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Cheers season 5

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Cheers
Season 5
Region 1 DVD
StarringTed Danson
Shelley Long
Rhea Perlman
John Ratzenberger
Woody Harrelson
Kelsey Grammer
George Wendt
No. of episodes26
Release
Original networkNBC
Original releaseSeptember 25, 1986 (1986-09-25) –
May 7, 1987 (1987-05-07)
Season chronology
← Previous
Season 4
Next →
Season 6
List of episodes

The fifth season of Cheers, an American television sitcom, originally aired on NBC in the United States between September 25, 1986 and May 7, 1987. This season marks the departure of Shelley Long as Diane Chambers, bringing an end to the Sam and Diane relationship (although Long would return for the series finale). The show was created by director James Burrows and writers Glen and Les Charles (as Charles Burrows Charles Productions), in association with Paramount Television.

Background

After two seasons of struggle with low ratings and schedule shifts[1][2] NBC's Best Night of Television on Television 1984–85 Thursday lineup, consisting of (from 8 pm Eastern) The Cosby Show, Family Ties, Cheers, Night Court and Hill Street Blues, was a ratings success.[3] After two years with the same lineup, the crime series Hill Street Blues moved to Tuesdays in November 1986 to compete with Moonlighting, while the court series L.A. Law moved from Fridays to Hill Street Blues' former slot.[4][5] In April 1987 Nothing in Common replaced Night Court, which had moved to Wednesdays.[6]

Before the season began, a telephone survey asked callers whom they thought Sam was calling in the last episode of the previous season: politician Janet Eldridge or his on-and-off girlfriend, Diane Chambers. Nearly 140 picked Diane, while almost 60 chose Janet. Callers who voted for either woman expected the love triangle to continue during this season, or felt that Sam and Diane should live happily ever after.[7]

Cast and characters

Notes

  1. ^ After two years of recurring appearances, Grammer was included in the opening credits during this and subsequent seasons.
  2. ^ After appearing in "Second Time Around" (1986) the previous season, Neuwirth appeared in two episodes this season: "Abnormal Psychology" (1986) and "Dinner at Eight-ish" (1987).[8]

The first episode of the season reveals that it was Diane whom Sam had called;[9] his proposal was rejected because Diane thought he was on the rebound from Janet. After rejecting a number of other proposals during the season, Diane accepts Sam's proposal after a judge compelled him to propose once more. Diane's ex-fiancé, Sumner Sloane, tells her one of his colleagues was impressed with her manuscript and forwarded it to a publisher. At their much-anticipated wedding, just before saying "I do" Sam and Diane receive the news that the publisher will give Diane a large advance to finish her book. They cancel the wedding, and Diane promises she will return in six months after finishing the book. Not knowing it is for the last time, Diane leaves Boston (and Cheers) behind.

