Cheers 5:22: “The Godfather, Part III”

Airdate: 3/19/87

Coach’s niece, Joyce, is in town to go to college, but her father, concerned for her safety, leaves a note for Sam to look after her. Feeling bound to honor the request but short on time, he asks Woody, whom he considers “a Disney character without fur,” to be her escort. After several days of steady dating, they drop the bomb on Sam: they’re getting married. Frantic, Sam starts spinning his wheels, devising any way he can muster to talk tem out of it short of begging – no, cancel that, he begs, and pathetically at that. It ultimately works, until the couple returns and announces their cohabitation. This time it’s Diane’s turn to do the talking-out-of, and again, it works, albeit rather laboriously. Sam and Diane stop and think about their efforts, and what they’ll do when their own children face a similar dilemma.

Cute episode may not deliver comedy fireworks but does feature Danson doing a lot of neurotic humor during his scene with the all-too-happy couple. Subplot continues Frasier’s relationship with Lilith when he gets a present from her he despises: a tie (funny scene involving his utter destruction of it).

Cold open: Diane has tickets to Shakespeare but Sam won’t go, so she invites Carla, who only accepts when Sam gives her the afternoon off for it. Diane bcks out when Carla offers a hint of what she’ll do at the cultural event.

Fictitious movie title, as title of episode, would only be 3 ½ years from becoming a reality, as Coppola’s sequel that should have never been!