032 – Dry Season
Chapter: 02 - Blue Murder
I’ve been binge-watching a lot of old Cheers episodes lately. In the cold light of 2014, Sam Malone is a predatory monster. No means yes to him. He’s out here peeping at nude women through windows. Or getting them naked through trickery. Laughing about it. Creeping on women while they sleep and shit. Like, I really don’t like that dude and I hate seeing him win. Dollars to donuts, he’s listed on a registry of some kind by now.
Quincy and Sam kinda crawled out of the same archetypal ooze so I guess I know what not to go for.
Try watching a few of the episodes of the 1st few seasons of MASH. Nurses as playboy bunnies ripe for the reaping by Hawkeye and Trapper John. Very uncomfortable stuff.
Yeah, the depiction of women in Cheers is pretty irksome. They’re either nagging killjoys, airheads or women who sleep with Sam. Carla’s the exception and I wonder how much of that was Rhea Perlman’s doing.
January!
Wait, what?
She and Omar look so comfortable in that first panel. It reminds me of the Peano/Jason slash fanfic I used to write.
Uh, did I say that out loud?
Peeno would be happy to hear it actually.
I’m curious, is the monkey going to be in this iteration of the strip?
I’ve asked myself the same question. I think my answer is yes.
What gets me about Cheers is how much of it couldn’t be written these days due to smartphones. “Actually, Cliffie, that’s not right.”
I don’t think actual evidence would shut Cliff up at all. I think he’d just go weirder with conspiracy coverup theories and such.
I actually like seeing this version of Omar with January . They look like a good couple. It’s good to see January again.
Promise she won’t die of Mystery this time.
Cory this just keeps getting better and better…I even love the little details like giving Omar a Raider’s shirt. Although I can’t really see him as a supporter of anything corporate but how about January showing up again. Good to see her back in this parallel universe.
New Omar ain’t quite as uptight as Old Omar. Old Omar would probably die alone.
I just re-watched the entire run of Cheers over the past several months as well.
Yes, Sam is a predator. But he’s not written or portrayed as a winner. He’s a loser, through and through. He was a crappy pitcher who drank his way out of a career. He consistently loses in love, he consistently loses to Gary’s Old Towne Tavern, he loses to the guy who owns Melvilles, etc. Every mature character on the show correctly identifies him as a sad, lonely, sex-obsessed manchild — who’s not too bright, either. The only people who consider him a winner are his buddies in the bar (who are bigger losers than he is).
The entire show is fairly melancholy, frankly. Norm can’t hold a job and uses the bar to avoid his marriage. Cliff is even sadder. Frasier is smart and successful — so of course he’s stood up by Diane and cuckholded by Lilith. Carla’s married to two jerks: Nick (the worst), and Eddie, who stepped out on her as well. Virtually every character is mean, selfish, and/or broken — usually all three. The only sweet, well-adjusted characters are the simpletons — Coach and Woody.
Oh, and let’s not forget the saddest character on the show: Rebecca. She starts off smart and ambitious — albeit a gold-digger. She ends up turning into the biggest loser of them all.
Rebecca s the only character that I think the showrunners did wrong. After rewatching the series, my theory is they changed her from a romantic foil into a fellow loser in response to Alley’s weight gain — which is unfortunate. She could’ve been like WYH’s Robyn: a desirable character independent of any change in weight.
I don’t believe the writers had the insight to do right by their female characters. I don’t see writing there that takes a well rounded view of women beyond how they relate to dudes. They’re mostly there to fawn after dudes or be a nightmare to dudes. Rebecca started out as a cold businesswoman then they realized they didn’t know what to do with that. Quick! Make her hysterical and lovesick!
January and Omar… Nice!!!
Another person glad to see January! I was genuinely shocked when she died last time and kept waiting for it to be a mistake.
Get a life you lot. It’s tongue in cheek comedy!