Hey, so you know how Cheers is the best? It turns out there was an episode, “Uncle Sam Malone,” commissioned by the government to promote U.S. Savings Bonds, and you can watch it right now.
The episode was apparently produced during the show’s first season. It has the Cheers gang talking about buying savings bonds since Cliff is cashing in on some to go to Tahiti. (It’s a magical place.) Diane is skeptical (because she’s the worst), and Carla isn’t sure she makes enough to be able to save anything.
It’s basically a commercial, sure, but it’s still very much an episode of Cheers. It’s only 11 minutes and 53 seconds, so it’s about half a regular episode. But if this were a scene from a full episode, it wouldn’t stand out too much from the rest of the show. Cheers is a show about people talking in a bar, and savings bonds are as good a thing to talk about in a bar as anything else.
It’s actually set up very well in the context of the show. Cliff, a government employee, has already been taking advantage of the bonds, and he’s ready to cash in for a vacation. Norm is an accountant, so he knows all about them. Coach is as clueless as ever.
The episode was produced in 1983 before the show was that popular, and it’s been online for a few years now. We saw it on the Facebook page for Bullseye with Jesse Thorn, which besides posting episodes and links to things guests have done, is also a pretty good source for cool stuff from around the Internet.
(Ralph Phillips via Bullseye, image via Cheers)
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- Dick Cavett (who once appeared on Cheers) has a webseries with Dave Hill
- Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at how Bullseye gets made
