Specifically, the last shots are Sam walking down the hallway toward the poolroom (deliberately mirroring his initial appearance in the pilot episode when he emerged from that hallway) and then a clear view of the Geronimo photograph.
Why would Leno be angry at the cast? IIRC, they didn’t run terribly over. Then again, I might not be recalling correctly at all- but that show went off at 11:00. That still gives 30 minutes for local news, did the locals not truncate their broadcasts that night and just take their full 30 after Cheers went off the air?
Cartooniverse
Oh , jeeez. When I read that quoted post, I literally didn’t read " THat night’s tonight show", I read – " That night’s show"- and understood it to mean that for some reason, the show finale was done live from the Bull & Finch.
Never mind. Carry on.
What ARE you looking at???
Well, I think the final shot isn’t of the Geronimo photo.
Sam does go over to it, straighten it a bit, then walk down the hallway, final shot being the darkness of the hallway.
I don’t agree that Sam meant the line to be happy. I really believe that Cheers ended on a bittersweet note. The bar can take care of him…but then, it’s all he’ll ever have.
Cliff walks into the bar and ‘goes postal’. 
I disagree strongly, pepperlandgirl. The main point of Sam not leaving with Diane was that he could only be happy in Boston, at Cheers. He wasn’t stuck at the bar; he loved it, and it was his home.
So was there any significance to the guy coming down the steps to find Sam telling him the bar is closed?
He represents the fan wanting just one more taste of the Cheers atmosphere but it’s too late and you’re relegated to that newish crappy saccharine family restaurant down the street named Home Improvement.
So to answer your question, I have no idea.
I also disagree with those who find any sadness in Sam’s final line, or say he can never ‘escape’ from the bar. He’s discovered that he doesn’t need Diane, or a wife and kids, to be happy – he has his bar, and his close friends (Norm, Carla, Cliff) and he’s happy. He really is lucky.
Another vote for ‘It was meant to be melancholy.’ Sam has his bar and his friends for the moment, but that’s all. He’ll never recover his past glory, he’ll never let himself be close to anyone, and his friends have their own lives, and eventually they’ll all pass him by. He’s content, but he’ll never be more than he is now.
Sort of a growing-up moment, though not a happy one. The eternal adolescent has finally reached middle age, without ever finding adulthood. I can relate.
A very good ending, I thought.
Heh. I’d forgotten about the Dianne episode of Fraiser. The play at the end was just totally perfect.
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‘I pour beer down people’s throats all day.’
FYI, when Sam appeared on Frasier, he only found out that his fiance had slept with Cliff. The audience found out she’d also slept with Frasier, but he didn’t admit it to Sam.
In the context of the conversation Sam had with Norm just before the end of the episode, there’s really nothing melancholy at all about Sam’s final line. Additionally, the tone with which he says the line indicates that “I’m the luckiest son of a bitch in the world” (or whatever the exact wording was) was not sarcastic or ironic, but genuine. Sam realizes that through all he’s been through, he has everything he’ll ever need. He really is lucky.
God, I love Cheers threads. 
Will the DVDs be out soon?
I think the first two seasons are already out. Well, the first one definitely is.