Cheers season 4

Cheers (season 4)
Season 4
Region 1 DVD
No. of episodes	26
Release
Original network	NBC
Original release	September 26, 1985 (1985-09-26) – May 15, 1986 (1986-05-15)
Season chronology

The fourth season of Cheers, an award-winning American television sitcom, originally aired on NBC in the United States between September 26, 1985, and May 15, 1986, as part of the network's Must See TV Thursday lineup. This season marks Woody Harrelson's television debut as Woody Boyd, who replaces Coach Ernie Pantusso since its portrayer Nicholas Colasanto died during filming of the prior season. The show was created by director James Burrows and writers Glen and Les Charles under production team Charles Burrows Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Television.

Background

Last season in 1984–85, after two years of struggling with low ratings, rapid schedule changes, and failed series, NBC's Must See TV (consisting of, in time slot order starting at 8pm Eastern / 7pm Central, The Cosby Show, Family Ties, Cheers, Night Court, and Hill Street Blues) became a ratings success for the network. The 1985–86 Thursday schedule was similar to last season's and still a success.

Season synopsis

Last season, Sam goes to Italy to stop Frasier and Diane's wedding. This season, he fails to do so, so he arrives back to Boston. Several months later, a dimwitted Indiana small-town boy Woody Boyd arrives to big city Boston to meet Coach. However, Coach is discovered to have died already. Fortunately, Sam hires Woody as another bartender.

Carla gave birth within those months to a boy Ludlow, named after Dr. Bennett Ludlow (James Karen), Frasier's mentor, and is now a single mother of six children. A semi-unemployed Norm and his wife Vera decide to never have children for life. A mailman Cliff is still unsuccessful with women.

Frasier arrives to the bar to announce that Diane jilted Frasier at the altar, made love to other men, and is now in a convent, located at one hour away from Boston. Sam retrieves Diane from the convent and rehires her as a bar waitress. As times passes, since he lost everything, including his career, Frasier frequently visits the Boston bar, Cheers, for drinks and then slowly degenerates himself into alcoholism. Miraculously, he recovers from that, has another psychiatric job, and wants nothing to do with Sam and Diane's lovefest anymore.

Sam starts a relationship with the city councillor Janet Eldrige (Kate Mulgrew). Tired of being part of the triangle, Janet breaks up with Sam. At the season's last minute, during the phone call, Sam proposes to an unknown recipient.

Cast

• Ted Danson as Sam Malone
• Shelly Long as Diane Chambers
• Rhea Perlman as Carla Tortelli
• John Ratzenberger as Cliff Clavin
• Woody Harrelson as Woody Boyd
• George Wendt as Norm Peterson
• Kelsey Grammer as Frasier Crane (recurring; billed at end credits only)

Episodes

Further information: List of Cheers episodes

• № = Overall episode number
• # = Episode number within the season

"Households" numbers are in millions.

