Cheers
Fear is My Co-Pilot
TV Flash files “Fear is My Co-Pilot” as hour 90 of 273 in the TV Flash guide — Cheers (1982–1993) on NBC, season 4, episode 21, aired 1986-03-13, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S04E21: listed hour 90 of 273 in the Cheers guide, hour 21 of 26 in season 4. It aired 1986-03-13 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Save the Last Dance for Me” (S04E20). Next is “Diane Chambers Day” (S04E22).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
A flying daredevil that Diane barnstormed with across Europe takes her and Sam for a ride and dies at 20,000 feet up.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Fear is My Co-Pilot sit in the Cheers guide?
S04E21 is listed hour 90 of 273 — hour 21 of 26 in season 4, season 4 episode 21.
When did Cheers S04E21 air?
Fear is My Co-Pilot aired 1986-03-13 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start if I don’t want all eleven seasons?
Begin with the 1982 premiere, then sample season five’s ensemble peaks. If the Sam-and-Diane voltage is the point, stay through Shelley Long’s exit. If workplace family is the point, the later years still hold.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Watch it as Thursday-night architecture: a bar NBC nearly canceled, then used to teach Must-See TV how a workplace family outlives its central romance. Eleven seasons of multi-cam craft, stool mythology, and exits the gossip still litigates.
NBC had a Thursday hole and a bar nobody was watching. September 1982: three networks, a Boston set dressed from a Beacon Hill pub, and a former relief pitcher pouring drinks while a graduate student treated the regulars like a seminar. Cheers almost died in the ratings book. That is not a cute origin myth. It is the oldest network move in the catalog — bury the slow starter, then pretend you always believed. Must-see TV was not a slogan yet. It was a dare the living room had to accept, or the affiliate would…
Filed against
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- John Ratzenberger as Cliff Clavin
John Ratzenberger’s Cliff Clavin is Cheers stool mythology — the know-it-all mailman in a Boston bar NBC nearly canceled, then used to teach Must-See TV how a workplace family works. Ensemble craft, regulars as civic furniture. On TV…
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