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Cheers Season 4 Episodes
Season 4 Episode Guide
26 Episodes 1985 - 1986
Episode 1
Birth, Death, Love and Rice
Thu, Sep 26, 198530 mins
Sam couldn't stop the wedding, but Frasier tells him that Diane left him at the altar and is now working at a convent. So Sam visits Diane to ask her to come back to Cheers. Meanwhile, Woody comes to Boston to look for a job and becomes Cheers's new bartender after his pen pal Coach died.
Episode 2
Woody Goes Belly Up
Thu, Oct 3, 198530 mins
The gang at Cheers flies Woody's old girlfriend in from Indiana to visit, and it becomes obvious that when they're together they use binge eating to curb their sexual urges. Meanwhile, Frasier takes a job at Cheers to make Diane feel guilty.
Episode 3
Someday My Prince Will Come
Thu, Oct 17, 198530 mins
There's a man's coat left in the bar. Not just any coat: a cashmere coat with hand stitching, tortoise shell buttons, and bemburg lining. There is a slight smell of a special blend pipe tobacco, and two tickets to the Grand Kabuki and a dried rose bud in the pocket. Diane is in awe of the coat and by association the man who owns it, despite the fact that she doesn't know who he is. Diane goes on and on about how she knows that the coat belongs to the man of her dreams. The coat's owner calls the bar looking for his coat. Sam and Carla goad Diane into asking "Stuart" out on a date over the telephone, again before she even meets him. Under the pressure, she does. With great anticipation, the three await Stuart's arrival. Diane and Stuart's first date leads to several others. After dating Stuart for a while, Diane comes to some conclusions about her feelings for him and why she feels the way she does. A desperate Diane goes to an unlikely source to learn how to deal with the situation.
Episode 4
The Groom Wore Clearasil
Thu, Oct 24, 198530 mins
Carla is upset that her sixteen-year old son, Anthony, is lovestruck with a girl named Annie. Carla thinks that Anthony needs to spend some time with an adult male figure to give Anthony some idea of what he would be missing by not experiencing male adult life as a single. Sam agrees to be that person. After his day with Sam is filled with 'Annie this' and 'Annie that', Anthony confesses that he and Annie want to get married. Sam's womanizing ways do not impress Anthony. Carla finds out about Anthony's plans, Anthony who credits it to Sam. Anthony and Annie even come in with a consent form to get married. Carla finally offers them a deal: no communication whatsoever for two weeks, and if they still want to get married after that, she will give them her blessing. Carla's thought is that Anthony needs no distraction from Annie for his eye to wander to other girls. What will two weeks apart do to Anthony and Annie's relationship? Meanwhile, Diane tries to get a job as a teaching assistant in the college's English Department. And Cliff goes further off the deep end trying to convince everyone that his home-grown potato is the splitting image of Richard Nixon.
Episode 5
Diane's Nightmare
Thu, Oct 31, 198530 mins
It was a dark and stormy night. These are the types of nightmares that Diane has been having since she found out that Andy 'Andy' Schroeder, the ex-con murderer who tried to strangle her once, has been released from the mental institution. Behind her back, Frasier has been counseling Andy just to make sure that Diane's fears are unfounded, which he assures her they are. Frasier suggests that she just talk to Andy to confront her fears. But she doesn't have a choice as Andy comes to the bar unannounced. In part, Andy has come to ask for Diane's forgiveness, which she reluctantly albeit not quite sincerely gives. But he also wants everyone's help. He has met a wonderful woman who knows nothing about his past, and he has made up a background that consists of everyone at Cheers. Sam agrees to go along with Andy's ruse, but Diane is not too sure she should trust him. They all do go along with it, however his stories revolve primarily around Andy owning the bar. They all, but especially Sam, takes a leap of faith that Andy is being genuine when he requests the bar's take for the evening for a trip. Has Andy returned to a life of a psychopathic maniac? And ultimately, what is going on in Diane's psyche?