№	#	Title	Original air date	Written by	Directed by	Rating / Rank / Households
70	1	"Birth, Death, Love and Rice"	September 26, 1985	Heide Perlman	James Burrows	26.0 / #4 / –
Sam comes back from Italy and tells barmates that he failed to stop the wedding of Frasier and Diane. In fact, Sam tried to break in a guarded place where the wedding was supposedly located, but ended up in jail and realized that they were not there. Then he was bailed out (i.e. "purchased") by a "local landowner". Back to present, Sam swears that he is done with Diane forever. Several months later, Norm comes in the bar and then tells bar patrons that, after failed attempts to produce, he and Vera decide to never have children for life. Carla already gave birth to a boy Ludlow. Then a simple-minded Woody Boyd from a small town of Indiana arrives to see Coach, who is discovered to be currently deceased, disappointing him. Fortunately, Sam hires Woody as a co-bartender. Sam learns from Frasier, who lost his career in Italy, that Diane jilted Frasier at the altar, made love to other men, and is now serving rice and cleaning at the convent, located at one hour away from Boston. Sam goes there and tries to convince Diane that she must be a bar waitress again, but she refuses. Before he leaves, Sam tells her that they would have rekindled if he stopped the wedding. Then Diane, moved by his words, becomes torn between Cheers and the convent, and is relieved that Sam, who is "looking" for a restroom, is still present at the convent.
71	2	"Woody Goes Belly Up"	October 3, 1985	Heide Perlman	James Burrows	23.4 / #5 / 20.1
The bar gang learns about Woody's old small-town girlfriend Beth, back in Indiana, so Diane brings her to big city Boston to visit him. Suddenly, Woody and Beth begin to overeat, and the gang fails to stop them from that. Frasier, now working as a bar janitor just to humiliate Diane, tells Woody that he and Beth substitute overeating for premarital sex. Sam and Diane do not take Frasier's psychoanalysis seriously, so they take the couple to French restaurant for vegetarian/vegan dinner in order to help them control their eating habits. However, Woody and Beth end up taking Frasier's psychological advice seriously, and make plans for sex. Nevertheless, Sam and Diane overeat in order to resist temptations for each other.
72	3	"Someday My Prince Will Come"	October 17, 1985	Tom Seeley Norm Gunzenhauser	James Burrows	23.5 / #4 / 20.2
Diane returns a lost expensive coat to Stuart Sorenson (Frank Dent), who is as everything and cultured as Diane wants him to be, and becomes his date. However, she reluctantly and secretly finds him not "good looking", and is relieved that the relationship ends because he is in love with another woman. Carla's son could not complete his science project, so Carla reluctantly puts Cliff in charge of helping him.
73	4	"The Groom Wore Clearasil"	October 24, 1985	Peter Casey David Lee	James Burrows	20.9 / #13 / 18.0
Carla fails every time to stop her teenage son Anthony (Timothy Williams) from marrying his girlfriend Annie (Amanda Ingber). Even, in her favor, Sam tries to convince him about joys of bachelorhood, but Sam's lack of commitments and one-night stands convince Anthony to never end up like him by trying to marry Annie. Much to Carla's relief and Annie's displeasure, Anthony becomes attracted to Annie's cousin Gabrielle (Sherilyn Fenn). Diane inadvertently accuses Professor Moffat (John Inger), who refers her former assistant and lover Sumner Sloane, of sexual attempts during an interview for a role of teaching assistant. However, she realizes her mistake that cost her a chance and unable to make up for that.
74	5	"Diane's Nightmare"	October 31, 1985	David Lloyd	James Burrows	24.1 / #6 / 20.7
Diane has sequences of dreams. In the first, everyone goes to the wine cellar, and no one comes out, especially during blackout. In the next, an ex-con Andy Schroeder (Derek McGrath), healed by Frasier in psychological sessions, marries a woman Cynthia (Nancy Cartwright), and then Sam becomes Diane's upper-class ideal, especially by using long speeches, that engrosses her.
75	6	"I Will Gladly Pay You Tuesday"	November 7, 1985	Cheri Eichen Bill Steinkellner	James Burrows	21.1 / #13 / 18.2
