Title: The Godfather, Part III
Directed by: James Burrows
Written by: Chris Cluess and Stu Kreisman
Air Date: March 19, 1987
Previous: Simon Says
Next: Norm's First Hurrah
Guest Starring: Cady Mc Clain, Al Rosen
"The Godfather, Part III" is the 22nd episode of the fifth season of Cheers.
There's a new arrival in Boston: Coach's niece! Joyce Pantuso, 18-year-old daughter of Coach's little brother, has come all the way from Reedsport, Oregon to attend Boston University. She gives Sam a letter from her dad asking Sam to look after her. Diane offers to let Joyce stay at her place. In the meantime, they need someone to show newly-arrived Joyce around the town, so they ask Woody to be her tour guide.
Woody and Joyce wind up going out together every night for a week. Diane starts to get nervous, but Sam dismisses her concerns—until Woody and Joyce tell Sam that they're getting married.
In the B-plot, it's Frasier and Lilith's first anniversary as a couple, and he's throwing out overt hints that he wants her to get him a set of golf clubs.
The actual movie The Godfather, Part III came out three years after this episode aired.
Tropes:
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: A terrified Sam resorts to this to talk Woody and Joyce out of a precipitate marriage.Sam: [drops to his knees] Have pity on me! Oh, please don't do this to me, please! I—I haven't had an easy life. This is going to hurt me, and I—I don't want to be hurt. I mean, I—I don't like pain... Please don't, please, come on, don't do this to me!
- Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: While not Joyce's actual dad, Sam acts like one around her, shooing away any man who goes near her, save Woody (since Sam figures Woody's too naïve and innocent to do anything untoward).
- Continuity Nod: Sam's ex-wife only popped up in one scene of one episode (the second of the series), but this is one of a few episodes where he mentions a brief and disastrous marriage back when he was younger.
- Fourth-Date Marriage: Woody and Joyce get engaged after they've only known each other a week. Woody lampshades this when he says "I know we've only known each other for a few days, but it feels like... several."
- Giver of Lame Names: This week's debate between Sam and Diane is baby names. Diane apparently earnestly wants to name their hypothetical son "Emil", and Sam disapproves.
- Hypocritical Humor: After he drops to his knees and goes on his "Please don't do this to me!" monologue, Sam finishes with "Don't make me beg!"
- It Runs in the Family: While it was oft suggested Coach's Coach-ness was a result of too many baseballs to the head, conversation with Joyce suggests there's just some natural disposition in there as well, since Sam's not only amazed at a Pantuso going to college, but that a Pantuso can say college in the first place.
- My New Gift Is Lame: After several weeks of hint-dropping, Lilith gets Frasier a gift of... a tie. Frasier brings it into the bar and stabs it repeatedly, yelling how he hates it.Norm: Thank goodness she didn't get him a puppy.
- One-Hour Work Week: Carla's Berserk Button with regards to Diane is pushed again when Diane says she's taking the night off to go see a Shakespeare play. Sam doesn't want to go, so he suggests that Carla go with Diane instead, whereupon Diane gives her ticket to Al the crusty barfly.
- Remember the New Guy?: During the 2 1/2 seasons before Nicholas Colasanto's death, Coach had a little niece that Sam apparently knew well, but while Coach did mention he had a brother in "Showdown", this is the first mention of having any other kin. Played with when Diane comes up to her and acts like they're old acquaintances. Turns out Joyce has no idea who she is.
- Sherlock Scan: Sam is able to figure out Diane begged Woody and Joyce at a glance at Diane's knees, since she's wearing nylons.
- Shout-Out: Joyce says "Can we see Old Ironsides"—the USS Constitution
—"first", and Woody answers "Well I don't know if Raymond Burr lives in Boston." He's thinking of the TV show Ironside. - Suicide as Comedy: Joyce's dad sends Sam a heartfelt letter imploring him to look after Joyce while she's in the big city, lest he go into his shed and kill himself.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Joyce and Woody agree they could probably still date at the end of the episode, but we never hear of them, or Joyce, again.
