Cheers
What is... Cliff Clavin?
TV Flash files “What is... Cliff Clavin?” as hour 182 of 273 in the TV Flash guide — Cheers (1982–1993) on NBC, season 8, episode 14, aired 1990-01-18, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S08E14: listed hour 182 of 273 in the Cheers guide, hour 14 of 26 in season 8. It aired 1990-01-18 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Sammy and the Professor” (S08E13). Next is “Finally! (1)” (S08E15).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Jeopardy makes an appearance in Boston, and Cliff gets on the show. The Jeopardy! round had all 6 categories Cliff specializes in, such as celebrities or the US Postal Service. But when Final Jeopardy approaches, he loses all his money putting a stupid response "Who are three people that have never visited my kitchen?" and becomes depressed afterwards. Meanwhile someone has stolen Sam's little black book and started ringing all the girls in it.
Viewer FAQ
Where does What is... Cliff Clavin? sit in the Cheers guide?
S08E14 is listed hour 182 of 273 — hour 14 of 26 in season 8, season 8 episode 14.
When did Cheers S08E14 air?
What is... Cliff Clavin? aired 1990-01-18 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
- Ted Danson as Sam Malone
Ted Danson’s Sam Malone poured Cheers into ensemble perfection — will-they with Diane, bar-as-family, multi-cam peak craft, a goodbye America treated like civic weather. NBC nearly buried the bar; Thursday night learned your name. Later…
- Shelley Long as Diane Chambers
Shelley Long’s Diane Chambers made Cheers a will-they that NBC nearly buried, then used to teach Thursday night your name — waitress-poet steel, stool mythology, and a mid-series exit the gossip still litigates. She won major awards for…
- Rhea Perlman as Carla Tortelli
Rhea Perlman’s Carla Tortelli made Cheers’ cruelty a love language — waitress as stool mythology, a Boston bar NBC nearly buried, then used to teach Must-See TV how a workplace family outlives a romance. Eleven seasons of buttons. TV…
- George Wendt as Norm Peterson
George Wendt played Norm Peterson on Cheers — stool mythology, the regular NBC nearly buried with the bar, a name the room yelled like civic weather. TV Flash files him as Must-See TV's warmest button: ensemble craft you could set a watch…
- 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…
- Nicholas Colasanto as Coach Ernie Pantusso
Nicholas Colasanto’s Coach Ernie Pantusso is the original Cheers bartender as warm confusion — a Boston stool who made NBC’s nearly buried bar feel like a parish. Must-See Thursday learned your name after the ratings book almost killed…