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General => Movies and TV => Topic started by: KevShmev on April 12, 2012, 09:36:09 AM
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I just realized that we do not have a thread for Cheers, one of the best comedies in the history of television, so here it is. :)
One of the many great things about Cheers was its ability to go from extremely funny to dramatic in an instant, and without it being cheesy or unnatural; the writing on this show was absolutely brilliant.
As a start, this scene never fails to make me laugh hard (Sam taunting Rebecca about her rich boyfriend going to jail for insider trading): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMQCwh70nCs&feature=related
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One of the best shows ever.
NORM!
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Fantastic show. Shelley Long may have been my first ever celebrity crush. I loved it growing up but since I was only 12 when the last episode aired I have the additional awesomeness of getting all the jokes now when I see the reruns.
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The show ended when I was 19, and going back and watching it since, I like how they almost make all of the drinks correctly. There is even one where Diane orders a Harvey Wallbanger (although she calls it just a Wallbanger), which is basically a screwdriver with Galliano on top, and while they are having a conversation, Sam makes the drink and sets it on her serving tray as just a screwdriver, and as she keeps talking, he pauses, points at the drink like, "Wait, that isn't right,", takes it back off of her tray, and then goes and gets the Galliano, puts it on top of the drink and then puts the drink back on her serving tray. Very subtle, and easy to miss since the conversation they are having is vital to the plot of that episode, but little stuff like that is really cool to notice now.
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Great show, and great at developing and evolving over time, something most sitcoms are not good at doing, which is why they become stale after a couple seasons.
There were some great moments in the early years with Diane (the Thanksgiving dinner, the meetings with John Cleese) but I think the show became stronger when she left and Kirstie Alley came on board. Not necessarily because of that specific change. But I preferred Woody over Coach, and Frasier was of course an awesome addition.
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I've only seen the first few seasons but they were really good.
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Yeah, I used to like it a lot but that was over half my life ago.
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Great show, although I personally preferred the Rebecca years. Absolutely hated what they did to her in Frasier.
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Fantastic show, one of my favorites. I think the best scene, which I couldn't find, was John Cleese's guest spot as a marriage counselor.
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Oh yeah, the Simon Says episode with Cleese was classic; that is easily a top 5 Cheers episode in my book. Not sure anything can top the one where Woody gets married, though. The Thanksgiving episode and Dinner at Eightish (when Sam and Diane have dinner at Frasier and Lilith's) are up there as well.
Not sure I can say which era I liked better, the Diana or Rebecca one. Early on, Cheers was merely good; it didn't become consistently great until probably sometime in Season 2 or Season 3. And then it was consistently awesome from them till probably Season 9. It started to dip a bit in the last two seasons, but there were still some great episodes (including the wedding one). Overall, I'd say the best seasons were 3, 4, 5 and 6. That first season with Kirstie Alley was one killer episode after another.
What I loved about this show, too, is how all of the characters got episodes where their story was the main one, instead of Sam's always being the focal point.
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Diane - "Sam Malone......do you know what the difference is between you...and a FAT BRAYING ASS?"
Sam - "No"
Diane - "The FAT BRAYING ASS would!"
LOL
also
COCHISE!!!
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Good night everyone!
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Two of my favorite lines ever. (will find YT links later ... Or someone else can post)
From Woody's wedding ... Frasier "Calling Dr. Daniels, Dr. Jack Daniels!"
1st episode with Rebecca ...Cliff "I think I'll have a Screaming Viking"
Favorite sitcom ever. I put it ahead of Seinfeld and Friends.
Edit ... Nah it's not Cochise, it's that other Indian name.
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Screaming Viking:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBazaWO03Fo
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As referenced in the 80's music thread:
Frasier, upon arriving at his bachelor party: I was listening to a rock 'n' roll station on my way over here, you know to put me in the mood. There was a passage in one of those trifle songs, that I feel, well, is the keynote of this evening: "Everybody have fun tonight. Everybody Wang Chung tonight."
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Definitely one of the greatest sitcoms ever.
