Title: Love Thy Neighbor
Directed by: James Burrows
Written by: David Angell
Air Date: November 21, 1985
Previous: 2 Good 2 Be 4 Real
Next: From Beer to Eternity
Guest Starring: Fred Dryer, Miriam Flynn, Ernie Sabella, Bernadette Birkett (uncredited)
"Love Thy Neighbor" is the eighth episode of the fourth season of Cheers.
Norm mentions that he and Vera went out dancing with a neighbor couple, the Henshaws. Norm being Norm, he sat and watched while Vera danced with Ron Henshaw. That raises some eyebrows at the bar but Norm is quietly confident in his relationship with his wife.
He gets less confident when Phyllis Henshaw (Miriam Flynn) finds him at the bar and tells him she thinks her husband Ron is having an affair with Vera. Norm calls home and hears Johnny Mathis music on in the background—the Petersons don't have a Johnny Mathis record, but the Henshaws do. Suddenly much less confident, Phyllis and Norm hire Carla's cousin, one Santo Carbone (Ernie Sabella), to find out if their spouses are having an affair.
In the B-plot, Diane gets cranky when Sam calls her a "love bunny" (and lumps her in with all his other love bunnies) on Dave Richards's radio show.
Tropes:
- The Bus Came Back: Fred Dryer makes the third of his four appearances as Sam's old buddy and current Boston sportscaster Dave Richards. This time he's only a voice on the radio.
- Continuity Nod: A nod to Diane's stay in a sanitarium between Seasons 2 and 3. Turns out that Carla hired Santo to track down Diane and he found her there. He's surprised that they let Diane out so soon. (A year and a half later!)
- Easily Forgiven: Given what a complete Jerkass Dave was to Sam and Diane back in Season Two's "Old Flames", it's curious that Sam is now on such friendly terms with Dave. It's even curiouser when he doesn't seem to understand why Diane doesn't like Dave, given how hard Dave worked to break Sam and Diane up.
- Literal-Minded: Sam's radio interview doesn't get off to a great start when no-one at all phones up. Dave opens up to letting anyone ask about anything, so Woody phones (despite Sam being in the next room) to ask where he keeps the olives.Woody: He said ask anything!
- Ordered Apology: Sam only gets Diane's forgiveness by going back on Dave's show and reading out an apology which Diane has written apologizing to her and women everywhere.
- Private Detective: Santo Carbone, who's burnt out by the sordid nature of his job, which is mostly investigating adultery. He cheerfully returns to the bar to report that Vera and Ron are not having an affair, only to be disgusted when he catches Phyllis and Norm kissing.
- Serious Business: Diane gets in a snit when Sam refers to her as a "love bunny" on a radio interview.
- Silent Treatment: Diane attempts to do this with Sam. It lasts about half a minute before she lays into him with a flowery speech about what he's done, prompting Sam to quip she hasn't quite got the gist of it.
- The Voice:
- This was the episode where Vera graduated from The Ghost to The Voice, as an uncredited Bernadette Birkett (George Wendt's wife) voices Vera.
- Then there's the one-shot character of Ron Henshaw, also on the phone recording with Vera. And Fred Dryer as Dave Richards, appearing only as a voice on the radio.
