Airdate:
12/17/87
Rebecca leaves a lump of coal in Sam’s stocking this holiday
season: he has to work on Christmas Eve. Actually, everyone does, but they’re
not complaining, especially at a time-and-a-half rate. And it looks like a long
night, too, especially when bar regular Al invites a bunch of friends over.
Norm is busted as a department store Santa, and invites his “Santa School”
buddies over for a few cold ones, and I don’t mean snowballs. Cliff is one can
shy of winning a Disney World trip in a local food drive. And ol’ Sammy is
guilted into searching high and low for a present to buy his boss, particularly
after everyone already got her something. It looks like his quest ends in
utter, soggy futility, until he meets an angel – actually a hot blonde
stewardess named Tracy – who offers to give him a present that he can use. But
back at the bar, that present accidentally becomes a pair of diamond earrings
(one that Tracy meant to give her mother), and Sam goes through with it under
the promise that Rebecca will treat him to a quiet, intimate dinner. That
dinner is actually a whole-bar gala, but the night’s not a total wash: Tracy
and Woody wind up together, It’s a
Wonderful Life warms everyone’s hearts, and cynical Frasier actually, for
one brief moment, believes in Santa!
Cheers has never
actually had many Christmas episodes, but this one could even melt old
Scrooge’s heart. Featuring the entire Cheers
cast, including Al and Lilith, it’s a perfect ensemble effort, although
Frasier seems to have the best lines in his curmudgeonly rants about
materialism, hypocrisy, and even the treacle in holiday movies. Poor Rebecca
strikes out again with her boss, Mr. Drake, as does Sam with his boss, Rebecca
herself. Some things never change, even during the Yuletide.
Cold open: the Cheers gang cynically deconstructs the finale
of It’s a Wonderful Life, until they
cave in and start crying like blubbering idiots.
Norm’s opener (as Santa Claus): Sam: “Santa, what can I get
you?” Norm: “Finally! Someone wants to get me something!”
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