Diane buys a rare pristine autographed copy of the first edition of the Ernest Hemingway novel The Sun Also Rises, for $500, lended by Sam. Diane plans to sell it and orders Sam not to touch it or harm it. Sam goes against her orders by reading the novel, and then Sam ruins it by accidentally dropping it into a filled bathtub. While he auditions with the book collector Mr. Sayers (William Lanteau) in order to stop the ruined book from being sold, Sam tells her that he "loved" the book. Not knowing about the book's current condition, Diane decides to no longer sell it and marvels him for "becoming open" about reading novels. While they passionately embrace, Diane demands $700 from Sam, off from $1,200 that he priced. Cliff walks backwards in order to break a world record, but he stops when he knocked down his mother's curling iron.
76	7	"2 Good to Be 4 Real"	November 14, 1985	Peter Casey David Lee	James Burrows	24.7 / #4 / 21.2
Carla's personal ad in the classifieds has been unanswered. Therefore, the men write fake love letters in order to lift her spirits up, posing as "Mitch Wainwright, an international airline pilot", and then send a photo of anonymous model, which came with Norm's wallet. Luckily for them, she assumes that "Mitch" is also a model when a customer recognizes him. When she turns down a real person, funeral director Vinnie Claussen (Michael Alaimo), Sam confesses the truth to Carla that "Mitch" is a character created by the men, angering her toward them. After a heart talk with Diane, Carla forgives the men and then reluctantly dates with Vinnie.
77	8	"Love Thy Neighbor"	November 21, 1985	David Angell	James Burrows	21.9 / #11 / 18.8
Norm and his next-door neighbor Phyllis Henshaw (Miriam Flynn) fear that his wife Vera and her husband Ron, who spend time with each other, may be having an affair. They hire a private investigator, Carla's cousin Santo Carbone (Ernie Sabella), to spy on their spouses. Later, Norm and Phyllis are close to making love at the billiard room, but that soon is abrupted when Santo arrives. Much to their reliefs, Santo's Compact Cassette reveals that Vera and Ron never had an affair and are still faithful to their own spouses by ending their partnership with each other. During an interview with his friend, sportscaster Dave Richards (Fred Dryer), Sam tells him that one of his "love bunnies", who have no knowledge about baseball, read a book during the game. Diane figures that Sam was referring to her and berates him for that. Next day, Sam gives an apology speech, implicitly written by Diane, to that "love bunny" on Dave's radio show. In the East Coast, due to Ronald Reagan's presidential address at 9p.m. (ET) / 8p.m. (CT), this episode aired at either 9:30p.m. or 9:40p.m ET, pre-empting Night Court. Nevertheless, in the West Coast, it aired at 9p.m. (Pacific) / 8p.m. (Mountain), as regularly timed, followed by Night Court.
78	9	"From Beer to Eternity"	November 28, 1985	Peter Casey David Lee	James Burrows	21.6 / #10 / 18.6
The Cheers gang decide to compete against the gang of a rival bar, Gary's Old Towne Tap, in bowling after the Cheers gang's losing streaks against them in other sports. Then the gang finds out that Woody is a trophy-winning bowler back in Indiana, but Woody does not want to bowl again because, while he was preparing to knock down the pins, he accidentally injured a man with a bowling ball. Later, Diane and Woody, who changes his mind, arrive to the bowling alley. While he is preparing to bowl, Woody pauses and cannot bowl at this state. When the Cheers team is losing, Gary (Joel Polis) bets that, if the Cheers team wins, Gary would date Diane. Offended, Diane joins her team and then pulls a strike, beating Gary's team down. Joel Polis and Robert Desiderio rotatingly reprise the same role, Gary, in later seasons.
79	10	"The Barstoolie"	December 5, 1985	Andy Cowan David S. Williger	James Burrows	24.4 / #5 / 21.0
Cliff meets his long-lost estranged father, Cliff Sr. (Dick O'Neill), and enjoys his time with him. Then his father confesses that he is a runaway felon of fraudulency, goes to the bathroom, and then disappears. After feeling sad about his father's re-abandonment, Cliff quickly becomes happy when he discusses topics with bar mates. Sam's upper-class date, Claudia (Claudia Cron), befriends Diane and invites her for supper at a restaurant. Sam reserves two distant separate tables: one intended for him and Claudia, and the other for Diane. Unfortunately, he ends up alone at one table, putting women on the other. At the bar, Sam tries to seduce Claudia, but she dumps him for being too sexually aggressive and less classy. Then Sam invites Diane for cheesecake at Melville's, originally planned for his time with Claudia.
