WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.779 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today, we are 00:00:02.779 --> 00:00:04.540 doing something a little different for you. We 00:00:04.540 --> 00:00:07.059 really are. We are stepping into a time machine, 00:00:07.259 --> 00:00:10.259 basically setting the dial for September 1989 00:00:10.259 --> 00:00:14.980 and landing right in the middle of a, well, a 00:00:14.980 --> 00:00:17.260 cultural phenomenon at the absolute peak of its 00:00:17.260 --> 00:00:19.280 powers. Oh, absolutely. We are talking about 00:00:19.280 --> 00:00:22.280 the eighth season of the American sitcom Cheers. 00:00:22.739 --> 00:00:25.140 It really is a fascinating moment in television 00:00:25.140 --> 00:00:28.460 history to look back on. you have a show that 00:00:28.460 --> 00:00:31.940 is entering its eighth year on NBC occupying 00:00:31.940 --> 00:00:34.219 that coveted Thursday night slot. Right. Back 00:00:34.219 --> 00:00:36.520 when must -see TV actually meant the entire country 00:00:36.520 --> 00:00:38.340 was watching the exact same thing at the exact 00:00:38.340 --> 00:00:41.759 same time. Exactly. And yet, instead of resting 00:00:41.759 --> 00:00:44.420 on its laurels or, you know, just coasting on 00:00:44.420 --> 00:00:47.000 the chemistry of the cast, the show decides to 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:49.500 completely reinvent itself. That is the thing 00:00:49.500 --> 00:00:51.179 that really struck me while reviewing the source 00:00:51.179 --> 00:00:54.200 material for this. Usually by season eight, a 00:00:54.200 --> 00:00:56.359 sitcom is running on fumes. They definitely are. 00:00:56.420 --> 00:00:58.399 Maybe they had a cute kid. Maybe they do a shark 00:00:58.399 --> 00:01:01.140 jumping stunt. But Cheers did something almost 00:01:01.140 --> 00:01:03.920 unheard of. They basically turned a bar comedy 00:01:03.920 --> 00:01:07.120 into a serialized corporate thriller. It is a 00:01:07.120 --> 00:01:09.980 massive pivot. And that is really the mission 00:01:09.980 --> 00:01:12.640 of this deep dive today. Yeah. We want to unpack 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:14.760 for you how a show that had been on the air since 00:01:14.760 --> 00:01:18.680 1982 managed to stay so fresh as it moved into 00:01:18.680 --> 00:01:21.200 the 90s. Right. We're going to analyze how they 00:01:21.200 --> 00:01:24.459 introduced a serialized storyline about corporate 00:01:24.459 --> 00:01:28.519 takeovers, insider trading, and, I mean, international 00:01:28.519 --> 00:01:31.980 espionage, all set in a basement bar in Boston. 00:01:32.379 --> 00:01:34.920 And we cannot forget the other major hurdles 00:01:34.920 --> 00:01:37.140 they cleared this season. They had to deal with 00:01:37.140 --> 00:01:39.340 the death of a significant returning character. 00:01:39.540 --> 00:01:41.579 Which is always a tonal minefield for a comedy. 00:01:41.739 --> 00:01:44.819 Oh, for sure. Yeah. And they produced what might 00:01:44.819 --> 00:01:47.120 be the single most famous moment in the history 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:49.219 of the show, maybe even the history of sitcoms, 00:01:49.239 --> 00:01:51.799 involving a certain postal worker and a certain 00:01:51.799 --> 00:01:53.799 game show host. We have a really great stack 00:01:53.799 --> 00:01:56.579 of sources to help us navigate this too. We were 00:01:56.579 --> 00:01:58.420 working from production notes, detailed episode 00:01:58.420 --> 00:02:00.519 summaries, critical reception data from 1989 00:02:00.519 --> 00:02:03.030 and 1990. and the award history specifically 00:02:03.030 --> 00:02:05.209 for season eight. So let's set the scene for 00:02:05.209 --> 00:02:08.310 you. It is September 1989. The Berlin Wall is 00:02:08.310 --> 00:02:11.650 about to fall. Tim Burton's Batman is huge. And 00:02:11.650 --> 00:02:14.250 on Thursday nights, Cheers is just an absolute 00:02:14.250 --> 00:02:16.770 juggernaut. Juggernaut is the perfect word for 00:02:16.770 --> 00:02:19.949 it. We are talking about a show that is consistently 00:02:19.949 --> 00:02:22.389 landing in the top three of the Nielsen ratings. 00:02:22.509 --> 00:02:25.509 It is battling it out every week with The Cosby 00:02:25.509 --> 00:02:28.090 Show and Roseanne. Heavy hitters. Very heavy 00:02:28.090 --> 00:02:31.229 hitters. But creatively. The show is in an incredibly 00:02:31.229 --> 00:02:33.969 interesting transition period. The dates are 00:02:33.969 --> 00:02:36.750 critical here. September 21st, 1989 is the premiere. 00:02:37.009 --> 00:02:39.430 And if you were tuning in back then, the dynamic 00:02:39.430 --> 00:02:43.069 in the bar felt, well, it felt wrong. Or at least 00:02:43.069 --> 00:02:44.689 very different. Sam Malone was not the owner 00:02:44.689 --> 00:02:47.669 anymore. That is the crucial context for everything 00:02:47.669 --> 00:02:49.810 that happens in Season 8. We have to remember 00:02:49.810 --> 00:02:52.349 that Sam sold the bar to the Lillian Corporation 00:02:52.349 --> 00:02:55.150 back in Season 6 so he could sail around the 00:02:55.150 --> 00:02:57.270 world. Right, he came back, but he came back 00:02:57.270 --> 00:03:00.740 as an employee. Yes. So for this entire season, 00:03:00.919 --> 00:03:03.020 the guy whose name is synonymous with the bar 00:03:03.020 --> 00:03:05.300 is basically just a bartender. He's punching 00:03:05.300 --> 00:03:07.680 a clock. He's trying to scrape together enough 00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:10.340 money to buy back his identity. And his boss 00:03:10.340 --> 00:03:12.960 is Rebecca Howe, played by Kirstie Alley. Right. 00:03:13.060 --> 00:03:16.000 And Rebecca is desperate. She is clawing her 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:18.400 way up the corporate ladder, terrified of being 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:21.240 sent back to some branch in the Midwest. That 00:03:21.240 --> 00:03:23.400 desperation is really the engine that drives 00:03:23.400 --> 00:03:25.840 the major arc of season eight. Which brings us 00:03:25.840 --> 00:03:28.080 to the introduction of one of the most interesting 00:03:28.080 --> 00:03:30.620 villains the show ever had. We have to talk about 00:03:30.620 --> 00:03:32.879 the Robin Colcord arc. The corporate thriller. 