8: Harry the Hat Wins Poker, Thanks to Coach

Episode: Pick a Con, Any Con (1×19)

We’re introduced to Harry Anderson before his Night Court days. He’s the local con-man who does small-time work at the bar before Sam kicks him out. However, Coach has a friend who’s a pretty good con man himself, and the gang decides to use him to win some money back from Harry. Coach is involved, though, so things go terribly wrong…

7. Gary Dies

Episode: Bar Wars V: The Final Judgment (10×07)

Nearly every season there was an episode dedicated to the gang trying to win customers from Gary’s Old-Town Tavern while not getting utterly embarrassed in some friendly (or not-so-friendly contest. My favorite was this one. It’s Halloween, and they’re trying to out-spook each other. Sam goes too far with his final prank, and Gary dies of a heart attack. Sam embarrasses himself repeatedly, convinced that Gary really isn’t dead. He goes so far as to yell at Gary to get out of his coffin and his grave. Back at the bar afterwards, Sam finally comes to grips with what’s happened.

10. Cliff on Jeopardy

Episode: What Is Cliff Clavin? (8×14)

Cheers had a lot of celebrities, especially local ones, come on the show. Some were just there for a cameo and a brief laugh (Wade Boggs) while some had a lot of screen time but were only mediocre (Kevin McHale). However, this episode hits every note perfectly, and Alex Trebek is fantastic. Not shown in the clip below is Alex Trebek coming to the bar, making some shit up about quitting to Cliff, then telling Norm that “He scares me.”

9. Frasier’s Snipe Hunt

Episode: The Heart is a Lonely Snipehunter (3×14)

The guys pull the old prank on Frasier of putting him on a snipe hunt, then ditch him in the woods. Frasier figures it out, but pretends he’s in love with the snipe hunting just to get back at them. Grammer really gets into it here, and I laugh every time I see him make his snipe call below.

12: Woody’s Wedding

Episode: An Old-Fashioned Wedding (10×25)

There’s not one moment from Woody and Kelly’s pre-wedding hijinks that really stands out, but the hour long episode is great farce from beginning to end. Woody and Kelly sleep with each other (for the first time) the morning of their wedding, and thus must get married that day despite everything that goes wrong. We get treated to angry cooks, mean rottweilers, a jealous kaiser with a sword, a dumbwaiter, and a dead body. Lilith shines, as usual, by entertaining the guests with singing, parlor tricks, and cleavers. Woody is pretty good too, dropping a bit of the naivety and delivering some realistic, solid one-liners.

11. Frederick’s First Word

Episode: Breaking In Is Hard To Do (9×07)

Frasier and Lilith are worried when Frederick turns 11 months old and hasn’t said his first word yet, so they ask their pediatrician who informs them, tragically, that their son is normal. They are desperate to advance him along, to give him more positive social activity that may inspire their son to talk. Lilith is livid when she discover Frasier brought Freddy to the bar, until…

14. Cliff’s Shock Therapy

Episode: How to Win Friends and Electrocute People (7×07)

Cliff has an appendectomy and lets his friends know at the bar that he’s a bit scared that something will go wrong. The surgery turns out fine, but nobody comes to visit Cliff. Believing his obnoxious behavior has alienated his friends, he decides to hire a guy to give him an electric shock every time he behaves inappropriately at the bar. Hilarity ensues. Ratzenberger is great here.

13. Sam and Robin Can’t Stop Competing

Episode: Indoor Fun with Sammy and Robby (8×19)

Rebecca is supposed to have a full day with Robin, who has finally taken a day off. However, he engages Sam in some friendly competition. leaving Rebecca to spend her dream date with Robin, with Woody. Sam beats Robin at bar games until Robin proposes a game of chess, winner gets their opponent’s yearly salary. Sam, knowing nothing about chess, finds a way to cheat and win. Robin concedes, and then…yeah, just watch it.

16. Sam Proposes to…Somebody

Episode: Strange Bedfellows, Part 3 (4×26)

The only time Cheers had a three-part episode (other than their feature length final episode), Sam winds up dating a well-liked politician (Kate Mulgrew) running for Mayor of Boston. At first she dates him just for the PR points for being seen with a good-looking celebrity, but she eventually falls for him. Meanwhile, Diane tries to sabotage their relationship. The politician eventually tells him he has to make a choice between her and Diane. So he does, though we don’t find out who until the end of the summer.

15. Food Fight

Episode: Thanksgiving Orphans (5×09)

The gang is all without their families, so they have Thanksgiving dinner together. Like any good situational comedy, nothing goes right, including our one opportunity to see Norm’s wife Vera. I bet the cast had a blast with this,

18. Diane Gets Hired

Episode: Give Me a Ring Sometime (1×01)

Cheers was dead last in the ratings after its first season. It’s crazy that nobody tuned in considering how great the first season is, and it’s crazy that the show wasn’t cancelled anyway. You can’t even blame the poor ratings on the first episode, as it does a really solid job of introducing the characters while giving up a few good laughs. It’s not perfect.  Norm tries a Boston accent, which he thankfully dropped, and also is way more misogynistic than his character becomes.

For a quick recap, Diane and her fiancee wind up at Cheers to have some champagne before they fly off to get married. He winds up going back to his ex-wife and Diane is stuck with no fiancee, no money, and no job prospects. She then asks Sam what she should do:

17. Diane Leaves the Show

Episode: I Do and Adieu (5×26)

As everyone who watches the show knows, Cheers was filmed in front of a live studio audience. In this episode, Sam and Diane are finally getting married. The live studio audience was treated to an actual marriage. Imagine their surprise when they watched the aired version, where during the wedding, Diane gets notice that a book she wrote years ago is being published. She decides to take the advance money to finish the book and promises Sam she’ll be back in six months.

Sam Malone’s character is awesome because he rarely devolves into caricature unless he’s doing so on purpose to impress the guys. Ted Danson does a masterful job in making us believe his character during the emotionally poignant moments, and this is no exception.

Bonus Clip: Is There An Ernie Pantuso Here?

Episode: Give Me a Ring Sometime (1×01)

This is such a stupid moment from the first episode, but I still laugh every single time I see it. I love Colasanto’s delivery.

20. Woody Doesn’t Tell Kelly He’s in a Play

Episode: Two Girls for Every Boyd (8×09)

Woody’s girlfriend Kelly was a one-joke pony, basically being there as a set-up for other people’s jokes. She didn’t really grow as a character, and was even more comically naive than the impossibly naive Woody. In this episode, Woody has landed a role in a local play, Our Town. He’s having trouble showing intimacy with his co-actress, played by Lisa Kudrow, because he feels like doing so would upset Kelly and because he feels guilty over not telling Kelly he’s in the play. She then catches him with her, and delivers her best line of the show’s run.

19. 555-6792

Episode: One Hugs, The Other Doesn’t (10×16)

Frasier and Lilith take their boy Frederick to see a Nanny Gee concert. Frasier soon realizes this is the same person as his first wife, whom he neglected to mention to Lilith (or the entire audience prior to his moment). Nanny Gee spends the entire episode pining for Frasier, much to Lilith’s chagrin. The last few minutes of the episode are gold, and I’ve never forgotten the above phone number.