Episode: Season 7, Episode 12
Title: Adventures in Housesitting
Directed by: James Burrows
Written by: Brian Pollack and Mert Rich
Air Date: February 2, 1989
Previous: Adventures in Housesitting
Next: Golden Boyd
Guest Starring: Annie Golden
Title: Adventures in Housesitting
Directed by: James Burrows
Written by: Brian Pollack and Mert Rich
Air Date: February 2, 1989
Previous: Adventures in Housesitting
Next: Golden Boyd
Guest Starring: Annie Golden
"Please Mr. Postman" is the twelfth episode of the seventh season of Cheers.
Cliff's got a problem - he's been assigned a new trainee on the postal circuit. Much to Cliff's surprise, this newbie is a woman, one Margaret "Maggie" O'Keefe, and she's every bit as nuts about the postal service as Cliff is.
Meanwhile, having heard about sexual stimuli from Frasier, Sam is determined to find out the song that turns Rebecca on.
The first appearance of Maggie O'Keefe, who'll be Cliff's recurring girlfriend through season 11. Also establishes Rebecca's fondness for "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" (at least, in the broadcast version. Reruns, the DVD edition and later episodes make it "Unchained Melody" instead).
Tropes:
- The Big Damn Kiss: Two.
- Maggie kissing Cliff in gratitude.
- Rebecca, moved to passion by the Righteous Brothers, successfully resists kissing Sam, but she does kiss Norm when he enters asking about his tab.
Rebecca: Please apologize to Vera!
Norm: Are you kidding? After that, Vera should apologize to me! - Birds of a Feather: Maggie is a female Cliff (only younger and better looking), with the same bizarre love of the mail service. Naturally, they fall in love.
- Cannot Talk to Women: Cliff. When Maggie asks if he wants to be with her, he not only can't respond, he shakes like he's having an epileptic fit.
- Cant Get Away With Nothing: Cliff and Maggie don't get beyond making out before a cop shows up at the door, looking for a reported missing postal vehicle. Seems Maggie took her van to their motel rendezvous. Reporting it gets Maggie fired.
- Chekhov's Gun: Cliff's fondness for "The Ballad of the Green Berets", which the gang use to guilt him into staying in America.
- Exact Words: Cliff declares there's nothing the gang can do or say to change his mind about going to Canada with Maggie. So they just hum "The Ballad of the Green Berets".
- Momma's Boy: Cliff and Maggie's problems start because Cliff doesn't want Ma Clavin knowing her son's been "doing bad things" (read; having sex with another human being).
- Reassigned to Antarctica: While Maggie gets fired for admitting the truth, Cliff gets sentenced to Zone 19, which he dubs "Rottweiler Ridge".
- Re-Release Soundtrack: In the version that aired on NBC in 1989 the song that turned Rebecca on was "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" by the Righteous Brothers. That's the title Sam says in a line of dialogue. But in every version of this episode available since — syndication, home video, streaming — the song that Sam plays on the radio is a different Righteous Brothers tune: "Unchained Melody".
- Series Continuity Error: It's implied Cliff is a virgin, when he says "My first time and I get arrested" as the cops rap on the hotel door. But Season 2 episode "Little Sister Don't Cha" established that Cliff had a thing with Carla's sister Annette.
- Stay in the Kitchen: Cliff's got initial views on women working in the postal service. Namely, they can work sort mail or sell stamps, but they shouldn't be out there delivering mail.
- The Triple: "This is my life! This is my dream!" "This is my shoulder!" Suddenly Cliff's concerns temporarily evaporate.