00:03:33.060 --> 00:03:35.419 This is where the season finds its narrative 00:03:35.419 --> 00:03:38.080 spine. It starts with the introduction of Robin 00:03:38.080 --> 00:03:40.460 Colcord, played by the absolutely incredible 00:03:40.460 --> 00:03:43.840 Roger Rees. He is an English multimillionaire, 00:03:43.860 --> 00:03:46.960 seemingly perfect, incredibly wealthy. He is 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:50.020 the anti -Sam. In a lot of ways. He is sophisticated. 00:03:50.400 --> 00:03:53.780 He is European. He deals in high finance. His 00:03:53.780 --> 00:03:56.759 role in the story is very specific. He owns the 00:03:56.759 --> 00:03:59.180 competitor to the Lillian Corporation. Which 00:03:59.180 --> 00:04:01.560 owns Cheers at this point. Exactly. So he is 00:04:01.560 --> 00:04:03.460 the enemy of the company that owns Cheers. But 00:04:03.460 --> 00:04:05.939 he does not act like an enemy. He acts like a 00:04:05.939 --> 00:04:07.849 suitor. I found this really interesting in the 00:04:07.849 --> 00:04:10.050 production notes. Roger Reese gave an interview 00:04:10.050 --> 00:04:12.490 in November 1989, right in the middle of the 00:04:12.490 --> 00:04:14.949 season airing, where he described exactly what 00:04:14.949 --> 00:04:16.829 the character was designed to do. He called him 00:04:16.829 --> 00:04:20.470 a Philip. A Philip. A boost or a stimulus? Yeah, 00:04:20.569 --> 00:04:23.009 I totally had to look that word up. He said Robin 00:04:23.009 --> 00:04:25.750 was there to drive Sam Malone crazy. He described 00:04:25.750 --> 00:04:30.129 him as dashing, sexy, irritating, and a megalomaniac. 00:04:30.250 --> 00:04:33.430 That word megalomaniac is key because while he 00:04:33.430 --> 00:04:36.350 is charming, Rebecca, there is a deep ruthlessness 00:04:36.350 --> 00:04:39.329 there. There is actually a fascinating detail 00:04:39.329 --> 00:04:41.670 in the source material regarding who this character 00:04:41.670 --> 00:04:44.129 might have been based on. Oh, this is where it 00:04:44.129 --> 00:04:46.449 gets really interesting given the timeline. Now, 00:04:46.470 --> 00:04:48.120 we are just looking at the production. history 00:04:48.120 --> 00:04:50.259 here, reporting what the sources say. But the 00:04:50.259 --> 00:04:53.560 comparison is explicit. It is. In that same interview, 00:04:53.779 --> 00:04:56.800 Roger Rees explicitly compares his character 00:04:56.800 --> 00:04:59.040 to Donald Trump. He mentions that Robin Colcourt 00:04:59.040 --> 00:05:01.800 has a helicopter fleet and an airline, and he 00:05:01.800 --> 00:05:04.439 says, quote, It is very much Donald Trump. That 00:05:04.439 --> 00:05:06.759 is wild to think about in the context of 1989. 00:05:06.920 --> 00:05:09.819 You think of Cheers as this timeless bar show, 00:05:09.980 --> 00:05:12.000 but it was very much reacting to the greed is 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:15.139 good era of the 80s. It really was. Now, to be 00:05:15.139 --> 00:05:17.480 fair to the historical record, later in January 00:05:17.480 --> 00:05:20.759 1990, Rees walked that back a little bit. He 00:05:20.759 --> 00:05:22.519 claimed he did not base the character on anyone 00:05:22.519 --> 00:05:25.420 specific. Probably to avoid legal trouble or 00:05:25.420 --> 00:05:27.920 just to be polite. Likely, yes. But the parallels 00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:29.970 were clearly there in the writing. The flashy 00:05:29.970 --> 00:05:32.449 wealth, the hostile takeovers, the obsession 00:05:32.449 --> 00:05:35.589 with branding. And Rebecca Howe falls hook, line, 00:05:35.689 --> 00:05:38.350 and sinker for this guy. She really does. And 00:05:38.350 --> 00:05:40.430 this is the tragedy in the comedy of Rebecca's 00:05:40.430 --> 00:05:43.629 arc this season. She has spent years trying to 00:05:43.629 --> 00:05:46.490 get noticed by headquarters. Now she is dating 00:05:46.490 --> 00:05:48.910 a billionaire. She thinks she has finally made 00:05:48.910 --> 00:05:51.110 it. She thinks she is part of the ultimate power 00:05:51.110 --> 00:05:54.009 couple. But the audience knows something she 00:05:54.009 --> 00:05:56.949 does not. That he is playing her. Worse than 00:05:56.949 --> 00:05:59.870 playing her. He is using her to destroy her own 00:05:59.870 --> 00:06:02.230 company. It is actually quite dark for a sitcom. 00:06:02.550 --> 00:06:05.750 He is essentially a corporate spy using his girlfriend 00:06:05.750 --> 00:06:08.629 as a mole, and she has absolutely no idea. There 00:06:08.629 --> 00:06:11.089 is this incredible reveal in the two -part finale, 00:06:11.449 --> 00:06:13.930 Cry Hard. We find out that Robin has been accessing 00:06:13.930 --> 00:06:15.949 classified information about the Lillian Corporation, 00:06:16.389 --> 00:06:19.189 and the way he got that access is just... It 00:06:19.189 --> 00:06:21.269 is heartbreaking and hilarious at the same time. 00:06:21.410 --> 00:06:25.290 The sweet baby hack. Sweet baby. Yes. It turns 00:06:25.290 --> 00:06:28.050 out Robin guessed Rebecca's password to the company 00:06:28.050 --> 00:06:30.970 computer system. Her password was sweet baby. 00:06:31.449 --> 00:06:33.670 And the source material notes that he had been 00:06:33.670 --> 00:06:35.670 using this since the day after they first made 00:06:35.670 --> 00:06:39.189 love. That is cold. That is ice cold. It is incredibly 00:06:39.189 --> 00:06:41.050 cold. Think about the manipulation there. He 00:06:41.050 --> 00:06:43.230 sleeps with her, learns her vulnerabilities, 00:06:43.589 --> 00:06:46.540 guesses her password, which... Let us be honest, 00:06:46.699 --> 00:06:49.199 he has terrible cyber security even for 1989. 00:06:49.680 --> 00:06:52.600 Go worse. And then he uses it to orchestrate 00:06:52.600 --> 00:06:56.220 hostile takeover. That is a level of villainy 00:06:56.220 --> 00:06:59.100 you do not usually see in a sitcom. Usually the 00:06:59.100 --> 00:07:01.259 bad boyfriend just cheats or is rude to the friends. 00:07:01.439 --> 00:07:03.819 This guy is committing federal crimes. And it 00:07:03.819 --> 00:07:06.639 all comes to a head in that finale. The climax 00:07:06.639 --> 00:07:09.240 of this arc is practically a spy movie. You have 00:07:09.240 --> 00:07:11.500 Sam and the gang finding the evidence. Right. 00:07:11.579 --> 00:07:13.720 They find the papers in his apartment while moving 00:07:13.720 --> 00:07:16.189 furniture. Which, again, is a classic Cheers 00:07:16.189 --> 00:07:18.509 way to solve a mystery. They are not detectives. 