Report:Cheers "Fail Safe" scene from the episode Bar Wars III: The Return Of Tecumseh 20210919001
More than a decade ago, I decided to do a re-watch "Cheers" for the first time since I was a kid. I have re-watched the series numerous times since. It's probably my favorite sitcom of all time and, while I've always enjoy watching it, it has long bothered me that the versions available on DVD, as well as various streaming services, differ from the episodes I first watched in the 80's and 90's. There are many instances where either the music has been changed or scenes have been edited. The series finale was cut significantly in the version currently available. Another episode that had a scene cut was one of my all-time favorites— Bar Wars III: The Return Of Tecumseh, from Season 8.
In Bar Wars III, there is a very memorable scene where the guys in the bar torment the Fire Marshall, thinking that Gary, from Gary's Old Towne Tavern, is trying to pull a prank on them— only to find out that it was indeed the real Fire Marshall. Frustrated and paranoid, waiting for Gary to attack, Cliff offers a plan— to prank themselves before Gary has a chance. To illustrate his plan, Cliff shares the plot of the 1964 Henry Fonda movie "Fail Safe".
While part of this scene is still there, roughly 30 seconds has been removed from every available copy. For years, this drove me absolutely insane! I vividly remembered Cliff making a couple of funny remarks about the movie "Fail Safe" but they seemed to have been completely removed. Was I crazy? Was my memory failing me? Or were these jokes actually cut out? I mean, re-watching the episode, once Cliff mentioned "Fail Safe", there did seem to be a rather rough and jarring edit, with Norm seemingly understanding the reference without any explanation from Cliff. Were jokes cut for time? Possibly... but I don't think so.
Thinking it over, I do have a theory as to why this particular scene was cut. I remember watching this episode in reruns throughout the 90's and the dialogue about "Fail Safe" was always present. It wasn't until the mid-2000's that I noticed part of the scene had disappeared. My theory is that, out of sensitivity, it was removed after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. As you'll hear in the scene, Cliff makes a joke about "loud mouth" New Yorkers deserving to get bombed. He even jokingly calls them "jerks". It only makes sense that that bit would have been cut out after 9/11— especially considering that longtime "Cheers" writer David Angell— who also co-created the "Cheers" spinoff "Frasier"— was killed, along with his wife Lynne, when their plane— American Airlines Flight 11— crashed into the World Trade Center.
Despite understanding of why the joke was likely censored, it has still surprised me that after two decades, this scene has never been restored. Several years ago, I set out on a personal mission to locate an unedited copy of "Bar Wars III: The Return of Tecumseh"— a mission that proved to be incredibly challenging! I searched the internet high and low for a copy of this episode containing the missing scene and came up empty handed for the longest time— until last year. Last year, I discovered a blog called VHiStory Project, created by a person overseas who is archiving 3,000 VHS tapes that they recorded between 1984 and 2003. Well, I was delighted to see in a post that this person had discovered, on one of their tapes, an original broadcast version of "Bar Wars III"!!! I reached out to them and they very graciously sent me a copy of the missing "Fail Safe" scene. I can't express the joy I felt watching that clip for the first time years.
Well, with that missing scene now in hand, I decided to put my extra quarantine time to good use— I created a restored copy of the complete episode, so that I could watch it in its entirety for the first time since I was a teenager! Mission accomplished.
And now, I have decided that I would share a piece of that episode with all of you, so that the world can see this long lost piece of "Cheers" for the first time in more than 20 years. I wish I could share the entire episode, but there was no chance of that getting passed the YouTube gatekeepers! I tried uploading a 6-minute clip, but even that was blocked globally. So, I decided to try again with an even shorter clip. Again, there is only about 30 seconds of lost footage anyway, but I have posted a little bit more than that— so that you see how it looks in my final mix, and so that you can enjoy the scene as it originally aired on March 15, 1990.
My HUGE thanks to VHiStory Project for sharing this clip with me!!
Enjoy!!!
Lost footage courtesy of: https://vhistory.wordpress.com/