Show cover for Cheers

The Best Episodes of Cheers Season 5

Every episode of Cheers Season 5 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Cheers Season 5!

The story about a blue-collar Boston bar run by former sports star Sam Malone and the quirky and wonderful people who worked and drank there.

Genre:Comedy
Network:NBC

Season 5 Ratings Summary

The best episode of "Cheers" season 5 is "The Proposal", rated 8/10 from 591 user votes. It was directed by James Burrows and written by Peter Casey, David Clark Lee. "The Proposal" aired on 9/25/1986 and is rated 0.6 point(s) higher than the second highest rated, "The Cape Cad".

  • The Proposal
    8.0/10 591 votes

    #1 - The Proposal

    Season 5 Episode 1 - Aired 9/25/1986

    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 asks him to repeat the proposal in a more romantic occasion, but when he does (on a boat), she refuses, causing Sam to make her walk the plank. Later Diane says she does want to get married, but Sam has now retracted the proposal.

    Director: James Burrows

    Writer: Peter Casey, David Clark Lee

  • The Cape Cad
    7.4/10 550 votes

    #2 - The Cape Cad

    Season 5 Episode 2 - Aired 10/2/1986

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

    Director: James Burrows

    Writer: Andy Cowan

  • Money Dearest
    7.3/10 545 votes

    #3 - Money Dearest

    Season 5 Episode 3 - Aired 10/9/1986

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

    Director: James Burrows

    Writer: Janet Leahy

  • Abnormal Psychology
    8.6/10 710 votes

    #4 - Abnormal Psychology

    Season 5 Episode 4 - Aired 10/16/1986

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

    Director: James Burrows

    Writer: Janet Leahy

  • House of Horrors with Formal Dining and Used Brick
    7.5/10 541 votes

    #5 - House of Horrors with Formal Dining and Used Brick

    Season 5 Episode 5 - Aired 10/30/1986

    Cliff finds a reasonably priced older home for Carla to buy that turns out to be haunted.

    Director: James Burrows

    Writer: David Angell

  • Tan 'n' Wash
    7.6/10 528 votes

    #6 - Tan 'n' Wash

    Season 5 Episode 6 - Aired 11/6/1986

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

    Director: James Burrows

    Writer: N/A

  • Young Dr. Weinstein
    7.7/10 530 votes

    #7 - Young Dr. Weinstein

    Season 5 Episode 7 - Aired 11/13/1986

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

    Director: James Burrows

    Writer: Phoef Sutton

  • Knights of the Scimitar
    7.5/10 527 votes

    #8 - Knights of the Scimitar

    Season 5 Episode 8 - Aired 11/20/1986

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

    Director: James Burrows

    Writer: N/A

  • Thanksgiving Orphans
    8.6/10 806 votes

    #9 - Thanksgiving Orphans

    Season 5 Episode 9 - Aired 11/27/1986

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

    Director: James Burrows

    Writer: Cherie Steinkellner, Bill Steinkellner

  • Everyone Imitates Art
    8.0/10 566 votes

    #10 - Everyone Imitates Art

    Season 5 Episode 10 - Aired 12/4/1986

    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.

    Director: James Burrows

    Writer: N/A

  • The Book of Samuel
    7.4/10 520 votes

    #11 - The Book of Samuel

    Season 5 Episode 11 - Aired 12/11/1986

    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.

    Director: James Burrows

    Writer: Phoef Sutton

  • Dance, Diane, Dance
    7.5/10 528 votes

    #12 - Dance, Diane, Dance

    Season 5 Episode 12 - Aired 12/18/1986

    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.

    Director: James Burrows

    Writer: Jeff Abugov

  • Chambers vs. Malone
    7.5/10 565 votes

    #13 - Chambers vs. Malone

    Season 5 Episode 13 - Aired 1/8/1987

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

    Director: James Burrows

    Writer: David Angell

  • Diamond Sam
    7.5/10 532 votes

    #14 - Diamond Sam

    Season 5 Episode 14 - Aired 1/15/1987

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

    Director: James Burrows

    Writer: Tom Reeder

  • Spellbound
    7.3/10 531 votes

    #15 - Spellbound

    Season 5 Episode 15 - Aired 1/22/1987

    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, a chivalrous Sam stands up for her. Nick takes that as a sign that Sam has stolen Loretta from him. So Nick threatens to steal the same from Sam, that being Diane. Nick makes an attempt to wine and dine Diane, then Loretta, then Carla and then any of the three who will give him the time of day. Meanwhile, Frasier, the chess expert, has met his match in simpleton Woody.