00:07:18.509 --> 00:07:20.509 They are movers. And Robin comes back and he 00:07:20.509 --> 00:07:22.930 realizes he is caught. The walls are closing 00:07:22.930 --> 00:07:25.509 in. And what does he do? He pulls the ultimate 00:07:25.509 --> 00:07:28.250 distraction. He proposes. He proposes marriage 00:07:28.250 --> 00:07:31.310 to Rebecca while simultaneously shredding the 00:07:31.310 --> 00:07:33.730 evidence of his insider trading with a portable 00:07:33.730 --> 00:07:36.230 shredder he just happens to have. The visual 00:07:36.230 --> 00:07:38.350 of that is so perfect. It sums up the entire 00:07:38.350 --> 00:07:42.649 1980s corporate culture in one image. Would you 00:07:42.649 --> 00:07:45.550 marry me were I love you were he is literally 00:07:45.550 --> 00:07:48.790 destroying his past while promising her a future. 00:07:48.949 --> 00:07:51.790 And poor Rebecca accepts. She is so blinded by 00:07:51.790 --> 00:07:54.129 the diamond and the status that she ignores the 00:07:54.129 --> 00:07:56.129 fact that he is destroying the evidence of his 00:07:56.129 --> 00:07:58.689 crimes right in front of her face. It shows just 00:07:58.689 --> 00:08:01.709 how deep her delusion goes. She wants the fairy 00:08:01.709 --> 00:08:04.069 tale so badly she will ignore the shredder. Yeah. 00:08:04.189 --> 00:08:06.170 But the law catches up to him. He gets indicted 00:08:06.170 --> 00:08:08.750 for insider trading and this leads to the lowest 00:08:08.750 --> 00:08:11.310 point for Rebecca. Robin bails out jumps on his 00:08:11.310 --> 00:08:13.350 private. jet and flees the country. He jumps 00:08:13.350 --> 00:08:15.709 bail. And she gets a fax. The goodbye forever 00:08:15.709 --> 00:08:18.470 fax. Yes. Can we just pause on the brutality 00:08:18.470 --> 00:08:22.230 of getting dumped via fax? That is so 1990. It 00:08:22.230 --> 00:08:24.689 is the 1990 equivalent of a breakup text, but 00:08:24.689 --> 00:08:27.490 slower and much louder. It is devastating. She 00:08:27.490 --> 00:08:29.430 is fired by the Lillian Corporation because they 00:08:29.430 --> 00:08:31.350 suspect she was in on it. Right. Because of her 00:08:31.350 --> 00:08:34.009 password. Exactly. Yeah. She loses her career. 00:08:34.110 --> 00:08:36.870 She loses her billionaire boyfriend and she is 00:08:36.870 --> 00:08:39.269 left with absolutely nothing. Well, not nothing. 00:08:39.330 --> 00:08:42.149 She has Sam. And that is the resolution to the 00:08:42.149 --> 00:08:45.250 arc. Robin actually returns at the very end of 00:08:45.250 --> 00:08:47.429 the season. He comes back from hiding because 00:08:47.429 --> 00:08:50.769 he realizes, in a massive twist, that he actually 00:08:50.769 --> 00:08:53.289 does love Rebecca. But when he gets to the bar, 00:08:53.350 --> 00:08:55.629 he finds her back in the office with Sam. It 00:08:55.629 --> 00:08:58.379 is a full circle moment. It reestablishes the 00:08:58.379 --> 00:09:00.519 core dynamic of the show. But speaking of Sam, 00:09:00.700 --> 00:09:03.440 while Rebecca is dealing with international espionage 00:09:03.440 --> 00:09:05.940 and romance, Sam is dealing with something very 00:09:05.940 --> 00:09:08.059 different. He just wants his bar back. That is 00:09:08.059 --> 00:09:10.639 the engine driving Sam Malone throughout season 00:09:10.639 --> 00:09:12.809 eight. We want to establish for you that for 00:09:12.809 --> 00:09:15.129 Sam, Cheers is not just a business. It is his 00:09:15.129 --> 00:09:17.409 living room. It is his life. It is his identity. 00:09:17.669 --> 00:09:19.549 And answering to a corporation and specifically 00:09:19.549 --> 00:09:22.169 answering to Rebecca is killing him. He tries 00:09:22.169 --> 00:09:24.490 so many schemes this season to get out from under 00:09:24.490 --> 00:09:26.850 their thumb. It is like watching a caged animal 00:09:26.850 --> 00:09:29.529 try to pick the lock. It really is. Early in 00:09:29.529 --> 00:09:31.769 the season, there is the episode A Bar is Born. 00:09:32.299 --> 00:09:35.259 Sam tries to buy this dilapidated bankrupt bar. 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:37.820 Oh, right. The one that is falling apart. The 00:09:37.820 --> 00:09:40.559 roof is caving in. It smells terrible. Completely 00:09:40.559 --> 00:09:43.100 falling apart. But Sam sees it as his ticket 00:09:43.100 --> 00:09:46.159 to freedom. But Robin Colcord gets involved here, 00:09:46.220 --> 00:09:49.720 too. Robin puts this idea in Sam's head that 00:09:49.720 --> 00:09:52.019 he could develop the whole block. He gets Sam 00:09:52.019 --> 00:09:54.379 dreaming big. Right. He gets him thinking he's 00:09:54.379 --> 00:09:57.679 going to be a real estate mogul. And then what 00:09:57.679 --> 00:10:00.149 does Robin do? He buys the block himself. He 00:10:00.149 --> 00:10:02.990 steals the idea and takes all the credit. It 00:10:02.990 --> 00:10:05.929 is another example of Robin just casually crushing 00:10:05.929 --> 00:10:08.509 Sam like a bug. It shows the difference in their 00:10:08.509 --> 00:10:11.090 levels. Sam is playing checkers. Robin is playing 00:10:11.090 --> 00:10:14.600 4D chess. Speaking of games. The rivalry between 00:10:14.600 --> 00:10:17.580 them gets incredibly petty. It is not just about 00:10:17.580 --> 00:10:20.299 business anymore. It is about alpha male dominance. 00:10:20.580 --> 00:10:22.620 Oh, the indoor fun with Sammy and Robbie episode. 00:10:22.899 --> 00:10:25.600 This is a classic. Robin has a day off and he 00:10:25.600 --> 00:10:27.820 decides to slum it at the bar and compete with 00:10:27.820 --> 00:10:30.200 Sam. They play darts. They play pool. And Sam 00:10:30.200 --> 00:10:32.519 wins those, right? Because that is his turn. 00:10:32.620 --> 00:10:35.360 Exactly. Sam is the king of bar games. He's an 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:37.960 athlete. So Robin, being the intellectual snob, 00:10:38.019 --> 00:10:41.210 challenges Sam to chess. The chess match. I love 00:10:41.210 --> 00:10:43.889 this detail from the episode summaries. Sam obviously 00:10:43.889 --> 00:10:45.950 does not know how to play chess at a grandmaster 00:10:45.950 --> 00:10:48.250 level. He probably thinks the horse piece actually 00:10:48.250 --> 00:10:51.309 gallops. Probably. Yeah. So the entire bar conspires 00:10:51.309 --> 00:10:53.429 to help him. They set up this elaborate system. 00:10:53.730 --> 00:10:56.450 They are feeding the moves into a computer in 00:10:56.450 --> 00:10:59.970 the back office. Again, big clunky 1989 technology. 