Cheerful Goodbyes

This is the episode of Frasier every Cheers fan has been waiting for. This is the one that brings back the Cheers gang. Ted Danson(Sam) Shelley Long(Diane) and Woody Harrelson(Woody) have all had their episode of Frasier and Bebe Neuwirth(Lillith) became a recurring character but the core gang had yet to appear. Well here they are Cheers mainstays Carla, Cliff, and Norm appear along with background characters like Paul and Phil. Even one of Cliff's postal buddies appears. For those concerned about the plot Frasier is in Boston to give a speech and brings his family along. At the airport he runs into Cliff who invites Frasier and his family to his retirement party.

The gang go to Boston so Frasier can deliver a paper at a conference. Who should he run into but Cliff Clavin. Soon, they are on their way to a bar where they are holding a farewell party for our illustrious mail carrier. We get to see all the Cheers cast that had not appeared on this show. It is entertaining, but it is also bittersweet.

Frasier had always acknowledged the show it was spun off from but prided itself on standing alone. And for the first seven seasons of the show it didn't need to parachute former 'Cheers' cast members in too often because everything was going well. If anything 'Frasier' was a better show than 'Cheers' in the first seven years.

But come season 8 there was a real slump in the quality and the episodes weren't always the most consistent. For me while there was a marked improvement in the ninth season the show was still not back on form and that's why it almost feels that by bringing back the folks from 'Cheers' it feels like the show is breaking the glass because there's an emergency.

Overall, while it's nice to see the 'Cheers' gang, I think I prefer it when they don't pop by. Frasier had moved on, and so had we.

If sad , as mentioned in other reviews, it's just because I miss Cheers . While I like Frazier , Cheers was the start of it all.

I loved the interaction between Norm and Martin and the conversations between Daphne and Cliff . I like the way the entire Frazier family was accepted by the Cheers family. The ending, though telegraphed, was a sweet ending. I would have liked a telegram from Sam , would have been short enough to fit in without stealing the limelight from the others. Just the mention of the snipe hunt brought a smile at the remembrance of that episode. All in all , a very good episode.