Episodes

Further information: List of Cheers episodes
No.
overall		No. in
season		Title [10]Directed byWritten byOriginal air date [10]Rating/share/rank
961"The Proposal"James BurrowsPeter Casey and David LeeSeptember 25, 1986 (1986-09-25)30.0 / – / –[rat5 1]
972"The Cape Cad"James BurrowsAndy Cowan and David S. WilligerOctober 2, 1986 (1986-10-02)29.7 / 45 / #3[rat5 2]
983"Money Dearest"James BurrowsJanet LeahyOctober 9, 1986 (1986-10-09)26.4 / 38 / #3[rat5 3]
994"Abnormal Psychology"James BurrowsJanet LeahyOctober 16, 1986 (1986-10-16)29.8 / 44 / #3[rat5 4]
1005"House of Horrors with Formal Dining and Used Brick"James BurrowsDavid AngellOctober 30, 1986 (1986-10-30)27.2 / 41 / #5[rat5 5]
1016"Tan 'n' Wash"James BurrowsCheri Eichen and Bill SteinkellnerNovember 6, 1986 (1986-11-06)28.8 / – / –[rat5 6]
1027"Young Dr. Weinstein"James BurrowsPhoef SuttonNovember 13, 1986 (1986-11-13)29.8 / 43 / #3[rat5 7]
1038"Knights of the Scimitar"James BurrowsJeff AbugovNovember 20, 1986 (1986-11-20)26.9 / 40 / #5[rat5 8]
1049"Thanksgiving Orphans"James BurrowsCheri Eichen and Bill SteinkellnerNovember 27, 1986 (1986-11-27)21.7 / 38 / #6[rat5 9]
10510"Everyone Imitates Art"James BurrowsHeide PerlmanDecember 4, 1986 (1986-12-04)28.4 / 42 / #3[rat5 10]
10611"The Book of Samuel"James BurrowsPhoef SuttonDecember 11, 1986 (1986-12-11)28.2 / – / –[rat5 11]
10712"Dance, Diane, Dance"James BurrowsJeff AbugovDecember 18, 1986 (1986-12-18)28.4 / -[rat5 12]
10813"Chambers vs. Malone"James BurrowsDavid AngellJanuary 8, 1987 (1987-01-08)28.2 / 41[rat5 13]
10914"Diamond Sam"James BurrowsTom ReederJanuary 15, 1987 (1987-01-15)30.3 / 43[rat5 14]
11015"Spellbound"James BurrowsKimberly HillJanuary 22, 1987 (1987-01-22)30.7 / 42[rat5 15]
11116"Never Love a Goalie, Part 1"James BurrowsKen Levine and David IsaacsJanuary 29, 1987 (1987-01-29)30.3 / 43[rat5 16]
11217"Never Love a Goalie, Part 2"James BurrowsKen Levine and David IsaacsFebruary 5, 1987 (1987-02-05)27.7 / 40[rat5 17]
11318"One Last Fling"James BurrowsCheri Eichen and Bill SteinkellnerFebruary 12, 1987 (1987-02-12)27.4 / 41[rat5 18]
11419"Dog Bites Cliff"James BurrowsJoanne PagliaroFebruary 18, 1987 (1987-02-18)19.6 / -[rat5 19]
11520"Dinner at Eight-ish"James BurrowsPhoef SuttonFebruary 26, 1987 (1987-02-26)27.9 / 40[rat5 20]
11621"Simon Says"James BurrowsPeter Casey and David LeeMarch 5, 1987 (1987-03-05)29.6 / 43[rat5 21]
11722"The Godfather, Part III"James BurrowsChris Cluess and Stuart KreismanMarch 19, 1987 (1987-03-19)26.3 / 39[rat5 22]
11823"Norm's First Hurrah"
"Norman's First Hurrah"		Thomas LofaroAndy Cowan and David S. WilligerMarch 26, 1987 (1987-03-26)27.4 / 41[rat5 23]
11924"Cheers: The Motion Picture"Tim BerryPhoef SuttonApril 2, 1987 (1987-04-02)27.9 / 43[rat5 24]
12025"A House Is Not a Home"James BurrowsPhoef SuttonApril 30, 1987 (1987-04-30)26.0 / 42[rat5 25]
12126"I Do, Adieu"James BurrowsGlen Charles & Les CharlesMay 7, 1987 (1987-05-07)28.4 / 45[rat5 26]

Specials

No.TitleOriginal air date
S03"Pregame segment of the 1986 World Series, Game 3"October 21, 1986 (1986-10-21)[11]

Production

Shelley Long (pictured in 1996) decided to leave her role as Diane Chambers when the fifth season ends.