00:10:59.990 --> 00:11:02.590 So great. And then they have a system of signals 00:11:02.590 --> 00:11:05.250 to tell Sam where to move his pieces. It is like 00:11:05.250 --> 00:11:07.370 a heist movie, but for a game of chess. It is. 00:11:07.909 --> 00:11:10.850 And it works until the computer crashes. But 00:11:10.850 --> 00:11:14.169 Sam, through sheer dumb luck or intuition, manages 00:11:14.169 --> 00:11:16.250 to make the winning move anyway. But Robin knew? 00:11:16.429 --> 00:11:18.769 Robin knew the whole time. He reveals he knew 00:11:18.769 --> 00:11:21.029 Sam was cheating. And in a moment of ultimate 00:11:21.029 --> 00:11:23.850 condescension, he gives Sam a penny. A penny. 00:11:24.070 --> 00:11:27.129 A single penny. It is Robin saying, I let you 00:11:27.129 --> 00:11:29.250 win. You are beneath me. Here is your allowance. 00:11:29.470 --> 00:11:31.730 It is so demeaning. But Sam does not let up. 00:11:31.789 --> 00:11:35.250 We have to talk about the boat race. Sam, ahoy. 00:11:35.389 --> 00:11:37.669 This is where the show really leans into that 00:11:37.669 --> 00:11:40.970 darker... Almost cartoonish villainy of Robin. 00:11:41.470 --> 00:11:44.250 Robin lends Sam his sailboat for a race with 00:11:44.250 --> 00:11:47.909 a $10 ,000 prize. Sam needs that money for the 00:11:47.909 --> 00:11:50.350 buyback fund. So Sam takes Carla and Norma as 00:11:50.350 --> 00:11:53.169 his crew. Which sounds like a recipe for disaster 00:11:53.169 --> 00:11:55.429 even without a villain involved. It is a disaster 00:11:55.429 --> 00:11:57.470 waiting to happen. But then they find a time 00:11:57.470 --> 00:12:00.350 bomb in the refrigerator. A time bomb. Like with 00:12:00.350 --> 00:12:02.809 a ticking clock and red wires. A literal time 00:12:02.809 --> 00:12:06.769 bomb. And the radio is broken. And there are 00:12:06.769 --> 00:12:10.059 sharks. circling the boat and the lifeboat has 00:12:10.059 --> 00:12:12.460 been sabotaged wait was robin actually trying 00:12:12.460 --> 00:12:14.399 to kill them or is this just a really extreme 00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:17.100 prank it is ambiguous but it certainly looks 00:12:17.100 --> 00:12:19.279 like he set them up to fail spectacularly if 00:12:19.279 --> 00:12:22.299 not die it borders on wildly coyote behavior 00:12:22.299 --> 00:12:24.980 they barely escape to shore before the boat explodes 00:12:24.980 --> 00:12:28.159 wow and when robin shows up later He just casually 00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:30.600 offers Sam some insurance money to sign a release 00:12:30.600 --> 00:12:33.360 form. It really emphasizes how powerless Sam 00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:36.059 is against this guy's money. Until he isn't. 00:12:36.279 --> 00:12:39.179 Exactly. That is why the victory, when it comes, 00:12:39.259 --> 00:12:43.399 is so sweet. It is earned. In the finale, Cry 00:12:43.399 --> 00:12:46.700 Harder, Sam is the one who holds the cards. He 00:12:46.700 --> 00:12:48.639 finds out about the insider trading. He drops 00:12:48.639 --> 00:12:51.240 the dime. He does. He tells the Lillian Corporation 00:12:51.240 --> 00:12:54.659 executives that Robin is the culprit, protecting 00:12:54.659 --> 00:12:57.299 Rebecca in the process. And the executive is 00:12:57.299 --> 00:12:59.860 so grateful and probably just wants to wash his 00:12:59.860 --> 00:13:02.500 hands of the whole mess that he offers to sell 00:13:02.500 --> 00:13:05.340 Cheers back to Sam. For one dollar. One dollar. 00:13:05.480 --> 00:13:07.860 And the best part is Sam does not even have a 00:13:07.860 --> 00:13:10.120 dollar on him. He has to scrounge up 85 cents 00:13:10.120 --> 00:13:11.980 from the rest of the gang. And the executive 00:13:11.980 --> 00:13:14.559 just accepts it. Close enough. So after an entire 00:13:14.559 --> 00:13:16.820 season of high stakes corporate maneuvering, 00:13:16.820 --> 00:13:19.299 helicopter fleets, insider trading and time bombs, 00:13:19.539 --> 00:13:23.139 Sam Malone buys back his life for 85 cents. It 00:13:23.139 --> 00:13:25.789 is the perfect sitcom reset. The universe corrects 00:13:25.789 --> 00:13:28.429 itself. Sam is the owner again. The balance is 00:13:28.429 --> 00:13:30.529 restored. Now, while Sam and Rebecca are caught 00:13:30.529 --> 00:13:32.889 up in this corporate thriller, Carla Tortelli 00:13:32.889 --> 00:13:35.070 is going through something that, well, honestly 00:13:35.070 --> 00:13:37.029 sounds like a fever dream. We have to move to 00:13:37.029 --> 00:13:39.929 the tragedy and dark humor of the season. The 00:13:39.929 --> 00:13:43.409 death of Eddie Lebec. Eddie Lebec, the hockey 00:13:43.409 --> 00:13:46.190 goalie, Carla's husband. He had been a pretty 00:13:46.190 --> 00:13:47.789 big part of this show for a couple of years. 00:13:47.950 --> 00:13:51.409 And then in season eight, he is just gone. He 00:13:51.409 --> 00:13:53.809 dies in the episode Death Takes a Holiday on 00:13:53.809 --> 00:13:57.529 Ice. And the way he dies is, well, it is uniquely 00:13:57.529 --> 00:14:00.409 Cheers. It is a perfect example of how the show 00:14:00.409 --> 00:14:02.950 refused to be sentimental. He gets run over by 00:14:02.950 --> 00:14:05.450 an ice resurfacer. Yes, an ice resurfacer, a 00:14:05.450 --> 00:14:08.029 Zamboni type machine, while saving an ice show 00:14:08.029 --> 00:14:11.009 performer. It is tragic, but it is also completely 00:14:11.009 --> 00:14:14.210 ridiculous. You cannot hear run over by an ice 00:14:14.210 --> 00:14:16.490 resurfacer and not laugh a little bit. And that 00:14:16.490 --> 00:14:19.850 is the tightrope the show walks. This is a beloved 00:14:19.850 --> 00:14:23.450 character's husband. Carla is devastated. But 00:14:23.450 --> 00:14:26.100 the cause of death. is inherently funny in a 00:14:26.100 --> 00:14:28.080 dark way. It keeps it from getting too heavy. 00:14:28.320 --> 00:14:30.059 Right. It prevents the episode from becoming 00:14:30.059 --> 00:14:32.659 a very special episode where everyone learns 00:14:32.659 --> 00:14:35.259 a lesson. Instead, it stays a comedy. And just 00:14:35.259 --> 00:14:37.700 when you think it cannot get any crazier, we 00:14:37.700 --> 00:14:39.220 get to the funeral. This is where the bigamy 00:14:39.220 --> 00:14:41.000 twist happens. Right. So they're at the funeral. 