Best CHEERS character

decided to vote based on the reruns Reelz aired today and Woody got the biggest laughs from me. also one of the episodes featured a young Sherilyn Fenn and holy crap.

Cheers is on Netflix. This fact makes the world slightly better.

Nick Tortelli, because I used to do an impression of him that made a co-worker laugh so hard she peed her pants.

the kid who played carla's eldest son did a pretty amusing dan hedaya impression.

I have never seen a single minute of this show.

dan hedaya is pretty amazing

The thing is the Norm-Coach-Cliff-Woody characters are p much walking jokes, albeit pretty good ones, deftly played. There's more of a burden on the leads. (Rhea Perlman actually gave 3D heft to her insults, I thought)

I stopped watching when Long left so I guess that signals my choice.

My first vote would probably be for Frasier and Lilith in tandem; Woody, Cliff, Diane and Rebecca (thought they were both great in different ways), and Coach after that. Paul would say something now and again that killed me. Can't vote for two, so I guess Cliff.

Norm was funny most of the time, repetitive occasionally. Almost always found Carla a drag.

Guess I'ma be the only Rebecca vote here.

appreciation of Rebecca clouded by Kirstie Alley becoming a walking joke in real life

Dave Richards . . . (Fred Dryer)

Worlds colliding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxlIYukmlVw

People, people. No mentions of Sam "Mayday" Malone. Seriously? Danson just kills on this show.

The thing is the Norm-Coach-Cliff-Woody characters are p much walking jokes, albeit pretty good ones, deftly played. There's more of a burden on the leads. (Rhea Perlman actually gave 3D heft to her insults, I thought)

I stopped watching when Long left so I guess that signals my choice.

― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, August 22, 2012 2:25 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark

i pretty much agree, which is why I'm leaning towards Diane. the sam/diane stuff could be a little forced at times, but when they got it right you couldnt tear your eyes off it.

Dave Richards . . . (Fred Dryer)

― mookieproof, Wednesday, August 22, 2012 2:41 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

i thought about throwing him in there but iirc he was only in like 4 episodes and i didnt think there would be any hunter stans repping

I'm still trying to figure out what the "joke" was with Norm. Other than being a cool, nice, approachable dude who didn't want to go home to his wife.

'there's winners and losers in this world . . . here's hoping you're one of them'

Did Cliff ever really zing Norm? They really only work as a duo, each character alone has some pull but together they're the funniest part of the show.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5j4zoZTKz1qzjxs1o1_1280.jpg
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5j4zoZTKz1qzjxs1o2_1280.jpg
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5j4zoZTKz1qzjxs1o3_1280.jpg
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5j4zoZTKz1qzjxs1o4_1280.jpg

COACH: What's your most troublesome problem?
NORM: Ah, that's tough to say, Coach. Let's see. I'm overweight, unemployed, separated, depressed, starting to drink too much. Guess my biggest problem is I've never been happier.

the joke is "fat man/little jacket"

lol

my fav normism is when sam asks him what he'll have and norm goes "a reason to live - keep em comin." the audience didnt even laugh, i think they were just unsettled by it

TBH, I probably would've voted Frasier, but the spinoff killed that joke pretty fast for me.

but frasier on his own show was a different character!

how so?

i had no idea nick and loret-ta got their own spinoff

he was more the straight man, niles was the frasier of 'Frasier'

frasier & lilith were such a power combo that its hard to vote for one individually. lilith's 1st & 2nd appearances are so great

Yeah, voting Lilith solves that problem, doesn't it?

bebe neuwirth is just the greatest

Yeah, the Frasier/Lilith team is genius.

he was more the straight man, niles was the frasier of 'Frasier'

Sort of agree with this, in that Niles is the magnification of the already OTT Frasier character: more prissy, more class-conscious, more neurotic etc. I don't see Frasier as being different on his own show, though, just more fleshed-out. I think he's a very well-written, well-played character in both.

I think I've gotten the most flat-out laughs from Woody, but it's definitely a textbook example of ensemble comedy where every piece works. It took me a while to appreciate the Rebecca character, and I still don't think she ever reached the heights Diane did (that "Un Film de Diane Chambers" still cracks me up just thinking about it) but somewhere along the line Kirstie Alley fit in.

yeah MANCHILD IN BEANTOWN will never not be funny

Diane for her delivery of the line "You are a sand flea."

remember when Shelley Long came back and had apparently forgotten how to play Diane? ;_;

also...

People, people. No mentions of Sam "Mayday" Malone. Seriously? Danson just kills on this show.

― Godzilla vs. Rodan Rodannadanna (The Yellow Kid), Wednesday, August 22, 2012 2:43 PM (40 minutes ago) Bookmark

yeah, danson is the man. ive always loved me some danson. sam's a great character, probably too easy to take for granted since he was always there. he did become a bit more buffoonish post-long

Shelley Long's birthday is tomorrow.

