Line #18 Series/Cybill


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cybill_2.jpg]]
2	''Cybill'' was a sitcom created by Creator/ChuckLorre that ran from 1995-1998 on CBS.
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4	Creator/CybillShepherd played [[TheDanza Cybill Sheridan]], an aging actress that never had her breakthrough.
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6	Other characters included her best friend Maryann (Creator/ChristineBaranski), her daughters Rachel (Creator/DedeePfeiffer) and Zoey (Creator/AliciaWitt), her ex-husbands Jeff (Creator/TomWopat) and Ira (Creator/AlanRosenberg) and Rachel's husband Kevin (Creator/PeterKrause).
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8	----
9	!!This series provides examples of:
10	* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Some of Zoey's more audacious antics get this reaction. For example, when she managed to pass herself off as a teacher for weeks, collecting a paycheck and managing to raise her class' test scores, Cybill can't help but find it hilarious, and is more proud than furious.
11	* AdamWesting: Washed-up and aging Cybill Shephard plays... washed-up and aging Cybill Sheridan (who unlike the real one never had a success like ''Film/TaxiDriver'' or ''Series/{{Moonlighting}}'').
12	** Also part of the storyline is how Cybill hails from [[DeepSouth Memphis]] and Maryann hails from [[FlyoverCountry Buffalo]], just like the RealLife origins of Cybill Shepherd and Christine Baranski.
13	** Johnathan Frakes also guest starred as an amorous version of himself playing up his status as the "Number Two on ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''
14	* BavarianFireDrill: Zoey was good at these. She once passed as a teacher at her own school, ''and even received a paycheck''.
15	* BolivianArmyEnding: The final episode ends with Cybill and Maryann being arrested for the apparent murder of Maryann's husband, Doctor Dick.
16	* CampGay: The waiter at the bistro where Cybill and Maryann are often dining.
17	* CatchPhrase: Maryann's contemptuous "Dr. DICK!" when discussing her ex-husband.
18	* CharacterTitle
19	* CliffHanger: The series finale ends on one, sadly.
20	* CompensatingForSomething: Doctor Dick's Porsche, which Cybill refers to as a "driveway penis" before blowing it up as revenge for his swindling Maryann out of her savings.
21	-->'''Cybill''': ''(after a quick and unremarkable explosion)'' That was quick...big surprise.
22	* DeadpanSnarker: [[WorldOfSnark Most characters had their snarky moments]], but Maryann easily tops them all. Next in line would be Zoey, and to some lesser extents Ira and Cybill herself.
23	* DoItYourselfThemeTune: Cybill Shepherd sung the theme song herself.
24	* DropInCharacter: Ira.
25	* EnergyWeapon: When Cybill plays Galaxy Gal in "Where's Zoey?"
26	* TheEponymousShow
27	* TheFaceless: Dr. Dick.
28	* FlockOfWolves: In one episode Cybill dressed up as a prostitute to research an acting role she'd accepted. She asked another lady of the night what it was like being a prostitute, but it turned out she was also an actress. They asked a third woman, but she turned out to be a journalist. The three asked a fourth woman, but 'she' turned out to be a male vice squad officer.
29	%% * FoodFight: Between Cybill and Andrea in "Wedding Bell Blues"
30	* GagPenis: Cybill and a friend were in a museum and came across a statue of a fertility god, who...well...
31	-->'''Cybill and Friend:''' ''(looking excited and amused)'' Wow...\
32	''(they turn to each other)''\
33	Ouch!
34	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: In-universe. One of Cybill's cheesy cop shows, Island Cop, is huge in Siberia.
35	* HalloweenEpisode: "Halloween" from Season 4. Cybill hosts a Halloween-themed pledge drive for a TV station, and everyone is in costume.
36	* HangoverSensitivity: Maryann had this during a pretty epic hangover she endured when she tried to outdrink a man over twice her size... '''and won.''' She starts off saying, "My mouth feels like I just swallowed sheep," and when Cybill and Zoe are having their very '''loud''' argument, the sensory overload is too much and she starts wailing, "Searing pain! Nerve damage!" "Temporary blindness!" and finally "The taste of burnt pennies."
37	* HerCodeNameWasMarySue: Ira writes a book about his marriage to Cybill, with him as a Mary Sue.
38	%% * HeterosexualLifePartners: Cybill and Maryann
39	* HighHeelHurt: Inverted when Cybill takes Maryann camping. Maryann has only ever worn heels, and so has trouble keeping her balance in flats.
40	* LadyDrunk: To an extent, Maryann.
41	%% * MeaningfulName: Maryann's nemesis, Doctor DICK!
42	* MrFanservice: Rachel and Kevin had a kinky side, resulting in Peter Krause showing some skin in two episodes.
43	* MsFanservice:
44	** Cybill's ample cleavage and shapely legs were frequently on display, oftentimes for plot purposes of the various exploitative jobs she took.
45	** Lampshaded when she was cast on a thinly-veiled ripoff of ''Series/TheXFiles'' called ''Lifeforms.'' In her first scene, the camera only showed her from the neck down, and later, an audience was polled and asked "what about the show best held your interest?" The number one answer was her legs.
46	%% * TheNineties
47	* OnceAnEpisode: Nearly every episode opens with Cybill at work, usually filming a terrible commercial or equally terrible guest spot on a TV show.
48	%% * PrettyInMink: Maryann
49	* RecurringCharacter: Jeff, Rachel, Kevin, Sean and Justin were semi-regulars who only received credit in the opening titles for the episodes in which they appeared.
50	* RichBitch: Maryann, though she does care about Cybill.
51	* ShipTease: Maryann and Ira.
52	* ShipperOnDeck: Maryann aggressively pushes Zoey and Justin to be together. Deconstructed in that it creates a lot of pressure, which makes them uncomfortable and causes them to see other people. Maryann even admits she only really pushed it so that Justin would stay in town.
53	* ShowWithinAShow: Cybill thinks she finally has a hit on her hands with ''Life Forms'' a paper-thin knockoff of ''The X-Files.''
54	* SitcomArchnemesis: Andrea Stone-Thorpe (Morgan Fairchild) for Cybill.
55	* StalkerWithoutACrush: Maryann just can't get past Doctor Dick leaving her, even though apparently she got a good divorce settlement.
56	* StockFootage: In the episode "Local Hero", scenes of the fictional TV series "Island Cop" are of the TV movie Stormy Weathers, which also had Cybill Shepherd as a main role.
57	* TeenGenius: Though she doesn't seem too interested in applying herself, Zoey is clearly ''incredibly'' smart, and a piano prodigy, to boot.
58	* TransatlanticEquivalent: To ''Series/AbsolutelyFabulous'', one of several attempts to translate that show's success to American network television in TheNineties; this was probably the most successful of them. Cybill is a pastiche of Eddy (albeit with several elements from Shepherd's own life incorporated into her backstory) and Maryann is a transparent ripoff of Patsy.[[note]]According to Baranski, these similarities were unintentional, as Chuck Lorre had never seen ''Ab Fab'' and loosely based the show on an unproduced screenplay of his.[[/note]]
59	%% * VanityPlate: In the first and second seasons.
60	* VisitByDivorcedDad: Mostly [[DropInCharacter Ira]] but Cybill's other Ex qualifies for this as well.
61	* WondrousLadiesRoom: This was a running gag. Ira commented on the potpourri and soap on women's bathroom. During a flashback episode set in the Middle Ages, the king went to the women's bathroom and was surprised with the stool (you know, the thing we sit on) and the curtain.

Context Series / Cybill