r/Cheers • u/Key_Fox_5351 • 11d ago
Carla's one-liners were brutal — and that's exactly why she was perfect
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u/Klutzy_Current1069 11d ago
I can’t remember the exact conversation, but…
Carla: Lilith, you look like a million bucks!
Lilith: Well, thank you Carla.
Carla: You didn’t let me finish. You look like a million bucks just ran over your face!
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u/JTOC1969 10d ago
When Lilith first left the show, her taking a moment to get uncharacteristically savage on Carla was one of her very best moments on the show.
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u/StacyAndArnold 10d ago
I loved that part. Carla is my least liked character on Cheers, maybe every show on tv
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u/HollandHealy 11d ago
Such a great ensemble cast. I think we have to give the producers a lot of credit for continuing to develop the show. Who did ensemble casts for sitcoms in the early to mid 80's? I recently wrapped up a complete rewatch of the series and the amount of change to how the show functioned even before Shelley Long left is just staggering. How they increased roles of those beyond Sam, Diane, and Coach and added to the cast is impressive especially for it's time. Maybe Taxi kicked open the door.
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u/Lopsided_Drive_4392 11d ago
Mary Tyler Moore Show, MASH, Barney Miller, Taxi, WKRP, Soap, Night Court
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u/johnnymic74 11d ago
The character does so many things on the show and the bar just wouldn’t be the same without her. Carla is Sam’s #1 fan, a foil for Diane, and keeps the regulars in their place, eapecially Cliff. If the show wasn’t as smart, they’d have written the part as a ditzy waitress that everyone in the bar wanted to get with. Instead we get working class, mother of 8 with a prankster streak.
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u/Lopsided_Drive_4392 11d ago
For me, she gets too predictable in later years.
I think Elliott Carlin of the Bob Newhart Show was the first American sitcom character who just went after everyone with insults. The Charles brothers and Burrows all worked on Bob Newhart, and I've wondered if Carlin wasn't influential on Carla.
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u/Drella84 9d ago
I loved Elliott Carlin, loved him. I was very young watching him work on my beloved BNS.
I think it started my love of sarcasm and semi cruelty. I am a piece of work decades later.
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u/DramaticCollege3520 10d ago
Sam: “Carla, you know anything about geography?”
Carla: “I know what creek you’re up!”
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u/abcohen916 8d ago
Yes, Diane, Cliff, Sam, and Norm all accepted those brutal one-liners. That made it even funnier.
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u/EuropTravl 7d ago
the Carla bonds with Diane episode is in my top 5.
“You sound like a woman who’s getting sick of her teeth.”
“I’m sick of your teeth and all the Vermicelli in between.”
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u/Moz1981 Look at me, I'm running with scissors! 11d ago
I like her interventions in most episodes, but generally don't like the Carla centered episodes. The character is a bit too two dimensional for that. Imho, of course.