920 to butter him up and trick him into signing a 00:22:52.920 --> 00:22:55.740 legal liability waiver. Because her dog bit him. 00:22:55.880 --> 00:22:58.799 Exactly. It's incredibly cynical, but it's very 00:22:58.799 --> 00:23:01.500 funny. It cements their roles on the show. They 00:23:01.500 --> 00:23:04.240 are the constants. While Sam and Diane have this 00:23:04.240 --> 00:23:07.299 operatic, high -stakes romantic drama, Cliff 00:23:07.299 --> 00:23:09.799 and Norm are dealing with minor dog bites and 00:23:09.799 --> 00:23:12.640 terrible business investments. It really grounds 00:23:12.640 --> 00:23:15.299 the show in everyday reality. We also have to 00:23:15.299 --> 00:23:17.980 mention Woody Boyd. Woody Harrelson had a real 00:23:17.980 --> 00:23:20.180 -life incident that completely bled into the 00:23:20.180 --> 00:23:22.460 production, didn't he? He did. Woody Harrelson 00:23:22.460 --> 00:23:24.880 actually broke his arm in real life while practicing 00:23:24.880 --> 00:23:27.779 for the Toyota Grand Prix celebrity race. A legit 00:23:27.779 --> 00:23:30.940 car crash. A legit car crash. So he shows up 00:23:30.940 --> 00:23:34.039 to the set to film with his arm in a giant cast. 00:23:34.339 --> 00:23:36.200 And the writers just rolled with it. They had 00:23:36.200 --> 00:23:39.559 no choice. In the episode One Last Fling, Woody 00:23:39.559 --> 00:23:41.940 has a cast. When the other characters ask him 00:23:41.940 --> 00:23:43.779 about it, he just waves it off and says he has 00:23:43.779 --> 00:23:46.240 a tiresome story about it. Which is a great meta 00:23:46.240 --> 00:23:49.119 joke. It was a total meta wink to the audience 00:23:49.119 --> 00:23:51.359 who probably already read about his real -life 00:23:51.359 --> 00:23:53.660 car crash in the tabloids that week. I want to 00:23:53.660 --> 00:23:55.900 zoom in on one specific episode that I think 00:23:55.900 --> 00:23:58.579 proves the ensemble theory better than any other 00:23:58.579 --> 00:24:02.059 piece of evidence. Episode 9, Thanksgiving Orphans. 00:24:02.259 --> 00:24:05.480 Oh, yes. If you are teaching a college class 00:24:05.480 --> 00:24:08.279 on sitcom writing, this episode is on the syllabus. 00:24:08.500 --> 00:24:11.279 The premise is incredibly simple. It's Thanksgiving 00:24:11.279 --> 00:24:14.619 Day. None of the lonely hearts at the bar have 00:24:14.619 --> 00:24:17.059 anywhere else to go. Right. So they all decide 00:24:17.059 --> 00:24:20.339 to crash at Carla's new house. It takes the characters 00:24:20.339 --> 00:24:23.000 entirely out of the bar, which is always a risky 00:24:23.000 --> 00:24:25.960 move for a workplace sitcom, and puts them in 00:24:25.960 --> 00:24:28.519 a claustrophobic pressure cooker. And everything 00:24:28.519 --> 00:24:30.660 goes wrong. Everything. The food is a disaster. 00:24:31.039 --> 00:24:33.640 Yeah. Norm's giant turkey is completely frozen 00:24:33.640 --> 00:24:36.740 solid. The house is freezing cold. And Diane 00:24:36.740 --> 00:24:38.799 shows up uninvited, of course, dressed head to 00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:40.900 toe as a pilgrim. Because of course she does. 00:24:41.369 --> 00:24:44.750 And she forces these hungry, cranky people to 00:24:44.750 --> 00:24:47.250 do a traditional long -winded Thanksgiving prayer. 00:24:47.569 --> 00:24:49.710 It's unbearable. The tension just builds and 00:24:49.710 --> 00:24:51.750 builds. Everyone is starving, freezing, and annoyed 00:24:51.750 --> 00:24:54.029 with each other. And then it finally explodes. 