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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
Brand: Paramount
EAN: 9781415706893
Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
ISBN: 1415706891
Label: Paramount
Languages: EnglishOriginal LanguageDolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Manufacturer: Paramount
MPN: PARD069894D
Number Of Items: 4
Publisher: Paramount
Region Code: 1
Release Date: May 17, 2005
Running Time: 635 minutes
Studio: Paramount
Theatrical Release Date: September 30, 1982
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
4 disc set including all 26 episodes including dianes final show Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 04/10/2007 Starring: Ted Danson Rhea Perlman Run time: 635 minutes Rating: Nr
Amazon.com:
Even as it bid goodbye to one of its core characters, Cheers enjoyed a fifth season of high hilarity that still holds up decades later. The cliffhanger at the end of the fourth season began a season-long courting dance between Sam (Ted Danson) and Diane (Shelley Long) in which both want to get married--but never at the same time. They argue, they see a pre-nuptial counselor (an Emmy-winning John Cleese), and then one has to make a final decision. But Sam and Diane weren't the only ones exploring relationships. Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) once again meets Dr. Lilith Sternin (Bebe Neuwirth) and, with the help of Diane, are soon cozily coinhabiting. Woody (Woody Harrelson) gets a visit from his ex-girlfriend (Amanda Wyss), and meets Coach's niece (Cady McClain). Carla (Rhea Perlman) seems finally rid of the sleazy Nick (Dan Hedaya, who was spun off into a thankfully short-lived series called The Tortellis) only to meet a Bruins goalie named Eddie LeBec (Jay Thomas). Then again, there were some non-relationship events, such as Diane's trying out for the Boston Ballet and the gang's classic Thanksgiving dinner at Carla's house (in which we finally get to see Norm's wife, Vera, sort of). But more than anything, the fifth season belonged to Sam and Diane. Their relationship ends in touching flash-forward and a wish to "have a good life." If only the departing actor's subsequent career had been so good. Like the fourth season, the DVD set has no extras. --David Horiuchi
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
For its first four seasons, Cheers was an almost flawless series. But at the beginning of season five, a number of factors conspired to create a seriously bumpy start. For one, there is an evident tension in the air directed at Shelley Long. Whereas in earlier seasons, Ted Danson and Shelley Long would be smiling into each others eyes in almost every scene (that special magic chemistry they had), here Danson, as well as the rest of the cast, can barely bring themselves to make eye contact with her at all. Perhaps the tension came from Shelley Long's attempts to remove Kelsey Grammar from the show, or perhaps it was the inklings that Long might "abandon" Cheers - and maybe sink it in the process. The impossible-to-conceal bad vibes are highly evident in the first batch of episodes, and effectively kill the magic between the two leads.
Secondly, for the first time ever, the Cheers writers made a serious mistake. For the first four seasons, the back and forth tension between Diane and Sam was played just right - stretching the rubber band, but never breaking it. But, in the first episode, by making Diane reject Sam's proposal, they wrote themselves into a temporary corner. Now, Sam was forced to play angry and grumpy (which just doesn't work) and Diane was morphed into a love-struck undignified idiot (which works even less and seriously cheapens the character). In other words, Sam just wanted Diane to go away, while Diane was hopelessly in love with him. That wasn't the kind of sparring or sexual tension that had made Cheers so wonderful in previous years. In fact, it is downright awkward to watch. Of course Sam loves Diane - she is his only salvation from becoming an ageing and ever more lonely Lothario. It is evident that this turn threw Ted Danson, as Sam just doesn't feel in character for those early episodes doing little more than looking angry. In fact, this was a shift in Sam's characterisation that never really went away right to the end of Cheers - in order to be able to lose the character of Diane, Sam was made to no longer really care. That was a mistake. The old dynamic: The neurotic intellectual who needed to just chill out a bit and the ageing stud who needed to stop running away from himself was shelved forever. "I am the best thing that could have happened to you!" Diane one screamed at Sam. And ever since Sam met Diane, he once told her, he has begun thinking and caring about stuff - even reading War & Peace. Now, the producer's dislike of Shelley Long slowly killed that whole dynamic, and in the eyes of this reviewer, cheapened the show forever.
Thirdly, this was the year that the famously bad Eighties aesthetics finally caught up with the show. Shelley Long is given an appalling mullet hairstyle, big shoulder-pads and pale unflattering clothing. It may seem like a small thing, but it looks dreadful. In previous years, Long's hair was beautiful as was her clothing, but the season 5 look just adds to the caricature of the idiot love-struck Diane. When Long ties her hair back in a few episodes, it is amazing how much better (and more like Diane) she looks. One suspects that many of these factors may again have been sub-conscious attempts by the writers and producers to sabotage the role of Diane to make it easier to continue the show without her. And the tension in the air was evidently so bad that they had to write an episode where the entire cast has a huge food fight!