80	11	"Don Juan Is Hell"	December 12, 1985	Phoef Sutton	James Burrows	24.0 / #6 / 20.6
Sam is happy to be the subject of Diane's psychological term paper. When he invites her class to the bar for presentation, Diane is not thrilled and orders Sam to read the paper in hopes that he changes his mind. However, when he reads only the cover page, whose title refers to Don Juanism, Sam becomes unhappy about the paper and sticks with the class invitation. The next day, Sam humiliates them with his self-praise on his sexual ego. Diane takes him to the office and reads the paper to him that says: he is promiscuous, an aging sexist, whose life is "cheap and pathetic", and inept to commit a relationship, putting him at risk of loneliness. Sam and Diane attempt the non-sexual conversation to prove the paper wrong. Therefore, she tries to invalidate the paper to the class, but the door knob gets loose, trapping them in the office. Woody becomes overexerted for studying history of sports for trivia games.
81	12	"Fools and Their Money"	December 19, 1985	Heide Perlman	James Burrows	23.1 / #4 / 19.8
When Woody attempts to wager his $1,000 to win the $10,000 bet on one sports team, Sam saves him from doing so by pretending to wager it on Woody's behalf. Sam's intentions backfire when the team wins, so Sam admits this to Woody that he did not wager it. Woody initially forgives him at first. When Woody wants Sam to compensate Sam's sports car, Sam refuses, so Woody chides him for betrayal, deception, and letting things backfire. To settle differences between them, Sam sings along "Home on the Range", which Coach sang to Sam whenever things go wrong between friends, like Coach and Sam. Much to Diane's annoyance, Frasier tries to correct her grammar all day.
82	13	"Take My Shirt... Please"	January 9, 1986	David Lloyd	James Burrows	24.3 / #5 / 20.9
Sam sends his old baseball jersey to a public television auction, where Diane is one of its phone receptionists. When it is up for auction, Diane buys the jersey for $100, allowed by a station, because she does not want it, if unsold, thrown away. Sam refuses and wants it auctioned again. However, no one is buying it, crushing his spirits. Sam, posing as a female phone customer, buys it for $200, but Diane finds out, so Sam quickly and fortunately has the order cancelled and let the jersey to be thrown away. Then a customer, Bert Simpson (Patrick Cronin), prices it $300 only to stop it from appearing onscreen again and then returns it to him without paying it. In order to get a job, Norm tries to impress his clients, Mr. Brubaker (Robert Symonds) and his wife (Frances Bay), by taking them to the bar and Melville's, but that proves unsuccessful. Then he tries to have Cliff conversate with them. The Brubakers like Cliff and invite him for a yacht party, but Norm still does not get a job.
83	14	"Suspicion"	January 16, 1986	Tom Reeder	James Burrows	25.4 / #5 / 21.8
Diane studies paranoid behavior on bar mates by hiring Irving (M. C. Gainey) to pose as a suspicious man. Then she becomes paranoid and worried that a gang will put pranks on her for that charade. When the news reporters comes to broadcast her performance in the billiard room, Diane assumes that this is one of their pranks, so she makes noises that resemble a chicken. She becomes humiliated and embarrassed to be a laughing stock, but her mood brightens when a bucket of water splashes onto her in the office.
84	15	"The Triangle"	January 23, 1986	Susan Seeger	James Burrows	24.0 / #7 / 20.6
Frasier deteriorates into alcoholism and still has no interests on practicing psychiatry again. Feeling bad about it, Sam, planned by Diane, feigns symptoms in order to boost Frasier's self-confidence. As planned, Frasier concludes that Sam is still in "love" with Diane and advises him to confess it to her. Sam and Diane try to write phony love letters, but they end up arguing. Frasier walks in and finds out from him that all of this is a charade. Frasier angrily tells them both that they are still in love but denying it, declares himself to be no longer part of their relationship, and decides to practice psychiatry again.
