Recap / Cheers S 9 E 11

Episode: Season 9, Episode 11
Title: Norm and Cliff's Excellent Adventure
Directed by: James Burrows
Written by: Ken Levine and David Isaacs
Air Date: December 6, 1990
Previous: Veggie-Boyd
Next: Woody Interruptus
Guest Starring: Bebe Neuwirth, Paul Willson

"Norm and Cliff's Excellent Adventure" is the eleventh episode of the ninth season of Cheers.

One day, while bored in Cheers, Norm and Cliff decide to play a prank on Frasier and Sam. They call Frasier's bank to say his gold card has been stolen, just as Frasier's treating some colleagues for a drink at the bar, which forces Sam to destroy the card. This upsets Frasier, and he storms out of Cheers, vowing never to return.

Meanwhile, Woody's got a problem of his own: The young bartender's discovered the shopping channel, and unsurprisingly he's easily hooked by the crap on offer.

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Tropes:

• Bait-and-Switch Comment: Cliff's talking about how his mom watches the home shopping channel and pesters him to buy her stuff. He says "Who do you suppose bought her that TV?" Norm says "You, Cliff?" Cliff says no, but when he finds out who did, he's going to jam the clicker down the guy's throat.
• Big "OMG!": When Cliff takes the lead on confessing what they did, Norm plays this up to wash his hands of the whole thing.
  Norm: MY GOD, CLIFF! THAT IS FRAUD!
• Big "SHUT UP!":
  • Cliff's attempt to start with an easy target leads to Paul bluntly shouting, "Shut up, fathead!"
  • When one of his colleagues offers to use his credit card to pay instead, an already enraged Frasier shouts this at him.
• Buffy Speak: Sam says he has to cut up the credit card and mail the pieces back to the company in accordance with standard policy. When Frasier says he doesn't have to do any of that, Sam says they'll take away his "card thingy" if he doesn't.
• Characterization Marches On: Frasier's obsessive tendencies, oft-mentioned but rarely actually shown through Cheers, get a full display in this episode, and his tendency to brood over slights which will become a prominent part of his personality in Frasier.
• Credit Card Destruction: The Episode! Sam tells Frasier he had to attend a long seminar on the subject, apparently standard requirement for any rejected gold card.
• Credit Card Plot: Woody's plight, quickly maxing out his credit buying crap on the shopping channel.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: While being apologetic about having to cut up the card, Sam offers to run a tab or even put everything on the house so that Frasier can save face in front of his colleagues. This just makes Frasier even angrier about all this.
• Gone Horribly Right: Norm and Cliff wanted some fun. Their fun ends up causing Frasier to storm out of Cheers, then threaten to sue Sam if he keeps trying to make amends.
• "Hell, Yes!" Moment: Woody, upon being handed two credit cards to continue his shopping.
• Insistent Terminology: After getting the adequate term, Woody corrects Rebecca that it is called crap.
• Jerkass Ball: Frasier toward Sam, who doesn't want to destroy his gold card, but is required to do so, and then toward Lilith, who's not even done anything to him. In the later case, he does admit he's lashing out... doesn't stop him enjoying it, though.
• Large Ham: Frasier gets very worked up over Sam destroying his gold card, more so than has been seen before, but which will become much more common on his own show.
  Frasier: (talking about his honeymoon) Yes, I'm there. I'm in paradise... and I'm paying for the whole shebang with my gold card, which was gladly accepted and returned in one piece by a man in a flowered sarong!
• Laser-Guided Karma: At episode's end, Sam demands Norm and Cliff hand over their credit cards when they confess. They think he's going to destroy them, but Sam has a more devious punishment in mind. He hands them over to Woody, still in the grip of Impulse Shopping Addiction.
• Laughing at Your Own Jokes: Frasier tells his colleagues a joke. He's the only one laughing (and quite loudly, at that).
• Male Gaze: As Lilith tries to get Frasier to calm down and relax, she starts swaying back and forth, with her back to Frasier, who takes in the sights.
• Never My Fault: After repeated outbursts, Frasier insists that Sam made a fool out of him. Sam retorts that's all on Fras.
• No Sympathy: Frasier has apparently been complaining about the destruction of his card non-stop to Lilith. By the time we see them at home, she can't be sympathetic any longer.
  Frasier: Of course not. Sympathy is a human emotion.
• Noodle Incident: Lilith says her assistant has gotten into their lab's synthetic hormones, and she makes it clear this isn't the first time such a thing has happened. It's not clear what's exactly happened now, but the assistant needs to be bailed out of jail.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Woody gets so addicted to impulse shopping he snarls angrily at Rebecca about his need for credit.
• Orphaned Punch Line: Frasier tells a joke to the other psychiatrists that ends with "So the paranoid says, 'Help, help, they're all out to get me!'"
• Troll: Norm and Cliff amuse themselves by getting other people to argue with each other.
• Unwanted Gift Plot: Rebecca tries to be complimentary about Woody's new cow alarm clock. He opts to give it to her, and she tries to get rid of it without hurting his feelings.
• With Friends Like These...: To get Sam and Frasier to stop yelling, Norm is about to confess, only to pass the buck to Cliff. Once it all comes out, Norm tries to throw Cliff under the bus and feign ignorance.