wildman1037

"Give Me A Ring Sometime"

Getting a little bit of a late start on this... Little background, was born in 1971, so I was around 10-11 when cheers started. Didn't watch it during first run until the later seasons, but was definately a favorite of mine in college. We used to sit around as a group and watch the late night reruns.

Great to see the pilot again. Think I've seen it only once before. Amazing how well the show has held up over time. Found myself laughing quite a bit during the episode. Felt the Carla character was a little "forced". Probably took her a little while to settle into her character.

As I side note, I'm sooo glad that this show has the original music with it. I hate when the older shows can't get the soundtrack licensed and have to sub in different music on the DVDs!

Cardsfan111

A little late joining the party, but looking forward to revisiting this classic. Like others, I was too young to watch the initial seasons of the show as they premiered (8 years old when the show debuted). I caught many of the later seasons as they came on and watched so many reruns, that I'm fairly certain I've seen every episode.

Give Me A Ring Sometime

Interesting to watch the first few moments of this long-running show and notice the first lines ever spoken are by some 14 year old boy making his only appearance on the show.

Since the kid seemed familiar, looked him up on imdb - he was one of Cousin Eddie's kids in the original Vacation film.

One last note about the open...after the break, it seems to come back to that very moment with the kid leaving and Diane and Sumner walking in. Just from memory (though maybe I'm way off), this seems pretty rare. Often the open wouldn't even be connected to the rest of the show at all.

While at imdb, noticed a few things in trivia that I hadn't really noticed before:

In the first scene of the first episode, Sam enters the main bar from the back room. In the last scene of the final episode, Sam exits the main bar and walks to the back room

Haven't read whether this was semi-intentional when they filmed the ending, but it's interesting.

One of the first customers seen in the pilot sitting near the front door is in a wheelchair.

How'd she get into the bar since most of us know there's no handicap-accessible entrances to Cheers?

An elderly lady can be seen among the bar patrons. She was a character named "Mrs. Littlefield" who was an opinionated spinster. She originally was to be a recurring character but her lines were deleted from the episode and the character was dropped.

The lady in the wheelchair was elderly--wonder if she was the one? She seemed to be paying close attention to conversations taking place by the characters around her.

And a technical goof from imdb:

When Sumner goes to the back to make a phone call, we can see a crew member sitting on a wooden chair with a camera beside him and a few more people in the distance.

There is a scene with Sumner talking in the background that there's someone/something off to the right--the camera zooms quickly in/over to where it's no longer shown.

bluetoast

Looking back now, I thought it would have been a nice bookend if that "kid" ordered a drink in the final episode.

Michael Corvin

That would have been cool.

I also thought it was weird that they carried over the cold open to the opening scene. I don't recall them ever doing that. Has to be the only one.

Speaking of cold opens and since I doubt this viewing club will get to it, here's my all time favorite for those new viewers that haven't watched the show before(although I've seen this clip at sporting events):

Also seeing the youtube title kinda ruins it a bit.

Cardsfan111

Sam's Women

It's interesting to watch these early episodes knowing already how these characters/situations will develop. It's easy to see that Cliff and Norm would become closer with as much time as they'd spend together. Or that Carla would become even more bitter between work and the crazy home life. Or that Norm would begin to "settle down" as he begins to get older, or more specificially becomes the bar "vegetable" that we come to know and love.

It's also funny to recall the "NORM!!!" gag seemed to start with just the Cheers employees participating and would later develop into a ritual involving nearly everyone in the bar.

And the trivia from this episode: Coach tells the man that Gus, the former owner passed away. In a later episode, the former owner Gus makes an appearance at Cheers.

Cardsfan111

The Tortelli Tort

Not a nitpick, but merely an observation:

Would have been a little strange to watch this when it aired since the background of the episode is a baseball game between the Yanks/Sox. This aired in mid-October well after these teams were done playing. Not that it's a big deal, but you often see episodes themed with certain times of year--like holiday episodes, for example or showing snow outside when an episode is shown in February.

Cardsfan111

Sam at Eleven

Every episode that features Harry is a winner in my book. I could watch bits of him pulling his fast ones on the Cheers gang all day long, which made the ending with him pocketing money from Coach and Norm great to see.

I was caught off guard a bit by this episode. When I saw the title and the appearance of Fred Dryer, I thought this was the one where Sam hosted the sports segment on television. I was all ready to sing along with Sam's sports rap... Guess I'll have to save that for later.

And after making the observation about the open often being disconnected from the rest of the episode, this one proved me wrong. Sam appeared to be putting his watch back on as Norm entered following the open.

Supermallet

I would be down for this if we actually do make it through all of Cheers.

Cardsfan111

The Coach's Daughter

Ken's article was a great read. It is difficult to see where people would be laughing at that line. The more I think about it, I wonder if the delivery of the line changed to give it the impact we all feel when hearing it. The final product almost seemed to reveal a crack in Coach's voice as he says she looks just like her mother and highlights the tenderness of the exchange.

wildman1037

Sam's Women
The Tortelli Tort

Don't really have any specific comments about these, except that it's still extremely enjoyable to be watching these again! Still find myself chuckling about the laughs in these, well after the viewing.