85	16	"Cliffie's Big Score"	January 30, 1986	Heide Perlman	James Burrows	23.8 / #5 / –
Cliff asks Diane to be his dancing partner for the ball, but she kindly refuses. Then he asks Carla, and she accepts only because he promises to award her money, a dress, and a VCR. Diane has second thoughts about Cliff's offer and then accepts it. Rather than turn down Diane's acceptance, Cliff gives Carla a hippie, Lucas (Timothy Scott). After the dance, while Carla is making love to Lucas, Cliff inadvertently tells he was torn between her and Diane. Therefore, Carla tells him that Diane has hots for him. He tries to seduce Diane, but Diane kicks him out and then leaves him stranded in the woods.
86	17	"Second Time Around"	February 6, 1986	Cheri Eichen Bill Steinkellner	Thomas Lofaro	24.7 / #5 / 21.2
After Frasier's unsuccessful date with a psychiatrist, Dr. Lilith Sternin (Bebe Neuwirth), Sam arranges him a date with flirtatious Candi Pearson (Jennifer Tilly), one of Sam's women. After one night stand, Frasier and Candi become engaged. At the bar, Diane stops their wedding and tries to help Frasier come to his senses. Soon, Frasier berates her and then Candi. Realizing what he did, Frasier begs Candi to forgive him, so she does. In order to further develop their relationship, they cancel the wedding. Cliff brings in his mother's eccentric-shaped pretzels. Unfortunately, no one likes them but cannot tell him about them to spare his mother's feelings. This episode is Bebe Neuwirth's only appearance of the season as Lilith Sternin. Neuwirth reprises her role as Lilith in later seasons and then the spinoff Frasier.
87	18	"The Peterson Principle"	February 13, 1986	Peter Casey David Lee	James Burrows	23.9 / #5 / 20.5
Norm finds out from his co-worker (Chip Zien) that his main competitor Morrison is having an affair with his boss Mr. Reinhardt's (Daniel Davis) wife. When Morrison gets a promotion, Mr. Reinhardt admits to Norm that Norm's wife Vera did not get along with other co-workers' wives, costing Norm his promotion. Norm tries to mention it to his boss in order to be promoted, but decides not to. Then he conceals the real reason for losing the promotion from Vera, so her feelings are spared. Frasier mocks Diane in front of everyone for tearing his heart apart during a slide presentation of European trip. In order to help him get over her, Sam brings him along to find ladies. Carla assumes Vito (Adam Carl) to be not good enough for her daughter Ann Marie, even when she lets him take Ann Marie to see 101 Dalmatians in a theater. Because of Family Ties's special one-hour broadcast, this episode aired at 9:30pm instead of 9pm, its regular time, pre-empting Night Court.
88	19	"Dark Imaginings"	February 20, 1986	David Angell	James Burrows	23.4 / #6 / 20.1
While Sam and Woody compete each other at the raquetball for a young woman Bonnie (Pamela Bach), Sam develops a hernia and is unable to hold the pain any longer while hiding it from others. Then he secretly goes to the hospital under the pseudonymous name, Lance Manion, until others find out. At the bar, after Sam comes back from the hospital, Woody slaps Sam's butt, causing Sam another hernia and prompting to go back to the hospital. There, after his friends visit him, he tries but fails to seduce Diane, who tells him that being old is a joyous part of his life, not something to be ashamed. Then he meets his similar counterpart Jack Turner (Thomas Callaway), who has a daughter. At the final scene, he looks at the rainy night through the window, implicitly reflecting his life without marriage and children. In hopes of healing him, Frasier professionally consults Cliff about his unusual comparisons of home-grown vegetables to famous people. However, Cliff confronts Frasier for billing him hundreds of dollars for such sessions and is still comparing these two groups.
89	20	"Save the Last Dance for Me"	February 27, 1986	Heide Perlman	James Burrows	26.0 / #3 / 22.3
Carla rejects to be Nick's dancing partner for the dancing reunion contest, so Nick (Dan Hedaya) picks his wife Loretta (Jean Kasem), and Carla picks Eddie (Nick Dimitri). When Eddie becomes injured by tripping on the bar stairs, Sam replaces him as her partner. At the dance, in one round, Sam and Carla are eliminated, as well as Nick and Loretta. Then judges allow Nick's request that he dance with Carla, resulting a trophy for both of them. After dance contest, at the bar, Nick begs Carla to rebuild a relationship, but she refuses to have an affair with a married man and throws an egg on him.
