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Recap / Cheers S 8 E 11

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Episode: Season 8, Episode 11
Title: Feeble Attraction
Directed by: Andy Ackerman
Written by: Dan O Shannon and Tom Anderson
Air Date: December 7, 1989
Previous: The Art of the Steal
Next: Sam Ahoy
Guest Starring: Cynthia Stevenson

"Feeble Attraction" is the 11th episode of the eighth season of Cheers.

Six episodes after Norm started up a house painting business in "The Two Faces of Norm", his business is foundering, because Norm is lazy and doesn't like to work. Rather than actually working, Norm decides to fire his secretary from that episode, Doris (Cynthia Stevenson). Norm calls Doris to the bar to give her a recommendation letter, which he scribbled on a cocktail napkin. This backfires when a lonely, desperate Doris instantly falls in love with Norm.

There are a couple of B-plots. Rebecca receives a fancy antique desk from Robin. Robin sends her a cryptic fax saying that there's a surprise and gives as a hint the word "ring", which leads Rebecca to believe that there's an engagement ring hidden in the desk. In the other B-plot, Woody bores the bejesus out of the bar by telling everyone about the coldest day in Boston history.


Tropes:

  • Artistic License – History: Woody wins a radio contest with his inane trivia about how the coldest day in Boston history was January 12, 1981—except that the coldest recorded day in Boston history was Feb. 9, 1934, when the temperature hit -12 F. (The low on January 12, 1981 was 0 F.)
  • Continuity Nod: Doris the secretary from Episode 8-5 pops up again and is the center of this episode.
  • Extreme Doormat: Doris, with her unhealthy fixation on Norm. She offers to warm up his seat, and when he tells her to scram she says "If my scramming would make you happy."
    Doris: If you don't want me to follow you, Mr. Peterson, I could walk in front of you. Then you'd have to tell me where you're going all the time.
  • Inadvertent Entrance Cue: A discussion about heroes leads to Frasier telling the gang: "Let's face it, in America in the 1990snote  there are no heroes anymore." Immediately after this Sam enters the bar with four women that he introduces as "my date." Everyone cheers.
  • Mailman vs. Dog: Cliff comes into the bar complaining about being bitten by a dog.
  • Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: When told that Rebecca's desk was where George Bernard Shaw wrote Man and Superman, Sam naturally assumes it means the comic book character and asks if that's the one where he fights the Mole Men.
  • The Reveal: The "ring" wasn't a wedding ring. It turns out that the desk is a very valuable collector's item which belonged to George Bernard Shaw. and he left a ring on the desk from where he rested his coffee cup while writing Man and Superman. Sam opens the office door to tell Rebecca that she owns an extremely valuable desk, only to hear the sound of a chainsaw and get covered in wood chips as Rebecca cuts up the desk, looking for an engagement ring.
  • A Threesome Is Hot: Sam writes his name in history by going out with four, count 'em, four women on a date.
  • Widescreen Shot: This is one of a couple of Cheers episodes where remastering for the 16:9 Aspect Ratio reveals the curtain on the left side of the bar set.

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