Thanks again to the OP for this idea!

jeffkjoe

Speaking of trivia:

Sam's Women, episode 2:

One of the two times Sam's ex-wife is mentioned or seen. The rest of the series makes it seem like Sam is pushing 40 and has never walked down the aisle.

elijahmagallon

Well I've got through this week's episodes and am looking forward to next week's. These early episodes are the ones I've seen more than any others but I still find myself laughing out loud repeatedly and loving it.

Roll on next week! How many episodes? 5 or 6?

bluetoast

Let's do 6. I'll put up a reminder for it on Sunday, and we'll continue through season 1 in this same thread.

dvdjunkie32

I'm about to start season 11 myself, and then I can say that I've seen every episode of Cheers! I had completely forgotten about the character of John Allen Hil in the later seasonsl. Such a great character who drove Sam insane. lol

With a show this old, I'm always curious to look and see which cast members have passed away. The goofy priest has passed on as well as Keene Curtis who played John Allen Hill. I was surprised to find that Cliff's mom is still alive.

Just blows my mind that the show went off the air like 20 years ago now.

bluetoast

Yeah a month ago I was watching only John Allen Hill episodes! Although I think IMDB might have missed one. Great foil to Sam, he's the kind of character that would have fit in all throughout the series.

Quack

Sam at Eleven

Harry the Hat! My favorite supporting character in the entire series!

at Coach on the phone with his friend about the operation.

Dave was a great character too, a nice lumox-type like Sam...he was in a few episodes right?

Harry's tricks and antics are amazing. LOL His outfit is great too, the suspenders lol.

Dave's on-air voice and Diane chuckling was another solid scene. "I have to start all over!.....Gee Whiz...." lol He is the WORST reporter!

Diane really is a surfboard eh? Couple of tic tac's dancing.

Our first kiss albeit short with Sam and Diane...which will just lead to so many more headaches.

Loved the pull out from the pool table to the bar of Harry scheming again.

Michael Corvin

Yeah, Frances Sternhagen has had steady work since Cheers. She was on half of er's run as Dr. Carter's grandma, and more recently the Closer.

It is crazy to think some of the "younger" cast has passed on like John Allen Hill. He didn't seem to be that old during its run.

Mike86

Episode 4: Sam At Eleven:Pretty good episode. Agree with others here that Harry is a great recurring guest star. Always liked the tricks he pulled on the gang. I also found the Coach bit where his friend called about his operation pretty funny . I forgot how great a character Coach really was. Overall this was a good Sam episode and it was nice seeing everyone trying to protect him. Good episode building the characters' friendships further.

Episode 5: Coach's Daughter:Another really good episode. The scene that's been brought up by a few posters between Coach and his daughter in Sam's office was very well done.

I agree. I didn't mind Frasier and will watch it occasionally if it's on but it was never my favorite either. I always loved his character on Cheers and Kelsey Grammer is a great actor but for some reason the show always just fell a little short for me. Still a decent watch though.

Quack

Coach's Daughter

at Coach naming the glasses. Also at Cliff taking a shot at Coach for not having a glass named Cliff.

lol at Diane's drawings of the customers.

"Hey Cliff, I smell Chinese Food?......Oh, it's a cigar."

Oh also....the scene with Chuck about working with the biology lab....I KNOW they used it again for an opening scene for some episode....we'll come upon it within the first 3 seasons.

Roy is a classic sleazeball, cockroach, waterbug character of the 80s.

Great Coach-centric episode.

mhg83

The Tortelli Tort

Okay Carla is a bit over the top in this one. Do they tone her down in later seasons?

The scene when the Yankees fan is hurling insults at Carla was a great test and the look on her face was

And i've noticed the only set so far is the bar. Most other shows would have a set for the therapist meeting Carla went to. Do they have more than one set later on?

Sam at Eleven

Sam putting the moves on Diane and her reaction

Coach's Daughter

That scene with Coach and his daughter was surprisingly moving.

But man Lisa was not the looker

mhg83

I didn't get the joke.

Michael Corvin

So I was playing Halo tonight and came across a user with the Gamertag: Team Sam Malone. Awesome.

They end up going up to Melville's many times. Diane, Frasier, Cliff, Rebecca and Kelly (Woody's girlfriend) all have their homes as recurring set pieces. We're also treated to the gang at a Jeopardy taping and checking out Boston Gardens among others.

I don't think the viewer is ever a witness to Norm, Woody, Sam or Carla's places.

Cardsfan111

Carla hosted a Thanksgiving dinner in season 5.

T-bone22

Those places are shown also, although some are very brief, and I think you only get to see the door to Woody's apartment.

bluetoast

The entire first season is bar only, later on we will see other locations.

As to other people's houses, the Thanksgiving episode (Carla's place) is a classic, and we see an episode where Sam goes to everyone's house to try to crash for the night so we at least see everyone's place once or twice, but I don't recall Sam's specifically.

It's not like Oz where every single scene (save flashbacks) is in the prison. Now that was truly confined.

And I am cracking up at that GamerTag Corvin.

I was at a bar today and...well the live music wasn't that great, and I keep wishing I can find a place like Cheers. Then again I would have to be one of 5 key customers with only two bartenders and two waitresses, all of whom can walk in and out of the establishment at any time they want. But that's a small price to pay!