The Trouble with Tension

We all know that Cheers centrally revolved around the relationship of Sam and Diane. The "will they or won't they" tension played up by the writers laid the groundwork for tons of NBC sitcoms that came after (Ross and Rachel, J.D. and Eliot, Jim and Pam, and to a lesser extent Jeff and Britta).



What I didn't realize, however, is this tension began with the second episode, "Sam's Women." Here Diane quickly takes note that Sam is only interested in one type of woman, hot and dumb. This is clearly true yet Sam becomes unsettled by Diane's comments and strives to show her he's into intellectual women as well, leading to a scene where he brings in his ex-wife and the two pretend to have just returned from the symphony.

As they leave the bar again, Diane picks up the program left on the table and notices it's over two years old. "Well I didn't say we just got back from the symphony!" Sam exclaims to stereotypical laughter.

In episode 4 the two are talking in the back room with Diane giving Sam some words of encouragement - "Go for it!" And of course Mayday Malone does just that by kissing her. Diane promptly flips Sam onto the pool table, jujitsu style. She apologizes and explains it was a natural reaction of hers, learned from a class she took on "advanced feminism." Because, you know, feminism is all about hating men and all college courses on the subject teach you violence rather than theory...

The synopsis for episode 6 reads: "One of Diane's old college friends comes to the bar. She is vulnerable and looking for a man to give her an afternoon of unbridled passion, and Sam predictably jumps at the opportunity."

I find the use of the word "predictably" here to be interesting. It's only the sixth episode and the writers/creators have pigeon-holed their male lead as nothing more than a charming sex addict (but that's another post for another day).

It's in episode 6 that Mayday's morality gets the best of him as he joins her back at her hotel room but cannot follow through, instead opting to leave down the fire escape. Dejected, the friend returns to the bar and declares her love life hopeless to Diane, who in turn commands Sam make things right. Sam explains to the friend that he left the hotel room because he's actually dating someone. Diane explains that she's that someone and immediately Malone grabs her around the waist and begins getting handsy. (And by handsy, I mean the slugger's close to rounding 2nd base.) Again, we are six episodes into an 11 season show and it's clear this dude has a serious problem even if he's seemingly beat his alcoholism.

Yes, Cheers may have laid the groundwork for drawn-out romances that many of sitcoms of recent day have taken cue from. But instead of enjoying the fact that I'm going through the journey of watching these characters fall for each other, I'm finding myself troubled by the whole premise and how the writer's have thrown this romantic tension together.

And perhaps my own need to analyze anything I read or watch could be the downside to my whole "experiment"...