Cheers (TV Series) Sumner's Return (1983) User Reviews

Sumner's Return (#2.5)

[ComedyFan2010 · 8/10 · 7 April 2014]

The guy who left Diane in the bar at the beginning of the show is back and he wants Diane to go with him to dinner to meet his Barbara. She reluctantly agrees but doesn't want to bring Sam to not look bad. But when Sam gets upset about it she brings him and it doesn't go too well. Turns out Sumner wants her back, only Diane chooses Sam.

A good episode to progress the relationship Sam and Diane have. Felt pretty bad for him but it all ended up well, glad to see Diane going for the one who loves her instead of the one who abandoned her, but that would mean the end of the show I guess. It was hilarious how Sam read War and Peace for her. Respect, I had a Russian literature class but when for the movie!

Diane's Inconsistencies

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 10 August 2019]

Let's face it. As big a sexist as Sam Malone is, Diane's hypocrisy continues to come to the fore. When an academic type comes along, shallow as can be, she feels it's her duty to let go of her general principles an humanitarian beliefs for her own self serving nature. She is a snob and shows it all the time. Sam read "War and Peace" to impress her and her former professor.

Another All-Time Great Episode

[dgplatt-60121 · 10/10 · 21 February 2024]

Of all the recurring characters on Cheers, Sumner Sloane has to be one of the most underrated. A perfect foil to both Sam and Diane, he combines the former's massive ego with the latter's pretentiousness. The only real explanation for why he wasn't used more has to be that his role was soon filled by a certain neurotic psychiatrist...

We begin with a pitch-perfect cold opening in which the show's most pompous character faces off with its most guileless. Coach is so genuine he can't even be mean to (in the words of Carla) the "total scuzzball" Sumner. Sumner wants to reconnect with Diane and have her meet his wife Barbara, but Sam sees through him. In an attempt to impress both Diane and Sumner, Sam decides to read War And Peace in less than a week.

Once again we get a mix of sparkling wit and broad physical comedy (since he no longer drinks, sleep-deprived Sam is a chance for Danson to act goofy). It all ends on the single greatest punchline in the entire series, and it would be a crime to spoil that,

Sam the masochistic moron can't get enough..

[ronnybee2112 · 3/10 · 5 January 2024]

This is yet another episode that is all about Sam and Diane. I do think that Ted Danson and Shelly Long did a fine job with their Sam and Diane characters. The problem is with the obsession that the writers had with the relationship between these two characters,which is sucking the life out of the rest of the show. Far too-many episodes might as well just be called,'the Sam and Diane circus'. In this episode,an old flame of Diane's,a college literature professor,appears at the bar and talks Diane into going out to dinner with him and his new girlfriend,to supposedly show Diane how great his new lady is.(?!) Diane agrees to go but Sam catches wind of it so Sam ends-up getting invited for what is now apparently a double-date. When the time for the date comes,the professor's new girlfriend supposedly cannot make it for some reason. It seems at least possible that the professor was trying to get a one-on-one date with Diane from the get-go,and Sam is an unfortunate and unanticipated complication for 'professor hotpants'.

The 3 of them go out. Diane and the prof spend the whole date speaking in French and discussing obscure literary minutiae that flies right over Sam's head. They all return to the bar and naturally Sam is disgusted. He tells Diane to just get back together with the prof,because she and the prof are a much better match.

The stage is now set for a simple,clean and easy break from the endlessly annoying Diane,and a fresh start for Sam.

The show is written as though Sam can have pretty-much any woman he wants, anytime,so what is up with Sam's obsession with the arrogant and pompous Diane? It's not realistic,at all.

The moronic Sam squanders yet another perfect opportunity for some long-overdue peace,happiness and freedom,away and apart from the insufferable Diane.

However,our guy Sam just cannot seem to get enough of a bad thing,so any hopes for an end to the 'Sam and Diane circus' are put to rest indefinitely. What a drag. 3/10.