I’m watching Cheers on WGN this very moment, take that!
One of my favorite moments is when Frasier is trying to introduce literature to Cliff, Norm, and a few background characters, but they aren’t into it so he starts adding things from pop culture to the stories, like a clown that lures children into the sewer and eats them or whatever. At one point he mentions 4 crime fighting turtles at which point Cliff chimes in about how it was a comic book first. As someone who’d been reading TMNT comics long before the cartoon started that just hit me in the right spot.
I still think of this line every time I’m asked a trivia question I don’t know the answer to.
A few years ago, when my sister was 19, she revealed she’d never seen any episodes of Cheers, though she was a big fan of Frasier. Shortly after, Hallmark started rerunning the series from the beginning and so we started watching it together. I loved the show anyway, but I couldn’t believe how really great it was. I love Sam and Diane. I really do think they were one of the best couples in television history. It wasn’t just that they had chemistry (though of course they did) it was that they drove each other crazy in such specific ways.
I’m a huge fan of Frasier and so I recently started to check out some episodes of Cheers. I have a huge crush on Lillith. I don’t know what that says about me.
Carla: If the Brady Bunch crashes in the Andes who would they eat first?
Woody: Well probably the maid, 'cause she’s not kin
Cliff: Yeah, but if they were smart they would ask her the best way to prepare herself.
Cliff: Well ya see, Norm, it’s like this. A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. That’s why you always feel smarter after a few beers.
And their Thanksgiving episode was second only to WKRP’s.
Rebecca: You know, I really think I can put together a great Thanksgiving dinner. This’ll be the second one that I’ve cooked, and believe me, the first one was not the disaster that my family said it was. Those kids had a pretty good time in that ambulance.
Some of the off camera stuff was the best!
I was telling someone earlier today about the scene where Norm goes to get a beer at the bowling alley and off camera you hear “Norm!” If I remember right sames is surprised that Norm gets the same ‘cheer’ as he gets in his bar. Cliff says something to the effect of “Geez Sammy, the guy’s got a life you know.”
My other favorite scene that I sing all the time is:
“Beer and pretzels, that’s our game C-H-E-R-S!”