00:24:54.250 --> 00:24:57.009 It explodes into one of the most famous, chaotic 00:24:57.009 --> 00:25:00.589 food fights in television history. And I really 00:25:00.589 --> 00:25:02.670 want to highlight the technical difficulty of 00:25:02.670 --> 00:25:05.630 filming this scene. Why is it so hard? You can't 00:25:05.630 --> 00:25:08.329 easily do a food fight twice on a sitcom set. 00:25:09.079 --> 00:25:11.039 The set gets completely destroyed with actual 00:25:11.039 --> 00:25:13.700 food. The wardrobe gets ruined. So they had to 00:25:13.700 --> 00:25:16.099 get it in one take. Essentially, yes. If you 00:25:16.099 --> 00:25:18.059 watch the scene closely, you can actually see 00:25:18.059 --> 00:25:20.660 the actors slipping and sliding on the mashed 00:25:20.660 --> 00:25:22.960 potatoes on the floor. That wasn't scripted acting. 00:25:23.279 --> 00:25:26.680 No, that was genuine physical chaos. They were 00:25:26.680 --> 00:25:29.240 legitimately struggling to stay upright while 00:25:29.240 --> 00:25:31.079 throwing peas at each other. And there's the 00:25:31.079 --> 00:25:33.839 incredible gag at the very end with Norm's wife, 00:25:34.059 --> 00:25:36.519 Vera. The longest running joke of the entire 00:25:36.519 --> 00:25:39.140 series is that we never ever see Vera's face. 00:25:39.400 --> 00:25:42.319 But in this episode, she actually rings the doorbell 00:25:42.319 --> 00:25:44.240 and walks through the door. The audience gasps. 00:25:44.619 --> 00:25:47.440 Yes. The studio audience genuinely thinks we 00:25:47.440 --> 00:25:49.759 are finally going to see her. And then splat. 00:25:49.859 --> 00:25:52.480 Diane winds up to throw a pumpkin pie, misses 00:25:52.480 --> 00:25:55.259 her intended target completely, and hits Vera 00:25:55.259 --> 00:25:57.440 square in the face right as she walks in. It's 00:25:57.440 --> 00:26:00.420 brilliant. Vera just stands there, her face completely 00:26:00.420 --> 00:26:02.940 covered in thick pie filling. We still don't 00:26:02.940 --> 00:26:06.259 see her face. It is an absolute genius piece 00:26:06.259 --> 00:26:10.230 of physical comedy and staging. TV Guide actually 00:26:10.230 --> 00:26:12.569 ranks this episode number seven on their list 00:26:12.569 --> 00:26:15.150 of the 100 greatest episodes of all time. It 00:26:15.150 --> 00:26:17.289 deserves it. And I think it's because it showed 00:26:17.289 --> 00:26:20.269 that this disparate group of barflies is actually 00:26:20.269 --> 00:26:22.930 a family. They bicker, they insult each other, 00:26:23.009 --> 00:26:25.329 they throw yams at each other's heads. But at 00:26:25.329 --> 00:26:27.789 the end of the day, they are together. Exactly. 00:26:27.890 --> 00:26:30.470 Even without the heavy Sam and Diane romance 00:26:30.470 --> 00:26:33.069 driving the plot forward, that episode works 00:26:33.069 --> 00:26:35.309 flawlessly. It proved to the network that the 00:26:35.309 --> 00:26:38.359 show had real legs to stand on. There are a few 00:26:38.359 --> 00:26:40.740 other standout episodes from season five we should 00:26:40.740 --> 00:26:43.119 definitely mention, Simon says, featuring the 00:26:43.119 --> 00:26:45.400 legendary John Cleese. This is the British invasion 00:26:45.400 --> 00:26:48.599 of Cheers. John Cleese plays Dr. Simon Finchwise, 00:26:48.779 --> 00:26:51.920 who is this very uptight British marriage counselor. 00:26:52.140 --> 00:26:54.599 He is basically the anti -Cheers character. Completely. 