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Over it's long run, I consider it very good but not great. Plenty of them were just average shows. However, Woody's wedding was one of the finest sitcoms ever produced. Absolutely brilliant. This was a very good ensemble cast, and they didn't do a whole lot of physical comedy. When they did, and that whole episode was full of it, they were as good as it got.
I always thought Rebecca and Woody were big improvements over Diane and Coach. Add Frasier into the mix and it was just a much better show.
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I loved Woody and Coach. It is easy to like Woody more since he had 8 seasons to Coach's 3, but Coach was just as awesome. And Nicholas Colasanto was a veteran actor, so he was able to pull of the dramatic bits on the show when he was given them (like when his g/f dumped him after she won the lottery, when he was talking Diane into coming back because Sam was boozing, etc.). Woody also had some of my favorite lines ever on the show.
And yeah, Frasier was a great addition. What was great was the writers used to intentionally give him the worst lines to see if Kelsey Grammer could make them funny with his delivery...and he always did. On paper, some of his lines would look so ordinary, but coming out of his mouth, with his delivery, they were legendary.
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As a Bostonian, you can't really escape Cheers.
rumborak
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As a Bostonian, you can't really escape Cheers.
rumborak
As someone from Mount Airy, I can't escape the Andy Griffith Show.
I would rather have Cheers.
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As a Louisianian, you can't escape Swamp People. You both can quit'cher cryin'.
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As a Milwaukeean, I can't escape from beer.
I win.
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I guess I can claim being in the home of Frasier, but I didn't watch that show as much, and don't know if it was as much of a "Seattle show" as it was a show that happen to be set in Seattle.
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As a Milwaukeean, I can't escape from beer.
I win.
Norm: "Women: can't live with 'em, pass the beer nuts."
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As a Milwaukeean, I can't escape from mediocre beer.
I lose.
FTFY
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Shower Rescue
great game.
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:lol
I wasn't a huge fan of the Henri character, although he had his moments. It was utter brilliance, though, giving Woody a girlfriend/future wife who was as much of a doofus as he was.
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Having her be as easy on the eyes as she was was surely a plus too :tup
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As a Milwaukeean, I can't escape from mediocre beer.
I lose.
FTFY
Pretty much knew that ignorant comment was coming, oh well.
Tons of cheap brands have their roots in Milwaukee, but that's all they are now, brands. They're just contract brews done as cheaply as possible, and not even in Milwaukee. Whatever most them actually tasted like before being bought out most of us have no idea.
Milwaukee has a rich history of beer making, it boomed with German immigrants, the mass brewing success is only a sign of that. Wisconsin and Milwaukee have some damn fine brewers, and restaurants and bars carry much stronger selections of beer than most places I've lived and visited. Beer is a part of life in Milwaukee.
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No offense to Milwaukee, but it *is* the origin of one part of the Holy Trinity of Crappy North-American Beer: Budweiser, Miller and Coors.
rumborak
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I enjoy it the few times I've watched it on the TV, but it's not a show that I've followed or been more interested in. The comedy is a bit "old" (not saying it's bad), but if I had been a few years older or had grown up with it like some others here, I might have liked it more. :P
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As a Bostonian, you can't really escape having the worst accents in the history of accents. And having the absolute worst baseball team to ever take the field. Man, it really smells bad here.
rumborak
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As a Bostonian, you can't really escape having the worst accents in the history of accents. And having the absolute worst baseball team to ever take the field. Man, it really smells bad here.
rumborak
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=akAj-TWUq0E#t=11s
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No offense to Milwaukee, but it *is* the origin of one part of the Holy Trinity of Crappy North-American Beer: Budweiser, Miller and Coors.
rumborak
Something wrong with profit? Mass brewing in a city doesn't mean people only drink mass brewed beer. ...and Miller inherently supports some of the craft breweries in the area by handling their distribution. They distribute one of my favourite beers in Leinekugel's Red, a very underrated red that does need to.be bought fairly fresh.
