Coach in Love: Part 1

Coach meets a woman as she walks into the bar with her daughter and is immediately taken with her. They have a nice time and eventually he asks her to marry him (pretty fast, huh?). But there is trouble ahead. Meanwhile, Sam and Diane are sparring over old items left at their respective apartments. This is the better part of the episode.

A lot of Cheers characters are polarizing. There are people who are Team Diane (the correct choice) or Team Rebecca. Even Cliff has his loyal fans. There is one big exception: everybody - absolutely everybody - loved Coach.

That might be why this episode and its followup are so hard to watch. Coach gives his heart to a woman in this one, only to have it broken.

Coach is so guileless, so sweet that you can't help but root for him when he's courting Irene. This is punctuated by Sam's hapless attempts to woo Irene's daughter. Norm and Cliff, of course, are crushed to see their idol strike out, but Diane makes the point that Sue probably just has good taste.

It's a bit weird that this is a two-parter, because from the start it seems unlikely that Coach and Irene will end up together forever. The big twist seems a bit contrived, knocking this episode down another star.