00:14:41.220 --> 00:14:43.860 Everyone is mourning. The priest or the announcer 00:14:43.860 --> 00:14:46.240 calls for Mrs. Lebec. Carla stands up, obviously. 00:14:46.580 --> 00:14:49.759 But so does another woman, Gloria, played by 00:14:49.759 --> 00:14:53.399 Anne DeSalvo. It turns out Eddie Lebec. The goofy, 00:14:53.559 --> 00:14:55.879 superstitious hockey player was living a double 00:14:55.879 --> 00:14:58.980 life. He married Gloria while he was still married 00:14:58.980 --> 00:15:01.179 to Carla. And Gloria is pregnant. Pregnant with 00:15:01.179 --> 00:15:03.620 twins. Just like Carla had twins with Eddie. 00:15:03.740 --> 00:15:06.460 It is a complete mirror image. Eddie was not 00:15:06.460 --> 00:15:08.980 just cheating. He was replicating his life. And 00:15:08.980 --> 00:15:11.580 they get into a brawl at the funeral. A full 00:15:11.580 --> 00:15:15.720 -on brawl. It is chaos. But it is also brilliant 00:15:15.720 --> 00:15:18.659 character work for Carla. Because if Eddie had 00:15:18.659 --> 00:15:21.379 just died a hero, Carla would have had to soften. 00:15:21.759 --> 00:15:23.539 She would have had to become the grieving widow. 00:15:23.779 --> 00:15:26.320 But by making him a bigamist? It gives her permission 00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:29.059 to be angry. It allows Carla to stay Carla. She 00:15:29.059 --> 00:15:31.679 can be bitter. She can hate him. It fuels her 00:15:31.679 --> 00:15:33.580 character's fire rather than extinguishing it. 00:15:33.639 --> 00:15:35.500 But they do give her some closure, do they not? 00:15:35.580 --> 00:15:38.080 It is not all just bitterness. They do. And it 00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:40.279 is surprisingly touching. The man Eddie saved, 00:15:40.539 --> 00:15:42.759 Gordy Brown, brings a letter to the bar. Eddie 00:15:42.759 --> 00:15:44.559 had written it months earlier. And what does 00:15:44.559 --> 00:15:46.980 it say? It confirms that Carla was the true love 00:15:46.980 --> 00:15:49.279 of his life. He felt guilty about the double 00:15:49.279 --> 00:15:51.980 life. It basically gives Carla the win over Gloria. 00:15:52.200 --> 00:15:53.840 Which is all she really wanted. She just wanted 00:15:53.840 --> 00:15:56.019 to win. Exactly. She wins the posthumous competition. 00:15:56.600 --> 00:15:59.379 And later in the season, in The Ghost and Mrs. 00:15:59.519 --> 00:16:02.820 Lebec, we see Carla trying to move on. She starts 00:16:02.820 --> 00:16:05.679 dating a Red Sox player, Daryl Mead. But she 00:16:05.679 --> 00:16:08.539 sees Eddie's ghost. She keeps seeing Eddie in 00:16:08.539 --> 00:16:10.899 his hockey uniform. It is haunting her. She feels 00:16:10.899 --> 00:16:13.539 guilty for moving on. So naturally, she hires 00:16:13.539 --> 00:16:16.759 a psychic, Madame Lazora. And Frasier Crane, 00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:19.120 the man of science, loves this, I am sure. Oh, 00:16:19.139 --> 00:16:21.460 he hates it. He is practically vibrating with 00:16:21.460 --> 00:16:24.120 rage. He calls it a sham. He is furious that 00:16:24.120 --> 00:16:27.879 Carla is paying $250, which was a lot of money 00:16:27.879 --> 00:16:31.279 in 1990 for a seance. But the show does something 00:16:31.279 --> 00:16:33.940 interesting here. What is that? It validates 00:16:33.940 --> 00:16:36.700 Carla's need. Frasier is tactically right. The 00:16:36.700 --> 00:16:38.940 psychic is probably a fraud. But emotionally, 00:16:39.120 --> 00:16:41.860 he's wrong. Carla pays the money. The psychic 00:16:41.860 --> 00:16:43.940 tells her Eddie is at peace. And Carla feels 00:16:43.940 --> 00:16:46.649 better. The transaction worked. It does not matter 00:16:46.649 --> 00:16:48.730 if it is real. It matters that it allows her 00:16:48.730 --> 00:16:51.269 to close the book. Precisely. It is a great moment 00:16:51.269 --> 00:16:54.669 where the show acknowledges that sometimes superstition 00:16:54.669 --> 00:16:58.149 and ritual are more useful than cold, hard logic. 00:16:58.409 --> 00:17:00.830 Speaking of Frasier and logic, let us move to 00:17:00.830 --> 00:17:03.769 the Cranes. Frasier and Lilith are having a very 00:17:03.769 --> 00:17:06.609 big year. A huge year. Season 8 is really where 00:17:06.609 --> 00:17:08.589 we see them grappling with parenthood. We have 00:17:08.589 --> 00:17:10.490 the birth of Frederick Crane. In the episode, 00:17:10.630 --> 00:17:13.410 the stork brings a crane. Great title. It happens 00:17:13.410 --> 00:17:16.170 during the bar's centennial party. Which is chaos 00:17:16.170 --> 00:17:18.890 to begin with. The bar is celebrating 100 years. 00:17:19.009 --> 00:17:22.430 Everyone is drunk or excited. Total chaos. Lilith 00:17:22.430 --> 00:17:24.990 goes into labor. They rush to the hospital. It 00:17:24.990 --> 00:17:27.089 is a false alarm. They come back. She goes into 00:17:27.089 --> 00:17:29.809 labor again. And ultimately, Lilith Sternen, 00:17:29.910 --> 00:17:33.190 the most controlled, icy, composed woman in Boston, 00:17:33.369 --> 00:17:36.559 gives birth in a taxi cab. I love the juxtaposition 00:17:36.559 --> 00:17:39.359 of Lilith and a gritty taxi berth. It breaks 00:17:39.359 --> 00:17:41.579 her composure in a way nothing else could. It 00:17:41.579 --> 00:17:44.259 forces them to be messy. But the parenting struggles 00:17:44.259 --> 00:17:46.460 that follow are where the comedy really shines. 00:17:46.740 --> 00:17:48.799 For real men only, this is the episode about 00:17:48.799 --> 00:17:52.539 the briz. Yes. The circumcision. This is a fantastic 00:17:52.539 --> 00:17:54.920 exploration of their characters. Lilith wants 00:17:54.920 --> 00:17:57.480 to follow tradition. Frasier, the psychiatrist, 00:17:57.720 --> 00:17:59.920 the man who analyzes everything, is suddenly 00:17:59.920 --> 00:18:03.119 squeamish. He cannot handle it. No. He sees the 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:06.140 graphic nature of the ritual. and flinches. He 00:18:06.140 --> 00:18:09.059 cannot handle the physical reality of it. Lilith 00:18:09.059 --> 00:18:11.119 has to insist that it continue. And where does 00:18:11.119 --> 00:18:13.480 the bris end up happening? Because nothing in 00:18:13.480 --> 00:18:15.799 Cheers happens in a normal place. In the billiard 00:18:15.799 --> 00:18:18.279 room of Cheers, of course. During a wet t -shirt 00:18:18.279 --> 00:18:21.359 contest? You cannot make this up. Rebecca is 00:18:21.359 --> 00:18:23.660 hosting a wet t -shirt contest in the main bar 00:18:23.660 --> 00:18:27.539 to liven up a dull retirement party and simultaneously 00:18:27.539 --> 00:18:30.359 in the back room. There is a bris happening. 