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Nothing wrong with profit. I'm merely pointing out that Miller, arguably the Milwaukee-based beer, is partially responsible for that one always has to go into this longwinded explanation that not all American beer is bad every time one travels somewhere.
rumborak
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So? Best beers of most locations stay in that location. Mass beers are what gets around the most because they make deals to brew each others beer. Miller/Coors/Bud just fill something many brewers could have filled and the world wouldn't be different. Kudos to them for capturing their market.
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An interesting twist in this story is that German immigrants in the 19th century were a strong presence both by numbers and by influence in bringing in and popularizing lower-flavor, more watery, more adjuncted beer to America.
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They weren't the only brewers around, though. Milwaukee had 23 brewers before it had been a city for 23 years, but only 4 or 5 were ever the Milwaukee Beer Barons. Milwaukee did have the first mass brewery in the US, though, and I think before we were even a state. It shipped along the Great Lakes, especially Chicago.
What's really interesting is prohibition and it's influence on all these old brewers. Wisconsin passed a referendum allowing sale of 'near' beer, something like a 2% by weight cap. Some went to soda and stuff, a really old brewer(1850's) I grew up by sells as much or more soda than they do beer. They make it all in the same little brewery. :lol If you know Leinenkugel's, I think they survived by bottling and shipping water. I should find the article, but when prohibition was lifted I think the mayor led a city wide party in Milwaukee. :lol
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CHEERS IS PERFORMED IN FRONT A LIVE STUDIO AUDIENCE.
Christ, I get it. I started watching this show again and I forgot that they did that at the start of every episode. It gets really annoying when you watch a whole bunch of them in a row :lol
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https://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2010/07/some-things-you-wanted-to-know-about.html
I have some rather anal questions about the "Cheers is filmed before a live studio audience" announcement.
a) What prompted it?
b) Was there some rule about which actor would introduce each episode?
We were getting complaints from viewers who thought we were leaning on the laugh track too hard. They didn’t believe that the laughs were real (which they were). So the decision was made to tell the viewers that the show was filmed in front of a live studio audience. Of course the complaints continued. People still didn’t believe that the laughs were genuine (which they were).
There was no rule as to which actor voiced it from week to week. They all recorded the disclaimer and the post production guys just rotated them I guess.
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Yeah, I kind of guessed it was something like that.
I find the disclaimer more annoying than the laugh track :lol
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Classic show. Loved when Harry the Hat showed up.
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The laughs being real is always better than a laugh track. Listen to the crowd roar at Frasier's one-liner at 8:30 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJcpe8IZicM That is like the best one-liner ever in the history of the show (helped immensely by Kelsey Grammer's deadpan delivery), given the context, and the crowd recognizes how awesome it is and howls like crazy.
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"Excuse me, I've been experiencing grief all afternoon and instead of killing myself, I would like to take you out to dinner" - best pick up line ever :lol
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https://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2010/07/some-things-you-wanted-to-know-about.html
I have some rather anal questions about the "Cheers is filmed before a live studio audience" announcement.
a) What prompted it?
b) Was there some rule about which actor would introduce each episode?
We were getting complaints from viewers who thought we were leaning on the laugh track too hard. They didn’t believe that the laughs were real (which they were). So the decision was made to tell the viewers that the show was filmed in front of a live studio audience. Of course the complaints continued. People still didn’t believe that the laughs were genuine (which they were).
There was no rule as to which actor voiced it from week to week. They all recorded the disclaimer and the post production guys just rotated them I guess.
The disclaimer wasn't uttered before a live studio audience?!? :omg:
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Screaming Viking:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBazaWO03Fo
I just watched this episode :lol
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20 years ago today, the final episode of Cheers aired. Wow, how time flies.
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Wow, I would have guessed it was older than that. Seems like a show from my youth, rather than my mid twenties.
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20 years ago today, the final episode of Cheers aired. Wow, how time flies.
Holy shit, I feel old.
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I remember eating my first blueberry toaster strudel as I watched it.
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20 years ago today, the final episode of Cheers aired. Wow, how time flies.
Holy shit, I feel old.
Yup.
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RIP Kirstie Alley
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Damn Cancer.
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Yes RIP Kirsty Alley. A big part of what made Cheers such an iconic show.
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:omg: :'(
F#ck cancer.
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R.I.P.
