Getting To The Bottom Of The Bottle: 25 Best Bottle Episodes

Photo: NBC

Cheers – “Endless Slumper”

As with other shows on this list, you could make a case that every episode of Cheers was a bottle episode. After all, we didn’t see much more than that barroom, but we’re playing with the premise here and this episode deserves a mention.

“Endless Slumper” pushes Sam’s alcoholism to the foreground, without a “very special episode” feel to it. There were never any cloying moments of sentimentality, nor was it exploitative. It was beautiful in its simplicity, yet incredibly well wrought with layers and layers of double entendres and puns. This show allowed its characters to perform for each other, and the result was something more magical than anything else since.

Sam loans his lucky bottle cap to an up and coming pitcher who’s been in a slump, but without it, Sam’s having a run of bad luck. Thinking his misfortune is the result of losing the totem, a series of minor accidents befall him, and he becomes despondent. Here is where we learn the cap was from his last bottle of booze before he got sober, and without it, he’s feeling close to relapse.

If you need evidence of what an incredible actor Ted Danson is, watch the last few moments of the episode, in which he passes up the chance to drink the beer in his hand. He physically readjusts his countenance, and you can see him resetting. It’s gorgeous, prolific acting, and a thing of beauty.