00:26:54.660 --> 00:26:57.059 He hates the bar environment. He hates the casual 00:26:57.059 --> 00:27:00.380 people in it. And he tells Sam and Diane exactly 00:27:00.380 --> 00:27:02.980 what we've all been thinking. Their relationship 00:27:02.980 --> 00:27:05.839 is completely doomed. He is the ultimate voice 00:27:05.839 --> 00:27:08.259 of reason. He observes them for a bit, looks 00:27:08.259 --> 00:27:11.140 at them dead in the eye, and says, you two are 00:27:11.140 --> 00:27:13.500 a disaster. You shouldn't be together. But they 00:27:13.500 --> 00:27:17.299 don't accept that. No. They're so deeply annoying, 00:27:17.559 --> 00:27:20.480 so relentlessly persistent, that they basically 00:27:20.480 --> 00:27:22.619 torture the poor man until he breaks down and 00:27:22.619 --> 00:27:24.900 lies to them. He just gives up. He finally screams, 00:27:25.140 --> 00:27:27.640 you're going to be very happy, just to get them 00:27:27.640 --> 00:27:29.589 to shut up and leave him alone. Cleese actually 00:27:29.589 --> 00:27:32.990 won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Performer for 00:27:32.990 --> 00:27:35.549 that single episode, and it is so well -deserved. 00:27:35.829 --> 00:27:38.470 It was a perfect clash of acting styles. You 00:27:38.470 --> 00:27:41.869 had Cleese's manic, elevated British energy completely 00:27:41.869 --> 00:27:45.009 clashing with the laid -back, grounded vibe of 00:27:45.009 --> 00:27:47.349 the Boston bar. And we absolutely cannot forget 00:27:47.349 --> 00:27:50.210 Cheers, the motion picture. Oh, another classic 00:27:50.210 --> 00:27:52.609 ensemble piece. The gang tries to make a home 00:27:52.609 --> 00:27:55.029 movie to convince Woody's strict parents that 00:27:55.029 --> 00:27:57.210 Boston is a safe, happy place. Because they want 00:27:57.210 --> 00:27:59.480 him to move back to Indiana. Right. But the bar 00:27:59.480 --> 00:28:01.900 regulars are absolutely terrible filmmakers. 00:28:02.180 --> 00:28:05.619 It's a complete horror show. It is. They inadvertently 00:28:05.619 --> 00:28:08.039 film Sam looking like he's threatening a helpless 00:28:08.039 --> 00:28:11.559 puppy. Oh, gosh. Norm is just aggressively binge 00:28:11.559 --> 00:28:13.799 eating in the background of a shot. And worst 00:28:13.799 --> 00:28:16.480 of all, you can clearly see a suicidal jumper 00:28:16.480 --> 00:28:19.500 outside the window of Frazier's office. It makes 00:28:19.500 --> 00:28:22.400 Boston look like a terrifying dystopia. It really 00:28:22.400 --> 00:28:25.299 does. But then Diane gets her hands on the raw 00:28:25.299 --> 00:28:28.099 footage. And she decides to fix it. She edits 00:28:28.099 --> 00:28:31.500 it into what is described as a Godardesque montage. 00:28:31.920 --> 00:28:35.240 Very avant -garde. It's highly pretentious, artsy, 00:28:35.240 --> 00:28:37.759 and completely unintelligible to a normal person. 00:28:38.019 --> 00:28:41.779 It perfectly captures that core conflict of Diane's 00:28:41.779 --> 00:28:45.380 high culture pretension versus the bar's gritty. 00:28:45.710 --> 00:28:47.829 blue -collar reality. So we've looked at the 00:28:47.829 --> 00:28:50.269 big episodes, the romantic drama, the massive 00:28:50.269 --> 00:28:52.309 departure of the lead actress. Now comes the 00:28:52.309 --> 00:28:54.369 big historical question. How was this season 00:28:54.369 --> 00:28:56.369 actually received when it aired? That's the real 00:28:56.369 --> 00:28:59.210 test. Losing Shelley Long is a massive, massive 00:28:59.210 --> 00:29:01.509 blow to a hit show. Did the critics at the time 00:29:01.509 --> 00:29:03.750 think Cheers was dead in the water? The initial 00:29:03.750 --> 00:29:07.150 reaction was very mixed. In 1987, emotions were 00:29:07.150 --> 00:29:09.230 running really high among the critics. Or the 00:29:09.230 --> 00:29:12.079 same. Well, Kathy Carlisle at the LA Times was 00:29:12.079 --> 00:29:14.740 very pro -romance. She wrote that she felt the 00:29:14.740 --> 00:29:16.819 writers completely betrayed the loyal audience 00:29:16.819 --> 00:29:19.519 by not letting them get married. She felt cheated. 