This 1982 episode illustrated what 'Cheers' was capable of accomplishing
Ted Danson as bartender Same Malone in Cheers. Photo: NBC Thirty-five years after it first premiered, Cheers remains a sitcom benchmark, a comedy institution that left an indelible mark on the modern television landscape. Over the course of its 11 seasons, Cheers perfected the workplace–cum–surrogate family template established by The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Taxi.
In “Endless Slumper,” written by the late, great Sam Simon, struggling Red Sox relief pitcher Rick enters Cheers to solicit advice from Sam about getting “back on the beam.” Sam reluctantly lends his lucky bottle cap to Rick so that it might improve his performance. Rick ends up a hero on the mound, but Sam’s own good fortune dwindles without the cap, evidenced by his inability to perform his singular bartending trick: sliding a beer mug around the corner of the bar.
Simon’s approach in this closing sequence forgoes emotional shortcuts by emphasizing patience and silence. His script allows both characters to organically move through credible, nuanced emotions without shortchanging the transitions, the moments when one face fades away and another one suddenly takes its place. Sam’s monologue about the bottle cap never falls into maudlin very-special-episode territory, but remains grounded and simple, consistent with Sam’s characterization up to this point.
Burrows, who directed the majority of Cheers and established its house visual style, privileged a moving camera over a stationary one. His camera frequently traveled with the characters both to illustrate a scene’s dynamism and to emphasize the set’s expanse. He employs that style in the beginning of the sequence as Sam moves from one side of the bar to the other to tell Diane about his past, visually drawing out the eventual truth.
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