The 11th & final season of Cheers was a bittersweet one for me because I had only become a rabid fan of the show a couple years prior & was hoping this gang would stick around a while longer. The Frasier show gave Cheers fans the opportunity to catch glimpses of what may be going on in the fantasy land of Cheers Boston, although I think if Frasier never existed we may have gotten a real reunion of sorts. Frasier seemed to just give us enough, Cheers-wise, & no doubt Kelsey Grammer was not interested in touting past successes when his own spin-off would prove to be a massive success & run 11 seasons . . . just like Cheers!
I thought the gang & the writing seemed ever so tired in the 11th season. I remember Woody Harrelson voices his criticism of the quality of writing that year. I was quite surprised how much I actually liked the 11th season when I returned to it. There are some truly classic episodes but there is also the sense that they were running out of ideas. I think Cheers was in danger of jumping the shark with another season. Sammy/Ted looks tired & almost crankily uninterested in certain episodes; the Frasier & Lilith & Rebecca triangle; Woody becoming a Congressman . . . these are broad & almost desperate attempts at comedy. Luckily for Cheers, it still had good writers & season 11 survives an entertaining outro for this classic TV show.
I’ll let the following reviewer articulate the Cheers fans’ disappointment at the lack of extras on the DVD release (& it was too early to know of the many edits present on the set).
(from TV Shows On DVD.Com)
“We've got a look for you today at the rear package art of Cheers - Season 11: The Final Season on DVD [see above]. Fans have been wondering if the January 27th [2009] release would the Bob Costas-hosted special "Cheers: Last Call," which aired just prior to the triple-length final episode. OR if it would include any of the footage from The Tonight Show with Jay Leno that aired afterward, live with the Cheers cast on location at Boston's Bull & Finch Pub (which the bar in Cheers was based upon). The back of the box seems to answer these questions: the answer is "no." The only bonus material mentioned here is "episodic promos on all episodes." We're sure this comes as no surprise to many fans, who have expressed upset at how bare-bones many of the season sets for this program have been. One reader, Dean, quoted a line Diane Chambers said: "For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these: it might have been." Yes, that quote does seem applicable!”
Check out this exhaustive review of the 11th season DVD release from Sitcoms Online
Introduction:
It's the cozy little Boston bar where everybody knows your name... raise a bar to Cheers - the Emmy Award-winning smash-hit television series that kept the laughs uncorked for 11 seasons. In Cheers: The Final Season, it's finally last call, as the milestone comedy ends its historic run with Sam (Ted Danson) rebuilding the bar after Rebecca (Kirstie Alley) sets it on fire. Meanwhile, Norm (George Wendt) gets audited, Cliff (John Ratzenberger) gets promoted, and Lilith leaves Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) in order to live in a biosphere. And as Woody (Woody Harrelson) runs for city council and Carla (Rhea Perlman) sees her daughter get married, Sam invites Diane Chambers back to Boston, then pretends he's married to Rebecca! The uproarious sitcom goes out with a bang, with a 28-episode set. A tost to Cheers... and many happy returns! [MORE here]
Here’s another fan’s compilation of the edits from the last episode. It includes commercials & news items from their TV channel celebrating the last episode & an early spot for Fraiser.
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