90	21	"Fear Is My Co-Pilot"	March 13, 1986	Cheri Eichen Bill Steinkellner	James Burrows	23.5 / #3 / 20.2
Diane is reunited with Jack Dalton (Joseph Whipp), who is an enthusiast of danger, and whom she met back in Europe after she dumped Frasier. She reluctantly goes out with him on a private jet and brings along with Sam for protection. At the jet 20,000 feet high, Jack is found dead, so Sam and Diane try to fly the plane but end up fearing for their lives. However, Jack turns out to be alive by practicing one of Tibetan meditations that make a person appear dead without a heart beat or a blood pulse. Sam and Diane become furious and chide him. When the plane lands safely by Jack, Sam and Diane report this incident to the FAA.
91	22	"Diane Chambers Day"	March 20, 1986	Kimberly Hill	James Burrows	26.2 / #3 / 22.5
After making fun of Diane's ex-date, Dennis Kaufman (Tom Harrison), for wearing Renaissance costumes in public and watching the western film The Magnificent Seven without her, who wanted to see it with them, the gang feel guilty for leaving Diane out of their activities and making her depressed. To make up, Frasier arranges other men, against their will, to watch an opera with Diane, Lucia di Lammermoor, while Carla declines to join in, as well as Frasier himself. During performance, everyone sleeps, including Diane. After the opera is over, Sam and Diane head back to the bar. As they are close to making passionate love, Sam admits to her that Frasier came up the opera idea. Diane marvels Sam for honesty and decides to, much to Sam's displeasure, halt sex plans until the time is right.
92	23	"Relief Bartender"	March 27, 1986	Miriam Trogdon	James Burrows	22.3 / #6 / 19.2
In order to compete two new bars, Sam upgrades himself into a manager and a host. In order to succeed, he hires another bartender Ken (Tony Carriero) and arranges seafood feast for a party. The plan fails when only three people show up, so Sam decides to fire one of bartenders in order to save the bar. He is unable to fire Ken because he has a wife (Patricia Veselich) and two kids (Edan Gross and Judith Barsi), so he fires Woody. When Ken is hired by another company, Sam lets Ken go and then rehires Woody with a $30 raise.
93	24	"Strange Bedfellows, Part 1"	May 1, 1986	David Angell	James Burrows	23.9 / #3 / 20.5
Local councilwoman Janet Eldridge (Kate Mulgrew) comes to Cheers as part of her re-election campaign, and Sam becomes smitten with her. Sam and Janet become a couple, while Diane joins the campaign of Janet's opponent, Jim Fleener (Max Wright), believing that Janet is using and may dump Sam when the campaign is over. Frasier also joins the opposition campaign in hopes to win Diane back. However, Janet wins, and the relationship continues, much to Diane's chagrin.
94	25	"Strange Bedfellows, Part 2"	May 8, 1986	David Angell	James Burrows	22.6 / #4 / 19.4
Whilst Frasier tells Diane's campaign workers that she "had" a sex change operation, Sam and Janet grow further closer to each other. One night, Janet admits to Sam her jealousy toward Diane and suggests that he fire Diane to sever all ties with his past, but Diane overhears and resigns before he can fire her. As Norm tells his barmates, Vera's sister Donna is oversexualizing herself while visiting the Petersons, and Norm saw Donna naked, which embarrassed her.
95	26	"Strange Bedfellows, Part 3"	May 15, 1986	David Angell	James Burrows	24.4 / #4 / 21.0
Candidate winner Janet is hosting her press conference at Cheers. Diane turns up to apologise to Sam, but she instead asks Janet questions about Sam and Janet. Reporters follow through, causing Sam to throw her out of the bar and humiliating Janet. Later, Janet believes that Sam is still in love with Diane, so she breaks up with him. At closing time, Sam dials a phone number and then proposes to an unknown caller. Much to Norm's horror, Vera has been called away for her ill aunt, so her oversexual sister Donna is left alone with Norm. Fortunately, Norm has dinner with Donna and finds her sweet and innocent, and luckily no sex has happened.

