Title: License to Hill
Directed by: James Burrows
Written by: Ken Levine and David Isaacs
Air Date: February 6, 1992
Previous: A Diminished Rebecca with a Suspended Cliff
Next: Rich Man, Wood Man
Guest Starring: Keene Curtis, Paul Willson
"License to Hill" is the eighteenth episode of the tenth season of Cheers.
The boys at Cheers are having themselves a late night poker game, leaving Rebecca in charge of Cheers, despite no-one actually knowing what her job is supposed to be. While the guys are having their fun, Rebecca finds out they've got one serious problem - the letter she was supposed to send renewing their liquor license wasn't sent. Cheers hasn't got a liquor license.
The sensible thing to do would be to close the bar, but if they do that, Sam will know that Rebecca screwed up and she's just as incompetent as he thought. They can get the license rubber-stamped the next morning, but that still leaves the problem of that night. Carla and Rebecca decide to power through the evening serving fake alcohol.
Kevin Sorbo can be spotted as an extra, sitting on the back side of the bar.
Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Apparently Esther Clavin will tease Cliff until he cries if he doesn't come home looking drunk enough.
- Amusing Injuries: Rebecca and Lilith manage to do themselves some injuries with the panel of the bar.
- Chekhov's Gag: The flap of the bar. Rebecca gets the bright idea to put it down so as to make more space for drinks. But at the end of the episode when she flips it up, it causes the whole rack of glasses above the bar to come crashing down.
- Chekhov's Gun: The vent behind Cliff and Norm's seats. Sam uses it to shout up "Oh look, there's a great big rat!" But Sam doesn't know that all evening Carla and Rebecca have been having frantic conversations about how the bar's liquor license has lapsed.
- Cigar Chomper: No late night poker game is complete without cigars.
- Drunk on Milk: Cliff manages to get completely wasted on fake beer, making an even bigger ass out of himself than usual.
- Former Teen Rebel: Apparently Lilith used to be the "bad seed" in high school.Rebecca: Whoa, that's one scary play.
Lilith: Oh yes, that's right. It was a play. - Henpecked Husband: Frasier pretends he's this so as to get in the card game, even though Lilith's giving him the A-OK.
- Implausible Deniability: Carla's method of dealing with the first customer asking for a drink, when he points out the bottles of bourbon behind her. She doesn't see anything. Anything, y'hear!
- Kick the Dog: Sam unleashes a vicious rant at Rebecca when it looks like she's caused the bar's entire problems. Then it turns out Sam is the one who screwed up with the stamps.
- Lampshade Hanging: A rare acknowledgement of the bar's panel, and how it's always remained flat (because otherwise the actors would have to go around it).
- Unsportsmanlike Gloating: Turns out Woody is an obnoxious winner.
- What, Exactly, Is His Job?: Even Sam and Rebecca don't know what the hell Rebecca's job is anymore. Rebecca manages to completely flat-foot Sam just asking "What do I do?" Even she figures her job consists largely of carrying receipts around in a cigar box.
