It’s all on Netflix in what appears to be HD. Show looks as good as I remember it, if not better. A few shots once in a blue moon look rough, like they lost the clean version and had to use a grainy old shot, but the show is mainly crystal clear and beautiful.
It’s still really funny and fun to watch. I don’t watch any sitcoms with laugh-tracks/studio-audiences. Cheers does NOT sound like many other cheaper shows, ones where the actors stop for the laughs. I hardly notice the laughter of the audience.
My wife and I recently watched the Rebecca seasons, and you’re right it does hold up. Many laugh-out-loud moments. The one that always stands out to me is when Rebecca has a dirty dream about Sam. In the dream, they’re about ready to get it on, but he can’t get his belt off, so he grabs a fireplace poker to pry it open. I’m laughing just thinking about it.
We watched all the Diane episodes several months ago.
I was amazed at the subtle stuff that Ted Danson did during the pilot. But then they went for the cheap stuff all too often and he just glided thru a lot of them.
Still overall a good show, for the Diane era.
We watched the ending episodes when Diane shows back up and Kirstie Alley was just awful in them. She’s a good actress (cf. Nevada and Drop Dead Gorgeous), but when she’s “trying” it doesn’t work.
John Ratzenberger pitched the Cliff character as a guy who actually knew things, but considering the very first bit we see him in (in the pilot episode) is arguing about “the sweatiest movie of all time” I don’t think the producers ever considered actual knowledge to be all that important.
Cliff: “I gotta use the sandbox.”
Frasier: “Why a grown man feels the need to euphemise is beyond me.”
Woody: “Well, he did drink that beer awful fast, Dr. Crane”.
The first time I saw him, he was talking about how long a whale’s intestines are. All I could think was “Jeez, what lame writing!” Obviously, I didn’t get the joke.
Cliffie had such an incredible store of semi-digested knowledge because he read all of the magazines and other crap he carried in his mailbag.