00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:33.000 That is amazing. It is the sacred and the profane 00:18:33.000 --> 00:18:35.539 colliding in the most cheers way possible. And 00:18:35.539 --> 00:18:37.619 then there is the professional jealousy. Lilith 00:18:37.619 --> 00:18:39.900 writes a book this season. Good Girls, Bad Boys. 00:18:40.180 --> 00:18:42.420 And they go on a talk show to promote it. The 00:18:42.420 --> 00:18:44.740 episode's severe crane damage. This is a painful 00:18:44.740 --> 00:18:47.599 episode for Frasier. The host brings out Sam 00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:50.660 as the example of the bad boy and Frasier as 00:18:50.660 --> 00:18:53.420 the good boy. He effectively neuters Frasier 00:18:53.420 --> 00:18:56.180 on live television. And Lilith, well, she reacts 00:18:56.180 --> 00:18:58.809 in a way Frasier definitely did not expect. She 00:18:58.809 --> 00:19:01.569 becomes infatuated with Sam right there on live 00:19:01.569 --> 00:19:05.849 TV. She literally throws herself at him. It plays 00:19:05.849 --> 00:19:08.589 on that deep -seated insecurity Frasier has always 00:19:08.589 --> 00:19:11.109 had, that Sam is the cool one, the alpha male, 00:19:11.250 --> 00:19:14.190 and Frasier's just the nerd. Seeing his wife 00:19:14.190 --> 00:19:17.470 lust after Sam is his nightmare scenario. Before 00:19:17.470 --> 00:19:19.170 we move off the cranes, we have to touch on a 00:19:19.170 --> 00:19:21.390 continuity check. This is for the real super 00:19:21.390 --> 00:19:23.650 fans, the ones who have watched Frasier the spinoff 00:19:23.650 --> 00:19:26.779 a million times. Yes. This is a classic oops 00:19:26.779 --> 00:19:29.960 moment in TV history. It happens in the episode 00:19:29.960 --> 00:19:32.279 Two Girls for Every Boyd. Frazier says something 00:19:32.279 --> 00:19:34.440 about his father. He claims his father was a 00:19:34.440 --> 00:19:37.539 neglectful scientist who was dead. Dead. He explicitly 00:19:37.539 --> 00:19:40.240 says his father is dead. But anyone who has seen 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:42.599 the spinoff Frazier knows that Martin Crane is 00:19:42.599 --> 00:19:45.160 very much alive. He's a retired cop. He drinks 00:19:45.160 --> 00:19:47.799 beer. He has a dog named Eddie. He's definitely 00:19:47.799 --> 00:19:49.619 not a dead scientist. So what happened there? 00:19:49.839 --> 00:19:52.079 It is just a case of the writers not knowing 00:19:52.079 --> 00:19:55.279 the future. In Season 8, they needed a joke about 00:19:55.279 --> 00:19:57.619 Frasier having a distant intellectual father 00:19:57.619 --> 00:20:01.180 to explain why he is the way he is. They had 00:20:01.180 --> 00:20:03.380 no idea that a few years later they would need 00:20:03.380 --> 00:20:06.240 Frasier's dad to be a blue -collar ex -cop for 00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:08.440 a spinoff show. So they just wrote the joke. 00:20:08.599 --> 00:20:10.579 And then later they had to retcon it. Exactly. 00:20:10.799 --> 00:20:12.599 In Frasier, they eventually explained that Frasier 00:20:12.599 --> 00:20:14.660 lied about his dad being dead because he was 00:20:14.660 --> 00:20:17.579 angry at him. It is a clever fix, but watching 00:20:17.579 --> 00:20:20.460 Season 8 now, it really sticks out like a sore 00:20:20.460 --> 00:20:22.680 thumb. All right. Let us get to the moment everyone 00:20:22.680 --> 00:20:25.099 has been waiting for. We are moving to Section 00:20:25.099 --> 00:20:29.380 5. Iconic standalone moments. And we have to 00:20:29.380 --> 00:20:31.299 start with the big one. Maybe the most famous 00:20:31.299 --> 00:20:34.420 subplot of the entire season. Cliff Clavin on 00:20:34.420 --> 00:20:37.079 Jeopardy. The episode is titled What is Cliff 00:20:37.079 --> 00:20:39.799 Clavin? Episode 14. It is legendary. So Cliff 00:20:39.799 --> 00:20:42.140 gets on the show. And usually the joke with Cliff 00:20:42.140 --> 00:20:44.730 is that he thinks he is smart. But he is actually 00:20:44.730 --> 00:20:48.130 wrong about everything. But here. He dominates. 00:20:48.250 --> 00:20:51.670 He absolutely destroys the competition. And the 00:20:51.670 --> 00:20:53.549 writers did something brilliant here. They gave 00:20:53.549 --> 00:20:55.549 him categories that are perfectly in his wheelhouse. 00:20:55.750 --> 00:21:00.660 Civil servants. Stamps. It is like the board 00:21:00.660 --> 00:21:03.680 was designed by God specifically for Cliff Clavin. 00:21:03.859 --> 00:21:06.880 It was. He is buzzing in before anyone else. 00:21:06.940 --> 00:21:09.119 He is correcting Alex Truebeck on pronunciation. 00:21:09.359 --> 00:21:12.000 He is running the board. By the end of Double 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:15.480 Jeopardy, he has $22 ,000. Which is a huge amount 00:21:15.480 --> 00:21:18.779 for Jeopardy in 1990. He has an insurmountable 00:21:18.779 --> 00:21:21.279 lead. He cannot lose unless he does something 00:21:21.279 --> 00:21:24.500 incredibly stupid. Enter the hubris. Final Jeopardy. 00:21:24.500 --> 00:21:27.599 He bets it all. Every single penny. $22 ,000. 00:21:27.940 --> 00:21:30.400 And the clue comes up Archibald Leach, Bernard 00:21:30.400 --> 00:21:33.740 Schwartz, and Lucille LeSour. Now, if you are 00:21:33.740 --> 00:21:36.119 a movie buff, you know this. The category is 00:21:36.119 --> 00:21:38.819 movies. The answer is the real names of Cary 00:21:38.819 --> 00:21:41.799 Grant, Tony Curtis, and Joan Crawford. Cliff 00:21:41.799 --> 00:21:44.039 does not know it. He clearly has no idea. But 00:21:44.039 --> 00:21:46.579 Cliff Clavin never admits defeat. So he writes 00:21:46.579 --> 00:21:48.859 down an answer that has become immortal. Who 00:21:48.859 --> 00:21:50.599 are three people who have never been in my kitchen? 00:21:50.859 --> 00:21:53.319 It is arguably the funniest line in the show's 00:21:53.319 --> 00:21:56.950 history. The delivery is so confident. And Alex 00:21:56.950 --> 00:21:59.490 Trebek, who makes a cameo, has to deal with this. 00:21:59.730 --> 00:22:02.269 The cameo is perfect. Trebek plays it completely 00:22:02.269 --> 00:22:03.950 straight. He looks at the answer. He looks at 00:22:03.950 --> 00:22:07.410 Cliff. And Cliff argues. He says, my kitchen, 00:22:07.549 --> 00:22:10.569 Alex. He argues that it is technically a correct 00:22:10.569 --> 00:22:13.569 question. Those three people have, in fact, never 00:22:13.569 --> 00:22:16.049 been in his kitchen. And Trebek is just stunned. 