She was a very good addition to the show following Long's departure. She has many LOL moments in her six seasons.
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I was a much bigger fan of the Rebecca era. Cheers is my #1 sitcom (maybe #1 overall) of all time.
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Not a fan of the person but loved her as Rebecca and a few other roles of hers.
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I was a much bigger fan of the Rebecca era. Cheers is my #1 sitcom (maybe #1 overall) of all time.
I discovered Cheers in that era as well, so that was my favorite. It was strange to backtrack. I never bought in to the Sam & Diane relationship, and found Woody funnier, and a better fit within the cast, than Coach.
Star Trek II director Nicholas Meyer said he really enjoyed working with her as Saavik, because that character was so unlike the jovial person she was in real life.
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That's a damn shame. I liked her as both versions of Rebecka Howe, and she was cute as fuck with the ears.
What made Cheers so good was being able to change courses as they did. Woody was a great change-up from Coach, and Rebecka 1 was the polar opposite of Diane. Great direction to go with it. I didn't like Rebecka 2 as much, but Kirstie did great with her and I understand why they needed to change things around.
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(https://i.imgur.com/6RgzIcy.jpg)
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That's a damn shame. I liked her as both versions of Rebecka Howe, and she was cute as fuck with the ears.
What made Cheers so good was being able to change courses as they did. Woody was a great change-up from Coach, and Rebecka 1 was the polar opposite of Diane. Great direction to go with it. I didn't like Rebecka 2 as much, but Kirstie did great with her and I understand why they needed to change things around.
Agreed. Smart move as well to change the Rebecca character early on, as her stoic personality apparently really wasn't doing much for viewers, but once the episode aired (I think her 5th or 6th) where Norm painted her office and she became a bit of a mess and cried to him about something, the writers realized that that was the way to go, and she became a hot mess on a regular basis. And she played it well.
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That's a damn shame. I liked her as both versions of Rebecka Howe, and she was cute as fuck with the ears.
What made Cheers so good was being able to change courses as they did. Woody was a great change-up from Coach, and Rebecka 1 was the polar opposite of Diane. Great direction to go with it. I didn't like Rebecka 2 as much, but Kirstie did great with her and I understand why they needed to change things around.
Agreed. Smart move as well to change the Rebecca character early on, as her stoic personality apparently really wasn't doing much for viewers, but once the episode aired (I think her 5th or 6th) where Norm painted her office and she became a bit of a mess and cried to him about something, the writers realized that that was the way to go, and she became a hot mess on a regular basis. And she played it well.
I actually got to see a taping of Cheers back in the day. Like Jingle, it might be my favorite sitcom of all time. Frasier is really the only character I didn't fully go for.
I had a huge crush on Kirstie Alley from Day One (which would have been that horrible movie Runaway with Tom Selleck and Gene Simmons), which endured even into her later life.
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Hey! Runaway was awesome! And I thought Simmons made a pretty great villain in both the movies he was in!
(Love the “F*** the bonus..” ending in Wanted Dead or Alive with Rutger Hauer)
Re: Kirstie. This news made me really sad. I too had a crush on her back in the day. She was the first “hot Vulcan” as Saavak in Wrath of Khan, and I was always bummed she didn’t continue that character. She brought a level of vulnerability to the role that was sorely missed in her replacement’s performance.
RIP
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That's a damn shame. I liked her as both versions of Rebecka Howe, and she was cute as fuck with the ears.
What made Cheers so good was being able to change courses as they did. Woody was a great change-up from Coach, and Rebecka 1 was the polar opposite of Diane. Great direction to go with it. I didn't like Rebecka 2 as much, but Kirstie did great with her and I understand why they needed to change things around.
Agreed. Smart move as well to change the Rebecca character early on, as her stoic personality apparently really wasn't doing much for viewers, but once the episode aired (I think her 5th or 6th) where Norm painted her office and she became a bit of a mess and cried to him about something, the writers realized that that was the way to go, and she became a hot mess on a regular basis. And she played it well.
I actually got to see a taping of Cheers back in the day. Like Jingle, it might be my favorite sitcom of all time. Frasier is really the only character I didn't fully go for.
