Cheers (season 7)

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Cheers (season 7)
Cheers season 7.jpg
Region 1 DVD
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes 22
Release
Original network NBC
Original release October 27, 1988 (1988-10-27) – May 4, 1989 (1989-05-04)
Season chronology
← Previous
Season 6
Next →
Season 8
List of Cheers episodes

The seventh season of Cheers, an award-winning American television sitcom, originally aired on NBC in the United States between October 27, 1988 and May 4, 1989. The show was created by director James Burrows and writers Glen and Les Charles under production team Charles Burrows Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Television.

Background

This season premiered on October 27, 1988, after the longer period of reruns, indirectly led by the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike.[1] At the time of premiere, Night Court moved to Wednesdays, prompting the new series Dear John to fill in the spot. Besides Cheers and Dear John, other series in the Must See TV Thursday lineup for the 1988–89 season were The Cosby Show, A Different World, and L.A. Law.[2]

Season synopsis

After Evan Drake left for Japan at the end of the previous season, Rebecca tries to impress his replacement, but is fired in favour of Sam. Sam feels sorry for Rebecca and persuades the Lilian Corporation to put them jointly in charge. However, this does not last as the new head of the corporation is replaced with a very young, but very rich man who falls for Rebecca, making her a bar manager again. He proposes to her, sending Sam to Mexico to run a bar there when Rebecca pretends to be in love with him. Sam soon returns to Cheers and continues to make advances towards Rebecca, to no avail.

Rebecca's suitor is replaced as head of the Lilian Corporation by an older man, Mr Gaines, but Rebecca's plans to impress him go wrong when Woody dates his daughter Kelly, who is just as simple as he is. Frasier and Lilith are now married, and she becomes pregnant. Cliff finally gets a date—a trainee postal worker, Maggie O'Keefe. Carla and Eddie are further apart when he begins touring in an ice shows occur outside Massachusetts, while Norm begins a new career as a house decorator with a little help from the Cranes.

