cheers

Cheers - The Complete Fifth Season
$29.98
For its first four seasons, Cheers was an almost flawless series. But at the beginning of season five, a number of factors conspired to create a seriously bumpy start. For one, there is an evident tension in the air directed at Shelley Long. Whereas in earlier seasons, Ted Danson and Shelley Long would be smiling into each others eyes in almost every scene (that special magic chemistry they had), here Danson, as well as the rest of the cast, can barely bring themselves to make eye contact with her at all. Perhaps the tension came from Shelley Long's attempts to remove Kelsey Grammar from the show, or perhaps it was the inklings that Long might "abandon" Cheers - and maybe sink it in the process. The impossible-to-conceal bad vibes are highly evident in the first batch of episodes, and effectively kill the magic between the two leads.

Secondly, for the first time ever, the Cheers writers made a serious mistake. For the first four seasons, the back and forth tension between Diane and Sam was played just right - stretching the rubber band, but never breaking it. But, in the first episode, by making Diane reject Sam's proposal, they wrote themselves into a temporary corner. Now, Sam was forced to play angry and grumpy (which just doesn't work) and Diane was morphed into a love-struck undignified idiot (which works even less and seriously cheapens the character). In other words, Sam just wanted Diane to go away, while Diane was hopelessly in love with him. That wasn't the kind of sparring or sexual tension that had made Cheers so wonderful in previous years. In fact, it is downright awkward to watch. Of course Sam loves Diane - she is his only salvation from becoming an ageing and ever more lonely Lothario. It is evident that this turn threw Ted Danson, as Sam just doesn't feel in character for those early episodes doing little more than looking angry. In fact, this was a shift in Sam's characterisation that never really went away right to the end of Cheers - in order to be able to lose the character of Diane, Sam was made to no longer really care. That was a mistake. The old dynamic: The neurotic intellectual who needed to just chill out a bit and the ageing stud who needed to stop running away from himself was shelved forever. "I am the best thing that could have happened to you!" Diane one screamed at Sam. And ever since Sam met Diane, he once told her, he has begun thinking and caring about stuff - even reading War & Peace. Now, the producer's dislike of Shelley Long slowly killed that whole dynamic, and in the eyes of this reviewer, cheapened the show forever.

Thirdly, this was the year that the famously bad Eighties aesthetics finally caught up with the show. Shelley Long is given an appalling mullet hairstyle, big shoulder-pads and pale unflattering clothing. It may seem like a small thing, but it looks dreadful. In previous years, Long's hair was beautiful as was her clothing, but the season 5 look just adds to the caricature of the idiot love-struck Diane. When Long ties her hair back in a few episodes, it is amazing how much better (and more like Diane) she looks. One suspects that many of these factors may again have been sub-conscious attempts by the writers and producers to sabotage the role of Diane to make it easier to continue the show without her. And the tension in the air was evidently so bad that they had to write an episode where the entire cast has a huge food fight!

Thankfully, the almost unwatchable grumpy Sam and idiot love-sick Diane concept is diluted by the episode "Everyone Imitates Art" (It might be best to skip all season 5 shows before that) - in which we finally get a very touching sense again that Sam really does care about Diane (he has saved every letter she ever wrote him). And after that, the season kicks off again (evidently, things were patched up with Shelley Long, as around here, the cast start making eye-contact with the actress again and Danson starts grinning at her in that magical way once more) but it never really climbs to the highs of the first four seasons.

Some of these missteps perhaps helped contribute to the later held idea that Long's Diane was "spent" and that it was better for her to leave and the series start afresh. It is true that the Diane in the early episodes of this season is unbearable to watch - but then again so is Sam. Some Cheers fans feel that the post-Long Kirstie Alley years cheapened the character of Sam Malone by regressing the additional dimensions that someone like Diane offered him and that the great Cheers magic was never really re-captured after Shelley Long left. Of course, there is no way that Sam and Diane could have not gotten married and Diane remained on the show. That too would likely have snapped the rubber band and seriously eroded credibility, not to mention viewer patience. But Cheers was a show that took risks (like when polling told the writers to get Sam and Diane together asap, and instead they upped the tension by having Diane date Frasier in season 3) - so perhaps in this spirit, had Shelley Long stayed on, the writers would have thumbed their noses at the conventional wisdom that suggests that marriage would effectively kill the Sam Diane dynamic. Marriage would have enabled Diane to have a rational reason for staying at Cheers as a co-owner. She could have annoyed Sam with her poetry nights and attempts to bring in an upper-class crowd. They still could have had the usual fights and even separations. But we'll never know. Yes, Shelley Long made a huge career mistake by leaving the show - both Ted Danson and Kirstie Alley developed successful film careers while remaining behind the bar at Cheers, while Shelley Long faded away somewhat, which is a shame as she is truly an outstanding actress of the first degree.

In the final episode of the entire series - in season 11 - Diane returns, but again the writer's bitterness at Long hasn't fully dissipated. Now, Sam and Diane agree that they were basically just good in bed together and little more. Is that what made Cheers fans love the show in the first four years? Again, Diane is cheapened and through that so is Sam and so is Cheers.

Anyway, season five has a very, very disappointing start, but eventually picks up, albeit not to the standards of the first four seasons. However, the final goodbye episode with the lovely Shelley Long is very touching.

Cheers - The Complete Sixth Season
$29.98
I first bought this series from an Amazon store, at a reduced price, but the main menu "wobbled", and I couldn't fast forward thru the ads and junk at the beginning of the cd. I viewed the 1st 2 discs, then sent it back to the independent seller, and bought the set from Amazon, thinking I could fast forward thru the junk and the cd wouldn't be distorted. Both problems remain. Anyone else having this problem? My other cd's work fine.

Cheers - Seasons 1-11
$289.98
Cheers to Cheers! This DVD set is great for everyone who liked this TV show. Sound and picture quality are excellent. Always some laughs which is a welcome relief in today's world.

Cheers - The Complete First Season
$29.98
great product and will probably buy more of the series soon. Amazon does a great job of sending them quickly and letting you know that they are on the way. Great Job !!!!!