00:22:16.109 --> 00:22:19.029 Cliff loses everything. $22 ,000 gone in a second. 00:22:19.150 --> 00:22:21.509 But the episode does not end there. We get this 00:22:21.509 --> 00:22:24.109 amazing coda where Trebek comes to the bar. He 00:22:24.109 --> 00:22:26.549 comes to cheers looking for Cliff. He tells him 00:22:26.549 --> 00:22:29.029 that the judges overturned the ruling. They decided 00:22:29.029 --> 00:22:31.269 his answer was acceptable. Cliff is vindicated. 00:22:31.549 --> 00:22:34.710 But then, and here's the genius twist, Trebek 00:22:34.710 --> 00:22:37.210 tells Cliff he is resigning as host. He says 00:22:37.210 --> 00:22:39.630 he feels so guilty about misjudging Cliff that 00:22:39.630 --> 00:22:42.490 he cannot go on. And Cliff, being the hero, saves 00:22:42.490 --> 00:22:46.000 the day. He convinces Trebek to stay. No, Alex, 00:22:46.220 --> 00:22:48.839 the world needs you. It is this noble sacrifice. 00:22:49.319 --> 00:22:51.759 Cliff gives up the money to save Jeopardy. But 00:22:51.759 --> 00:22:53.819 then Trebek walks away and reveals the truth 00:22:53.819 --> 00:22:57.240 to Norm. Right. As soon as he is out of earshot, 00:22:57.240 --> 00:23:00.400 he tells Norm, I just made that up to placate 00:23:00.400 --> 00:23:03.960 him. That guy scares me. It is a master class 00:23:03.960 --> 00:23:06.430 in sitcom writing. It gives Cliff his moment 00:23:06.430 --> 00:23:09.490 of glory. He was right, in a way, but undercuts 00:23:09.490 --> 00:23:11.609 it with the reality that he is just a terrifying 00:23:11.609 --> 00:23:13.589 annoyance to the rest of the world. And it's 00:23:13.589 --> 00:23:15.990 cemented Cliff Clavin as the ultimate know -it 00:23:15.990 --> 00:23:18.390 -all who knows nothing. It is the definitive 00:23:18.390 --> 00:23:21.289 Cliff story. Let us talk about Woody. Woody Boyd 00:23:21.289 --> 00:23:23.710 has a big year, too. He does. He's really pursuing 00:23:23.710 --> 00:23:25.910 his acting career and his romance with Kelly 00:23:25.910 --> 00:23:28.789 Gaines this season. In Two Girls for Every Boyd, 00:23:28.789 --> 00:23:31.390 he gets cast in Our Town. And we have a major 00:23:31.390 --> 00:23:34.660 guest star alert here, Lisa Kudrow. Before she 00:23:34.660 --> 00:23:36.779 was Phoebe on Friends. Before Friends, she plays 00:23:36.779 --> 00:23:39.359 Emily. And the joke is that Woody has to do a 00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:42.099 love scene with her, but he cannot make it believable. 00:23:42.259 --> 00:23:44.519 He cannot act being in love because his heart 00:23:44.519 --> 00:23:46.940 belongs to Kelly. It is sweet, but then the director 00:23:46.940 --> 00:23:49.980 threatens to fire him. And suddenly, Woody is 00:23:49.980 --> 00:23:52.480 terrified. He needs a job. And out of that sheer 00:23:52.480 --> 00:23:56.019 terror, he grabs Lisa Kudrow and delivers a passionate 00:23:56.019 --> 00:23:58.980 I love you. And his realization is fear is the 00:23:58.980 --> 00:24:01.240 key. It is a great little comment on acting. 00:24:01.660 --> 00:24:04.430 Woody is a method actor. But his method is panic. 00:24:04.630 --> 00:24:07.250 But Woody also has his less dignified acting 00:24:07.250 --> 00:24:11.730 moments. 50 -50 Carla. Oh no. This one makes 00:24:11.730 --> 00:24:13.450 me cringe just thinking about it. Woody gets 00:24:13.450 --> 00:24:16.450 cast in a revival of Hair, the musical famous 00:24:16.450 --> 00:24:19.309 for its nude scenes. And Woody is a farm boy 00:24:19.309 --> 00:24:22.730 from Hanover, Indiana. He is terrified of being 00:24:22.730 --> 00:24:25.650 naked on stage. We see scenes of him practicing 00:24:25.650 --> 00:24:27.769 being topless in the bar trying to get comfortable. 00:24:27.970 --> 00:24:30.509 But on opening night. He goes out there. The 00:24:30.509 --> 00:24:33.569 music swells. He drops the robe and realizes 00:24:33.569 --> 00:24:36.089 he is the only one naked. The director changed 00:24:36.089 --> 00:24:39.369 the concept. Or Woody missed a memo or the other 00:24:39.369 --> 00:24:42.190 actors chickened out. Either way, he is standing 00:24:42.190 --> 00:24:44.309 there in his birthday suit, spotlight on him, 00:24:44.390 --> 00:24:47.329 totally alone. It is quintessential Woody Boyd 00:24:47.329 --> 00:24:49.690 earnest, committed, and totally wrong. And we 00:24:49.690 --> 00:24:52.210 cannot forget Norm Peterson. He has his own schemes 00:24:52.210 --> 00:24:54.890 this season. The Anton Kreitzer arc. This is 00:24:54.890 --> 00:24:57.250 in The Two Faces of Norm. Norm invents a fake 00:24:57.250 --> 00:24:59.730 partner, right? He starts his own painting business. 00:25:00.670 --> 00:25:03.960 But Norm is a people pleaser. He cannot bear 00:25:03.960 --> 00:25:06.200 to be the bad guy. He cannot tell his employees 00:25:06.200 --> 00:25:09.460 to work harder or deny them raises. So he invents 00:25:09.460 --> 00:25:12.799 Anton Kreitzer. The silent partner. The tyrannical 00:25:12.799 --> 00:25:15.839 silent partner. Norm gets to be the good cop. 00:25:16.299 --> 00:25:18.500 He blames everything on Kreitzer. Oh, Kreitzer 00:25:18.500 --> 00:25:20.440 wants you to work late. Kreitzer says no raises. 00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:23.480 It works perfectly. Everyone loves Norm and hates 00:25:23.480 --> 00:25:25.279 Kreitzer. Until the crew decides they want to 00:25:25.279 --> 00:25:27.180 kill Kreitzer. They get so angry they want to 00:25:27.180 --> 00:25:29.400 beat him up. So Norm has to fire his own imaginary 00:25:29.400 --> 00:25:31.720 partner. The scene where he does this is hilarious. 00:25:32.490 --> 00:25:35.690 He is in a back alley filled with garbage, pretending 00:25:35.690 --> 00:25:38.309 to yell at an empty office window, You were fired, 00:25:38.430 --> 00:25:41.470 Kreitzer! And his crew is cheering him on. It 00:25:41.470 --> 00:25:44.049 speaks so deeply to Norm's desperate need to 00:25:44.049 --> 00:25:46.369 be liked. He would rather invent a person to 00:25:46.369 --> 00:25:49.170 hate than have anyone be mad at him. Let us zoom 00:25:49.170 --> 00:25:51.390 out a bit. Section 6, Critical Reception and 00:25:51.390 --> 00:25:52.950 Production. We have talked about the stories, 00:25:53.029 --> 00:25:54.829 but how was the show doing in the real world? 