Customer Reviews

Cheers: The Complete Seventh Season

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The seventh season includes some of the very best Cheers episodes: Sam coming back from exile in Cancun (The indians there write songs about him ?) to save Rebeca from an unwanted marriage. Sammy orders souffle for dessert even though it'll take about 45 minutes. Woody and Kelly hooking up in hilarious fashion. Woody singing the unforgettable Kelly song (my favorite all time Cheers moment!). I was a big fan of Shelley Long and I wish I could say I missed her when she left Cheers but.......

I came to Amazon tonight for the specific purpose of contributing a Cheers review saluting The Kelley Song. To my delight, Gerry V has already mentioned it below as his all-time favorite Cheers moment. One didn't know whether to laugh or tear up as Woody started out his love song to Kelley. And then came the line, "Your hair is so clean." ROFL. A great moment in this season of a great sitcom.

On the first two disks there are a couple of episodes where the half the bar falls into darkness, i.e. alternating camera angles coincide with switching from a well lighted scene to a dimly lit scene. How did this happen? Regardless, if you own 6 seasons, you don't need anyone to comment on the content of the seventh. Just go buy it.

While Cheers is one of my favorite series and I would have bought this season anyway to have the whole series (when it is complete), I have started to notice the picture quality issues one prior reviewer noted. While I have not watched the whole season yet to know how often it happens, the picture quality changes are very noticeable and do take away from the enjoyment of the episodes impacted. I have no idea why this would happen but it looks like they did a poor quality splice to reinsert certain footage. Buyer beware

A small group of Bostonians once again congregate at Cheers to share and muse themselves over the oddities that take place within the walls of this basement bar. In the seventh season these people are spearheaded by the former baseball pro Sam Malone (Ted Danson) and the power-hungry Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley) who came to the show in 1987. In season seven these two continue to bang their heads with each other, as the season kicks off where season six ended. Rebecca looses her beloved Evan Drake to Japan while her new boss gives Sam her job. However, Rebecca finds a way to get back at Sam in a different episode, which amusingly backfires.

The conflicting personalities of Sam and Rebecca would be too heavy to handle if it was not for their two best friends: the living with mom and trivia-spitting mailman Cliff (John Ratzenberger) and the beer enthusiastic conundrum Norman (George Wendt) whose wife nobody ever has seen. The thoughtful psychiatrist Fraiser (Kelsey Grammar) brings contrast to the show with his objectively Freudian view on life. The sarcastic waitress Carla (Rhea Perlman) continues to shoot sharp lines to those who irritate her, and everyone does. There is also the kindhearted and mindless Woodrow Boyd (Woody Harrelson) who tries to jump into the conversations, but is with complete disconnection with the world. Together these characters bring new life to the seventh season, as they become the wheels of the sitcom under motor of Sam and Rebecca's quarrelling.

Cheers displays a well-written TV show that offers large amount of chuckles and laughter, as the environment of the bar fosters a sarcastic and quick-witted humor. The different characters bring a backbone to the jokes and situational humor that allows for the audience to make personal connections. Episodes such as "Norm, is that You?" and "What's Up, Doc?" allow the audience to connect with the characters in an hilarious manner, as Norm comes out as an interior decorator and Sam fakes impotence to get to know the aloof Lilith Sternin (Bebe Neuwirth). All of the 22 episodes offer similar terrific humor that will have the audience laughing hard. However, the seventh season shows signs of minute exhaustion, as it does not reach the same level of entertaining quality of previous season.

Cheers - The Complete Seventh Season offers wonderful comic relief for an audience, especially if the viewer feels a little tired and drained. Some episodes are better than others, but that is to be expected. The seventh season seems to suffer a little from some performance fatigue. It might be a consequence of having had this show on the air for seven years, as it might have caused the audience to become too familiar with the characters. Thus, this may make many of the comic experiences feel a little repetitive. Nonetheless, the seventh season offers a very good sitcom experience, which is a must see for Cheers fans and those who simply enjoy well-written humor.

