Title: What's Up, Doc?
Directed by: James Burrows
Written by: Brian Pollack and Mert Rich
Air Date: March 30, 1989
Previous: Hot Rocks
Next: The Gift of the Woodi
Guest Starring: Bebe Neuwirth, Madolyn Smith Osborne
"What's Up, Doc?" is the eighteenth episode of the seventh season of Cheers.
Sam's not doing too well these days. Much to Carla's disgust, the former hound of Boston is now settling for maybes from Rebecca. Determined to prove he's not over the hill, Sam vows to seduce the next gal who enters the bar.
Said next gal proves entirely resistant to Sam's awful pick-ups lines. She turns out to be a Dr. Sheila Rydall, a colleague of Frasier and Lilith's in the psychiatric profession. At the suggestion of the gang, Sam goes to Rydall pretending to have a psychological disorder, namely impotence. Of course, he still tries to put the moves on her.
Rydall instead recommends him to a colleague of hers, swearing blind those associations with the Gestapo are unproven. But he will have to stand in front of all those strangers and the twenty nurses and say "I no longer function as a man!" At this point, Sam realizes she's messing with him. Fair payment, then. The doctor is almost flattered. Not many people would do something so stupid just to spend some time with her.
The next night, the two come down from Melville's, and Sheila reveals she has been psychoanalysing Sam while they were at dinner. Annoyed, Sam dares her to give her honest opinion. So she does.
As she puts it, Sam's every thought revolves around sex, and without it, he'd probably shrivel up and die. He's an aging lothario, with only sex in his life, afraid not only of death, but also of living.
She still offers to go to bed with him, because after all, if his only thoughts are of sex, he must be good at it. But Sam's mood has been quiet thoroughly killed, and he bids her goodnight. Feeling down, Sam turns to Rebecca to talk about his life. Inquiries about his other interests don't help. Everything, even his beloved 'vette, are means of obtaining babes. Except The Three Stooges. Sam's overjoyed to find something in his life that isn't entirely around sex.
Tropes:
- Amusing Injuries: At the very end of the episode, Rebecca and Sam re-enact some Three Stooges comedy, namely the nose-slapping. Sam finds nose bleeds are a side-effect of such things the Stooges never had to deal with.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Sam askes Dr. Rydall to give him an honest analysis of him. After he says he thinks she's full of air, she lets loose, viciously deconstructing him.
- Blunt "Yes": When a despondent Sam asks Rebecca if she thinks his life is void of meaning, Rebecca barely breaks stride to answer "yep."
- Deconstruction: Of Sam and his hound ways. Sheila is utterly creeped out and disgusted by Sam's terrible pick up lines, and later on points out he no longer has any driving focus but sex, and he's getting older. Sam's deeply hurt to realize he is in fact that shallow.Dr. Rydall: You're one sick cowpoke.
- Erotic Eating: She didn't mean to do it, but the way Dr. Rydall plucks the cherry out of her Manhattan and eats it inspires Sam to continue his pursuit.
- Henpecked Husband: Frasier gets out of the doghouse with Lilith by copious amounts of begging.Frasier: Please, please, please forgive me. And... do you think we have time to stop by Tiffany's on the way home?
Lilith: Good boy. - I'm Standing Right Here: Hearing Frasier commenting on Dr. Rydall's beauty, Lilith points out she can hear him, and so can their unborn child.
- The Loins Sleep Tonight: Sam pretends he has this problem so he can justify visiting Dr. Rydall, but he doesn't like saying the word "impotent".
- Orphaned Punchline: Whatever dorky psychiatrist joke Frasier was telling ends with "I said ten CCs, not Tennessee!"
- Pass the Popcorn: No actual popcorn is involved, but everyone at the bar watches Frasier dig himself out of trouble with Lilith with fascination.Carla: Will he be able to talk his way out of this one? Let's watch.
- The Scottish Trope: When Carla suggests Sam fakes impotence, every man in the bar shudders in horror. Sam can barely bring himself to say the word.
- Terrible Pick-Up Lines: Sam's idea of an ice-breaker to the attractive brunette who's just walked in? "Is it hot in here or is it just you?" Rydall is amused in a horrified way to realize he's being serious.
- Troll: Dr. Rydall screws with Sam's head when he comes to her on blatantly false claims. Then she reveals that while she hasn't been recording their conversation, she has been broadcasting it to the waiting room.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Another disturbing shade to the creepy picture of the Clavins. Cliff's eager to show off some home movies of himself, where he's dressed up as Peter Pan and Esther Clavin as Captain Hook, while she ties him to his bed to help him sleep, while he's a teenager. Hearing this makes Norm try to turn back to the bar, but Woody grabs him.