Episode 6
I'll Gladly Pay You Tuesday
Thu, Nov 7, 198530 mins
Diane is more distracted than usual. She wants to buy an autographed first edition copy of Ernest Hemingway's 'The Sun Also Rises' for $500, but is short of cash. She contemplates asking Sam for the money, but hesitates based on their history. But she does ask, and Sam surprisingly agrees. Despite stating that he doesn't need to know what the money will be used for and that he never expects to see the money again, a grateful Diane says that she will repay him. A couple of weeks pass, Diane has purchased the book but Sam hasn't seen a penny of repayment. In fact, Diane seems to be spending a lot of money of late on little luxuries for herself. When Sam learns from Carla that Diane bought one book with the money, he does take his frustrations on not getting repaid out on Diane. As a display of good faith, Diane gives Sam the book as collateral until she pays him back. An incident with the book brings Sam and Diane closer together, but perhaps not quite in the way Diane anticipates by Sam's initial act. Meanwhile, the gang at the bar fail in an attempt to break the world bathroom stuffing record. Determined Cliff is desperate to make it into the world record book and will try other means to do so.
Episode 7
2 Good 2 Be 4 Real
Thu, Nov 14, 198530 mins
Carla's a little depressed. No one has answered her personal ad, in which she was totally honest, including about the size of her family. To boost her self-confidence which they figure will ultimately attract men, the guys at the bar decide to create a fictional respondent - Mitch Wainwright, airline pilot - obviously who will always make excuses for not being able to meet. Diane disapproves as she sees no good coming out of a lie, especially when it comes time for Carla and Mitch to meet. Carla is ultimately enchanted by Mitch, so enchanted that she waits for a date with Mitch to the exclusion of all others, including Vinnie Clausen, who may be no Mitch Wainwright but is at least a real person who answered her ad. Meanwhile, Diane is taking a mime class and brings the resident mime, Sotto, into the bar to entertain the patrons. Diane is sure that Sam, who hates mimes as does everyone else in the bar, will love the art form by evening's end. Every single person in the bar does have the same attitude toward Sotto as Diane by the time that he is ready to leave at the end of the night.
Episode 8
Love Thy Neighbor
Thu, Nov 21, 198530 mins
Sam is being interviewed by his old buddy, Dave Richards, for a radio program. In it, Sam refers to Diane as one of his old love bunnies, to which she takes offense. That is a small relationship issue compared to what Norm might be facing. Norm's neighbor, Phyllis Henshaw, has a sneaking suspicion that her husband, Ron, and Norm's wife, Vera, are having an affair, a suspicion she shares with Norm. Although Norm is at first unconvinced, Phyllis convinces him that they should hire a private detective to find out for sure. Carla recommends to them her cousin, Santo. While Norm and Phyllis await the ultimate news, they ponder their fate if the news is bad. They both vow to have an affair as well, with each other being the most convenient possibility. Will Norm and Phyllis do what they believe Ron and Vera are doing, and/or will it be predicated on what Santo finds out?
Episode 9
From Beer to Eternity
Thu, Nov 28, 198530 mins
The gang at Cheers is in competition with the gang at Gary's Olde Towne Tavern again. This time it's baseball, and Cheers is whooped, despite having former major leaguer Sam on the team. Gary comes to Cheers to gloat, which leads to another contest, this time in bowling. Diane not only has contempt for the competition, but for bowling itself as well. Carla figures that all bowlers are beer guzzling slobs, and thus Cheers has a shot at winning. It doesn't seem likely after the tryouts. However Carla finds out that they might have an ace in the hole in the form of Woody. Woody has other things on his mind though as he hasn't bowled since 'the accident', where his ball made a pin fly through the air which in turn struck an innocent bystander. Woody refuses to bowl. Can Cheers win without Woody? A further wager between Sam and Gary may spur an ace in the hole to participate in the competition after all.