I had a huge crush on Kirstie Alley from Day One (which would have been that horrible movie Runaway with Tom Selleck and Gene Simmons), which endured even into her later life.
Oh, wow, that makes me a little sad, considering Frasier is one of my favorite TV sitcom characters ever based solely off Cheers. He was good on his own show as well, but he had a little extra bite as a supporting character on the mother show. I still love that he was originally supposed to be in a handful of episodes, but was so funny that they kept him around and the rest is history. And the writers said they would give them the worst lines on paper because they knew he could make anything funny with his delivery. And he always did.
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Me and hubby rewatched Cheers from start to finish shortly after the pandemic shut us all down. it is an awesome show and I thoroughly enjoyed it as much as I did when it originally aired. Probably more. I liked Rebecca's addition to the show, but I'm team Diane. There was more chemistry there between Sam and Diane.
Kristie Alley was a fine actress and definitely a very beautiful woman. On a personal level, esp with the Scientology bent - she got a bit too far out there for me. But she seemed essentially harmless. It was an honor to be blocked on Twitter by her. I'm fairly certain I asked a question about Scientology that she didn't like. Her Trump posts always amused me though.
The first few seasons of Fraiser IMO are some of the best episodes of comedic television writing out there. Hands down. I can see someone not liking the actors I guess. I thought it was a helluva spin off.
As tribute to this beauty - which is your favorite?
(https://i.imgur.com/tipO6sk.jpg)
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(https://i.makeagif.com/media/3-10-2016/LgAorv.gif)
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As tribute to this beauty - which is your favorite?
If rows are letters and columns are numbers, I'm going with, in no particular order, A2, B1, B4, D1 and D2. So much excess fabric in some of those shots!
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That's a damn shame. I liked her as both versions of Rebecka Howe, and she was cute as fuck with the ears.
What made Cheers so good was being able to change courses as they did. Woody was a great change-up from Coach, and Rebecka 1 was the polar opposite of Diane. Great direction to go with it. I didn't like Rebecka 2 as much, but Kirstie did great with her and I understand why they needed to change things around.
Agreed. Smart move as well to change the Rebecca character early on, as her stoic personality apparently really wasn't doing much for viewers, but once the episode aired (I think her 5th or 6th) where Norm painted her office and she became a bit of a mess and cried to him about something, the writers realized that that was the way to go, and she became a hot mess on a regular basis. And she played it well.
I actually got to see a taping of Cheers back in the day. Like Jingle, it might be my favorite sitcom of all time. Frasier is really the only character I didn't fully go for.
I had a huge crush on Kirstie Alley from Day One (which would have been that horrible movie Runaway with Tom Selleck and Gene Simmons), which endured even into her later life.
Oh, wow, that makes me a little sad, considering Frasier is one of my favorite TV sitcom characters ever based solely off Cheers. He was good on his own show as well, but he had a little extra bite as a supporting character on the mother show. I still love that he was originally supposed to be in a handful of episodes, but was so funny that they kept him around and the rest is history. And the writers said they would give them the worst lines on paper because they knew he could make anything funny with his delivery. And he always did.
Well, to be clear, I don't like Frazier BECAUSE of his show; they sanded off the rough edges as they almost always have to do with a main character. I did like him on Cheers, especially with Lilith.
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Me and hubby rewatched Cheers from start to finish shortly after the pandemic shut us all down. it is an awesome show and I thoroughly enjoyed it as much as I did when it originally aired. Probably more. I liked Rebecca's addition to the show, but I'm team Diane. There was more chemistry there between Sam and Diane.
Kristie Alley was a fine actress and definitely a very beautiful woman. On a personal level, esp with the Scientology bent - she got a bit too far out there for me. But she seemed essentially harmless. It was an honor to be blocked on Twitter by her. I'm fairly certain I asked a question about Scientology that she didn't like. Her Trump posts always amused me though.
The first few seasons of Fraiser IMO are some of the best episodes of comedic television writing out there. Hands down. I can see someone not liking the actors I guess. I thought it was a helluva spin off.
