MovieChat Forums > Cheers (1982) Discussion > Would a Norm & Cliff Spin-Off show still...

Would a Norm & Cliff Spin-Off show still work?


Both actors are still working, so maybe for a season or two or just a one hour special, here’s my pitch for a pilot:

We meet Norm again in a wheelchair at the grave of his wife Vera, he’s then taken to a new nursing home for the first time, during the journey we find out he’s banned from drinking alcohol but he still manages to foil his carers.

At the care home he’s reunited with Cliff, who’s he’s not talked to in twenty years over some silly argument neither remembers starting, the two team up to escape the nursing home and return to Cheers to find it as it was but with new staff, as soon as Norm is wheeled in by Cliff everyone shouts Norm’s name!

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i say no sorry

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I think some things are better off being left alone.

Being funny as a side character doesn't always mean that a show revolving around you would be good. They struck gold with Frasier, but doesn't necessarily mean that it would work again.

Besides, it's been too long. Having a sitcom about an aging drunk who has lost his wife sounds quite a depressing subject for a sitcom.

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"Having a sitcom about an aging drunk who has lost his wife sounds quite a depressing subject for a sitcom."

ITS CALLED ARCHIE BUNKER'S PLACE.

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I've not heard of that one.

I'm from the UK, maybe we didn't receive that one? I'll look it up.

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It was the successor to All in the Family and was actually done quite well.

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I don't recall Archie being a drunk. Was the other poster mistaken?

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I was responding to hurricane. Archie was never a drunk.

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Thanks

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AN ANGRY OLD WIDOWER WHO OWNS A BAR AND IS KNOWN FOR MOOD SWINGS AND HIS TEMPER...YEAH,ARCHIE WAS CLEAN & SOBER.

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I'm from the UK too, Archie Bunker was based on Alf Garnett, and if you’re familiar with Till Death Us Do Part you can see the comparisons between Alf and Archie.

Even though it wasn’t aired in the UK, I’ve watched some of Archie Bunker’s first show All in the Family and found it funnier than Till Death Us Do Part, he’s a great character and an inspiration for Family Guy.

Archie Bunker’s place was spin off from the original show, kinda like In Sickness and in Health was a spin off from Till Death Us Do Part, even though both starred the main character.

You can find full episodes of All in the Family on YouTube.

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I have heard of All In The Family.

Weirdly, I watched an episode online earlier this year. Had never watched it before. Definitely a parallel between this and Alf Garnett. I preferred Til Death Us Do Part, if I'm honest.

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A spinoff after all this time would not work. And frankly, I wouldn't have wanted one at any point in the past. Those two characters worked well in small doses. If they tried to create a whole show around them, it would be equivalent to that spinoff of Three's Company called "The Ropers" (awful).....or the spinoff of Happy Days called "Joannie Loves Chachi" (awful).

What (could) potentially be fun is to bring the full cast back for a limited run (kinda like what they did with "WIll & Grace". It would be cool to see the old gang back in the bar again riffing....but I think too much time has passed, and everyone has gotten a bit too old. But.....never say never.

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"They struck gold with Frasier, but doesn't necessarily mean that it would work again."

I remember when they announced Frasier as a spin-off series, my thought was: "Frasier?! He's a one-note second-tier character. Why that guy?"

I watched the first ep or two... new city, new cast of unknown supporting characters. I was more convinced than ever they had made a terrible mistake.

How wrong I was...

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I guess maybe him being a 'one-note character' helped. They could flesh him out a bit, maybe take the character in a different direction. They did change him a bit, I guess, because he started looking down his nose at people who drank beer and hung round in bars. But you could say that was more him falling back into his old habits when back with Niles.

Really, as funny as they were, it's hard to see what they'd do with Norm And Cliff in a new series. I can't imagine them being that different to what they were like in Cheers. They might move them to a new bar, or put them in different settings, but I can't imagine how they'd write episodes around them that didn't feature the rest of the Cheers gang. Or move the characters on any.

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Frasier was perfect for the 1990's. The world had moved on from Norm and Cliff a long time ago.

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Maybe in the 90s. Not now. They are both 70+ years old.

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Today's TV market has changed quite a bit, so a one-off special could work, but a regular show? No way in hell. Cheers hasn't been relevant in decades.

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