Cheers (TV Series) Father Knows Last (1983) User Reviews

Father Knows Last (#1.15)

[ComedyFan2010 · 7/10 · 4 April 2014]

Carla is pregnant again and she tells the MIT professor that it is his kid to get some support. But Diane figures it out and shames Carla into confessing the truth. The whole bar crew and the regulars though feel very bad for Carla and decide to all "adopt" the child and help Carla to support and taking care of him.

Oh man, I can't stand Diane. Really, don't get me wrong, I find it very wrong to trick men into believing that your kid is theirs. But her high morality and sticking her nose into other people businesses just getting on my nerves.

Carla was great in this episode though. Her laying on the pool table eating pickles was hilarious. And the final scene with her walking with the donation jar in front of the singing crowd was very well done.

Carla and The PhD from MIT

[dgplatt-60121 · 7/10 · 21 January 2024]

(It's pretty much impossible to talk about this episode without spoilers)

This is not Carla's finest hour. While she's never been a paragon of ethics, what she attempts here is downright sleazy. This is one of those rare occasions where Diane is completely in the right.

Another factor that makes this episode weird is Marshall's over the top nerdiness. When he was a secondary character in the previous episode's subplot, his broad acting didn't matter as much. In this episode his acting style clashes with the rest of the cast.

However, we do get some insight into Carla's character. She's been done wrong by men before, and she sees Marshall as a way out of this. We also see that the bar (including Diane, in her way) care about her.

There are some genuinely funny bits that bring this episode up a few points. There's the infamous scene where Cliff walks in on Carla's demonstration of Nick's seduction technique, and misconstrues it as something very different. There's also Diane's attempt to Telltale-Heart Carla into confessing ("Maybe you need bigger ba-booms?")

(One last thought - considering that this episode starts with Carla visibly pregnant, it's weird that it aired the week after Let Me Count The Ways. Maybe the original plan was to split them up during the season?)

One of the few missteps of Season 1

[TrentinaNE · 4/10 · 2 September 2014]

Season 1 of Cheers is nearly flawless, but this episode sticks out like a sore thumb. I know they had to write Rhea Perlman's pregnancy into the storyline, but ugh, this was a lousy way to do it. I find no humor at all in the prospect of Carla trying to foist fatherhood on sweet MIT physicist Marshall Lipton, after she becomes pregnant from a one-night-stand with her ex-husband, Nick. Good for Diane for shaming her into coming clean, but then Diane also tries to convince Marshall to marry Carla anyway? Uh, just no. The ending has the Cheers crowd serenading Carla with "You'll Never Walk Alone" -- this is writer Heide Perlman (Rhea's sister) at her worst.

There's Always a Clunker Along the Way

[Hitchcoc · 5/10 · 6 August 2019]

This episode just didn't click. Carla is pregnant and she attempts to make a nerdy MIT professor the father. He had a single encounter, which makes him a possibility. But Diane is on to her and much of the show involves a big time guilt trip, perpetrated by her. But the show gets utterly sappy at the end and Diane becomes a buffoon after so much integrity and strength.