I won't comment on the contents of this season, or on the show in general. Cheers was one of the greatest shows ever and this season was one of the highlights of the series' run. What I will comment on is the horrendous picture quality evident in two of the episodes that I watched from the first two discs- 'One Happy Chappy in a Snappy Serape' and 'Bar Wars II: The Woodman Strikes Back'. There may be more examples of poor picture quality throughout the rest of this set, but I've only managed to watch a few episodes so far.

In several instances, when the camera angle cuts from one vantage point to another, it appears as if we move from a completely pristine image quality to one that was taken from a 20 year old VHS dubbed copy (of a copy, of a copy). During these scenes, the picture quality is nothing less than pathetic. I'm not knit picking over a slight decrease in quality here. It's so bad that you wonder what kind of engineer could watch this and permit it to be released as a final product. Absurdly darks hues, fuzziness, graininess, etc plague these particular scenes, after which the episode jumps back to another camera angle to show an absolute pristine image. This almost makes it worse than if they were to show the entire episode using the poor quality footage, because it's so inconsistent. You get the idea that you are watching a show from the early 1970s spliced together with something currently on TV. Through the entire sequence however, the audio remains unchanged.

The most angering part of this situation is that I've seen these episodes on TV in syndication countless times and this image quality issue was never present in those airings. So why is this now a problem? It just doesn't make sense that the DVD presentation should be so much worse than the syndicated version on television. After all, we are paying to see it on DVD. I'm surprised that the other reviewers did not make more of a stink about this. Again, I'm not knit picking over some minor picture flaws. The picture quality is nothing short of offensive. Absolutely unacceptable.

This is my favorite season of Cheers by far! Every episode in this season is hilarious and deserves to be watched over and over again. Running plotlines from season seven include: 1) Rebecca's climb up the coporate ladder after Evan Drake leaves for Japan, 2) the introduction of Kelly and her subsequent romance with Woody, and 3) the pregnancy of Lilith.

As I said, this season is filled with classic episodes. If pressed, I would say the three best remembered episodes are "The Gift of the Woodi," "How To Win Friends and Electrocute Yourself," and "Norm, Is That You?" "Gift of the Woodi" features Woody singing the infamous "Kelly Song" at Kelly's birthday as Kelly learns the hard lesson that ATMs are not endless supplies of money. "How To Win Friends" is perhaps the funniest episode of the series as Cliff tries to change his behaviour around his companions by having a doctor give him electrical shocks whenever he says something sarcastic or annoying. Hilarity, of course, ensues. "Norm, Is That You?" has Norm acting as a gay interior designer in order to win over some wealthy, potential clients that are friends of the Cranes.

Season seven is full of good episodes though. Two memorable episodes feature prominent guest stars. One has Marcia Cross of "Desperate Housewives" fame as Rebecca's sister, and boy was she a hottie back in the late 80's! The other features then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Crawley, and has the first kiss between Sam and Rebecca.

If you're looking for the "best of the best," then look no further than season seven of Cheers.

FANTASTIC SHOW.
FANTASTIC SEASON!!!
As usual, Sam's sex-crazy,
Rebecca's power-hungry and tense,
Carla's grungy and snappy,
Cliff's boring and numb,
Norm is lovable and wasted,
Lileth is flat-voiced and tight-bunned,
Woody is so stupid he's lovable,
and Fraiser's blossoming in hilarity!!!!
I love The Kelly Song!
And one of the best lines is:
"Well, there IS some crap up with which I will not put!"
-Rebecca
It just keeps getting better and better!!!
Buy this DVD!
Cheers!

Great series - great season! But there are some REAL inconsistencies in picture quality in several episodes... to the point where it should be pointed out on the cover art as an alert to the buyer! I love this show, and it's only a problem in a few episodes, so I will overlook it, but those interested in buying should know this. It's been about 8 years since I posted an Amazon review, so consider that as well.

If you're a Cheers fan, you can't beat having the entire set on DVD. If you've never seen Cheers, it is set in a bar in Boston with a cast of quirky characters that you will soon grow to love. My husband and I pull out the Cheers dvd when we just want to relax and need a good laugh!