Episode 10
The Bar Stoolie
Thu, Dec 5, 198530 mins
Sam is dating another intellectual, Claudia Mitchell. Claudia, who has just met and gets along famously with equal-intellectual Diane, asks Sam if her new friend Diane can tag along on their imminent date. Not wanting to go against Claudia and possibly ruin his chances in the sack with her, Sam reluctantly agrees. In this threesome, who will end up as the odd man out? By the end of the date, there is an odd person out, but the remaining two will have to figure out where to go from this point onward. Cliff is having a relationship issue of another kind. His father, who walked out of his life when he was nine years old, has come back looking for him. Cliff Clavin Sr. wants to make peace with his long lost son before he needs to leave town the following day. Although Cliff Jr. initially wants nothing to do with his father, a childish act on his father's part is the ice-breaker needed, and Cliff Jr. falls under the spell of his dad. They spend a fun filled day together before Cliff Sr. has to head off. He asks Cliff Jr. to come with him to Australia. Beyond patriotic Cliff Jr. leaving his beloved US and the US Postal Service, the reason for Cliff Sr.'s trip may also factor into Cliff Jr.'s decisions.
Episode 11
Don Juan Is Hell
Thu, Dec 12, 198530 mins
Carla is the bar's resident sports trivia buff, and takes on all comers. Woody thinks he's up to the challenge and tries to memorize all in Carla's sports book. He ultimately goes just a little too far in his studying. Diane is doing some studying of her own. She is taking a psychology course on human sexuality, and is racking her brain to come up with an interesting term paper topic. Sam figures that sex is his area of expertise, and thus offers to be Diane's term paper subject. She's a bit reluctant at first due to their past sexual history, but Sam is so adamant, she agrees. Without Sam's knowledge, she writes a paper on Don Juanism. The paper gets raves from her professor, who thinks it's publishable. His only reservations are that "Trevor" - the name she's given Sam in her paper - is too perfect an example of the subject that he could be construed as being made up. In getting the paper published, Diane has to decide whether to divulge Sam as Trevor, which could open up Sam's less than satisfying sexual life from a clinical perspective to public scrutiny. Meanwhile, Cliff is growing more, in his mind, specialty vegetables. Instead of a potato look-a-like of Richard Nixon, he's now got a squash with what he deems has a map of the Hawaiian Islands on it.
Episode 12
Fools and Their Money
Thu, Dec 19, 198530 mins
Frasier is taking stock of his relationship, or ex-relationship with Diane, and although he wants to move on, he isn't dealing with it very well. He and Diane get into several words, none of them kind. Frasier tries to take some solace - very little solace at that - by "hanging out with the guys" who are watching football on this typical Sunday. Woody is having the best time as this week will be the third in a row that he will have won the bar's football pool. Norm offhandedly muses about how much money Woody would have won through real betting. Woody feels mentally ready to do so, and asks Sam, who knows a bookie, to place a $1,000 bet for him, that amount his life savings. Sam is reluctant to do so, even more so when he sees that many of Woody's picks are underdogs, but does agree when Woody seems determined to find anyone to do it for him. The next week, everyone is surprised that Woody actually won his bet, netting him $10,000. But an act by Sam may threaten those winnings, which perhaps can be solved by a certain car or a certain song.
Episode 13
Take My Shirt... Please?
Thu, Jan 9, 198630 mins
Norm brings prospective new clients into the bar, and pleads with especially Cliff to help his cause in landing the job by not shooting off his mouth. Norm changes his mind after he meets the clients, the Brubakers, and finds out a little about their background. Meanwhile, Diane is off to a public television station auction, which spurs Sam into donating one of his old baseball jerseys. He is doing it in part to help the cause, but also to relive some of his former glory as a local celebrity. The jersey doesn't seem to be a public draw, and thus may be relegated to Mr. Bobo's table: Mr. Bobo is a chimpanzee who draws viewer's names to which to give the items that don't sell. That fate is worth than death for Sam. As time goes on, the jersey sells and returns based on someone close to Sam doing him a favor by buying the jersey, then returning it after the ruse is discovered by Sam, who wants it to sell legitimately. Although the jersey doesn't end up on Mr. Bobo's table, the experience and end result do show Sam that perhaps his local celebrity status has faded.
