Season One Ep 5 The Coach's Daughter
The Gang: Norm!
Diane: Norman.
Norm: Gentlemen, start your taps.
Only five episodes in, and The Coach's Daughter offers maybe the sweetest moment in the whole series' run. I've been staring at this screen for far too long trying to find the right words to give Nicholas Colasanto and Allyce Beasley proper credit for what they do here, and I got nuthin'. Taxi alum, Ken Estin, writes what would be a nice average episode until the final act when he gives us a stunning moment of tenderness between a father and daughter, and...ah, hell, I can't even. I'm a puddle. Just watch it. Or re-watch it!
Coach's daughter, Lisa (Moonlighting's Beasley), visits, introducing her fiance, Roy, and Coach's worst fears are realized times ten when he meets the guy. Roy wastes no time offending everyone, and it's obvious he's only marrying Lisa to advance his career in the lucrative field of door-to-door suit sales. Coach demands Lisa dump the schmuck, and Lisa counters that she's well-aware of Roy's myriad foibles, and well-prepared to settle. I won't even try to summarize what happens next (watch it!), and it's tempting to just cut and paste the dialogue here, but--all praise to Estin's incredible script--it just doesn't do it justice. Beasley's got the biggest bluest brown eyes I've ever seen, and what Colasanto does here in conveying a father's love takes my breath away. Beasley, near the start of her television career, and Colasanto nearing the end of his, make a kind of magic rarely seen in situational comedy back in '82. Streaming and cable have upped the game today, but in an era dominated by ridiculous (Mork and Mindy) and/or preachy heavy-handed (Family Ties) sitcoms, Cheers deftly balanced the bitter and the sweet better than most. It's criminal that Colasanto didn't get an Emmy, but he did score three nominations. I just wanna hug the guy.
Coach's swan song from season 3
With all that drama, I almost forgot about Shelley Long's comic relief as Diane decides to become Cheers' resident caricaturist! In spite of Sam's protests, and a complete lack of talent, Diane does her best. Here we get the first real sense of Diane floundering for her purpose and place in the world which some of us might find far too relatable.
After Nick's passing, NBC ran The Coach's Daughter as a rerun, preceded by a still photograph of the actor in character and a voice-over from Ted Danson, "This encore presentation of Cheers is dedicated with love and appreciation to the memory of Nick Colasanto."
The Washington Post's Tom Shales' tribute to Nick from Feb. 16, '85:
Guest Stars
Allyce Beasley - In her third TV role as Lisa, Beasley blows my mind. Lanky and doe-eyed, she often plays 'quirky' characters, leaning into her looks. And, at 65, she's aged like a fine wine, as adorable as ever. Also of note, is Beasley's second marriage to the late Vincent Schiavelli; the union didn't last, but what a clash of character actor titans! Schiavelli's resume's too long to list, but he's likely best known to audiences today for his roles in Milos Forman films like One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and as the subway ghost in Ghost. Stoner cinephiles might also know him for his legendary primer on how to smoke a joint in Forman's first American film, Taking Off. No pun intended, but the movie's a hoot! Killjoy's have removed every good clip of the scene I can find online, but here's a version with some distracting score and title cards needlessly added:
Philip Charles MacKenzie - MacKenzie's THE WORST as Roy, but actually comes off as pretty darn likable in other roles; he went on to a succesful career as a director on sitcoms like Roseanne and According to Jim. In further Cheers connections, he also directed 21 episodes of Frasier, and married Alison La Placa, who played Kirstie Alley's sister in the film Madhouse.
Tim Cunningham - one of Cheers' most prolific background players makes his first of 37 credited appearances here as Chuck. He'd later be credited as Greg twice, before being credited as Tim for the rest of the show's run, in keeping with Cheers' tradition of recurring players using their real names.
Trivia
- The first time we see Sam's office.
- The Charles brothers encouraged Ken Estin to submit this episode for Emmy consideration, but Estin chose a Taxi ep he'd written instead. The Taxi episode, Elegant Iggy (spotlighting Christopher Lloyd who could balance the ridiculous and sublime as well as Colasanto) won him the Emmy, but I still think he shoulda gone with Cheers instead.
- Here we learn that Coach has named all the glasses in the bar, because "how else would I know which is which?" The names he lists: Larry, Steve, Pete, Glen, Fred, Al, Jeanie, Ginger, Gracie, Sally, and The Wilson brothers.
Comments
Post a Comment