In January 1986, Shelley Long, who portrayed waitress Diane Chambers, announced her plans to leave the series when her contract would end, shortly before the beginning of the start of the sixth season.[12][13] In December, she decided to leave her role as Diane to concentrate on her film career and family,[14][15] while Ted Danson signed a contract for the next season (1987–1988) as Sam Malone.[16] Rather than have them marry,[9] the producers decided to separate Sam and Diane in the season finale and permanently end their romance.[16] With Long's departure, the producers decided to find a female-lead replacement with a different appearance from Long's.[14] They would also change Sam's character to one which was "more carefree" and "more of a goof-off", exploring his bachelorhood.[14]

Three endings were filmed for the season finale, "I Do, Adieu", because it was possible that Long might decide to stay: 1) Sam and Diane become married; 2) Diane accepts an offer to finish a novel; 3) not revealed by the producers.[17][18] The alternate ending in which Sam and Diane get married aired on May 27, 1998 as part of a 90-minute Fox special produced by the Paley Center called Behind the Laughs: The Untold Stories of Television's Favorite Comedies: A Museum of Television and Radio Special.[19]

Reception

The series regularly aired on Thursdays at 9 pm ET (8 pm CT). As of April 22, 1987 Cheers was in third place, with an average 27.2 rating (23.8 million households) and an average 41 share.[20][21] As of October 1, 1986, revenue from each commercial break was $230,000.[22]

At the time of the original broadcast, Kathy Carlisle of the Los Angeles Times felt that Sam and Diane should have been married at the end of the season.[23] On the other hand, Monica Collins of USA Today called Diane a friendless, "snitty, selfish snob" and was relieved to see her leave the series.[24]

Jeffrey Robinson of DVD Talk later found this season a great improvement over the previous season and "highly recommended" its DVD set, rated its content four-and-a-half stars out of five and its replay value four out of five. Robinson found Woody Boyd improved over the previous season, and Diane's departure poorly-written but "sad".[25] Adam Arseneau of DVD Verdict graded this season 96 percent and the acting 95. He found the humor well-aged, and praised Frasier and Lilith's storyline. Arseneau called Sam and Diane "slightly silly" this season, but found Diane's departure "heartbreaking". He rated "Cheers: the Motion Picture" and "Dinner at Eight-ish" his all-time favorite episodes of the series.[26]

Nate Meyers of Digitally Obsessed! graded this season's style "A-" and substance an "A", for memorable moments such as the season-finale wedding. He praised Lilith's appearances, finding her "poorly handled" since she appeared in only two episodes this season. He praised the humor as well-aged, not topical (apart from references to then-President Ronald Reagan and the Soviet Union) and "rarely forced".[27] TV Guide ranked "Thanksgiving Orphans" number seven on its "100 Greatest Episodes of All Time" list.[28] The A.V. Club highlighted its food fighting scene as one of notorious moments of the episode.[29] IGN called "Thanksgiving Orphans" the fourth best Cheers episode and topped the season finale "I Do, Adieu" in the list.[30] The Guardian's television critic Stephen Kelly panned the writing of "Chambers vs. Malone", which Kelly considered "one of the worst episodes."[31]

Accolades

In 1987, John Cleese won an Emmy as Outstanding Guest Performer in a Comedy Series for playing Simon Finch-Royce in "Simon Says" (1987). Michael Ballin, Bob Douglass, Doug Gray and Thomas J. Huth received Emmys for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy Series for the season premiere, "The Proposal" (1986).[32]

DVD release

The season is available on DVD in a four-disc box set. Like the prior season's DVD release, the set lacks special features such as outtakes and commentary.[25]

Cheers: The Complete Fifth Season
Set Details[25]
Release Dates
Region 1 Region 2 Region 4
May 17, 2005 November 27, 2006 January 11, 2007

