Shooter McGavin, Night Court and a Note on 80s Fashion

Something I've been doing during my course of watching season 1 of Cheers is pausing episodes periodically. I try my best to not pause too often because I feel as if it's somehow taking away from the spirit of the "experiment" of watching all 270 episodes. (If I'm constantly pausing, I'm not actively watching, right?)

Yet I do pause from time to time, usually to take notes or to write down dialogue I feel will serve some larger purpose. But then there have been the times where I've paused, grabbed my phone, sat on my coffee and snapped a picture because what my eyes see I simply cannot do with words anything close to justice.

Harry here has appeared in two episodes of the dozen I've seen thus far. At first I thought the actor was Rick Moranis but the credits reveal that Harry the Magician's real name is Harry Anderson. Knowing I knew this dude from somewhere, I busted out my iPod Touch's IMDB app (it should be noted while I'm watching Cheers I have no less than 6 hand-held devices and two legal pads next to me) and a quick search revealed that Harry Anderson is also the Honorable Judge Harry T. Stone from Night Court.

The fact that this guy looked familiar to me isn't what made me pause the show and snap the above picture. Rather, it's the outfit here. It's a bit hard to tell in the pic I took, but for starters Harry The Magician is looking some tight dark blue jeans. He's also opted for brown and green suspenders over a belt and is wearing and cream or rose colored dress shirt with a rust and yellow tie. And topping off the ensemble is the gray hat. In the scene above Harry cons Norm out of $10. This after he conned Coach out of $20 in the cold open. He later goes on to slyly maneuver his way out of paying Diane for his tab by making her think he's paid Sam the bill and vice versa.

Why the writers thought this was a character that needed to be created is beyond me. I'm just going to assume everyone working on this show was on cocaine and doing so, I'll answer most of the questions I'll have throughout the 270 eps. Nevertheless, I'll keep my eye on ole Harry, but I'm sure I won't see much of him come season 3 since Night Court will be on the air by that time.

And next we have...



As for the other photo I took, it's none other than Christopher McDonald best known around my apartment as Shooter McGavin. I can't begin to explain how delighted I was when he walked into Cheers with a big smile on his face. In his episode, McGavin (why even bother using his real name?) plays an up-and-coming BoSox relief pitcher whose been struggling as of late. Amidst a chorus of boos from the patrons, and foul-mouthed Carla in particular, McGavin's character seeks words of wisdom from "Mayday" Malone. The icing on the cake is the southern drawl in which the character speaks which is extremely thick in his first scene and all but disappears by episode's end.

In the scene I took a cell phone pic of, McGavin is hitting on Diane (who by this point has been hit on, kissed, or groped an average of 2.8 times per episode) after believing her offering to practice yoga breathing exercises together was an offer of intercourse. (Talk about a miscommunication!) The black pants he's wearing go very well with his gray sportcoat which looks like something every yuppie wore in the 80s. No problem there (except for the fact that he begins the episode speaking like a stereotypical "good ole boy" from down south). But what's with the polo shirt and brown belt?

I'm about a dozen episodes in and already I've seen Diane wear two different shirts multiple times. This, I think, is a nice touch as it adds a sense of realism to the show. But Harry The Magician wearing brown/green suspenders over a creme colored shirt and McGavin using a brown belt to hold up black slacks? Forget pulling me out of the story. These fashion choices led me to writing this post and, in the process, reading the entire IMDB and Wikipedia entries for Rick Moranis and Carl Weathers.

This experiment may take longer than I initially envisioned...