"Woody Interruptus" is the twelfth episode of ''
Cheers
''Cheers'' is an American television sitcom, created by Glen and Les Charles, Glen Charles & Les Charles and James Burrows, that aired on NBC for eleven seasons from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/C ...
''s
ninth season. It first aired on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
in the United States on December 13, 1990.
[Bjorklund 1993, p. 415. "Season Nine: 1990-91."] In the episode, Kelly returns from France with a male friend who says he's going to steal her from Woody. Woody deals with this by deciding to sleep with Kelly. This episode earned its director
James Burrows
James Burrows (born December 30, 1940), sometimes known as Jim "Jimmy" Burrows, is an American television director. He has received numerous accolades including 11 Primetime Emmy Awards and five Directors Guild of America Awards. He was honored ...
accolades for Best Directing in 1991 and gained high viewership at its first airing.
Plot
Kelly and Henrí return from France. Henrí, who Sam later learns is an arrogant womanizer during a conversation with him at the bar, swears to
Woody that he is attempting to steal Kelly from Woody. Woody becomes angry as he realizes that Henrí is serious about his claims to take Kelly from him, while the naïve Kelly often dismisses Woody's concerns, claiming Henrí's attempts as jokes. When Woody becomes worried about losing her to Henrí,
Sam suggests a motel to improve Woody and Kelly's relationship. Woody takes Kelly out to a cheap motel for their evening together, but
Carla
Carla is the feminized version of Carl, Carlos or Charles, from ''ceorl'' in Old English, which means "free man".
People
Notable people with the name include:
* Carla Lazzari (born 2005), French singer and former member of the children's mus ...
arrives to stop them. Carla tells them that making out in a cheap motel is a bad idea, that she got
pregnant when she was sixteen in the same motel, and that their love is too precious for such a setting. Then the couple decide to save their moment for the right time, so they leave, while Carla brings in and then tries to seduce Henrí.
Meanwhile, Cliff tells his friends that he plans to
freeze his head after death, but they mock him and his plans. Therefore, Cliff and
Frasier
''Frasier'' () is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for 11 seasons from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey (screenwriter), Peter Casey, and David Lee (scr ...
pull a
prank
A practical joke or prank is a trick played on people, generally causing the victim to experience embarrassment, perplexity, confusion, or discomfort.Marsh, Moira. 2015. ''Practically Joking''. Logan: Utah State University Press. The perpetrat ...
on bar patrons by bringing a box of apparently a frozen head, which turn out to be only a
microcassette
The Microcassette (often written generically as microcassette) is an audio storage medium, introduced by Olympus in 1969.
It has the same width of magnetic tape as the Compact Cassette but in a cassette roughly one quarter the size. By using ...
. At the end, Frasier, Norm and Paul pull a prank on Cliff by pretending to be
decapitated
Decapitation is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and all vertebrate animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood by way of severing through the jugular vein and common ...
.
Reception
The episode earned director James Burrows the
at the
43rd Primetime Emmy Awards
The 43rd Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, August 25, 1991. The ceremony was broadcast on Fox from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California. The network TNT received its first major nomination at this ceremony.
For its ni ...
in 1991,
[Bjorklund 1993, p. 462. "Emmy Nominations and Awards."] as well as the
at the
43rd Directors Guild of America Awards.
The episode placed first in the
Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
Ratings for the week. It scored a 22.6 rating and a 36 share, which placed it ahead of second-place finisher ''
60 Minutes
''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who distinguished it from other news programs by using a unique style o ...
'', which had a 20.6 rating and a 36 share.
The episode was watched by an estimate of 33.8 million viewers.
References
;General
* Bjorklund, Dennis A. ''Cheers TV Show: A Comprehensive Reference''. Praetorian Publishing, 1993. Another edition: ''Toasting Cheers'' ().
External links
*
{{Navboxes
, title = Awards for "Woody Interruptus"
, list =
{{DirectorsGuildofAmericaOutstandingDirectingComedySeries
{{EmmyAward ComedyDirector
1990 American television episodes
Cheers episodes
Television episodes directed by James Burrows
Emmy Award–winning episodes