00:29:19.819 --> 00:29:22.660 Exactly. But then, on the other side, you had 00:29:22.660 --> 00:29:25.319 Monica Collins writing for USA Today. What did 00:29:25.319 --> 00:29:27.579 she say? She was absolutely brutal. Oh, really? 00:29:27.779 --> 00:29:30.480 She called the character of Diane a snitty, selfish 00:29:30.480 --> 00:29:33.940 snob in print and said she was actively relieved 00:29:33.940 --> 00:29:37.430 to see her finally leave the show. Wow. Tell 00:29:37.430 --> 00:29:39.730 us how you really feel, Monica. She really felt 00:29:39.730 --> 00:29:41.589 the character had become suffocating to the rest 00:29:41.589 --> 00:29:43.750 of the cast. But if we look at the retrospective 00:29:43.750 --> 00:29:45.650 reviews, you know, critics writing about the 00:29:45.650 --> 00:29:48.930 DVD box sets years later, looking at the season 00:29:48.930 --> 00:29:52.190 as a complete piece of work, the consensus really 00:29:52.190 --> 00:29:55.109 shifts, doesn't it? It does. Significantly. When 00:29:55.109 --> 00:29:57.349 you remove the immediate emotion of the cliffhanger, 00:29:57.470 --> 00:30:00.430 the analysis is much kinder. Like Jeffrey Robinson's 00:30:00.430 --> 00:30:02.470 review. Right. Jeffrey Robinson, a DVD talk called 00:30:02.470 --> 00:30:04.910 Season 5, a great improvement over Season 4. 00:30:05.519 --> 00:30:08.099 And Adam Arsenault over at DVD Verdict gave the 00:30:08.099 --> 00:30:11.680 entire season a 96 % grade. That's a solid A 00:30:11.680 --> 00:30:13.859 -plus in the television world. The prevailing 00:30:13.859 --> 00:30:17.539 feeling now among TV historians is that the show 00:30:17.539 --> 00:30:21.339 absolutely needed this hard reset. It cleansed 00:30:21.339 --> 00:30:24.019 the palate. The acting held up beautifully, and 00:30:24.019 --> 00:30:25.920 the writing was sharper than ever because they 00:30:25.920 --> 00:30:28.380 had to work harder. We often talk about the concept 00:30:28.380 --> 00:30:31.160 of jumping the shark on this show. Usually when 00:30:31.160 --> 00:30:33.700 a main titular character leaves a hit series, 00:30:33.880 --> 00:30:36.099 that is the definitive shark jumping moment. 00:30:36.279 --> 00:30:38.019 That's when the show starts to suck, usually. 00:30:38.299 --> 00:30:41.279 Right. But Cheers seems to be the rare exception 00:30:41.279 --> 00:30:44.200 to the rule. By pivoting hard to the ensemble 00:30:44.200 --> 00:30:47.099 format and by bringing in Kirstie Alley in season 00:30:47.099 --> 00:30:49.599 six, which is a massive topic we'll cover another 00:30:49.599 --> 00:30:52.700 day, they managed to not just survive, but stay 00:30:52.700 --> 00:30:55.480 in the top 10 ratings for years and years. Season 00:30:55.480 --> 00:30:58.480 five was the bridge. It safely took us from the 00:30:58.480 --> 00:31:01.160 two -hander Sam and Diane show to the sprawling 00:31:01.160 --> 00:31:03.599 ensemble cheers show we remember today. Absolutely. 00:31:03.640 --> 00:31:06.240 It was the painful growing pains necessary for 00:31:06.240 --> 00:31:08.420 the show's incredible longevity. Without a doubt. 