Episode 14
Suspicion
Thu, Jan 16, 198630 mins
A strange man has been in the bar all day and is giving everyone, especially Carla, the creeps. He just sits there, drinks coffee, scribbles some notes every once in a while, and watches the gang. Increasingly, they all get paranoid. Could he be a spy? Could he be a detective? Could he be a detective spying on one of them? Everyone thinks he is a detective but that he is spying on anyone else but him/herself. Finally Sam is about to confront the guy and throw him out of the bar, when Diane confesses that "Irving" is a friend and classmate of hers, in the bar to conduct an experiment for her on paranoia - introduce a foreign element into an established secure setting and see what happens. The gang don't take too kindly to Diane's experiment and imply that they will get even with her. It's a few days later and they haven't struck yet. Diane is jumpy, thinking the most innocent gestures are the act of revenge, which affects everyone around her negatively. Diane becomes not only paranoid herself, but ultimately humiliated and hurt, the latter emotion based on what she believes her payback is or more precisely is not. Only one thing can get Diane out of her misery.
Episode 15
The Triangle
Thu, Jan 23, 198630 mins
Diane convinces Sam to go to Frasier with fake depression symptoms so that Frasier can analyze him and get his confidence back as a psychiatrist. But Frasier comes back with a diagnosis that Sam's depressed because he's still in love with Diane.
Episode 16
Cliffie's Big Score
Thu, Jan 30, 198630 mins
Cliff has been awarded Postman of the Year by his branch office - one of 267 awards given out in the Greater Boston area - and wants to have a woman on his arms at the Gala Postman's Ball. He ends up with what is an unusual problem for him - two dates - but the predicament he achieved in a typical Cliff manner. After he bribed Carla to go with him, his first choice of a date, Diane, who initially declined his platonic invitation due to a timing conflict, changed her mind and agreed to go with him. Cliff would rather go with "classy" Diane. Although the guys think he should go with Carla only because she said yes first and the fact that Carla would kill him if she found out he asked Diane first, Cliff makes up a story to Carla that someone else has expressed interest in going out with her instead. On a further bribe by Cliff, Carla agrees to the change. Diane with Cliff and Carla with who she coins "tall, dark and gruesome" double date, Diane unaware that Cliff asked Carla, and Carla unaware that Cliff asked Diane first. An unintentional disclosure post-ball leads to a series of events that may make Cliff regret asking either Carla or Diane, or that may still make it the most memorable date he has ever been on in every respect.
Episode 17
Second Time Around
Thu, Feb 6, 198630 mins
After a disastrous date with a colleague named Dr. Lilith Sternin, Frasier is once again despondent about his lack of luck with women. The guys think that Sam could throw Frasier one of his so-called castaways, and quickly Sam comes up with Candi Pearson as the perfect person to help Frasier out out his slump. Candi is a simple, fun loving gal, who is glad to help out Frasier, especially after she meets him and sees that he's got such a great forehead! But Frasier doesn't want either Sam or Candi's charity or pity, that is until Sam and Candi explain to him that they thought that Candi and Frasier could just have some fun. Frasier does leave the bar with her for a date. Diane is incredulous that Frasier would go out on a date with a woman such as Candi, someone obviously intellectually and socially lower than Frasier. The next day, Frasier and Candi come back into the bar announcing that they're getting married, and they want the wedding ceremony to happen at the bar that evening. Between now and the "I do's", will anything happen to stop Frasier and/or Candi from taking this impetuous step?
Episode 18
The Peterson Principle
Thu, Feb 13, 198630 mins
Frasier is doing some spring cleaning and getting rid of some things, including the slides he took when he and Diane were in Europe. When he shows the slides, which are all of Diane and only Diane, his actions show that he still has unresolved feelings about her. To renew this part of his life, Sam decides to take him out for a night of "Sammy carousing". Norm is in for some possible renewal in his life as well when he is up for a promotion at work. He really wants this promotion, as does Vera, and is up against one other person, Morrison, for the job. Norm comes into some information that could sway the promotion in his favor: Morrison has been sleeping with the wife of Mr. Reinhardt, the boss. Norm wrestles with what to do with this information. The gang at the bar each has his own opinion about what Norm should do. Norm learning Mr. Reinhardt's decision about the job, why he made that decision and Norm's own feeling about pleasing or not pleasing Vera in relation to the job are the final pieces in the puzzle for Norm to decide what to do.
