Cheers (TV Series) The Executive's Executioner (1985) User Reviews

The Executive's Executioner (#3.21)

[ComedyFan2010 · 9/10 · 12 May 2014]

Norm gets a promotion and now has to fire people in his company. HE really has trouble wit the first assignment and breaks down in tears when he finally does the firing. The company loves it and this is what he does with many many more of his colleagues. Until one day he just can't cry anymore.

Norm is an awesome character and he is at some of his best so far in this episode. I couldn't stop laughing during his crying beak down and just wanted to hug the poor guy. The last firing was very funny as well, him trying to do the fake crying but not succeeding was hilarious, and awesome episode!

Corporate Norm Is An Unhappy Norm

[dgplatt-60121 · 7/10 · 25 March 2024]

It's painfully clear by this point that Norm Peterson is not much of a Company Man. He's practically an anti-Yuppie, someone who would rather sit on a barstool and drink beer than climb the corporate ladder. This makes him the exact wrong person to be a "corporate killer." By an odd twist, he turns out to be good at it.

This episode works like a fable: Norm feels awful about firing people, and his sympathy ironically makes him good at his job. Is it meant as a metaphor for the corporate world itself? Possibly, but more likely the writers just thought it was funny.

In the subplot once again Cliff's cowardice does battle with his anger. Cliff's neighbours are annoying him, and he sends a strongly worded letter (written with the assistance of Carla so it's extra nasty) he immediately regrets. Trying to retrieve an unfortunate message is as old as Greek tragedy, and here it introduces Cliff's post office rival Walter Twitchell. Again, this is a filler episode.

Norman: The Angel of Death

[Hitchcoc · 10/10 · 17 August 2019]

This, for me, is a top five episode. Norm receives the job of corporate killer, i.e. the task of firing people has been handed to him, along with a huge raise. The thing is that Norm is so caught up in the problems of the people he fires, he begins to have emotional collapses, crying and blubbering. Soon the person he is firing feels sorry for him. What happens is his reputation begins to precede him. George Wendt is sensational here as our rotund hero. Also, there is a subplot with Cliff and some wild neighbors.