Cast

Episodes

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See also: List of Cheers episodes
No. in
series		 No. in
season		 Title[3] Directed by[3] Written by[3] Original airdate[3] Rating / share
147 1 "How to Recede in Business" James Burrows David Lloyd October 27, 1988 (1988-10-27) 24.4 / 38[rat7 1]
Months after former CEO Evan Drake's departure, Lillian Corporation's new vice president, Greg Stone (Brian Bedford), fires Rebecca and then rehires Sam as the bar's comeback manager as, Stone figures, the bar was well managed under Sam more than her. Under his re-management, however, Sam has problems with using a computer and sending reports, demanded by the corporation. Sam begs Stone to rehire Rebecca, and Stone agrees under the following conditions: Rebecca must 1) take a slight salary cut, 2) go back to a business school for the Master of Business Administration, 3) co-manage with Sam and consult him about making major decisions, and 4) to make up her lack of practical experience, must waitress under Carla's supervision during busy times. Sam plans to tell Rebecca those conditions after making love, but he reluctantly tells her so at the restaurant Melville's when Stone sees Sam and Rebecca there and briefly mentions the conditions to them. In vengeance, Rebecca fools Sam into believing that she is passionate and then plans to storm off and then to resign. However, Woody tells her that a luxurious red Mercedes-Benz car is ready for pickup. Unable to afford it without a job, Rebecca reluctantly agrees those conditions when she sobbingly decides to waitress.
148 2 "Swear to God" James Burrows Tom Reeder November 3, 1988 (1988-11-03) 21.8 / 33[rat7 2]
Sam's former casual partner Denise has a baby boy and cannot figure out who the father is. Sam swears to God that he will avoid sex for three months if he is not the father. Then Denise declares the other guy to be the boy's father instead of Sam. Relieved, Sam is close to having a fling with Suzanne (Shanna Reed) until Carla warns him that God will curse him if Sam breaks the vow. Two weeks without sex, Sam goes to a church and asks Father Barry (Eric Christmas) for an advice. Much to Sam's disappointment, Father Barry tells him not to break vows to God. Avoiding women but desperate and still aroused for three weeks total, Sam asks Frasier how to release his urges, and Frasier tells him to perform other interests, like playing a piano. Soon another one of Sam's casual partners, Rachel Patterson (Kim Johnston Ulrich), arrives. He fails to resist when Rachel shows a photo of herself in a bikini suit. The following day, Sam retells the gang that he did not sleep with Rachel last night. In fact, Sam encountered the Bible in a hotel room. He and Rachel tried from hotel to hotel but still encountered the Bible. Back to present, when Rebecca asks Sam to zip up the back of the dress, Sam struggles to zip it up but eventually nearly unzips it down until Frasier takes him to the bar piano, where Sam poorly performs "Chopsticks". Meanwhile, Woody loses a theatrical role of Moses to another actor, who eventually becomes ill, ironically prompting Woody to retrieve antibiotics from a drugstore for the actor.
149 3 "Executive Sweet" James Burrows Phoef Sutton November 10, 1988 (1988-11-10) 23.5 / 35[rat7 3]
Rebecca, relieved that Mr. Greg Stone is fired, is scheduled to meet her new executive vice president, Martin Teal (Alex Nevil) at 4:30pm. At a corporate elevator. Mistaken him as one of ordinary men mainly due to his youth and his height, she rejects his advances. When she arrives to the office, Rebecca mistakes Mr. Teal's secretary, Dennis (Gerald Hiken), as her new boss until she unexpectedly reencounters Mr. Teal. Shocked, she apologizes for her early behavior but then names Sam as her faux boyfriend just to avoid Mr. Teal, who then rehires her as the bar's sole manager and then demotes Sam into just a bartender again. However, Sam figures out her excuse when he receives a phone call from Mr. Teal, so Sam fakes a breakup with Rebecca just to make her reluctantly go out with Mr. Teal instead. After the date, Mr. Teal takes her back to the bar and then proposes to her, causing her to faint. Meanwhile, Woody buys a hive of more than 4,000 bees and puts them in the office for the rest of the day. Woody calms them down with a bee smoker and then takes the bees to his place.
150 4 "One Happy Chappy in a Snappy Serape" James Burrows Cheri Eichen and Bill Steinkellner November 17, 1988 (1988-11-17) 21.4 / 31[rat7 4]
To interfere Sam and Rebecca's—unbeknownst to Mr. Teal—nonexistent on-and-off relationship, used to avoid continuing a relationship with Mr. Teal and losing her career, Mr. Martin Teal offers Sam another bar in Cancun, Mexico, and hires a one-month exchange bartender, Ramón (Marco Hernandez), who speaks fluently Spanish and is a womanizer, like Sam. Sam accepts, leaving her alone and miserably with Mr. Teal. One month later, Sam, enjoying his time in Cancun, purportedly misses his planned corporate flight and instead plans to stay there. However, Rebecca arrives with a unloaded gun and tries to persuade him to return to Boston, but Sam calms her down and takes the gun away. Dejected Rebecca returns without Sam and then goes drunk at Cheers. Mr. Teal, impatiently wanting to marry her, arrives with a justice of the peace, a guy holding roses, and his secretary Dennis, who is revealed to be also his father. However, much to her relief, Sam arrives in return, interrupting the wedding. After Mr. Teal and others exit, when drunken Rebecca passes out, Sam puts a sombrero and a serape and draws a moustache on her face.