00:25:55.049 --> 00:25:57.609 It was sweeping the floor. The 42nd Primetime 00:25:57.609 --> 00:26:00.890 Emmys were a huge night for Season 8. Ted Danson 00:26:00.890 --> 00:26:03.990 finally won. He did. Outstanding lead actor. 00:26:04.329 --> 00:26:06.930 This is significant because he had been nominated 00:26:06.930 --> 00:26:09.789 seven consecutive times before this. He was always 00:26:09.789 --> 00:26:12.569 the bridesmaid. Season eight is where he finally 00:26:12.569 --> 00:26:14.589 took home the trophy. Why do you think he won 00:26:14.589 --> 00:26:16.829 for season eight specifically? I think it is 00:26:16.829 --> 00:26:19.509 because he showed a different side of Sam. Playing 00:26:19.509 --> 00:26:22.289 the loser, the employee, the guy trying to claw 00:26:22.289 --> 00:26:25.789 his way back, gave him more depth than just playing 00:26:25.789 --> 00:26:28.450 the Playboy owner. He was vulnerable. And Bebe 00:26:28.450 --> 00:26:31.069 Neuwirth? Outstanding supporting actress for 00:26:31.069 --> 00:26:33.700 Lilith. which is well -deserved given the range 00:26:33.700 --> 00:26:36.059 she showed this season. We saw her give birth 00:26:36.059 --> 00:26:38.779 in a cab, have a breakdown on a talk show, and 00:26:38.779 --> 00:26:41.099 to deal with a bris in a bar. She was incredible. 00:26:41.460 --> 00:26:43.680 And the Golden Globes loved them too. Best series 00:26:43.680 --> 00:26:46.519 for musical or comedy, best actress for Kirstie 00:26:46.519 --> 00:26:49.259 Alley, and best actor for Ted Danson. They cleaned 00:26:49.259 --> 00:26:51.420 up. And the ratings backed it up. Absolutely. 00:26:51.559 --> 00:26:54.319 The source data is staggering. They were consistently 00:26:54.319 --> 00:26:56.740 number one, number two, or number three. The 00:26:56.740 --> 00:26:58.799 episode How to Marry a Mailman hit number one. 00:26:59.160 --> 00:27:02.799 The season premiere drew 36 .4 million viewers. 00:27:03.039 --> 00:27:06.859 36 .4 million. That number is hard to even comprehend 00:27:06.859 --> 00:27:09.799 today. To put that in perspective, a hit show 00:27:09.799 --> 00:27:13.259 today is lucky to get 6 or 7 million on broadcast. 00:27:14.119 --> 00:27:17.240 Game of Thrones, at its absolute peak, was getting 00:27:17.240 --> 00:27:20.140 19 million. Cheers was getting nearly double 00:27:20.140 --> 00:27:22.839 that. It was a monoculture event. Everyone you 00:27:22.839 --> 00:27:24.900 knew was watching Cheers on Thursday night. And 00:27:24.900 --> 00:27:26.880 they were battling the Cosby Show. This is the 00:27:26.880 --> 00:27:29.269 Clash of the Titans. Cosby and Roseanne were 00:27:29.269 --> 00:27:32.049 the only real competition. But Cheers had a different 00:27:32.049 --> 00:27:34.009 demographic. It was a bit edgier, a bit more 00:27:34.009 --> 00:27:36.769 adult. It was the show for the people who went 00:27:36.769 --> 00:27:38.990 to bars. So bringing it all together for the 00:27:38.990 --> 00:27:41.369 outro, what does season eight represent in the 00:27:41.369 --> 00:27:43.829 grand scheme of the show? I think season eight 00:27:43.829 --> 00:27:46.170 represents the moment Cheers proved it was immortal. 00:27:47.009 --> 00:27:49.869 It survived the loss of Diane Chambers in season 00:27:49.869 --> 00:27:52.470 five. But in season eight, it proved it could 00:27:52.470 --> 00:27:54.960 evolve structurally. It took on a high -stakes 00:27:54.960 --> 00:27:57.240 serialized plot, the Lillian Court takeover, 00:27:57.279 --> 00:27:59.680 without losing the episodic comedy. It balanced 00:27:59.680 --> 00:28:02.400 the sitcom with the soap opera. Exactly. And 00:28:02.400 --> 00:28:04.500 look at where the characters end up. Sam gets 00:28:04.500 --> 00:28:07.799 his bar back. He reclaims his identity. Rebecca 00:28:07.799 --> 00:28:10.259 is humbled. She is stripped of her illusions 00:28:10.259 --> 00:28:13.960 about corporate life. But she is embraced by 00:28:13.960 --> 00:28:17.000 the group. She is finally one of them, not a 00:28:17.000 --> 00:28:19.339 supervisor. And the ensemble is tighter than 00:28:19.339 --> 00:28:21.660 ever. They are a machine. The rhythm between 00:28:21.660 --> 00:28:25.079 Norm, Cliff, Woody, and Carla is flawless by 00:28:25.079 --> 00:28:27.500 this point. Now, here is a provocative thought 00:28:27.500 --> 00:28:29.480 to leave you with, drawing on the notes we have 00:28:29.480 --> 00:28:31.640 covered today. We talked about Robin Colcord 00:28:31.640 --> 00:28:34.559 as the villain. He lies. He cheats. He commits 00:28:34.559 --> 00:28:37.099 insider trading. He is objectively a criminal. 00:28:37.319 --> 00:28:40.180 But is he not also the savior of cheers? Connect 00:28:40.180 --> 00:28:42.640 the dots for me. Think about it. If Robin had 00:28:42.640 --> 00:28:44.579 not come along, had not tried to take over the 00:28:44.579 --> 00:28:47.160 company and had not been caught, Sam never would 00:28:47.160 --> 00:28:48.940 have gotten the leverage to buy the bar back 00:28:48.940 --> 00:28:52.079 for 85 cents. That is a fascinating point. Robin 00:28:52.079 --> 00:28:54.400 Colcord is the catalyst. He's the bad guy who 00:28:54.400 --> 00:28:57.440 strips the assets and causes the chaos. But his 00:28:57.440 --> 00:29:00.000 destruction allows the universe to reset. He 00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:02.019 burns down the corporate structure so that Sam 00:29:02.019 --> 00:29:04.380 Malone can rise from the ashes as the owner again. 00:29:04.619 --> 00:29:07.579 So in the world of Cheers, even the megalomaniacs 00:29:07.579 --> 00:29:10.460 are just plot devices working to put Sam back. 00:29:10.539 --> 00:29:12.980 behind the bar where he belongs. Precisely. The 00:29:12.980 --> 00:29:15.680 bar demands a bartender owner and the universe 00:29:15.680 --> 00:29:18.759 conspired using a British billionaire to make 00:29:18.759 --> 00:29:21.000 it happen. That is deep. I love it. Thank you 00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:23.059 for joining us on this deep dive into season 00:29:23.059 --> 00:29:26.019 eight. If you do one thing this week, go find 00:29:26.019 --> 00:29:28.700 the episode What is Cliff Clavin? And just watch 00:29:28.700 --> 00:29:31.579 the final Jeopardy scene. And remember, who are 00:29:31.579 --> 00:29:33.660 three people who have never been in my kitchen? 00:29:33.759 --> 00:29:35.119 Classic. See you next time.