Cheers Cast 10.05: Ma’s Little Maggie

3 responses to “Cheers Cast 10.05: Ma’s Little Maggie”

1. My Boston-born grandmother used to say “de-loox”. She’s the only other person I ever heard pronounce it like that.

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2. Great discussion. Cliff-centric episodes are generally not my favorite, but this one had some funny moments. This could be the backdoor pilot for the Cliff spinoff series starring Cliff, his mom, and Maggie. In the spinoff, Cliff and Maggie live together (married or not) in his apartment with his mom as their roommate. Norm appears once or twice a season as a special guest star during sweeps months. Ma leaves the series in the ninth season when she takes an extended trip to Bosnia (as we learned on an episode of Frasier). Okay, I don’t think that spinoff idea would work, but it is amazing how many episodes of Cheers could be backdoor pilots, which shows the strength of the main cast and recurring characters.

   I also like how we had Frasier as the person who Cliff talks to in the office. In the early years Cliff would have talked to Sam. But using Frasier occasionally as the go-to for other characters, like Cliff here and Carla a couple episodes ago, shows how Frasier is capable of functioning as the center of an ensemble as he would later become on his own show. And frankly, I thought Frasier’s advice was quite helpful, even though he of course then acted contrary to what he said when Maggie came into the office.

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   1. That’s a hilarious idea, Mike! But it needs a title. “Leave it to Clavin?” “Everybody Loves Cliff?” Ooo, or maybe “Cliff’s Notes!”

      And that’s very astute. I hadn’t thought about the significance of Frasier being Cliff’s confidant here. Sam was indisposed, shall we say, so it didn’t click how this was a change from previous stories. Excellent point!

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