151 5 "Those Lips, Those Ice" James Burrows Peter Casey and David Lee November 24, 1988 (1988-11-24) 17.3 / 31[rat7 5]
Scheduled for another ice show, Eddie LeBec (Jay Thomas) returns to Boston by flight with an attractive, sexy East German skater Franzi Schrempf (Isa Anderson), making Carla jealous and Sam desperate to seduce Franzi, who repeatedly rejects his advances. When Carla's jealousy grows out of control, Sam berates her for jumping into conclusions about Eddie and Franzi. To redeem herself, Carla lets Eddie have a poker game with his buddies at her house and forcibly acts nice to everyone. However, when Sam arrives to tell Carla that Franzi has a boyfriend—Sam sees the guy in her dressing room during Sam's final attempt to woo her—Carla throws the buddies out alongside food and poker chips wrapped in the tablecloth. As Carla and Eddie argue, Eddie admits that Franzi mistreated him, that Carla's phony housewife act wrongly signals her nonexistent pregnancy, and that Eddie is always Carla's faithful husband. In the end, Carla reverts back to her normal, angry self and tells him to do chores. Meanwhile, Rebecca gives Woody seasonal admission tickets to football games, including the Patriots–Dolphins night game. Wanting to go with Woody to the game, Norm, Cliff, and Frasier race in laps until Norm wins technically, though all of the men are too exhausted to go with them.
152 6 "Norm, Is That You?" James Burrows Cheri Eichen and Bill Steinkellner December 8, 1988 (1988-12-08) 23.7 / 37[rat7 6]
Frasier and Lilith fire the award-winning designer Ivan (B. J. Turner) for disrespecting their house by mocking their photos and decorations and imagining a rebuilt house. At first unable to hire a replacement, they see Norm, hired as their painter, rearranging the furniture. Impressed, the Cranes decide to hire Norm as their new decorator. Norm, at first reluctant to be anybody else's decorator for fear of losing his reputation as a beer-guzzling, lazy nobody, decides to take the Cranes' offer as Robert and Kim Cooperman's (George Deloy and Jane Sibbett) interior decorator for a five-figure salary. However, the narrow-minded Coopermans are appalled by Norm's boorish manners. In attempt to win them over, Norm pretends to be a stereotypically flamboyant, gay interior designer. At the Cheers bar, which the Coopermans mistake it as a gay bar, the Coopermans praise Norm's talent, so they offer him a mountain resort to decorate. However, because of his faux gay persona, the Coopermans set him up with a male blind date. Unable to continue the charade, especially after Sam refuses to pretend to be Norm's faux boyfriend, Norm admits the truth, disappointing them. The Coopermans are at first reluctant to give Norm the resort for the charade until Norm offers them a severe half price to make up for it, so they accept but orders him to declare himself as their "plumber" if anyone asks. When the Coopermans leave, the bar gang is astonished by Norm's secret talents, yet they want him to redecorate their houses. Meanwhile, Rebecca becomes insecure about her own body figures when a man (Craig Branham) mistakes her as pregnant, and Sam makes fat jokes on her. The gang makes fun of Cliff's brain with situational questions, like dead flies, a bowling ball, and murder mystery.
153 7 "How to Win Friends and Electrocute People" James Burrows Phoef Sutton December 15, 1988 (1988-12-15) 23.7 / 37[rat7 7]
Cliff drastically alters his personality after no one from the bar comes to visit him during his hospital stay with appendicitis. Sam gives Lilith driving lessons.
154 8 "Jumping Jerks" James Burrows Ken Levine and David Isaacs December 22, 1988 (1988-12-22) 20.6 / 34[rat7 8]
The gang decides to take up sky diving as a diversion.
155 9 "Send in the Crane" James Burrows David Lloyd January 5, 1989 (1989-01-05) 25.1 / 37[rat7 9]
Sam finds himself attracted to both an old girlfriend (Sandahl Bergman) and her grown daughter (Chelsea Noble) while Woody volunteers to be the clown at the boss' kid's birthday party Rebecca is planning.
156 10 "Bar Wars II: The Woodman Strikes Back" James Burrows Ken Levine and David Isaacs January 12, 1989 (1989-01-12) 25.4 / 38[rat7 10]
Cheers' gets another chance of losing a contest to their cross-town rivals at Gary's Old Towne Tavern; this time the contest is for "Boston's Best Bloody Mary."
157 11 "Adventures in Housesitting" James Burrows Patricia Niedzialek and Cecile Alch January 19, 1989 (1989-01-19) 22.7 / 34[rat7 11]
Rebecca offers to housesit for one of the company executives and calls on Sam and Woody for help when the man's beloved dog runs away.
158 12 "Please Mr. Postman" James Burrows Brian Pollack and Mert Rich February 2, 1989 (1989-02-02) 24.7 / 37[rat7 12]
Cliff's loyalties are tested when his new ladylove, a fellow postal employee, commits a rule infraction on his behalf.
159 13 "Golden Boyd" James Burrows Cheri Eichen and Bill Steinkellner February 6, 1989 (1989-02-06) 17.3 / 25[rat7 13]