    Director: James Burrows

    Writer: Kimberly Hill

  • Never Love a Goalie (1)
    7.4/10 514 votes

    #16 - Never Love a Goalie (1)

    Season 5 Episode 16 - Aired 1/29/1987

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

    Director: James Burrows

    Writer: David Isaacs, Ken Levine

  • Never Love a Goalie (2)
    7.4/10 513 votes

    #17 - Never Love a Goalie (2)

    Season 5 Episode 17 - Aired 2/5/1987

    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 and Carla analyze Eddie's life routine since the slump started, the only change in routine being Carla in his life. Not only does Carla come to the conclusion that she may be a jinx, but so does every one else in the bar. Carla has to decide to dump Eddie and have him regain his winning streak, or stay with Eddie at the price of the Bruins. Or is there another solution? Meanwhile, Diane is still at the trial and still talking to whoever will listen to her. Reminiscent of 12 Angry Men (1957), Diane stands alone in the jury as the dissenting voice thinking that the accused is guilty, comparing the relationship of the accused and his victim wife to Sam and herself. If she can't win in the court of law, she figures, out of a streak of good luck, that she can win outside the legal system.

    Director: James Burrows

    Writer: David Isaacs, Ken Levine

  • One Last Fling
    7.9/10 539 votes

    #18 - One Last Fling

    Season 5 Episode 18 - Aired 2/12/1987

    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 rituals, she agrees if only to stop someone else from "pleasuring" Sam. At the party, just as Diane is ready to come out of the cake, Norm makes a comment which makes Sam re examine out loud for the first time this wedding and the fact that Diane will now be the one and only woman in his life. After jumping out of the cake mad at Sam for his comments, Diane later offers Sam a proposition: she will give him a last 24-hours of freedom to do whatever he pleases with whomever he pleases. Sam excitedly agrees until Diane throws in that she too will have her last 24-hours of freedom to do whatever she pleases with whomever she pleases. Will Sam still go along with Diane's plan and if so what will he do and what will she do?

    Director: James Burrows

    Writer: Cherie Steinkellner, Bill Steinkellner

  • Dog Bites Cliff
    7.5/10 530 votes

    #19 - Dog Bites Cliff

    Season 5 Episode 19 - Aired 2/19/1987

    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 front about wanting to help Cliff despite the fact that she has little money. Cliff and Madeline start dating, the gang at the bar thinking that it only a ploy on her part for Cliff not to sue. Cliff realizes this is the case, but is still dating her in hopes of trading dropping the lawsuit for a roll in the sack. Madeline announces to everyone that her lawyer wants her to get Cliff to sign a waiver to absolve her of any responsibility, but she refuses to do so. Perhaps Madeline really does like Cliff. Or maybe she's got other methods of getting her way. Madeline and Cliff make it all the way to bed in a nice suite at the Ritz, when... Meanwhile, Diane is off on a Buddhist monastery retreat for a couple of weeks.

    Director: James Burrows

    Writer: Joanne Pagliaro

  • Dinner at Eight-ish
    8.8/10 869 votes

    #20 - Dinner at Eight-ish

    Season 5 Episode 20 - Aired 2/26/1987

    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 engaged, and she locks herself in the bathroom. Then Sam and Diane have an argument as well. Meanwhile Cliff agrees to babysit Carla's kids.

    Director: James Burrows

    Writer: Phoef Sutton

  • Simon Says
    8.6/10 758 votes

    #21 - Simon Says

    Season 5 Episode 21 - Aired 3/5/1987

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

    Director: James Burrows

    Writer: Peter Casey, David Clark Lee

  • The Godfather, Part III
    7.4/10 499 votes

    #22 - The Godfather, Part III

    Season 5 Episode 22 - Aired 3/19/1987

    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 - but Woody and Joyce have a surprise for Sam when they get engaged!

    Director: James Burrows

    Writer: Chris Cluess, Stu Kreisman

  • Norm's First Hurrah
    7.4/10 499 votes

    #23 - Norm's First Hurrah

    Season 5 Episode 23 - Aired 3/26/1987

    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 Woody has lost one.

    Director: James Burrows

    Writer: Andy Cowan

  • Cheers: The Motion Picture
    7.8/10 529 votes

    #24 - Cheers: The Motion Picture

    Season 5 Episode 24 - Aired 4/2/1987

    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.

    Director: Tim Berry

    Writer: Phoef Sutton

  • A House Is Not a Home
    7.1/10 534 votes

    #25 - A House Is Not a Home

    Season 5 Episode 25 - Aired 4/30/1987

    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.

    Director: James Burrows

    Writer: Phoef Sutton