Cheers Second Season DVD Review

[dlemond]

http://www.dvdauthority.com/Reviews.asp?ReviewID=3604


Cheers: The Complete Second Season
by Matt Brighton


The second season of “Cheers” was a bit more well-received than the first. It did start to take off at the end of the first season, but it truly found its audience during the sophomore season. The usual gang was back, Cliff, Norm, Carla, Diane, Coach and Sam. Though the usual laughs are present and the clever writing was still intact with the Charles’ and Burrows behind the scenes, we were treated to a new batch of guest stars. We meet Nick Tortelli (Dan Hedaya) and his new wife. We learn that Nick was Carla’s old husband. Interestingly enough, “Cheers” was popular enough that it inspired a spin off starring Nick and his airhead wife (Jean Kasen) entitled “The Tortelli’s”. Though not nearly as popular as the show that inspired it, it did have its moments. Coach (Nicholas Colasanto) does return to the baseball field, though this time it’s to coach Little Leaguers! The main premise of the second season, though, was the growing romance between Sam (Ted Danson) and Diane (Shelly Long). Though they bickered more and more, we see that the two actually cared for each other (though long-time viewers of the show know that it would be Sam who would be left at the alter by Diane).

Some of the guest stars became stars of their own show later on including Markie Post (Night Court), Fred Dryer (Hunter) and Christopher Lloyd was already known for his work in “Taxi”. Though the show was starting to build a massive audience, it had not yet reached its pinnacle. This is when NBC started taking control of the Thursday night lineup with this, “The Cosby Show” and “Family Ties”. This is a night of programming that even today, they still have a stronghold on. The early seasons of “Cheers” had great writing, funny premises and a great cast that worked really well together. Would you believe me if I said that it only gets better from here? The DVD contains 22 episodes and each looks as if it were aired yesterday. I don’t know what Paramount is doing, but they need to keep it up as I am very impressed at the video quality of the episodes. Highly recommended.




For a television show that’s some twenty years old, I was expecting what I might see on cable. Instead I was greeted with a very smooth-looking almost film-like transfer that I couldn’t believe. A few blips here and there were not a distraction as I watch Norm guzzle down his endless supply of beers and watch Sam hit on endless women. Yes, it’s really that good. The somewhat dark physical nature of the show (i.e. set in a bar) might give the transfer some reason to act up and show signs of artifacting. It doesn’t. Every episode is presented in a full-frame aspect ratio, but they all appear to share one common trait: they all appear much better than you might expect. Whatever Paramount did, I encourage them to keep it up. Excellent!




The audio is a basic Dolby Surround mix, but like the video presentation, I was very surprised at how rich and full it sounded. The main title song does sound a bit lower (in volume) that the rest of the episodes (and I swear that it sounds as if Woody Harrleson sung it); but still sounds very good. The episodes are mainly dialogue-driven, but they sound very strong coming out of the center channel. Ambient effects, though few and far between, add to the depth of the soundtrack. Again, I was taken back, but still very impressed as to how good this sounds.




Paramount seems to have a nice little system when featuring the supplements for their television series. For the Star Trek discs, they had somewhat of a template that seemed to work as it gave us a variety of extras, while still sticking to their way of not offering a whole lot in terms of extras. This is the case with “Cheers” (and “Frasier” for that matter). The first is a dedicated featurette with some archived (circa 1983) footage and even some new interviews with the cast (“Norm” aka George Wendt now has silver eyebrows). They talk of the success of the show in the second season and try to tell us of what might happen later in the season. The burgeoning romance between Sam and Diane is also a subject of talk, too. We then get three features that are essentially the same. The first is “Cliff’s Notes: The Wisdom of Cliff Clavin” in which we get a series of scenes that shows his one liners. All are taken from the second season and though funny, tend to get a bit old after a while. Next is “Carla the Comeback Queen: Insults for Every Occasion”. Carla was a nasty person and her sense of humor was part of what made the show work. Again, we’re treated to a series of scenes in which she responds or just outright yells insults. Lastly, we have “Di Another Day: Diane Chambers from A-Z”. Diane was my personal least favorite person on the show, but again scenes are shown with her being…her. Condescending to the last, Diane always gave her .02 regardless if it was wanted or not. The real treat is the gag reel of bloopers from the season. Shown in a very lackluster video quality, the highlight is when Cliff and Norm mess up a scene and then hold hands and walk down to the bar to drink a beer. Priceless. Though not a lot was included, fans of “Cheers” will certainly be entertained and I’m personally counting the days until we get a feature of Woody…

[NORM]

Man Tuesday needs to hurry up and get here. I cant wait for this thing to come out!

[Teddy02]

omg! you can say that again!!!!!!

[NORM]

Man Tuesday needs to hurry up and get here. I cant wait for this thing to come out!

[Brian Damage]

[CarJackSnyder]

Man i cant wait either!!!!!

[barwars]

My ma is picking it up on Tuesday while Im at school.
Then its a Cheers marathon for me.

[MaydayMalonesGirl]

Originally posted by barwars88
My ma is picking it up on Tuesday while Im at school.
Then its a Cheers marathon for me.

Wait... do you mean she's picking you up early?

My Mom said she won't go get it til the weekend so I'll probably get it either Saturday or Sunday.

[barwars]

I wish she'd pick me up early.

But she said she'd buy it, but Id have to pay her. (sucks)

Im getting Frasier on Tuesday too.

Ill alternate between the 2 shows disc by disc.... but Ill take some breaks.
And Ill have to catch the new episode of Frasier at 9 on NBC.

Ohh God.... I think I may be obsessed.

[Still]

I feel so very lucky and privileged to have received my copy in the post this morning.

I wasn't expecting it for ages because I preordered it for it to be sent out here to the UK.

But it's here and its marvellous. I've watched the first two episodes, the boys behind the bar and the bloopers. All great - the film quality of the bloopers is interesting....

Anyway, I hope everybody enjoys it.

Bring on season 3!

Will

[NORM]

My mom said I could have stayed home and watched it on tuesday but Ive missed too many days, dammit. But oh well, it'll all be worth it in the end.

[barwars]

haha, same here Steve.

Back in early December I asked her about it.... she said sure.... but I missed about 4 days in December so she says no.
sucks.

[CheersChild4life]

I can't wait!

[PZelda]

OMG I am sooooooooo excited! I can watch it right away, because I don't start school (college) until Jan. 13th!

[DianeChambers87]

Originally posted by barwars88
I wish she'd pick me up early.

But she said she'd buy it, but Id have to pay her. (sucks)

Im getting Frasier on Tuesday too.

Ill alternate between the 2 shows disc by disc.... but Ill take some breaks.
And Ill have to catch the new episode of Frasier at 9 on NBC.

Ohh God.... I think I may be obsessed.

Don't worry Tim, your fine lol. Your just dedicated! You want to see obsessed people? Go to the "That so Raven" Boards....those people...(most of them are guys) are obsessed.