Season One Ep 3 The Tortelli Tort
Coach: "How you doin', Norm?"
Norm: "Cut the small talk and gimme a beer."
Check out that first shot of the cold open as the camera starts bar-level and swings up and around to a cackling Coach! James Burrows at the top of his milieu-setting game. Carla's crazy-crusty after a crushing loss for her beloved Red Sox and Yankee fan, Big Eddie, pushes his luck by pushing her buttons. Diane drops some serious culture on Eddie, debating New England v New York, but Ed's rude 'tude ruins her mood, too. Once Eddie starts in on Sam ("Sam 'Maybe' Malone"), Carla cracks and straight up assaults the guy. While he had it coming, Ed insists Sam fire Carla or vows he's "gonna take everything you got!" Sam gives Carla one more chance to play nice, so she gets some anger management and manages to weather a ridiculous barrage of insults from Ed. Satisfied with Carla's newfound zen, and more than a little frustrated with his inability to crack it, Eddie calls off his threat of legal action and winds up getting his own comeuppance soon after. The gang marvel at Carla's cool, but Carla's response to a customer calling for their beer demonstrates she's still the same feisty lady we know and love, with maybe just a titch more self-control.
While that drama plays out, a man named Fred shows up to celebrate the passing of his sister, Louise, by buying the bar a round. Fred's the youngest in a large family of wealthy siblings he never liked, and lives on each inheritance as they drop. It sounds morbid, but John Fiedler's casting as Fred takes the sting out. Fiedler had a long career as a character actor, ranging from 12 Angry Men to Dabney Coleman's Buffalo Bill, but he's known best as the voice of Disney's Piglet from '68 to '05. Incidentally, Fiedler's character on Buffalo Bill was named Woody. Buffalo Bill was ahead of its time and gone too soon, but it boasted an incredible cast, and deserves to be seen.
Buffalo Bill, MeToo's prototypical poster boy, deftly handling race relations
Fiedler's Fred gets a warm "Norm!"-like reception from the gang, and it feels like he could recur, even promising he'll be back once his older brother bites it. Alas, this is the one and only time we see Fred.
MVP
Perlman's scrappy physicality's in full effect here, and she makes the most of her first real opportunity to show some different colours in the role.
Stray Thoughts
I love the rhythm of the collective "Norm!" closely followed by Diane's, "Norman" and miss it like crazy once Long leaves. Diane--like Long in real life, apparently--often feels like she doesn't fit in with the gang, and her insistence on not just joining in with everyone else in greeting Norm is one more reason she remains a gloriously singular square peg.
Long looking lovely on The Love Boat in '78. No context here. I just love Shelley Long.
Trivia
- Here we get Coach's explanation of his fastball specialty, leading the league in HBPs--Hit By Pitches--which may explain Coach's cognitive gifts.
Fastball. More than just a one hit wonder!
- Cheers's forgotten Paul, Paul Vaughn, makes his first of ten appearances here. As with several other recurring players, Cheers credits the character with his real-life first name. Though the character of Woody apparently really was named 'Woody' before they ever cast Woody Harrelson. And this Paul's the reason why better known Paul, Paul Willson, is initially credited by different names in his first couple appearances.
Guest Stars
- Ron Karabatsos as Eddie. Karabatsos was a cop and a GM foreman before getting in the acting game in his late forties, and he brings a blue collar realism to the character parts he played, including roles in Matlock and Get Shorty. And if Wikipedia's accurate, his middle name is Christ! Christ's middle name? Harold, of course--Harold be thy name ;)
- John Fiedler as Fred. Beloved by most as the voice of Piglet for close to forty years, and a voice actor in several other Disney releases, Fiedler had a long successful career in live action, too. Besides 12 Angry Men and Buffalo Bill, he featured in Star Trek TOS, The Odd Couple (film), and The World of Henry Orient, a beautiful picture I'll shill for as hard as I would for Buffalo Bill.
Norm: "Cut the small talk and gimme a beer."
Check out that first shot of the cold open as the camera starts bar-level and swings up and around to a cackling Coach! James Burrows at the top of his milieu-setting game. Carla's crazy-crusty after a crushing loss for her beloved Red Sox and Yankee fan, Big Eddie, pushes his luck by pushing her buttons. Diane drops some serious culture on Eddie, debating New England v New York, but Ed's rude 'tude ruins her mood, too. Once Eddie starts in on Sam ("Sam 'Maybe' Malone"), Carla cracks and straight up assaults the guy. While he had it coming, Ed insists Sam fire Carla or vows he's "gonna take everything you got!" Sam gives Carla one more chance to play nice, so she gets some anger management and manages to weather a ridiculous barrage of insults from Ed. Satisfied with Carla's newfound zen, and more than a little frustrated with his inability to crack it, Eddie calls off his threat of legal action and winds up getting his own comeuppance soon after. The gang marvel at Carla's cool, but Carla's response to a customer calling for their beer demonstrates she's still the same feisty lady we know and love, with maybe just a titch more self-control.
While that drama plays out, a man named Fred shows up to celebrate the passing of his sister, Louise, by buying the bar a round. Fred's the youngest in a large family of wealthy siblings he never liked, and lives on each inheritance as they drop. It sounds morbid, but John Fiedler's casting as Fred takes the sting out. Fiedler had a long career as a character actor, ranging from 12 Angry Men to Dabney Coleman's Buffalo Bill, but he's known best as the voice of Disney's Piglet from '68 to '05. Incidentally, Fiedler's character on Buffalo Bill was named Woody. Buffalo Bill was ahead of its time and gone too soon, but it boasted an incredible cast, and deserves to be seen.
Buffalo Bill, MeToo's prototypical poster boy, deftly handling race relations
Fiedler's Fred gets a warm "Norm!"-like reception from the gang, and it feels like he could recur, even promising he'll be back once his older brother bites it. Alas, this is the one and only time we see Fred.
MVP
Perlman's scrappy physicality's in full effect here, and she makes the most of her first real opportunity to show some different colours in the role.
Stray Thoughts
I love the rhythm of the collective "Norm!" closely followed by Diane's, "Norman" and miss it like crazy once Long leaves. Diane--like Long in real life, apparently--often feels like she doesn't fit in with the gang, and her insistence on not just joining in with everyone else in greeting Norm is one more reason she remains a gloriously singular square peg.
Long looking lovely on The Love Boat in '78. No context here. I just love Shelley Long.
Trivia
- Here we get Coach's explanation of his fastball specialty, leading the league in HBPs--Hit By Pitches--which may explain Coach's cognitive gifts.
Fastball. More than just a one hit wonder!
- Cheers's forgotten Paul, Paul Vaughn, makes his first of ten appearances here. As with several other recurring players, Cheers credits the character with his real-life first name. Though the character of Woody apparently really was named 'Woody' before they ever cast Woody Harrelson. And this Paul's the reason why better known Paul, Paul Willson, is initially credited by different names in his first couple appearances.
Guest Stars
- Ron Karabatsos as Eddie. Karabatsos was a cop and a GM foreman before getting in the acting game in his late forties, and he brings a blue collar realism to the character parts he played, including roles in Matlock and Get Shorty. And if Wikipedia's accurate, his middle name is Christ! Christ's middle name? Harold, of course--Harold be thy name ;)
- John Fiedler as Fred. Beloved by most as the voice of Piglet for close to forty years, and a voice actor in several other Disney releases, Fiedler had a long successful career in live action, too. Besides 12 Angry Men and Buffalo Bill, he featured in Star Trek TOS, The Odd Couple (film), and The World of Henry Orient, a beautiful picture I'll shill for as hard as I would for Buffalo Bill.
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