Customer Reviews

Cheers: The Complete Sixth Season

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

While I was a big fan of the show from the start, and it's still one of my favorites, the Sam-Diane relationship was getting pretty tired by the end of the fourth season. The fifth season was great, but seemed like one long plotline. A change was desperately needed; that relationship had to be resolved.
The Rebecca character made the show fresh again. While Diane's comedy was intellectual, Rebecca's was more phyical. Kirstie Alley conveyed more without words with Rebecca than was possible with the Diane character. Frasier and Lilith took over the intellectual comedy aspect of the show.
I don't think the show would have lasted much longer if Diane had not departed.
This season is a good introduction to Rebecca with her pathetic crush on her boss, and I always loved Frasier and Lilith. The episodes are still very funny. I can't wait for the rest of them.

The departure of Shelley Long from Cheers was a difficult hurdle to overcome, and her departure certainly left some shoes that needed filled. In retrospect, however, it seems like it was for the best. Kirstie Alley joins the cast in Season 6 as Rebecca Howe, a corporate brown-noser who ends up managing the bar because she can't seem to cut it at the corporate level. Sam, of course, is attracted to her, but the nature of his pursuit is different then it was with Diane, and is therefore fresh and not repetitive.

Cheers, in fact, does just fine without Diane. By Season 6 Frazier and Lilleth are regulars on the show, and the cast just seems balanced. Norm and Cliff continue to entertain, Carla continues to make her wisecracks, and Woody continues to play the dumb country bumpkin. Sam continues to womanize, though he's getting older now, and Rebecca and the Cranes bring an eclectic mix of personality into the already dynamic cast. The impressive thing about Cheers is that it made it Eleven seasons and yet remained fresh and exciting through almost all of it. This season features some hilarious episodes, and certainly some of the most memorable. It also features a stint by Tom Skerritt as Evan Drake, the corporate bigwig Rebecca is in love with. All in all this is a great season.

As bad as I felt when hearing Shelley Long was leaving Cheers, in retrospective her character had absolutely no where to go. If television history teaches us anything, is that once couples wed or end of together their magic just dissapears (see Moonlighting and future seasons of Cheers with Ted Danson / Kristie Alley). Anyway, in her first season, Kristie brought Cheers so many new possibilities, some of this season's shows are my favorite such as the hilarious hearthbreaking scene when she declares her love for her boss in a limo only to realize he's behind sound proof glass ! Highly recommended !

The sixth season of Cheers saw the second major cast change in the history of the show. Only two years after Woody Harrelson's Woody Boyd replaced the beloved Coach, played by Nicholas Colasanto, Kirstie Alley stepped into the large shoes left by the departure of Shelley Long as season six began.

As a youngster, I didn't begin watching Cheers until the later years, thus I only remember Cheers with Rebecca, not Diane Chambers. Watching the first five seasons on DVD truly helped me appreciate the amazing chemistry between Ted Danson's Sam Malone and Long's Chambers. Surely everybody knew it would be tough to have that chemistry again, but viewers stuck with the show and it continued to be one of the top comedy shows on the air.

As the season begins, we find Woody and Carla (Rhea Perlman) still working at Cheers, but wearing goofy green and white striped shirts, as Sam has sold the bar to a large corporation and taken off on his boat after Diane left him. Norm (George Wendt), Cliff (John Ratzenberger) and Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) still inhabit their favorite watering hole, despite the changes.

However, after his boat sinks, Sam returns to Cheers, looking to go back to the glory days he enjoyed in his bar. Instead, he has to return first as a relief bartender, then as a full time bartender under the watchful eye of the new boss, Rebecca Howe.

Kirstie Alley truly shined in the role of Rebecca. Her neurotic and nervous behavior is absolutely perfect and she is able to get a great chemistry with Sam right away. It is obvious that Sam is into Rebecca, and the more she stays away, the harder he works to get to her. Rebecca's ridiculous crush on her boss (Played by Tom Skeritt) is a great story line and her constant snubbing of Sam makes for great television moments.

Of course Danson is still strong as former Major Leaguer Sam. He finds it humbling to return to the bar a broken man and takes the part time gig as a way to get back into the place that for so long, was his home. He eventually returns to the Sam viewers knew and loved, playing practical jokes on Gary's Old Towne Tavern and dutifully chasing every woman in Boston.

As Carla, Perlman is an entertainer. In this season, Carla is pregnant. Her and her new husband Eddie LeBec (Jay Thomas) welcome the baby and Carla also finds out that she is going to be a grandmother. Her constant barbing of Cliff is a riot and she takes to putting down Rebecca just as she did Diane for the previous five years.

