Recap / Cheers S 6 E 24

Episode: Season 6, Episode 24
Title: The Big Kiss-Off
Directed by: James Burrows
Written by: Ken Levine and David Isaacs
Air Date: April 28, 1988
Previous: Bar Wars
Next: Backseat Becky, Up Front
Guest Starring: Carol Francis, Al Rosen

"The Big Kiss-Off" is the 24th episode of the sixth season of Cheers.

Rebecca compliments a nice sweater that Woody is wearing, and says he looks "cute". As the gang razzes him, Woody bashfully admits that he is a heterosexual male with a pulse and thus has noticed that Rebecca is very good looking. Sam's teasing of Woody leads the others to point out that Rebecca seems to find Sam "repellent" and he has made no progress at all in the season-long campaign to get into her pants.

Woody's resentment of Sam's teasing, and Sam's resentment of Woody for being young and handsome and unwelcome competition for the women in the bar, lead to a bet. Sam and Woody bet that one of them can get a kiss from Rebecca, before midnight.

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Tropes:

• Bad "Bad Acting": Woody's awful, awful acting when going through the kissing scene from Bus Stop with Rebecca.
  Woody: (Woodenly) Oh......oh golly.....
• Bed Trick: When Rebecca finds out what's going on, she arranges for both Sam and Woody to come in to her darkened office to kiss her—but they're really kissing each other.
• The Bet: Between Sam and Woody, that one of them can get a kiss from Rebecca before midnight. The loser has to kiss Norm.
• Comically Small Bribe: Carla is perfectly willing to turn on Woody and Sam in exchange for a paid day off. She doesn't even haggle.
• Green-Eyed Monster: As Norm puts it, the bar's patrons hate Woody's good looks, but they're not above exploiting it for their own financial gain.
• Hangover Sensitivity: Frasier comes into the bar hung over and wincing (is he The Alcoholic?), which gives Norm the chance to screw with him.
• Hypno Pendulum: Woody tries to use a pocket watch to hypnotize Rebecca into kissing him. He hypnotizes himself to sleep.
• Hypocritical Humor: After tricking Sam and Woody, Rebecca tells all her dignity is not for sale... and she's going to take Evan Drake's chauffer to the airport.
• Shout-Out: Woody tries to get Rebecca to kiss him by asking her to run through the kissing scene from Bus Stop with him.
• Tempting Fate: Having just witnessed Woody hypnotize himself, Frasier remarks that they've clearly seen it all, at which point Sam enters dressed in army uniform.
  Frasier: Happily, I stand corrected.
• What Did I Do Last Night?: After Frasier comes in hung over and unable to remember the previous night, Norm tells him that he insulted a longshoreman, who is coming to Cheers to beat him up. It's a prank.