Cheers Cast 2.22: I’ll Be Seeing You Part 2

8 responses to “Cheers Cast 2.22: I’ll Be Seeing You Part 2”

1. While Mortimer Mouse may indeed be the correct reference, I assumed it was a reference to Edgar Burgen’s puppet Mortimer Snerd. https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/Mortimer_Snerd
   But you guys are probably right.

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   1. I’m inclined to go with you on this one, Clinton. He would see Sam more as a completely incompetent buffoon than give him the benefit of being call “charismatic”.

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      1. Me watching the episode: “LoL, they made a Mortimer Snerd reference, that’s awesome!”
         Later, me listening to Cheers Cast: “Hunh, they didn’t recognize the Mortimer comment … well that’s OK, not everyone gets every reference.”
         Me a moment later, when Rick googles Mortimer and comes up with Mortimer MOUSE: “Oh Google. With all your powers, how could you disappoint a user in need like that.”

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         1. On the one hand, we suck at our jobs.

            On the other, podcasting is not actually our jobs.

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            1. ^^^^^^ This.

2. Great job, gentlemen. I really enjoyed your discussion of this two-part season finale. I’m also now curious. Does anyone know who actually painted the portrait of Diane/Shelley Long used in this episode?

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3. I’m very impressed with how you guys handled this pair of episodes. This was really a good example of Cheers moving outside of its comfort zone and taking risks with some of the material that could have gone really badly and backfired.

   I was glad to see you debate the merits of actually showing or not showing the painting in this episode. So often, when a work of meta-art is talked up as a work of genius or something mind-blowing by the characters that experience it, it can’t help but disappoint when it’s finally showed to *us.* And I usually agree with Ryan that it’s best left to the imagination.

   But in this case, I think it’s really important to show the painting to the viewer. Not because of its artistic merit, but because of its emotional intent and the impact that it clearly has on Sam.

   I think this is the title’s double meaning. “I’ll Be Seeing You” isn’t just a reference to the Sam/Diane break-up, it’s a reference to the fact that until Sam sees the painting, he doesn’t “see” Diane or what she’s feeling.

   “Wow” is him finally seeing what Philip Semenko so clearly saw in Diane.

   I was ambivalent about it. We want to like the gang at Cheers, especially Sam Malone. And these episodes….are really rough to watch.

   Both with the way that Sam seems to revel in his “honesty” in the first part, and then seems so completely oblivious to the anguish that his behavior causes Diane. And their fight at the end goes into some really harrowing territory for a 1980s sitcom.

   I know that Diane is pushy and often quite condescending to Sam, and his line about feeling like a chimp is a really fair point….

   But, but… I don’t think it warrants the sort of cruelty of Sam’s response. I mean, damn.

   It made me wonder what Sam was like when he was drinking.

   On one hand I’m really disappointed that I didn’t get to record with you, and on the other I’m almost relieved that I didn’t. On many levels these episodes are really uncomfortable to watch. And you guys really knocked it out of the park with a discussion that was intelligent and insightful.

   Siskoid and Rick were terrific guests, and you all did better than I would have done. Great jobs and a terrific episode!

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   1. To quote Sam: “Ditto.”

      Honestly, I don’t know how Mike crawled into my brain and wrote everything I was thinking about in regards to this episode, and more, and doing it better than I could’ve. Sheesh!

      Ok, one thing. Carla punishing her tongue. Then turns around to smile triumphantly to Diane. LOL!

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