Tim Berry Movies

The ABC sitcom It's All Relative had its roots in the 1920s Broadway hit Abie's Irish Rose, which chronicled the trials and tribulations of an Irish-Jewish married couple and their constantly warring parents. This time around, the wedding-bound duo were Boston bartender Bobby (Reid Scott) and Harvard medical student Liz (Maggie Lawson). Though deeply in love and committed to one another, Bobby and Liz were saddled with parents who just plain couldn't see eye to eye on anything. Bobby's blue-collar dad and mom, Mace and Audrey O'Neill (Lenny Clarke and Harriet Harris), were the Irish-Catholic, conservative-Republican owners of a Boston pub. As for Liz, she had two "daddies," wealthy gay art-gallery owner Philip (John Benjamin Hickey) and his life partner, Simon (Chris Sieber). Gloriously anti-PC, the series showed that the gay couple were equally as intolerant of the "straight" O'Neills as the O'Neills were of them. And avoiding the usual "old people can't do it anymore" sitcom cliché, it was obviously that both sets of parents enjoyed robust sex lives. Created by Anne Flett-Giordano and Chuck Ranberg and produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron of Chicago fame, It's All Relative proved an instant winner when the series joined the ABC Tuesday-night lineup on October 1, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Picking up where season nine left off, the tenth season of Cheers began with Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley) reluctantly agreeing to be the mother of Sam Malone's (Ted Danson) child. Romance did not enter into the picture: Both Rebecca and Sam were responding to the incessant ticking of their respective biological clocks. Ultimately, the consummation never came off, and the two agreed to stay friends, and friends only. Having spent several seasons as a recurring character, Lilith Sternin-Crane (played by Emmy-winner Bebe Neuwirth) was elevated to "also starring" status, although she still did not appear in every episode. Meanwhile, Lilith's husband, Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer), finally grew the beard that would remain his trademark until the series finally breathed its last. Season ten concluded with the series' first hour-long episode, in which Woody Boyd (Woody Harrelson) and Kelly Gaines (Jackie Swanson) were married. The event was deemed worthy of a TV Guide cover -- and it certainly did not disappoint, filled as it was with such last-minute complications as a dead minister and a gun-wielding jealous husband. Having attained the number one slot during its previous season, Cheers dropped back to fourth place, tied with ABC's Home Improvement. For the first time since the series debuted in 1982, Cheers was not honored with an Emmy, although it earned eight nominations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As Cheers entered its eighth season, viewers began to wonder if the long-awaited romance between Sam Malone (Ted Danson) and Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley) would ever blossom. Certainly Rebecca had not backed down from her determination to marry into wealth, as witnessed by her torrid relationship with Trump-like billionaire corporate raider Robin Colcord (Roger Rees). Perhaps hoping to prove his value in Rebecca's eyes, Sam spent most of season eight trying to buy back Cheers -- only to realize this goal in a most surprising fashion. In other developments, psychiatrists Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) and Lilith (Bebe Neuwirth) became parents with the birth of baby Frederick. Not long afterward, the much-married Carla (Rhea Perlman) became a widow when her hockey-star husband Eddie LeBec died in a freak accident; Carla's grief quickly turned to rage when she discovered that, not only had Eddie been unfaithful to her, but he'd had another wife in another town all along. Meanwhile, the romance between guileless bartender Woody Boyd (Woody Harrelson) and wealthy Kelly Gaines (Jackie Swanson) continued along its bumpy but generally satisfying path. The season came to a riotous conclusion when Rebecca's boyfriend Robin was arrested for illegal insider training -- with Sam turning Colcord in out of fear that Rebecca would be implicated. Out of gratitude, the corporation that owned Cheers gave the bar to Sam as a present, leading Rebecca to conclude that Sam had blown the whistle on Robin out of greed. But before Rebecca could renounce Sam once and for all, the couple found themselves locked in a very amorous embrace on the couch in Sam's office -- at which point the seventh season reached its cliffhanger ending. Cheers returned to third place in the ratings during the 1989-90 season, beaten out only by The Cosby Show and the sophomore season of Roseanne. Three Emmys were bestowed upon the series: Ted Danson finally copped a statuette as Outstanding Lead Actor in a comedy; Bebe Neuwirth (not yet a an "official" regular) won as Outstanding Supporting Actress; and the series' sound-mixing team (Robert Crosby, Thomas J. Huth, Sam Black, and Robert Douglass) walked away with its fourth award. Finally, although Cheers spawned no spin-offs this season, it can be said to have godfathered a similar ensemble sitcom assembled by two former Cheersstaffers: Wings, which began a long and healthy run in April 1990, and in the Thursday-night time slot following its "parent" series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Nobody believes Woody (Woody Harrelson) when he claims to have gotten a bit part on the Boston-based TV series Spenser: For Hire. The gang continues to have a laugh at Woody's expense until a certain Big Name shows up to verify his claim. Meanwhile, a practical joke -- involving an orangutan and a paintbrush -- puts a strain on the friendship between Norm (George Wendt) and Cliff (John Ratzenberger). Rebecca (Kirstie Alley) holds a ladies-club meeting that falls apart disastrously. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fans of Cheers greeted the series' sixth season in a heightened state of anticipation and anxiety: Now that series regular Shelley Long (Diane Chambers) had left the show, would her replacement be on the same lofty, laugh-getting level? And how would Cheers owner Sam Malone (Ted Danson) respond to a new female sparring partner? Well, for one thing, Sam no longer owned Cheers. When his marriage to Diane fell through, Sam sold the bar to a huge corporation and used the money to purchase an expensive yacht, whereupon he embarked on a round-the-world cruise. Season six picked up six months after Sam's impulsive act; by this time, the yacht had sunk and Sam was flat broke. Returning to Cheers, Sam hoped to at least secure employment as a bartender, but his prospects looked dim indeed when he found himself clashing with the bar's new manager: Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley), a smart, sassy, and sexy young woman who had no intention of succumbing to Sam's charms. Indeed, she declared early on that she was interested only in wealthy men who could advance her career -- men like her immediate boss, Evan Drake (Tom Skerritt). Despite getting off on the wrong foot with Rebecca, Sam was re-hired -- as an assistant to head bartender Woody Boyd (Woody Harrelson), who had, himself, been hired by Sam two years earlier. Other changes amongst the regulars: Waitress Carla (Rhea Perlman), now married to hockey player Eddie LeBec (Jay Thomas), gave birth to twins (Elvis and Jesse), bringing the number of children under Carla's roof to eight (and she became a grandmother during this season!). Also electing to make their union legal were psychologists Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) and Lilith Sternin (Bebe Neuwirth). And when not tending bar, Woody began pursuing an acting career, while accountant Norm Peterson (George Wendt) occasionally moonlighted as a house painter. Having spent the better part of season six trying to get into the pants of the rich and desirable Evan, Rebecca was left in the lurch when Drake was transferred to Japan. Would she finally "give in" to the persistent Sam or would she start casting about for another millionaire swain? (The answer, of course, would not be forthcoming until the following season). The departure of Shelley Long apparently had no negative effect on Cheers' popularity: The series remained comfortably in third place in the ratings, just below its Thursday-night NBC "neighbors" The Cosby Show and A Different World. The series also managed to earn another Emmy award, this time for editor Andy Ackerman, and was nominated in ten additional categories. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season five of Cheers opened with a resolution to the cliffhanger established at the end of season four, with Cheers' owner Sam Malone (Ted Danson) finally proposing to mercurial waitress Diane Chambers (Shelley Long). This proposal, and several more like it, would be rejected throughout the season, although, in the end, the couple would decide to march down the aisle. The recurring character of psychologist Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) was promoted to series-regular status, where he would remain until the 11th, and final, season. Perhaps to alleviate Frasier's loss of Diane to Sam, he was finally given a "steady" of his own: Prim, severe fellow-psychologist Lilith Sternin (Bebe Neuwirth), a character introduced as a one-shot during season four. Romance also entered the life of the perennially luckless single mom Carla (Rhea Perlman) in the form of Eddie LeBec (Jay Thomas), a goalie for the Boston Celtics hockey team. By mid-season, Carla and Eddie were man and wife; it was a foredoomed alliance, but, happily, the couple was unaware of this at the time. Regarding, Sam and Diane, it appeared by the end of the fifth season that there would be no more hesitation or second thoughts, and that they would indeed tie the matrimonial knot. This was the cue for the re-entry of Professor Sumner Sloane (Michael McGuire), who, on the eve of the wedding, implored Diane to accompany him on a six-month sabbatical so that they could collaborate on a novel Diane had started years earlier. Despite her assurances that she would soon return to Boston, Sam knew all too well -- as did the audience -- that he had lost Diane forever, even though a phony season-ender, in which the wedding went on as scheduled, had been filmed before a live audience to throw industry gossip-mongers off the track. Their on-camera relationship notwithstanding, it was hardly a secret that there was little love lost between series stars Ted Danson and Shelley Long. For whatever reason, Long was not exactly close to any of her other co-stars, and was anxious to leave the series and explore other professional avenues. Thus, viewers were fully aware that the series' fifth season would be Long's swan song, and, accordingly, they were fairly confident that the much-anticipated wedding of Sam and Diane would not take place. Ending season five as America's third most popular TV series, Cheers also picked two more Emmys: One was awarded to John Cleese for his guest appearance in the episode "Simon Says," and the other was bestowed upon the series' sound-mixing team (Michael Ballin, Robert Douglass, Douglas Gray, and Thomas J. Huth) for the third consecutive year. Finally, it was during this season that Cheers yielded its first spin-off sitcom, the short-lived The Tortellis, in which Dan Hedaya and Jean Kasem reprised their roles as Carla's disreputable ex-husband Nick Tortelli and his annoying spouse Loretta. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide