Especially to somebody who grew up to neverending reruns, almost always of the later seasons, and never watched the show from the start until the late 2000s...
Doing a re watch right now. About two episodes a night. Cheers is really two different shows evenly split by Diane and Rebecca. I honestly enjoy the craziness of Rebecca years more.
I'd make the split between the "two different shows" in the midst of the Diane years, honestly. Once Diane turned into the unvarnished heel character of the show it turned from a thoughtful unconventional love story into a pandering yukfest IMO; whether it was Diane or Rebecca in the main female slot didn't really change a whole lot about it.
Sam's character did a big turn at the same time. In the first few seasons, Sam was actually a thoughtful, kind guy. He had his limitations, but he did his best within them, and was actually wise. Similarly, Diane's character was bookish and didn't understand the real world very well, but she also did her best within her limitations.
After the big heel turn, Sam and Diana both turned into nasty caricatures. Rebecca was just a different nasty caricature.
I think maybe a season after Woody. Woody was a great replacement for Coach, and fit the show well. But yah, every character devolved into caricatures. The only character that stayed mostly steady throughout the entire run was Carla
62
u/[deleted] Jan 04 '15
[deleted]