Notes

  1. ^ Jory, Tom (May 11, 1983). "Taxi, Fame Get the Ax as NBC Announces Fall Lineup". Lexington Herald-Leader. Kentucky. p. D5. Record no: 8301230394. (registration required)
  2. ^ "Buffalo Bill Returns Dec. 15". The Miami Herald. December 2, 1983. Record no: 8304060082.
  3. ^ Ed Bark (April 28, 1985). "NBC's SEASON IS THE COS FOR CELEBRATION - Bill Cosby's show rescues the network from the bottom of the TV ratings pile". The Dallas Morning News. p. 1C.
  4. ^ Boone, Mike (December 3, 1986). "Gemini's in trouble... we'll just have to tune in Cosby". The Gazette. Montreal. p. F-8.
  5. ^ "Hill Street Blues switching to Tuesdays to fight Moonlighting and boost L.A. Law". The Windsor Star. Associated Press. p. C10.
  6. ^ Belkin, Lisa (April 6, 1987). "New Shows Seek Favor in TV's Tryout Season". The New York Times.
  7. ^ Carter, Bill (September 25, 1986). "Diane gets the cheers in this readers' survey". Reading Eagle. p. 45.
  8. ^ Bjorklund, pp. 346, 354–55.
  9. ^ a b Kelley, Adam (September 19, 1997). "Sam Asks Diane For Her Hand". Entertainment Weekly.
  10. ^ a b Bjorklund, pp. 343–357 "Season Five: 1986-1987".
  11. ^ "Broadcast—6 p.m. to Midnight". St. Petersburg Evening Independent. October 21, 1986. p. 5–B – via Google News Archive.
  12. ^ "Cheers Co-Star Plans Exit". San Jose Mercury News. Knight-Ridder Newspapers. January 10, 1986. p. 5C. Record no. 8601030491.
  13. ^ "Tipoff: Shelley Long..." Wilmington Morning Star. April 5, 1986. p. 2D.
  14. ^ a b c Harmetz, Alijean (23 September 1987). "Changes on tap at Cheers". The Ledger. p. 1C. Retrieved July 8, 2012 at Google News Archives. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  15. ^ "Serve it yourself, Sam: Diane on her way out from Cheers". The Gazette. 17 December 1986.
  16. ^ a b Harmetz, Alijean (23 September 1987). "Writers scramble to change 'Cheers'". The Ledger. p. 5C. Retrieved July 8, 2012 at Google News Archives. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  17. ^ "Actress Shelley Long makes last Cheers appearance". The Ledger (Sunrise ed.). 7 May 1987. p. 2A. Retrieved July 8, 2012 – via Google News Archives.
  18. ^ Raftery, Brian (October 2012). "The Best TV Show That's Ever Been". GQ. Retrieved September 27, 2012.
  19. ^ Ess, Ramsey (February 2013). "Watching an Alternate-Universe 'Cheers' That Shelley Long Never Left". Splitsider.com. Archived from the original on August 26, 2014. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  20. ^ "We Look Back At The Top TV Shows of 1987". Zap2it - TV by the Numbers. May 31, 2008. Archived from the original on 2013-03-16. Retrieved 2013-02-22. This source says that the season scored an average 27.5 rating.
  21. ^ "TV NEWS: (Television ratings)". Daily Breeze. Torrance, California. April 22, 1987. p. D4.
  22. ^ Bark, Ed (October 1, 1986). "NBC rates big bucks for commercials". The Dallas Morning News. p. 1F.
  23. ^ Carlisle, Kathy (May 24, 1987). "(Headline Missing)". Los Angeles Times. TV Times, p. 7. ProQuest 292563380. (registration required)
  24. ^ Collins, Monica (May 8, 1987). "Three Cheers! It's Diane's last call". USA Today. p. D-1. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
  25. ^ a b c Robinson, Jeffrey (May 17, 2005). "Cheers - The Complete Fifth Season". DVD Talk.
  26. ^ Arseneau, Adam (July 6, 2005). "Cheers: The Complete Fifth Season". DVD Verdict.
  27. ^ "Cheers: The Complete Fifth Season (1986-87)". Digitally Obsessed!. June 16, 2005.
  28. ^ TV Guide Book of Lists. Running Press. 2007. p. 184. ISBN 978-0-7624-3007-9.
  29. ^ Adams, Erik; et al. (November 20, 2013). "A Cheers family Thanksgiving ends in a big mess". The A.V. Club. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  30. ^ Wheatley, Cliff (May 30, 2014). "Top 10 Cheers Episodes". IGN.
  31. ^ Kelly, Stephen (May 28, 2018). "When good TV goes bad: how Frasier Crane destroyed Cheers". The Guardian. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  32. ^ Bjorklund, pp. 459–460.