Episode 19
Dark Imaginings
Thu, Feb 20, 198630 mins
Cliff brings in the next in the long line of home grown vegetables resembling something, this one being a turnip, with its green top, that he thinks looks like June Lockhart. The gang thinks Cliff has gone off the deep end, and Cliff himself finally agrees. Cliff wants to spend a little time with Frasier - in other words, Cliff wants some free therapy. The time with Frasier does Cliff some good, until... Meanwhile, Sam is dating a very young woman named Bonnie, who, generationally has more in common with Woody. To prove his 'youth' in front of Bonnie, Sam challenges Woody to a racquetball game. The game takes its toll on Sam, who, after the fact, is in pain, but hides it from the gang. He tells everyone he's off on a ski trip, but in reality, he has pulled a hernia - what he considers to be an old man's ailment - and goes to the hospital. Diane tracks him down to the hospital, where they have a philosophical chat about aging. Over the course of the day, Sam has a roller coaster of emotions about how old he is and feels.
Episode 20
Save the Last Dance for Me
Thu, Feb 27, 198630 mins
The Boston Boppers television show - Boston's equivalent of American Bandstand - is holding a reunion. Carla and ex-husband Nick used to dance on the show when they were teenagers, they being the best dance couple at the time. Carla wants to go to the reunion with Nick only because there is a dance contest with a first place prize of $500 and trip to Hawaii. However, when Nick - with current wife Loretta in tow - shows up to discuss going to the reunion together with Carla, they get into an argument about who was and is the better dancer. The argument breaks down into a contest pitting Nick against Carla, Nick vowing instead to bring Loretta. Carla first thinks about asking another old Boppers dancer, Eddie Csznyck, a great dancer who always had the dance hots for Carla. Eddie is willing but not able as he has an accident which sidelines him. Diane suggests to Sam that he take Carla. At one point in their relationship, Diane and Sam clandestinely took ballroom dance lessons, and Sam was good. Despite not wanting to ruin his macho image, Sam surprises Carla by telling her that he'll take her and that he's quite a good dancer. At the reunion, Nick/Loretta and Carla/Sam square off, but they are not the only dancers at the reunion. The reunion does show who are the best two dancers.
Episode 21
Fear Is My Co-Pilot
Thu, Mar 13, 198630 mins
Jack Dalton, a daredevil of a man from Diane's days of carousing in Europe, is coming by the bar. Diane isn't overly pleased to see Jack again as he was a part of her life she'd like to forget. He is bigger than life, and wants to live it to the fullest. Ultimately Diane tells him that she is no longer the same person, is settled in her life and no longer feels the need for the dangerous life Jack leads. Jack asks for just one last night out with her, up for a spin in his plane. Diane wants nothing to do with him anymore, but finally concedes if only Sam comes along. She needs Sam for protection from the will of Jack. Up in the plane, Jack hands the controls over to Diane as pilot and Sam as co-pilot while he needs to deal with something in the back. Diane and Sam are nervous but somewhat exhilarated. They are less so when Diane finds Jack dead at the back of the plane. With their life flashing before their eyes, Sam and Diane have to decide what they will tell each other in their final moments. The repercussions of what they say have a longer lasting effect than they could have ever have imagined.
Episode 22
Diane Chambers Day
Thu, Mar 20, 198630 mins
The divide between the sensibilities of Diane and the rest of the gang at the bar are first highlighted by Diane's latest date, who shows up at the bar dressed in Renaissance garb. But the greater rift is displayed when Sam invites everyone, including Frasier, to his place to watch The Magnificent Seven (1960), everyone that is except Diane. It is this act that makes Diane storm out of the bar in tears as the outsider. The next day, she's still wallowing in tears of self-pity. To make it up to her, Frasier suggests that they all partake in an activity that Diane would choose, including attending her favorite opera, Lucia di Lammermoor. Frasier makes all the arrangements, all the gang have to do is show up. Will the guys be able to endure a day of doing Diane's favorite activities, and will it make Diane change her mind about her outsider status? It may, especially in how she views Sam, who she believes arranged the evening.