Ratzenberger and Wendt, as Cliff and Norm, are the greatest barflies in the history of television. While neither will admit it, they are probably each other's best friends. Their crazy ideas and "interesting" conversations are what anyone would hope to find if they walked in to a random bar in the 1980s.

Harrelson continues his portrayal of the innocent Indiana farmboy turned bartender. Woody is one of the best character's on the show, simply because he is so simple and sees things as only black and white. HIs turn as Mark Twain in a local theater production is quite amusing.

Kelsey Grammer joins the regular cast as Dr. Frasier Crane, a psychologist who tends to spend too much time in Cheers. He brings a touch of upper class to the bar, yet at the same time, can fit right in with the guys. This season we get to know the love of his life, Lilith (Bebe Neuwirth) a little better, and the insight into that relationship provides a number of story lines.

Once again, as has been the case with the last few seasons, the one downside to this set is the lack of extras. Surely with the success that this show had, there must be some interviews and such that could be put together. I guess we'll just have to wait for other seasons to see if something comes along.

This was another fine season for Cheers with the addition of Rebecca. This addition changed the story line for Cheers and propelled the series to new heights as the focus was no longer on the Sam-Diane relationship. This allowed for the supporting cast to become more rounded. BTW, has anyone heard of a possible release date for season 8?

So says Sam Malone to Diane Chambers as she leaves Cheers for the last time (until the show's final episode). I remember hearing the rumors back then that Cheers could not survive without the chemistry of Ted Danson and Shelley Long. First they lost Coach, now they lost Diane, how could the show continue with the loss of not one, but two beloved characters? I was further distraught when I read during the off-season that Kirstie Alley would play the new character to replace Sam's love interest. Back then I was asking "Who the heck is Kirstie Alley?" When a friend of mine pointed out to me that she was the woman that played Lt. Saavik, the female Vulcan on 'Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan', I hung my head. My favorite show was doomed.

How wrong I was. Kirstie Alley brought a new element to the Cheers crowd that was enjoyable, entertaining, and above all funny. Not only that but with the loss of Diane, every character had to step up. Fraiser, Cliff, Norm, Woody, and Carla did exactly that. The show seemed to get better because the characters now had to play parts and do storylines never done before. In Seasons 1-5 the on again off again relationship between Sam and Diane dictated the show and everyone else it seemed was along for the ride. Now characters had their own stories and adventures.

Looking back now I wonder if Cheers would have survived if Diane stayed. Where else could Season 5 end but by Sam and Diane getting married? Would the show still be fun? Would we really want to see Sam as a married family man. My guess is no. Sam and Diane either had to get married and end Cheers with Season 5 and a happy ending (and probably a disasterous spin-off) or carry on with a totally different storyline.

I for one am looking forward to the 'Rebecca Years'. They were great shows and Ted Danson and Kirstie Alley had a great chemistry of their own.

Can't wait for September 13, 2005.

Cheers!

Well, I admit I'm biased towards the Diane years. I never quite enjoyed the Rebecca episodes as much back in the 80's and I fully expected to not like them as much now. Thing is, Rebecca isn't bad this season, comedy-wise. The problem is that the warmth and heart seems to have gone out of the show. In the Diane years, the characters cared about each other. Now, they just crack one-liners. Plus, what's happening to Sammy?? How can Sam Malone be losing it? I hate that; Sam's the ultimate womanizer. If he's losing his touch... well, I don't think that's a world I want to live in! In short, some very funny moments, but it's just not the same show.

I am a huge fan of Cheers, just as much as anybody, and while I have enjoyed the reruns on cable, I hate waiting through the cycle of the early years(what I call the Diane years) and totally enjoy the Rebecca years. She is one of my favorite sitcom characters of all time. Kirstie Alley is hilarious anytime, and as Rebecca she was awesome, real, and a perfect match for Danson's Sam. cheers to season 6 and beyond.

I'm always amazed at all the hoopla over Diane leaving. Good riddance, I say. Rebecca had so much more depth. Diane was just snooty and boring, and she had bad hair. Rebecca is hysterical, especially in the initial episodes, and the greater liberties with plotlines were very welcome, especially the Robin Colcord episodes.

A must have since it's Rebecca's first season and she's still smart and gorgeous (unlike later seasons when they make her stupid and the show jumps the shark). I am continually blown away by the amount of footage that I've never seen before since it gets cut (liberally) in the syndicated versions.