Production

Woody Harrelson debuts as Woody Boyd this season.

During filming of the series's prior season, Nicholas Colasanto, portrayer of regular character Coach Ernie Pantusso, died of a heart attack. Rather than recast the character, Coach was written out since the season premiere, "Birth, Death, Love and Rice", as also deceased without explanation, causing the producers to create a new character Woody Boyd, "an Indiana farm boy" who becomes a bartender in the bar of the big city Boston, portrayed by Woody Harrelson, as Coach's replacement. Before Cheers, Harrelson was an understudy in a Broadway play, Biloxi Blues, and made his film debut in Wildcats, which was released to theaters in February 1986.

On January 1986, Shelley Long, portrayer of waitress Diane Chambers, announced her plan to leave the series after her contract would end soon before the sixth season would start.

Reception

On the 1985–86 season, Cheers was scheduled at 9 p.m. (Eastern) / 8 p.m. (Central) against CBS's Simon & Simon and ABC's The Colbys, which replaced Lady Blue, which moved to Saturdays on mid-November 1985. On December 26, 1985, the series gained 33 percent in Nielsen ratings from last season. As of January 29, 1986, it became one of top three rated series among females besides other two Must See TV sitcoms, The Cosby Show and Family Ties. As of April 23, 1986, it scored an overall 23.7 rating and a 35 share, putting it to the fifth place of the 1985–86 season.

Despite disdaining the Sam-and-Diane romance and considering this series a typical sitcom in earlier seasons, television critic Rick Sherwood praised this season as "funniest [and] most intelligent" since the debut season.

Jeffrey Robinson of DVD Talk perceived this season as neither great nor strongly rewatchable nor hilarious as earlier seasons, but worth watching, especially for fans. Robinson found its episodes "episodic" but with Adam Arseneau of DVD Verdict raved it as "impeccable and golden" with 95 percent on the story and 94 on acting. They deemed the introduction of a new character Woody Boyd (even if not well-developed and well-integrated), growing prominence of Frasier Crane, and supposedly one-time character Lilith Sternin, who becomes a recurring character in later seasons, as highlights of the season. However, they found unexplained death of Coach Ernie Pantusso to be one of the season's lows.

Nate Meyers of Digitally Obsessed praised this season as well-aged and still "fresh", especially for mostly omitting "topical humor" and developing characters.

Accolades

All cast members except newcomer Woody Harrelson and actor Kelsey Grammer, whose character Frasier Crane appears recurringly this season, were nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards in 1986. Only Rhea Perlman won her own Emmy Award as an Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. The episode "Fear Is My Co-Pilot" earned the following crew an Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy Series or Special: Michael Ballin, Robert Douglass, Douglas Grey, and Thomas J. Huth.

Shelley Long was awarded the Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series by Viewers for Quality Television in 1986 for her performance throughout the whole season. Long won also the Golden Globe in 1985 as the Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy Series for her performance in 1985.

DVD Release

Currently, the fourth season is available on DVD with four discs in the set. On February 1, 2005, the whole season was released to Region 1 DVD with four disc in the set. Unlike DVD releases of earlier seasons, the set lacks special features, like interviews and outtakes.

Cheers: The Complete Fourth Season
Set Details
26 episodes 4-disc set 1:33:1 aspect ratio English – Stereo Closed captioning (Region 1) Subtitles: Danish, English, French, Italian, Swedish, Spanish, Norwegian (Region 2)
Release Dates
Region 1		Region 2		Region 4
February 1, 2005		July 18, 2005		July 21, 2005

Notes

References

• Bjorklund, Dennis A (Unknown) [First published in 1993 as print edition]. Cheers TV Show: A Comprehensive Reference (e-Book ed.). Praetorian Publishing. Retrieved June 27, 2012. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)

Ratings sources

According to the Daily Breeze, a newspaper from Torrance, California, the 1985–86 ratings are based on 85.9 million households with at least one television.

External links

• Production order of Cheers (season 4) at Copyright Catalog
  • Click "Set Search Limits", select "Range", select "Motion Pictures" at "Item Type", type "1985" at left box and "1986" at right box, either hit "Enter" or click "Set Search Limits"
  • Then, after above step, search by title, type "Cheers", and hit "Enter" or click "Begin search"
• Cheers, season 4 at Internet Movie Database
• Cheers, season 4 at TV.com (printable version, recommended for users with only dial-ups)
• Cheers, season 4 at TV Guide