Product Description

CHEERS – THE COMPLETE SIXTH SEASON focuses on the colorful staff and offbeat patrons of a friendly Boston bar where "everybody knows your name." Starring Shelley Long as Diane Chambers and Ted Danson as Sam Malone, Cheers co-stars Nick Colasanto as "Coach," Rhea Perlman as Carla Tortelli, John Ratzenberger as Cliff and George Wendt as Norm.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14736 in DVD
• Brand: PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2005-09-13
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 4
• Dimensions: .70 pounds
• Running time: 600 minutes

Amazon.com
In its sixth season, Cheers introduced its second major--and most significant--cast change. Following the events of season 5, Sam (Ted Danson) returns from his aborted around-the-world boat trip to find the old gang gone, Carla (Rhea Perlman) and Woody (Woody Harrelson) wearing uniforms more fit for a barbershop quartet, and a tough new boss who reportedly "eats live sharks for breakfast." The new boss, Rebecca (Kirstie Alley, probably best known at the time for her appearance in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and later to anchor such series as Veronica's Closet and Fat Actress), grudgingly hires back Sam, but has him positively befuddled with her resistance to his masculine wiles. She's not as tough as she seems, however, getting weak in the knees at the thought or sight of her corporate boss, Evan Drake (Tom Skerritt).

After the Diane debacle, the irony of the sixth season is that wedding bells are in the air. Carla is on the verge of hitching up with her Boston Bruins boyfried, Eddie LeBec (Jay Thomas), until a string of bad luck threatens to tear apart the "two most superstitious people in the world." Then Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) is the victim of a prank that turns serious when he decides to dump live-in psychologist-lover Lilith (Bebe Neuwirth) in order to "pursue the fair Rebecca." Other events of the season include Sam as a rapping sportscaster, Sam and Woody being sold in a charity auction, Woody entering a romance with an older woman while dressed up as Mark Twain, and another showdown with Gary's Old Town Tavern. Cheers missed Shelley Long, but it remained a high-quality show; her career missed Cheers infinitely more. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews

Rebecca was a much needed change.
While I was a big fan of the show from the start, and it's still one of my favorites, the Sam-Diane relationship was getting pretty tired by the end of the fourth season. The fifth season was great, but seemed like one long plotline. A change was desperately needed; that relationship had to be resolved.
The Rebecca character made the show fresh again. While Diane's comedy was intellectual, Rebecca's was more phyical. Kirstie Alley conveyed more without words with Rebecca than was possible with the Diane character. Frasier and Lilith took over the intellectual comedy aspect of the show.
I don't think the show would have lasted much longer if Diane had not departed.
This season is a good introduction to Rebecca with her pathetic crush on her boss, and I always loved Frasier and Lilith. The episodes are still very funny. I can't wait for the rest of them.

This season brought new life to the series
The departure of Shelley Long from Cheers was a difficult hurdle to overcome, and her departure certainly left some shoes that needed filled. In retrospect, however, it seems like it was for the best. Kirstie Alley joins the cast in Season 6 as Rebecca Howe, a corporate brown-noser who ends up managing the bar because she can't seem to cut it at the corporate level. Sam, of course, is attracted to her, but the nature of his pursuit is different then it was with Diane, and is therefore fresh and not repetitive.

Cheers, in fact, does just fine without Diane. By Season 6 Frazier and Lilleth are regulars on the show, and the cast just seems balanced. Norm and Cliff continue to entertain, Carla continues to make her wisecracks, and Woody continues to play the dumb country bumpkin. Sam continues to womanize, though he's getting older now, and Rebecca and the Cranes bring an eclectic mix of personality into the already dynamic cast. The impressive thing about Cheers is that it made it Eleven seasons and yet remained fresh and exciting through almost all of it. This season features some hilarious episodes, and certainly some of the most memorable. It also features a stint by Tom Skerritt as Evan Drake, the corporate bigwig Rebecca is in love with. All in all this is a great season.

THERE WAS INDEED LIFE AFTER DIANE
As bad as I felt when hearing Shelley Long was leaving Cheers, in retrospective her character had absolutely no where to go. If television history teaches us anything, is that once couples wed or end of together their magic just dissapears (see Moonlighting and future seasons of Cheers with Ted Danson / Kristie Alley). Anyway, in her first season, Kristie brought Cheers so many new possibilities, some of this season's shows are my favorite such as the hilarious hearthbreaking scene when she declares her love for her boss in a limo only to realize he's behind sound proof glass ! Highly recommended !