I was so skeptical of Danson doing drama after seeing him do comedy for so long but he kind of nailed it on Damages

not that i'm gonna go out of my way to see how he is on CSI but there was a point a while back where he was appearing on Damages, Bored To Death and Curb Your Enthusiasm around the same time and it was like damn this guy has really aged into a nice post-Cheers career

I was so skeptical of Danson doing drama after seeing him do comedy for so long but he kind of nailed it on Damages

http://content7.flixster.com/photo/10/94/95/10949557_gal.jpg

Ted Danson as Ted Danson was always one of my favorite Curb characters and it makes me sad that hes not on the show more

The wiki entry for "Cliff Clavin" was evidently written by someone only passingly familiar with English:

Cliff does not have an on-screen relationship with any woman. He attempts every woman but becomes rejected.

"only passingly"? cmon, that's high level esl ;)

Ratzenberger requested an addition of a know-it-all character, which resulted Cliff Clavin. Ratzenberger made each of guest appearances as Cliff Clavin in Wings and Frasier.

During high school I had a job working in an office mail room. Every day I'd collect all the mail for the office and walk it up to the post office. Invariably I'd run into this one kid from school who'd always say something like (in a strong Boston accent) "hey, it's Cliff Clavin!"

So I guess I'm voting for Cliff.

he did become a bit more buffoonish post-long

sam was smart at the very beginning, but they made him dumber

Am I the only one here who had never read the stories of Woody Harrelson's father the hit man?

I mean I had no idea, not sure how I missed this.

Certainly adds depth to the actor, for sure.

coach barely over diane over sam over frasier w/ woody a slightly more distant fifth

Yeah, it seems nearly impossible to dip into just about any '80s entertainment and not risk getting blindsided by a (as it turns out not so) random joke at trans people's expense. There's even a nasty little moment at the end of a S7 Golden Girls episode that feels like a total sop to the shittiness of that era.

― badpee pooper (Eric H.)

like i was watching... one of the weird things i do is watch tapes of old HBO between-movie interstitials from back in the day from, like, maybe 1984, and there's a promo for the news parody show they had, if you remember, it was called "not necessarily the news", and they had a joke to the effect that boy george was starting a finishing school for BOYS who wanted to be GIRLS! comedy gold i'm sure

i mean boy george isn't even a woman, just a guy who presents more on the femme side of things. god forbid anybody would be able to tell the difference between gender identity and presentation in those days, tho, lol just like. everything was so fucked up and i had no idea.

you have your work cut out for you

"Excuse me... where is your bathroom?"
"Right next ti my bedroom...!?!"

Apologies for the typo (my phone is a potato)

I was in desperate need of comfort viewing after watching a particularly effective horror movie the other night and I decided to start watching Cheers from the start.
A show I haven't really thought about since I was a kid watching with my parents on Friday nights
So glad to delve back in. It's sumptuous to watch this as an adult. To appreciate the scripting, the acting, just how tight and charming it is. A few beats are dated, sure, but I'll forgive it for now

Right now Cliff is only a walk on guy. Diane is fantastic any minute she's on camera. Right now I'd vote for her, Coach or Carla

There's just something about how the characters react quietly to things happening around them that works. You're in their minds as soon as the joke lands. I don't know how to describe it better

And the end of that early episode w/ his daughter is genuinely an amazing bit of acting - never fail to tear up when his daughter (Ms Dipesto off Moonlighting!!) says she's ugly, Coach says she looks like her mum, she falters as she tries to say "And mum was not beautiful", and Coach says "Your mother grew more beautiful every day I knew her"... ack, am choking up a bit as I type. And the words themselves aren't even a very strong denouement, but the way Colasanto delivers them is truly remarkable.

Got to this bit the other day during my rewatch of S1. Devastating.

yeah great scene

Saw the first Lilith (instantly great) episode recently having not been aware it's a while before she reappears.

Been watching through Cheers recently. It's such a perfect show. The only character I don't really like is Diane so looking forward to her leaving

Ah, but Shelly's performance is so strong those first few seasons - I really felt on my last rewatch that she is the centre of the show at first.

Love Diane.

It's a great performance I just don't enjoy the character unfortunately

I only remember the later seasons from the first run/syndication, jarring to see the first couple of seasons with a completely different Cliff and things 30% less wacky in general.

Oh I really like Diane. I love it when Shelley Long and Ted Danson almost break character just a tiny bit after a laugh to show they're kind-of in on the joke. Yeah Diane is quality

does Cliff change a lot in later seasons? it really is strange coming back to these as an adult, when last time i watched it i must have been about 12 or 13

I don’t think Cliff changes too much - a little more depth to his shallowness perhaps but you’d expect that over eleven seasons

Slightly mindblowing watching today to realise that Cliff and Norm are in their mid-30s when Cheers starts.

Early thirties I think! It is one of those WTF feelings knowing that the entire main cast (not including Coach) were around that age

Yeah Coach was a bit older - early 40s I think

Older surely?

Played an old mob boss in Raging Bull--two years before Cheers goes on the air.

Nick Colasanto was 59 when the show began

Sorry, failed joke attempt

Ha! Sorry!