Recently released from CBS DVD and Paramount Home Entertainment, the season comes in a slim-packaged, space-saving, four-disc set that’s conveniently the width of a standard DVD. Released in its original 4:3 aspect ratio, the show, which Wikipedia notes was restored once it went into highly successful syndication, still looks and sounds great throughout its twenty-eight episode finale, including the memorable 90-minute conclusion that found the original series heroine, Shelley Long’s Diane Chambers, returning for a terrific twist.
While usually final seasons are filled with the climax of the incessant and oft utilized “will they or won’t they” romantic complications or the ultimate surprises of births, marriages, or deaths, Cheers defied expectations right off the bat following up its prior season which found Woody Boyd marrying his wealthy love Kelly Gaines with one of Kirstie Alley’s great monologues regarding a new life plan for her character Rebecca. Vowing that she’s going to become an entirely new woman and one who no longer whines or complains or screws up pretty much everything that comes her way — once she takes a long drag on what she calls her final cigarette — unfortunately Rebecca can’t change her accident prone nature when what’s left of her cigarette burns down most of Sam Malone’s bar.
Unable to face Sam (Ted Danson), she confides in Dr. Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) until finally the guilt gets the better of her as Sam faces near financial ruin. Starting with a surprising obstacle Cheers went against the grain during each episode that followed. However, it’s a sitcom first and foremost and there are still some memorable classic bits of hilarity throughout, most notably when Norm (George Wendt) is hired as a beer sampler at a local brewery (in an episode directed by John Ratzenberger), Sam battles a Frenchman over who can score the most phone numbers in an America verses France competition as Carla (Rhea Perlman) brings out his trusty “babe kit,” and we learn that Carla’s secretly dating the seafood restaurant-owning upstairs snob when he has a heart attack following her confession that she loves him.
Article comments
1 - robo1936
Considering the name of the series was Cheers I found the ending was miserable and gloomy and features a bunch of men talking psycho babble about the meaning of life etc. We had just had the absolute pleasure of seeing the great Shelley Long say to Carla "My god you breed like flies" with such an expression on her face and such a tone in her voice that made it an absolutely classical statement. I didn,t buy the series from 6 onwards and I am glad I didn,t because other than Ted and Diane I found Carla as obnoxious as ever and Rebbeca an absolute embarassment. The trouble with Cheers was its writing team thought they were so good that they couldn,t make mistakes but with Diane NOT marrying Sam in the final and last episode of the series I thought was just ludicrous. They should have taken a lesson from Walt Disney who always ended his movies on a happy note and that is why they were so beloved. They should have listened to the viewinmg public a lot more and realised that what made Cheers soo good was the relationship between Diane and Sam and the brilliant acting of the two main stars and not soo much the writing.