Season One Ep 7 Friends, Romans, Accountants
Coach: How's Life, Norm?
Norm: Not for the squeamish, Coach.
This episode resonates with me for two reasons. I love charades, and the slow decline of the game as a party starter bums me out. And I LOVE My Dinner with Andre, so Diane's sad stab at rousing some sleepy accountants by acting out the movie's title makes my heart sing. My Dinner with Andre's become a bit of a highfalutin punchline, popping up in The Simpsons, Community, and this scene from Christopher Guest's classic, Waiting for Guffman:
Andy Kaufman even made a whole movie based around the same structure, right down to Satie's classical score, co-starring that great philosopher, "Classy" Freddie Blassie:
And here's a clip of Wally Shawn dashing my dreams of an Andre sequel:
Airing just one year after Andre's release, I'm guessing Cheers might've made the first pop culture reference to that great flick.
Whatever happened to toga parties? I was never a frat boy, and no sorority would have me, so I can't see the appeal, but this episode was my introduction to the concept of sheet-clad bacchanalian shenanigans. Norm's stuck planning his annual office party, and he embraces Diane's offhand suggestion of a toga party; sadly, no one else in the office does, and Norm's stuck as the lone reveler wearing bedding, as one co-worker explains, "I was afraid everyone else was gonna chicken out and I'd be the only one--look like a ridiculous fool."
This is something of an odd entry in Cheers canon, tackling sexual assault after Norm essentially pimps Diane out to his boss. Billy Wilder had Jack Lemmon in The Apartment giving up his suite for his superior's icky trysts, but at least he wasn't actively procuring these women! It's up to the party director to set the boss up with a hot to trot date, and when the original 'entertainment' cancels, Diane balks at Norm's request to step up. Until she meets Mr. Sawyer (James Read). The boss proves to be handsome, charming, educated, sulky, and entitled. Things get super-creepy when Sawyer invites Diane back to the pool room and at least a dozen complicit accountants amscray. So not only are they cool with the annual pimping, but a pool room shag's totes normal and expected. Ah, those crazy rapey eighties!
"If MeToo had been around when we did Cheers, we would all be in prison"
All this might work in a dramatic context as a sad microcosm of a serious issue, but it doesn't quite fit on a sitcom like Cheers. Norm walks in and stops his boss from mauling Diane on the pool table, and Sawyer fires him on the spot. So begins Norm's long-running underemployment. But word travels fast, and Norm's mood's bolstered by the sudden respect he gains from the staff at sticking it to the man. Then the real party starts as they hoist Norm on their shoulders and parade him around as the party band plays For He's a Jolly Good Fellow.
Guest Stars
- James Read (Mr. Sawyer) is likely best known to modern audiences for his stint on TV's Charmed, and as Elle's father in the Legally Blonde films. He also met his future wife, actress Wendy Kilbourne, while playing a central role in TV's North and the South trilogy, co-starring Kirstie Alley!
- Peter Van Norden (The Naked Gun 2½, TV's The Stand miniseries) guests in the cold open as Mischa, a cymbals player with the symphony who pops by for a beer mid-concert and finds his rest count ruined when Diane counts back his change.
Stray Thoughts
- Music rights strike again, as we get a generic party tune subbing for what I assume was originally Limbo Rock during the limbo scene.
- Sam comforts Diane after her ordeal as they sit on the pool table. While the staging's lovely, I still cringe for that poor table top!
Norm: Not for the squeamish, Coach.
This episode resonates with me for two reasons. I love charades, and the slow decline of the game as a party starter bums me out. And I LOVE My Dinner with Andre, so Diane's sad stab at rousing some sleepy accountants by acting out the movie's title makes my heart sing. My Dinner with Andre's become a bit of a highfalutin punchline, popping up in The Simpsons, Community, and this scene from Christopher Guest's classic, Waiting for Guffman:
Andy Kaufman even made a whole movie based around the same structure, right down to Satie's classical score, co-starring that great philosopher, "Classy" Freddie Blassie:
And here's a clip of Wally Shawn dashing my dreams of an Andre sequel:
Airing just one year after Andre's release, I'm guessing Cheers might've made the first pop culture reference to that great flick.
Whatever happened to toga parties? I was never a frat boy, and no sorority would have me, so I can't see the appeal, but this episode was my introduction to the concept of sheet-clad bacchanalian shenanigans. Norm's stuck planning his annual office party, and he embraces Diane's offhand suggestion of a toga party; sadly, no one else in the office does, and Norm's stuck as the lone reveler wearing bedding, as one co-worker explains, "I was afraid everyone else was gonna chicken out and I'd be the only one--look like a ridiculous fool."
This is something of an odd entry in Cheers canon, tackling sexual assault after Norm essentially pimps Diane out to his boss. Billy Wilder had Jack Lemmon in The Apartment giving up his suite for his superior's icky trysts, but at least he wasn't actively procuring these women! It's up to the party director to set the boss up with a hot to trot date, and when the original 'entertainment' cancels, Diane balks at Norm's request to step up. Until she meets Mr. Sawyer (James Read). The boss proves to be handsome, charming, educated, sulky, and entitled. Things get super-creepy when Sawyer invites Diane back to the pool room and at least a dozen complicit accountants amscray. So not only are they cool with the annual pimping, but a pool room shag's totes normal and expected. Ah, those crazy rapey eighties!
All this might work in a dramatic context as a sad microcosm of a serious issue, but it doesn't quite fit on a sitcom like Cheers. Norm walks in and stops his boss from mauling Diane on the pool table, and Sawyer fires him on the spot. So begins Norm's long-running underemployment. But word travels fast, and Norm's mood's bolstered by the sudden respect he gains from the staff at sticking it to the man. Then the real party starts as they hoist Norm on their shoulders and parade him around as the party band plays For He's a Jolly Good Fellow.
- James Read (Mr. Sawyer) is likely best known to modern audiences for his stint on TV's Charmed, and as Elle's father in the Legally Blonde films. He also met his future wife, actress Wendy Kilbourne, while playing a central role in TV's North and the South trilogy, co-starring Kirstie Alley!
- Peter Van Norden (The Naked Gun 2½, TV's The Stand miniseries) guests in the cold open as Mischa, a cymbals player with the symphony who pops by for a beer mid-concert and finds his rest count ruined when Diane counts back his change.
Stray Thoughts
- Music rights strike again, as we get a generic party tune subbing for what I assume was originally Limbo Rock during the limbo scene.
- Sam comforts Diane after her ordeal as they sit on the pool table. While the staging's lovely, I still cringe for that poor table top!
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