Airdate: 2/14/85
Eddie Gordon
comes to Cheers intent on making Sam honor his bet – that he could marry Jacqueline
Bisset, or else give up the bar. Sam was highly intoxicated at the time but
signed a potentially legally-binding contract, so now he’s up you-know-what’s
creek without a paddle. Legal eagle Larry has a bit of good news: he could
fight it in court with a reasonable chance of winning, but Sam doesn’t want to
besmirch his good name with the admission that he was three sheets to the wind.
Carla scans the contract and finds a loophole: nowhere does it stipulate Jackie
Bisset the movie star, so Sam has everyone scouring the phone books to locate any Jacqueline Bisset. They find one, a
Midwest hayseed, obliging but reticent to go through with the marriage part.
After a grand tour of the city, she and Sam appear headed for conjugal bliss,
short-lived as it may be, and when Eddie reappears to find out he’d been
rooked, he calls off the bet. Ms. Bisset not be as enamored with Sam as she let
on, talking trash about him to Diane to no end!
Shows revolving
around bets, especially bad ones, and the frantic ways people try to get out of
them, is always good comedy loam, and this episode is no exception to that
rule. (See the classic film Used Cars.)
Terrific setup, solid developing dialogue, and efficient dénouement just make
me happy I live in a country that invented sitcoms!
Coach is absent
this episode, likely because he is ailing (this is his last season). Confirmation
in the end-of-season recap.
Classic, classic
guest appearance by a then unknown Michael Richards as Eddie. He plays a great
sleazebucket, a far cry from the lovable quirky neighbor he would later portray
on… (really).
Cold open: Cliff
and Norm argue over whether it was Ibsen or Chekov. Gleeful Diane begs to help
settle the dispute, pleased as punch that an intellectual debate could
potentially be occurring. No such luck: their squabble relates to what show
Diane saw when Norm stuffed his face with cheese doodle.
Norm’s opener:
Norm’s already at the bar.
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