Episode 23
Relief Bartender
Thu, Mar 27, 198630 mins
Although Diane and Sam were on the verge of rekindling their relationship following Diane Chambers Day at the opera, the flame subsides a bit when Sam goes on a date with another woman, despite the fact that Sam and Diane aren't officially dating again yet. But Sam has other things on his mind, namely business. Another sports celebrity is opening a chain of pubs which is bound to take away business from Cheers. So Sam proposes a new management structure, where he hangs up his bartender hat to become the full-time manager/host, welcoming guests and devising new ways to drum up business. This scheme opens up another bartender position. The staff at the bar think this idea is bad, but Sam goes ahead with it anyway. Sam hires a new bartender, Ken Charters, a young family man struggling to make ends meet before this job. A week goes by, and Sam's plan is a failure, as he isn't really good at coming up with money raising concepts and patrons are off-put by his hosting. This failure means that he will have to go back to bartending, and fire one of the bartenders. Despite Woody being a friend and having seniority, Sam has a difficult time justifying firing nice and hard working Ken, who needs the job more. What will Sam do?
Episode 24
Strange Bedfellows: Part 1
Thu, May 1, 198630 mins
This is a story of old relationships and new relationships with a little politics thrown in. Sam and Diane, still in the rocky period following Diane Chambers day at the opera, are trying to ignore each other romantically and one-up each other with the passion of their respective dates. Frasier is celebrating the first anniversary of Diane leaving him at the altar by spewing venomous words in Diane's direction, although deep in his heart he still loves her. Thrown into this mix is beautiful City Councillor Janet Eldridge, who comes by the bar on her re-election campaign tour. Diane, who is politically at odds with the Councillor, is spurred to work on the campaign of Janet's opponent, Jim Fleener. Asking for volunteers to work on the Fleener campaign, Diane gets Frasier, who has no idea who Jim Fleener is or what he stands for but who just wants to spend time with Diane. Unlike Diane, Sam gets along very well with Janet, who he starts to date. Diane is suspicious of Janet's intentions, thinking that Janet is only pursuing Sam to have a handsome local celebrity on her arms to boost her visibility and approval amongst the voters. It doesn't hurt either that Sam is Irish. But Diane is also concerned about the possibility of her relationship with Sam being quashed with Janet now in the picture.
Episode 25
Strange Bedfellows: Part 2
Thu, May 8, 198630 mins
Janet's civic election win has long occurred, and Sam and Janet are still dating. Outwardly, Diane should be relieved as her spoken fear was that Janet was just using Sam to score political points during the election. But Frasier calls Diane out on her true motivations, that being her romantic feelings for Sam. He also says that he does not see a future for Sam and Janet. On top of this, Diane overhears Sam admit to Janet that his longest relationship ever was with Diane, to which Janet responds that Sam should let her go professionally and thus personally. So Diane thinks she's going to beat him to the punch, and decides to resign before he can fire her. As she does so, she reneges as she feels she's giving Sam an easy out, betting him that he doesn't have the guts to fire her. As Sam and Diane argue about what to do about their professional relationship, there is always the underlying issue of their associated personal relationship. Meanwhile, Norm is having some issues at home, not with Vera, but Vera's visiting sister, the overtly sexual Donna.
Episode 26
Strange Bedfellows: Part 3
Thu, May 15, 198630 mins
Norm continues to have supposed problems with his sister-in-law Donna, which is made worse by Vera's absence. Meanwhile, Diane returns to Cheers, despite her assertion that she would never step foot in there again, if only to apologize to Sam about accidentally eavesdropping on his and Janet's private conversation. Diane doesn't have an opportunity to do what she wants, but gains some intelligence on how best to get the upper hand in her and Sam's relationship, which leads to a public spectacle. The aftermath of that spectacle leads to Sam coming to a conclusion about his marital life. Sam picks up the telephone and tells the person on the other end that he wants to marry her.
