Recap / Cheers S 6 E 2

Episode: Season 6, Episode 2
Title: "I" on Sports
Directed by: James Burrows
Written by: Ken Levine & David Isaacs
Air Date: October 1, 1987
Previous: Home is the Sailor
Next: Little Carla, Happy at Last, Part 1
Guest Starring: Fred Dryer, Catherine Macneal

"'I' on Sports" is the 2nd episode of the sixth season of Cheers.

Sam is still adjusting to life as a mere bartender at Cheers when his old friend Dave Richards (Fred Dryer, in his fourth and last appearance) comes into the bar with an offer. It seems that Dave has left his job as sports anchor for Channel 13 news, and the station is looking for a replacement, and Dave has recommended his fellow former athlete.

Sam leaps at the opportunity. He initially attempts to hide his new job from Rebecca, but after she finds out she's surprisingly willing to let him have the time off. Sam makes his debut on TV and is rather bland, so the gang at the bar tells him that he needs to spice up his commentary. Naturally, things go awry.

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Tropes:

• Bad Job, Worse Uniform: The Teaser has Rebecca tell her employees that there's a problem with the dry cleaner, so they need to be extra careful with their awful, ugly green uniforms for the week. Sam, Carla, and Woody proceed to dump food and drinks from the bar all over their uniforms, and they spend the rest of the episode in their street clothes.
• Call-Back: Sam fakes a phone call about his apartment being robbed in order to duck out to the TV station, a ruse that Rebecca sees through after she catches Woody still hanging on to the bar phone. At the end Sam gets a phone call from the station saying that the audience loved him and wants him back, but he refuses to return, citing his dignity—a ruse that Rebecca sees through after she catches Woody still hanging on to the bar phone.
• Kent Brockman News: Between the inappropriately chipper Mood Whiplash of the pretty blonde anchor, to Sam's incompetent commentary, this episode gets in a lot of gags about local news.
• Mood Whiplash: The gang turns to the news broadcast in time to hear Joanne the anchor say "...and Keller is scheduled to be executed on Friday." Then she turns bright and chipper and says "I guess he won't be around then for the Patriots-Buffalo game this Sunday!", before throwing it to Sam for sports.
• New Job Episode: Sam gets hired to be the sports anchor for a local TV station.
• Overly Narrow Superlative: Trying to be diplomatic after Sam's rapping commentary, Rebecca says "As news rappers go, I thought you were fine."
• Pet the Dog: Despite their friction, and the fact that Sam lied to her about the Sportscaster job, Rebecca permits him to work around his new gig (mainly because he will either succeed and leave Cheers or come back after making an ass of himself).
  • When the latter happens, she is supportive and consoles Sam.
• Piss-Take Rap: Sam's awful, awful, awful rap for his "I" on Sports commentary.
• Reset Button: Naturally Sam can't get a job as a TV news anchor because it would ruin the premise of the show, so at the end he's fired and back at the bar.
• Ventriloquism: Sam follows up his awful rap commentary with an even more terrible segment in which he brings on a dummy and does a ventriloquism act. This gets him fired.