Cheers: The Complete 5th Season (DVD)

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When it was first telecast on Sept 30, 1982, not even the show's creators—Les and Ed Charles and James Burrows—could predict how much the public would take to the barflies at a Boston pub "where everybody knows your name." But "Cheers" had an 11-year run, during which time it won an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series four times: it's first two seasons and seasons seven and nine. The show became popular with viewers, too, placing in the Nielsen Top 25 shows eight out of 11 years.

Not bad, for a has-been Red Sox pitcher and his staff, which included a former coach (Nicholas Colasanto, 1982-85), a feisty and fertile streetwise waitress who had more kids than the bar had patrons (Rhea Perlman), a spindly snob who's hobnobbing with the lowlifes to earn money for college (Shelley Long), a naïve Iowa kid who needs a job (Woody Harrelson), and three regulars: know-it-all mailman Cliff Clavin (John Ratzenberger), the lazy and beer-loving Norm Peterson (George Wendt), and psychologist Dr. Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer).

"Cheers" finished in the #3 spot its fifth season, the last to feature Long as the habitually annoying highbrow waitress Diane Chambers. In fact, the arc of the fifth season follows the opposites-attract relationship between Diane and bar owner/bartender Sam Malone (Ted Danson), beginning with his proposal to her (which leads to a turn-down), then another proposal, and another, until the last episode has a wedding taking place in the bar, with patrons handing money back-and-forth throughout the ceremony as it looks like they will (or won't) go through with it.

Too bad there's not a commentary track, because it would have been nice to learn which came first, Long's announcement that this season would be her last, or the plot thread which has her driving Sam bananas with her constant jabbering about marriage and then wedding plans. By the end of the series, viewers are likely to be as tired of her as Sam, and more than ready for Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley) to replace her the following year.

Long's character wears on you and the 26 episodes may not be collectively the strongest, but there are still a few classics that were broadcast this season. The best of the bunch (and "Cheers" fans will fondly number these among the series' best, as well) are "Abnormal Psychology," "Dance, Diane, Dance," "Never Love a Goalie," "Dog Bites Cliff," "Simon Says," and "Norm's First Hurrah."

"Abnormal Psychology" reunites Dr. Crane (Grammer) with the stiff, cold, and mannish Dr. Lilith Sternin (Bebe Neuwirth) whom he dated briefly in a previous season. But this episode has the doctors appearing on a TV show to debate psychological positions and finding themselves strangely turned on by each other. As Frasier later explained to the guys at the bar, "If they had had a fire hose, they would have trained it on us."

In "Dance, Diane, Dance," the pretentious and perky waitress tells the Cheers gang that she's been taking ballet lessons with a visiting, renowned instructor, and confesses that she has always wanted to dance. When her evaluation comes back negative, the well-intentioned gang sets up a comic conclusion by rewriting the evaluation into a parcel of praise.

"Never Love a Goalie" introduces Jay Thomas as hockey goalie Eddie LeBec and gives feisty waitress Carla Tortelli (Perlman) the spotlight. The episode threw a softer light on the character while still allowing Carla the chance to keep those one-liners coming.

"Dog Bites Cliff" gets hilarious when the owner of the animal, a slinky redhead, turns Cliff and Norm speechless and Cliff thinks he's heading for that one relationship in his life that, for this mama's boy, has been too long in coming. But, of course, Cliff being Cliff, the reality is that the woman was just trying to get him to sign a waiver to absolve her from any responsibility.

"Simon Says" won an Emmy for guest star John Cleese, who plays Dr. Simon Finch-Royce, a famous marriage expert that Dr. Crane met when he was a Rhodes scholar in England. Some of the snappiest dialogue was written for this show, which sees Diane insisting that she and Sam have a pre-marital session with the doctor . . . with predictably disastrous results.

In "Norm's First Hurrah," George Wendt gets the spotlight when he gets a new job and the gang decides to bring him a potted plant . . . which, unfortunately, turns out to be bigger than the office itself.

Shelley Long won an Outstanding Lead Actress Emmy and James Burrows won a best directing single-episode Emmy the first year, while Rhea Perlman won a supporting actress Emmy and David Angell picked up an Emmy for best writing, single episode, the second year. Perlman won again in 1984-85 and 1985-86, and and Danson finally won in 1992-93, the show's final season. John Cleese was the only Emmy winner the fifth season.