References

First-run ratings notes

According to the 15 May 1987 article from The Argus-Press, the 1986-87 ratings were based on 87.4 million households with at least one television set. Unless otherwise, the sources were of the newspaper Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

  1. ^ Barr, Robert (October 2, 1986). "CBS wins a skirmish, NBC wins the battle". Sun-Sentinel. Associated Press. p. 6E. 30.0 rating equates to 26.2 million households.
  2. ^ "Top 10 (Sept. 29-Oct. 5, 1986)". October 8, 1986. p. 19.
  3. ^ "Top 10 (Oct. 6-12, 1986)". October 15, 1986. p. 29.
  4. ^ "Top 10 (Oct. 13-19, 1986)". October 22, 1986. p. 27.
  5. ^ "Top 10 (Oct. 27-Nov. 2, 1986)". November 5, 1986. p. 29. The source omitted dates of the Nielsen week. article of the same date, "Baseball time", from The San Francisco Chronicle verifies that the week was of October 27-November 2, 1986.
  6. ^ Barr, Robert (November 13, 1986). "Perry Mason Special Rated in Week's Top 10". Sun-Sentinel. Associated Press. p. 7E. 28.8 rating equates to 25.2 million households.
  7. ^ "Top 10 (Nov. 10-16, 1986)". November 19, 1986. p. 26.
  8. ^ "Top 10 (Nov. 17-23, 1986)". November 26, 1986. p. 22.
  9. ^ "Top 10 (Nov. 24-30, 1986)". December 3, 1986. p. 31.
  10. ^ "Top 10 (Dec. 1-7, 1986)". December 10, 1986. p. 31.
  11. ^ Barr, Robert (December 18, 1986). "CBS throws in towel on Thursday nights". Sun-Sentinel. p. 12E. 28.2 rating equates to 24.6 million households.
  12. ^ "Pre-empting can't squelch NBC ratings". San Jose Mercury News. Associated Press. December 24, 1986. p. 6D.
  13. ^ "Top 10: Jan. 5-11, 1987". January 14, 1987. p. 25.
  14. ^ "Top 10: Jan. 12-18, 1987". January 21, 1987. p. 29.
  15. ^ "Top 10: Jan. 19-25, 1987". January 28, 1987. p. 31.
  16. ^ "Top 10: Jan. 26-Feb. 1, 1987". February 4, 1987. p. 24.
  17. ^ "Top 10 (Feb. 2-8, 1987)". February 11, 1987. p. 28.
  18. ^ "Top 10 (Feb. 9-15, 1987)". February 18, 1987. p. 15.
  19. ^ Baker, Kathryn (February 26, 1987). "ABC happy with ratings despite Amerika slump". Sun-Sentinel. p. 6E. 19.6 rating equates to 17.1 million households.
  20. ^ "Top 10: Feb. 23-March 1, 1987". March 4, 1987. p. 23.
  21. ^ "Top 10: March 2-8, 1987". March 11, 1987. p. 34.
  22. ^ "Top 10: March 16-22, 1987". March 25, 1987. p. 23.
  23. ^ "Top 10: March 23-29, 1987". April 1, 1987. p. 15.
  24. ^ "Top 10: March 30-April 5". April 8, 1987. p. 25.
  25. ^ "Top 10: April 27-May 3, 1987". May 6, 1987. p. 26.
  26. ^ "Top Ten". The Argus-Press. Owosso, MI. May 15, 1987. Entertainment Spotlight, p. 7. Retrieved April 4, 2012, at Google News Archives. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help) 28.4 rating approximately equates to 24.8 million households.


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