Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Cheers: Season 8

 

The 26-episode 8th season of Cheers aired during the 1989-1990 TV season. It can be argued that this was the season in which the series peaked, earning multiple awards. All of the main cast members returned for Season 8. Unfortunately, Bebe Neuwirth was still just a member of the recurring cast, despite stealing every scene she was in as Lilith. She won the Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy that year. The other significant recurring cast member this season was Roger Rees, who played an English mogul named Robin Colcord, who was brought in as a love interest for Rebecca and a partial foil for Sam. The guest cast this season included Lisa Kudrow, Kevin Conroy, Alex Trebek, and Bill Medley. The show continues to blend a story-of-the-week procedural format with serial arcs. This season, the big serial arcs are Sam's quest to buy back Cheers from the corporation that owns it and Rebecca's relationship with Robin (and sexual tension with Sam). 

The blu-ray set is a three-disc set. It does not include any bonus content, but the episodes can be played with English captions. The A/V quality is overall very good, but there are times when the picture looks more like standard definition than an upgraded HD transfer. 

The series continues to be good. As the show transitioned from the 1980s to the 1990s, some of the more outdated comedic elements were less prominent. The writers did a very good job balancing storylines for the large ensemble cast, with each cast member getting at least one episode centered around him or her. There are a couple of hilarious Lilith and Frasier episodes, including ones involving Lilith's pregnancy and giving birth. Cliff also has a very good episode in which he is a contestant on Jeopardy. Ultimately, if you have liked the series up to this point, season 8 is worth watching.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Cheers: Season 7

 

The 22-episode seventh season of Cheers aired during the 1988/1989 TV season. The beginning of the season was delayed by the 1988 writers' strike, which also resulted in a lower overall number of episodes. All of the main cast members returned as series regulars. Bebe Neuwirth was still a recurring cast member, but she had a larger role and more appearances this season, and continued to steal most of the scenes she appeared in. Jay Thomas also recurred this season as Carla's husband, Eddie, but only made a couple of appearances during the season. There are not as many notable guest stars this season, but the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, William Crowe, appeared in episode 17, and Marcia Cross (probably best known for her role on Desperate Housewives in the early 2000s) appeared in episode 21 playing Rebecca's sister, Susan.

The blu-ray set is a three-disc set. As of this writing, the individual seasons have only been released on DVD. The blu-ray set is only available as a complete series set. As with the previous few seasons, this one does not have any bonus content; however, the episodes can be played with English captions. The show continues to be funny, but some of the comedy is very dated. If it were made today, the character of Sam would probably be written much differently than he was back then, since he is basically a "lovable" pervert who sexually harasses every hot woman he meets. The writers do a good job of balancing the storylines for the large ensemble cast, giving each character at least one episode devoted to them. This season, both Cliff and Woody get love interests, Frasier and Lilith have a significant storyline, and Norm finally finds his calling career-wise. Ultimately, if you liked the prior seasons, you will probably like this one, as long as you are not easily offended by non-politically correct humor. 

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Cheers: Season 1

 

Cheers was the long-running sitcom set in a Boston bar about the lives of the bar workers and patrons. The 22-episode first season aired during the 1982/1983 TV season. It starred Ted Danson, Shelly Long, Nicholas Colasanto, Rhea Perlman, and George Wendt. John Ratzenberger, who would later become a series regular, had a recurring role in the first season (although he was in most episodes). Harry Anderson (who is probably best known for his role on the sitcom Night Court) had a recurring role, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tip O'Neil, was the season's notable guest appearance. 

In the show, Danson plays Sam Malone, an ex-pitcher for the Boston Red Sox who had to retire because he was an alcoholic. He runs a bar called Cheers that he bought before he retired, but manages to refrain from drinking. Long plays Diane Chambers, a grad student at Boston University who is left by her fiancé in the pilot episode and becomes a waitress at the bar. Colasanto plays a bartender named Ernie Pentusso, nicknamed "Coach" because he used to be a coach in the major leagues. Perlman plays a cynical waitress at Cheers named Carla, and Wendt plays Norm Peterson, a regular at the bar who spouts one-liners. The show is a procedural sitcom. It is not about anything in particular, just the lives of the people who work in and frequent the bar. The one major storyline in the first season was whether Sam and Diane, who were attracted to each other but also annoyed each other, would get together.    

The blu-ray set (which is not sold separately, only in the complete series set) is a three-disc set. It matches the content of the four-disc DVD set that was released years ago. The A/V quality of the blu-ray is very good, and the episodes look and sound excellent in the HD format. All the extras, which were also carried over from the DVD release, are on the final disc. Those include an interview with Ted Danson (filmed in 2003 after the series ended), clips of Sam and Diane arguing, clips of Coach dispensing wisdom, clips of Norm's various entrances, and a trivia game. 

The series is good but dated. While the show is well-written, it definitely has jokes that would fly in the 1980s but would not work if it were made today. It was very well-acted. All the actors had great comedic timing and seemed to have very good chemistry. If you watched the show during its original run, it is a good blast from the past. If you are watching it now because you remember the show but did not watch it regularly (or because you watched the spin-off series), even though it is dated, it is still worth watching.   

DVD/TV Series Review: The Good Place: Season 1

 

The Good Place is a comedy about the afterlife created by Micahel Schur (who was one of the writers/producers of The Office; and also played Dwight's cousin Mose), that skillfully manages to avoid religion (save for a line in the first episode) despite being about the concepts of Heaven and Hell.

The series stars Kristen Bell as Elanor Shellstrop, a woman in her 30s who lived a trainwreck of a life and was killed in a grocery store parking lot. She has managed to go to "The Good Place" despite being a truly awful person. There she is welcomed by Ted Danson's character, Michael, who is the architect of the neighborhood in The Good Place where Elanor will be living for eternity, along with other residents. Basically, Michael is an immortal being that has the equivalent of a 9-to-5 job, getting his first chance to design a neighborhood. Elanor quickly figures out that another woman with the same name was supposed to be in The Good Place, and she was not. She enlists the help of another new resident of the neighborhood, Chidi, played by William Jackson Harper, who was a philosophy professor in life, to help her become a better person. The neighborhood starts falling apart through a series of ever-increasing disasters as Elanor tries to hide who she is, and change her ways. The rest of the main cast includes Jameela Jamil, who plays Tahani, a wealthy English philanthropist who is totally self-absorbed, Manny Jacinto, who plays Jianyu, a monk who has taken a vow of silence, and D'Arcy Carden, who plays Janet, a programmed guide (think Siri or Alexa) that can take physical form and provide the residents anything they desire.

In the DVD set, the 13 episodes are spread across two discs. The extras include commentary tracks on four episodes with Schur and various members of the cast. There are extended editions of the pilot and the season finale, a gag reel that is hosted by Adam Scott in-character, as Trevor, a featurette on the special effects, and the table read of Episode 12. So, a good amount of material if you like watching the extras.

Overall, the show is very good. As I said above, it really avoids religion of any kind, aside from a line that says each religion gets something right. Kristen Bell is hilarious as Elanor and Jameela Jamil, who is in her first major acting role, does a great job with her character as well. The main cast are all wonderful and the show also has a strong supporting cast, including the aforementioned Adam Scott, Tiya Sircar, Marc Evan Jackson, and more. The show is definitely not appropriate for young kids as it does have a lot of sex jokes, drinking, and disguised swearing (fuck becomes fork, and shit becomes shirt) because there is no swearing in "The Good Place". So, if you are looking for a good, but more adult sitcom, this one is definitely worth watching.