Cheers 4:5 “Diane’s Nightmare”

Airdate: 10/31/85

Andy Schroeder, Diane’s would-be murderer currently a mental hospital, has just been released, and now during a blackout and half the staff lost down in the new wine cellar, she’s scared stiff. But it was all just a nightmare – the latest of several she’s been having upon hearing the news of Andy’s release. To help assuage her fears, Frasier had gone to see the man and assist in his recovery, but now he’s coming to Cheers in his pursuit of a new life, and forgiveness from Diane before leaving the country. And that’s not all – he wants the whole Cheers crew to back up the big lies he’s been telling his new love interest, Cynthia, including his ownership of the bar, Sam being an ex-con and Frasier being a kleptomaniac. Diane begs Sam not to trust him so much when he walks off with the entire bar earnings, but Sam’s intuition proves correct when Andy returns. When Diane apologizes to a smoking jacket, opera-composing Sam, she wakes up, for real this time.

Fun Halloween-themed outing gives you two dreams for the price of one (evidently, the only scenes that actually happened were the cold open and final minute), and the return engagement of fan favorite Andy Schroeder. Also in the mix: Nancy Cartwright as Cynthia who of course gained later fame as the voice of Bart Simpson on The Simpsons, an obscure cartoon that had a brief run on Fox.

Cold open: Cliff wins a Boggle game with made-up words, including “flork,” the flag on a mailbox.

Norm’s opener: Sam: “Still pouring, Norm?” Norm: “That’s funny, I was about to ask you the same thing!”