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Season guide

Cheers: Season 5

26 episodes Premiered Sep 25, 1986
Previously on Cheers

Season 5 Lore Primer

Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.

  • ⚡ Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of Cheers Season 4.
  • ⚡ Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
  • ⚡ Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
  • ⚡ Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
Season 5 Episodes

Episode Guide

🛡️ SPOILER SHIELD

Season 5 Progress Shield

Future titles & synopses blurred. Tap "Reveal" on any card to peek.
Binge Efficiency Engine

Season 5: Filler vs. Essential Canon

Filter episodes by narrative weight. Focus on essential mytharc and skip standalone side quests.

12%
88%
Mytharc (3): Crucial lore & season climaxes
Core (23): Character development & subplots
Side Quest (0): Standalone / filler
S5·E1 Mytharc

The Proposal

Sep 25, 1986

We finally found out who Sam's telephone proposal at the end of the last episode was to - Diane! But Diane fears that Sam is meerely on the rebound after breaking up with Janet, so

S5·E2 Core

The Cape Cad

Oct 2, 1986

Diane follows Sam to Cape Cod in an effort to ruin his weekend with another woman.

S5·E3 Core

Money Dearest

Oct 9, 1986

Cliff's ecstatic when his mother decides to marry a wealthy man until the groom decides to give it all away to charity.

S5·E4 Core

Abnormal Psychology

Oct 16, 1986

Diane tries to help Lilith, the lady psychologist attracted to Frasier, to soften her appearance and surprise Frasier during their television debate.

S5·E6 Core

Tan 'n' Wash

Nov 6, 1986

The gang insists on getting in on Norm's new business investment then complains bitterly when it looks like a washout.

S5·E7 Core

Young Dr. Weinstein

Nov 13, 1986

Stung by Diane's attitude, Sam tries to impress her by getting reservations at the most exclusive restaurant in Boston.

S5·E8 Core

Knights of the Scimitar

Nov 20, 1986

Cliff prods a reluctant Norm to join his lodge and Sam thinks Diane has invented a suitor to make him jealous.

S5·E9 Core

Thanksgiving Orphans

Nov 27, 1986

The gang gathers at Carla's house for a Thanksgiving dinner of frozen turkey and overdone peas.

S5·E10 Core

Everyone Imitates Art

Dec 4, 1986

Diane becomes obsessed with tracking down a poem she's sure Sam plagiarized and had published in a literary magazine that has repeatedly turned her work down.

S5·E11 Core

The Book of Samuel

Dec 11, 1986

Woody delves into Sam's legendary black book to find a date to impress his former girl friend, who is coming to Cheers to introduce her fiancé.

S5·E12 Core

Dance, Diane, Dance

Dec 18, 1986

Frasier's effort to lighten a dance instructor's harsh criticism of Diane's efforts backfires when she decides to audition for the Boston Ballet.

S5·E13 Core

Chambers vs. Malone

Jan 8, 1987

Sam proposes to Diane again and ends up charged with assault and battery when she turns him down again.

S5·E14 Core

Diamond Sam

Jan 15, 1987

Sam regrets trying to buy Diane an engagement ring that is a cheap imitation.

S5·E15 Core

Spellbound

Jan 22, 1987

Diane and Carla console Loretta, who has caught Nick cheating on her. They counsel her to stand on her own two feet and leave Nick. When Nick comes into the bar to claim her back,

S5·E16 Core

Never Love a Goalie (1)

Jan 29, 1987

Carla falls for Eddie, a hockey goalie; meanwhile, Diane is foreman of a jury in an attempted murder trial.

S5·E17 Core

Never Love a Goalie (2)

Feb 5, 1987

Carla and Eddie are now in a relationship. Ever since Carla blew him the kiss and Eddie let in that cheap goal, Eddie has been on a slump. The most superstitious couple ever, Eddie

S5·E18 Core

One Last Fling

Feb 12, 1987

For the bachelor party the guys at the bar throw for Sam, Woody offhandedly asks Diane if she would be the girl who jumps out of the cake. Although she abhors such male sexual ritu

S5·E19 Core

Dog Bites Cliff

Feb 19, 1987

On his postal route, Cliff is bitten by a dog, and decides to sue the owner for $200,000. Madeline, the dog's owner, ends up being a beautiful, voluptuous woman, but one that is up

S5·E20 Core

Dinner at Eight-ish

Feb 26, 1987

Frasier and Lilith invite Sam and Diane over for dinner to celebrate their first week of cohabitation. But things start going wrong when Lilith finds out Frasier and Diane were eng

S5·E21 Core

Simon Says

Mar 5, 1987

Diane badgers a noted British marriage counselor into seeing her and Sam for a pre-nuptial session, then refuses to heed his advice.

S5·E22 Core

The Godfather, Part III

Mar 19, 1987

Sam's goddaughter Joyce Pantusso (the late Coach's niece) has come to Boston for a visit. Not wanting her to get into trouble, Sam asks Woody to help her out and show her around -

S5·E23 Core

Norm's First Hurrah

Mar 26, 1987

Norm elaborates on his new position with a top CPA firm and is caught in his little white lies when the gang decides to surprise him at work. Meanwhile Cliff finds a $20 note - and

S5·E24 Core

Cheers: The Motion Picture

Apr 2, 1987

The gang tries to reassure a nervous Mr. and Mrs. Boyd back in Indiana that Woody is fine and has wonderful friends in Boston by making a home movie of an average day at Cheers.

S5·E25 Mytharc

A House Is Not a Home

Apr 30, 1987

Diane is haunted by the memories of the couple who lived a long and happy life together in the home she and Sam have purchased.

S5·E26 Mytharc

I Do, Adieu

May 7, 1987

Dr. Sumner Sloane returns to Cheers on Diane and Sam's wedding day to tell her that a publisher is interested in one of her class manuscripts if she can go to work immediately on r