Cheers 2.2: “Little Sister Don’t Cha”

Airdate: 10/13/83

Carla goes into labor, and asks her sister, Annette, to fill in for her at the bar. Annette, (also played by Rhea Perlman), looks angelic and squeaky-clean, but looks can be deceiving. She gets around… and fast, accepting dates by men at the bar within her first hour of hire, including Cliff, who falls head over heels in love with her and plans on popping the question. It takes his friends at Cheers, particularly Norm, to give him a taste of reality – and inevitable heartbreak.

A true family affair, both onscreen and off: Rhea Perlman plays two characters in this episode, and her younger sister, Heide, wrote it. Part of the hilarity in the first act deals with the contrast between Annette’s meek, mousy demeanor and true ravenous ways – illustrated most perfectly in her scene with Sam in the back room. The second act’s most notable moment occurs between Cliff and Norm, in their first dramatic scene together, which establishes them as good friends, not just bar buddies. Their dialogue presciently straddles the awkward line between male-bonding and their fears of getting “too close.” (Not that there’s anything wrong with that!)

Cold open: Diane gives her order to Sam, as new lovers could only do, much to the disgust of the others at Cheers.