As tribute to this beauty - which is your favorite?
(https://i.imgur.com/tipO6sk.jpg)
My favorite? Yes. I thought she was beautiful even later in life (size doesn't matter to me). I'm also a hair guy, so for me, using PG's system, A2, B5, E2.
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I never really watched Cheers. It was a bit before my time and wasn't syndicated in the UK that often. Probably should get around to watching it at some point though.
Fraiser I would argue as definitely one of the top 5 sitcoms ever made.
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I watched all of Frasier but I ever saw Cheers. He’s quite different between the two shows but I love them both but probably give the overall edge to Frasier and that’s likely cause I saw it first.
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Well, to be clear, I don't like Frazier BECAUSE of his show; they sanded off the rough edges as they almost always have to do with a main character. I did like him on Cheers, especially with Lilith.
Gotcha, makes sense. Frasier was definitely more neurotic and a little crazier on Cheers, in a good way. Like you said, he was sanded off on his own show, while Niles, who was awesome, was almost to the show Frasier what the Frasier character was to Cheers (I hope that made sense).
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Niles was definitely similar to Frasier at the beginning of Cheers. But Frasier was very much trying to be a "common man" for much of Cheers, a quality he largely lost on his own show.
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As tribute to this beauty - which is your favorite?
(https://i.imgur.com/tipO6sk.jpg)
Not to be a dick, but none of them, actually. I never considered her all that attractive. And I never cared for her character on Cheers. I think I lost interest once Sam "sold the bar".
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I could never get in to Frasier, but by that time I think I had burned out on sitcoms, and wasn't watching TV with the regularity I had for so long.
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Not to be a dick, but none of them, actually. I never considered her all that attractive. And I never cared for her character on Cheers. I think I lost interest once Sam "sold the bar".
I am mostly with ya. If her hair and makeup was just right, she could have that kind of sultry, hot look, but in general, she was never an actress I saw on the screen and thought, "Damn."
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Not to be a dick, but none of them, actually. I never considered her all that attractive. And I never cared for her character on Cheers. I think I lost interest once Sam "sold the bar".
I am mostly with ya. If her hair and makeup was just right, she could have that kind of sultry, hot look, but in general, she was never an actress I saw on the screen and thought, "Damn."
On any given day, she's top five for me. I found her EXCEEDINGLY beautiful.
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She looked great in Summer School.
Also one of my favorite dumb 80's films of all time.
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I'm in the middle but closer to Tim than Bill. For me, Peri Gilipin/Roz >>>> Kirstie Alley/Rebecca.
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I'm in the middle but closer to Tim than Bill. For me, Peri Gilipin/Roz >>>> Kirstie Alley/Rebecca.
Shocking. Peri is cute, but FOR ME, Peri is to Kirstie as Joe Elliot is to Freddie Mercury. Or Longhorn is to Delmonico's Steak House. Or Stone Gossard is to Ritchie Blackmore. Or Jarred Goff is to Tom Brady. I could do this all day. :) :) :)
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I'm in the middle but closer to Tim than Bill. For me, Peri Gilipin/Roz >>>> Kirstie Alley/Rebecca.
Shocking. Peri is cute, but FOR ME, Peri is to Kirstie as Joe Elliot is to Freddie Mercury. Or Longhorn is to Delmonico's Steak House. Or Stone Gossard is to Ritchie Blackmore. Or Jarred Goff is to Tom Brady. I could do this all day. :) :) :)
That one genuinely made me laugh. :lol
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She looked great in Summer School.
Also one of my favorite dumb 80's films of all time.
Good pull on that one. In high school whenever we had multiple choice tests, when the teacher would say it our time was up, me and a friend would always say "C.... C.... C.... "
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQlOayDcnGo
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She looked great in Summer School.
Also one of my favorite dumb 80's films of all time.
I caught that one again a few years ago. There are quite a few 80s films that haven't aged well for me, but that one was still pretty good. That came out on cable right around when we first got some movie channels, so I saw that, Dragnet (aged well in some spots, not well in other spots) and The Secret of My Success (this is one that has not aged well) a lot that year.