Shelley Long vs Kirstie Alley

The one Cheers scene I remember best involved Rebecca/Kirstie.

Rebecca was trying to snag Tom Berengers' character:

"I have to make him fall in love with me before he figures out how crazy I am!"

Words to live by.

Previously discussed here.

Kirstie Alley is still dead... Yea!

The Diane years were hysterical, but I preferred the Kirstie years. Rebecca, once they figured her out, was goofier and a fuck up. Calamitous. Shallow. I'm really glad Kirstie played Rebecca before she started playing Kirstie on the socials.

R1, I remember two-timing Robin Colcourt trying to buy her off with a bracelet, which she declined with gusto. Colcourt dangled something else and she visibly wavered. Sam said: Don't do this, if you do, you'll regret it for the rest of your life. And Rebecca charges away with him bellowing: You're right... I will take that bracelet!

Kirstie/Rebecca was much more colorful and fun. I always thought Diane was a one note character played by a one note actor.

I have always held that it was one of the most successful switching horses midstream ever. Diane was a tough act to follow, but the writers did it and KA delivered. Two entirely different characters, both very entertaining.

Both periods were mixed bags. The Sam-Diane attraction was dragged out too long—probably a matter of contracts and having no idea what to do after a final breakup with them. The early Kirstie years were tiresome because they didn’t know how to establish her or her tiresome crush on Robin Colcott (sp?). The show ultimately found its footing by making her less central to the plot lines with more attention to the supporting cast. A little Kirstie went a long way and it’s good that the show and she recognized that.

[quote]Both periods were mixed bags.

[quoteA little Kirstie went a long way and it’s good that the show and she recognized that.

I prefer Sam from the Diane years to the Rebecca seasons but I think the whole cast played off Kirstie better than they did Shelley.

I'll never forget Kirstie hiding a lit cigarette in her mouth.

I don't watch cultists.

Good riddance to the cunt.

Before Robin Colcord, we had Evan Drake. Rebecca’s crushes went on and on.

I preferred Diane and had a hard time adjusting to Alley. It wasn’t until Sam bought the bar back and the set went back to the original decor that I started watching again. And that’s when Rebecca started getting nuttier and nuttier so it was fun.

I lost interest after Shelly Long left. I know she was a handful, but the show was much better with her. Also, I hated the Frazier character. I despise that smug Kelsey Grammer.

^ I always found it to much of a stretch that a snobby psychiatrist would hang out in a blue-collar bar. I did like Lilith, though

I liked the Diane era more where they could balance between comedic and serious moments. The writing was very good.

Once Alley came on, the show lost that balance and got sillier.

Both. I liked them both for different reasons. Fun fact: Norm in real life is a pot head.

^ You mean Norm who looks like he eats three packages of Oreos a day is a pot head? No 🙄

It's weird, as I did not know how awful Kirstie was until the last decade, which really taints it-

But Kirstie, by far. She was a phenomenal comedic actress and so stunning during that time.

Her performance in the finale was perfection.

Horrible person, sorry- That cult really makes monsters out of people.

Alley was thin and put together in her first appearance. By the end of the series, she was slovenly.

@r16, and she belonged to two cults, MAGA and those other freaks. Double-whammy killed her 🙂

It's interesting because I love Alley as Rebecca, but during the Long years, the show was really much better constructed and tightly written. The show was very funny during the Rebecca years but was a mess (like Rebecca) and benefitted from the good will created during Shelley's time and thus could get away with sloppier writing and broader characterizations. Basically, the show in it's Alley years would not have succeeded without the Long years.

I know Kirstie had the great line I use to this day.

Example:^^^

My brother and I were starting to unload a packed U-Haul and he was getting ready to hand off a big highboy to me on the ground. Then someone said “why don’t you just use the ramp?”