Cheers 6.6: “Paint Your Office”

Airdate: 11/5/87

Say it ain’t so! Norm’s credit s a bit steep these days, so Rebecca cuts him off. Sam and the others advise her to reconsider, so she has him paint her office to work off his tab. While painting, he becomes privy to the drama of her love life, and when he offers a shoulder for her to cry on, the two form a bond. Sam, seeing all of this, becomes green with envy, faking compassion as best he can so that he can be a snuggle bunny too. In fact, he even tags along when Norm goes to Rebecca’s apartment for another painting job, but when Norm has to go home for an emergency, he sees this as a chance to get to know his boss even better. He takes her words, “I think I’d better change,” to mean it’s nookie nookie time, but she’s actually off to the gym, and chews him out for his lascivious intentions.

Good way of unlocking the puzzle that is Rebecca Howe even more. Cleverly, it goes through Norm first, and their scene together in the office is well-crafted. Equally as good is when she and Sam trade background stories, but, of course, undermined by his later behavior – that Sam!

Cold open: Frasier waxes philosophic about men’s inability to experience “the miracle of creating a new life,” when he and the boys observe Carla. Her grousing, “I feel like there’s a dump truck parked on my bladder,” causes him some reconsideration.

Norm’s opener: Woody: “What’s going down, Mr. Peterson?” Norm: “Let’s talk about what’s going in.”