Woody decides to steal Kelly, a rich snob's girl, away when the man humiliates him.

This episode originally aired on Monday, February 6, 1989, at 10:00pm Eastern / 9:00pm Central.[4] The series' original timeslot was preempted by George H. W. Bush's live Presidential Address three days later (February 9, 1989) at 9:00 pm Eastern / 6:00pm Pacific.[5]
160 14 "I Kid You Not" James Burrows Teleplay: Rod Burton
Story: Rick Beren		 February 16, 1989 (1989-02-16) 22.8 / 35[rat7 14]
Lilith and Frasier practice their parenting skills on Carla's precocious six-year-old son.
161 15 "Don't Paint Your Chickens" James Burrows Ken Levine and David Isaacs February 23, 1989 (1989-02-23) 23.3 / 35[rat7 15]
Rebecca tries to impress corporate headquarters by using her marketing skills to promote Norm's one man painting business and Sam tries to keep up with a sweet young thing wild about all kinds of sports.
162 16 "The Cranemakers" Andy Ackerman Phoef Sutton March 2, 1989 (1989-03-02) 24.3 / 37[rat7 16]
Lilith persuades Frasier to give up everything urban and move with her to a cabin in the wilds.
163 17 "Hot Rocks" James Burrows Ken Levine and David Isaacs March 16, 1989 (1989-03-16) 22.7 / 36[rat7 17]
Sam introduces everyone to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (guest appearance by Admiral William J. Crowe), an old fan, but Rebecca later believes the old man stole her diamond earrings.
164 18 "What's Up, Doc?" James Burrows Brian Pollack and Mert Rich March 30, 1989 (1989-03-30) 24.3 / 37[rat7 18]
Sam actually fakes a case of impotence to get close to a therapist Lilith and Frasier introduced to him.
165 19 "The Gift of the Woodi" James Burrows Phoef Sutton April 6, 1989 (1989-04-06) 22.2 / 36[rat7 19]
Woody's rich girl friend doesn't fully appreciate his inexpensive but heartfelt birthday gift and Rebecca transforms herself to further her career prospects.
166 20 "Call Me Irresponsible" James Burrows Dan O'Shannon and Tom Anderson April 13, 1989 (1989-04-13) 22.3 / 36[rat7 20]
Woody gets gambling fever and tension mounts as Carla waits for Eddie to surprise her on their second anniversary.
167 21 "Sisterly Love" James Burrows David Lloyd April 27, 1989 (1989-04-27) 20.8 / 34[rat7 21]

Sam tries to reconcile Rebecca and her sister Susan (Marcia Cross).

Joan Severance was originally cast as Susan Howe. She and Sam were supposed to have a whirlwind romance, and Sam was supposed to propose marriage to her. Producers found this unsuitable for promiscuous Sam. Also, Severance had scheduling conflicts. Therefore, the character and the story were rewritten as one-time, and producers picked Marcia Cross.[6]
168 22 "The Visiting Lecher" James Burrows David Lloyd May 4, 1989 (1989-05-04) 20.8 / 33[rat7 22]

Rebecca accuses a respected authority on marital fidelity of making a pass at her.

This episode originally intended to reprise Dr. Simon Finch-Royce, John Cleese's character, from the fifth season episode "Simon Says". However, Cleese was unavailable, so this episode was re-written in order to replace his character with Dr. Lawrence Crandall.[7]

Production

Writers and producers David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee left the series in March 1989 for an upcoming production company, which became Grub Street Productions.[8][9]

Reception

This season landed on fourth place with an average 22.5 rating and 35 share as of April 20, 1989.[10] The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette described the character of Rebecca Howe "annoying", and expressed pleasure at rumours that Joan Severance (originally set to play Susan Howe, a role eventually portrayed by Marcia Cross) could replace Kirstie Alley, contending that Shelley Long's departure in the fifth season was still affecting the series.[11] Another syndicate columnist Joe Stein found the sixth and seventh seasons "good [yet] somewhat watered down", and found Rebecca not as "compelling" as her predecessor Diane.[8] Conversely, Herb Caen of The San Francisco Chronicle praised this season, including the cast ensemble and their performances, but still missed departed characters Coach and Diane.[12]

Todd Fuller of Sitcoms Online called this season "strong".[13] David Johnson of DVD Verdict rated the story 90 percent and the acting 95 percent, praising its episodic approach and departure from story arcs, like Sam and Diane or Rebecca's failed attempts to win Evan Drake last season. He praised Alley as "a solid comic force" for her "over-the-top portrayal of neurosis".[14] Jeffrey Robinson of DVD Talk gave this season three and a half stars out of five and its replay value four, calling it "good" and its episodes "fun and amusing."[15] Current Film called this season a "strong roll" with "fine performances".[16]

Accolades

In the 41st Primetime Emmy Awards (1989), this series won three Emmys for an Outstanding Comedy Series of 1988–1989, an Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Woody Harrelson), and an Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (Rhea Perlman).[17] In the 3rd Annual American Comedy Awards, Perlman was awarded as the Funniest Supporting Actress for her character Carla Tortelli.[18]

DVD Release

Cheers: The Complete Seventh Season
Set Details[15]
Release Dates
Region 1 Region 2 Region 4
November 15, 2005 May 18, 2009 April 27, 2009

Notes

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Bjorklund, pp. 375–389
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Record no. 8901190594. Under same article, "TV News & Notes - One Last Fling for Moonlighting", by Jim Benson.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Record no. CHI349816.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Record no. 569588.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Bjorklund, p. 461.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

References

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Ratings notes

Unless otherwise, the main source of Nielsen ratings is the newspaper Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. According to that main source, ratings of 1988-89 were based on 90.4 million households that have at least one television.

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Record no. 170085.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links


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