Thankfully, the almost unwatchable grumpy Sam and idiot love-sick Diane concept is diluted by the episode "Everyone Imitates Art" (It might be best to skip all season 5 shows before that) - in which we finally get a very touching sense again that Sam really does care about Diane (he has saved every letter she ever wrote him). And after that, the season kicks off again (evidently, things were patched up with Shelley Long, as around here, the cast start making eye-contact with the actress again and Danson starts grinning at her in that magical way once more) but it never really climbs to the highs of the first four seasons.
Some of these missteps perhaps helped contribute to the later held idea that Long's Diane was "spent" and that it was better for her to leave and the series start afresh. It is true that the Diane in the early episodes of this season is unbearable to watch - but then again so is Sam. Some Cheers fans feel that the post-Long Kirstie Alley years cheapened the character of Sam Malone by regressing the additional dimensions that someone like Diane offered him and that the great Cheers magic was never really re-captured after Shelley Long left. Of course, there is no way that Sam and Diane could have not gotten married and Diane remained on the show. That too would likely have snapped the rubber band and seriously eroded credibility, not to mention viewer patience. But Cheers was a show that took risks (like when polling told the writers to get Sam and Diane together ... Read More
Rating:  -
It's hard to decided on a star rating for this season. In terms of hilarity, I found Seasons 3 and 4 funnier - and those were utterly hilarious seasons. Season 5 is imperitive though for anyone following the Sam and Diane romance as it ties up ends that had been in the making for a long time (namely the prior 4 seasons) so it will be essential to anyone following the series. While this season is funny and entertaining without a doubt, it doesn't score as high in laughs as previous seasons, and one reason for that is the preoccupation with Sam and Diane's impending marriage. However, while this season perhaps did not quite meet previous season levels of gut laughs, there are many moments of real thought provoking drama, proving again that while Cheers was a comedy, it was also a show of some depth in the issues that it non-chalantly tackled. Perhaps it was the right time for Shelley Long to leave the show, but seeing her leave in that final episode was somewhat like saying a last goodbye to an old friend. Diane as a character was obviously not without her faults, but in spite of those, she brought in concepts of higher education, literature, poetry, the arts - AND vanity, snobbery, and pretentiousness - how much more fodder could a character bring to a show?
In previous seasons Diane often vasicilated between sexy and cute and vain and high-brow, but in this season she truly reaches an apex of exasperating self-centeredness that will leave the viewer almost crying out at more than one of her stunts! She usually manages to relent at last, or is it Sam's easy-going nature that brings things back into the realm of stomachability. I'd not like this season alone to stand as full representation for her character. But even so, I found that at the end of the season, she'd more or less won me over again - well, I wouldn't want to marry her ;) - but to tell you the truth, it seemed to me that finally Sam stopped the wedding. You'll have to judge for yourself. In reality, Long had decided already that season 5 would be her last even though producers had offered her ridiculously high amounts of money for her to continue. Whether it was for spending more time with her kids, or to pursue a movie career, Long left after this season. I've yet to go back through the Rebecca shows on DVD and am looking forward to it, but as I grew up with the Diane era myself, these first 5 seasons are more or less gold for me. All of the characters in this show are unique and form an incredibly varied yet cohesive unit. I'd give this season 4.5 stars in terms of humour. In terms of 'the saga', it's indispensable.
Rating: -
This was a refreshing piece of nostalgia. Many people remember this series as the highest rated show on TV in its day. The charm is still there, and it's still just as fun. It is interesting to see the development of the character Frazier, which became a very successful spin-off. This product is delightful.
Rating: -
This is one show you can't get enough of. The relationship between Sam and Diane was one of TV's best comedic routines. Season 5 gets into their on-again/off-again relationship though unfortunately, Season 6 was Shelly Long's last season.
Rating: -
WATCHING THE OLD T.V. SHOWS ARE A GREAT WAY TO RELAX AT NIGHT BEFORE BED. THESES OLDER SHOWS ARE GOOD FOR AMOST ALL AGES WITH NO BAD LANGUAGE AND YET A VERY PLEASING TYPE OF ADULT HUMOR.FOR ALL US EARLY BOOMERS YOU CAN'T GET MUCH BETTER THAN "SAMMY MAYDAY MALONE " AND ALL HIS SIDEKICKS.YOU WILL ENJOY.
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