00:31:08.559 --> 00:31:10.640 Well, before we wrap up today's deep dive, I 00:31:10.640 --> 00:31:13.279 have a little piece of weird production trivia 00:31:13.279 --> 00:31:15.420 that I stumbled upon in the notes. And it feels 00:31:15.420 --> 00:31:18.359 like a glitch in the Matrix. Oh, I love these 00:31:18.359 --> 00:31:21.339 weird little details. What is it? Okay, so there 00:31:21.339 --> 00:31:24.789 is an episode. late in Season 5 titled The Godfather 00:31:24.789 --> 00:31:27.509 Part 3. Okay, sure. But if you look at the calendar, 00:31:27.690 --> 00:31:31.569 this episode aired in March of 1987. Right. The 00:31:31.569 --> 00:31:34.549 actual Francis Ford Coppola movie, The Godfather 00:31:34.549 --> 00:31:37.470 Part 3, wasn't released in theaters until 1990. 00:31:38.089 --> 00:31:40.549 That is bizarre. The sitcom writers were acting 00:31:40.549 --> 00:31:44.599 as unintentional prophets. Either that or maybe 00:31:44.599 --> 00:31:47.200 Francis Ford Coppola was just a huge Cheers fan 00:31:47.200 --> 00:31:49.460 on Thursday nights and got the title idea from 00:31:49.460 --> 00:31:51.740 them. I choose to believe that version of history. 00:31:51.980 --> 00:31:54.079 It's much funnier. We may never know the truth. 00:31:54.319 --> 00:31:56.859 All right. As we finally close the book on the 00:31:56.859 --> 00:31:59.380 chaotic, brilliant season five, I want to leave 00:31:59.380 --> 00:32:01.220 you listening with a provocative thought to mull 00:32:01.220 --> 00:32:03.660 over. Let's hear it. We know for a fact they 00:32:03.660 --> 00:32:05.920 filmed that secret alternate ending where Sam 00:32:05.920 --> 00:32:07.839 and Diane actually got married at the altar. 00:32:08.039 --> 00:32:10.119 The happily ever after cut sitting in the vault. 00:32:10.240 --> 00:32:13.299 Right. If they had aired that version. If Shelley 00:32:13.299 --> 00:32:16.279 Long had decided to stay on the show, would Cheers 00:32:16.279 --> 00:32:19.119 have survived another six seasons? It's the ultimate 00:32:19.119 --> 00:32:21.960 television what if. Would it have worked? There 00:32:21.960 --> 00:32:24.940 is an old saying in comedy writing rooms. Happiness 00:32:24.940 --> 00:32:27.900 is the enemy of funny. Right. Conflict is comedy. 00:32:28.099 --> 00:32:31.180 Think about a happy, settled, married Sam and 00:32:31.180 --> 00:32:34.759 Diane just dealing with mundane domestic issues 00:32:34.759 --> 00:32:38.119 in the bar. That sounds like a completely different 00:32:38.119 --> 00:32:41.970 show. And honestly, maybe a boring show. So the 00:32:41.970 --> 00:32:44.349 heartbreak we saw was actually the fuel keeping 00:32:44.349 --> 00:32:47.049 the engine running. I firmly think so. The pain 00:32:47.049 --> 00:32:49.829 of the breakup kept the hunger alive. It allowed 00:32:49.829 --> 00:32:52.569 Sam to be the rogue Sam again. And crucially, 00:32:52.650 --> 00:32:55.049 it allowed the amazing ensemble cast the room 00:32:55.049 --> 00:32:57.410 they needed to breathe and grow. It was necessary 00:32:57.410 --> 00:33:00.269 pain. Painful as it was for the hardcore shippers 00:33:00.269 --> 00:33:03.289 in 1987, I think losing Diane saved the series. 00:33:03.450 --> 00:33:05.509 A tough pill to swallow for the romantics out 00:33:05.509 --> 00:33:07.569 there, but very hard to argue with the history 00:33:07.569 --> 00:33:10.009 books and the ratings that followed. Thank you 00:33:10.009 --> 00:33:12.309 so much for joining us on this deep dive into 00:33:12.309 --> 00:33:15.170 the absolute pivot point of 80s television. It 00:33:15.170 --> 00:33:16.950 was an absolute pleasure talking about it. We'll 00:33:16.950 --> 00:33:18.029 see you next time at the bar. Cheers.