#diane chambers

[thefemalepope]

❝ When Sam offered me the job, I laughed in his face ! But then it occurred to me . . . Here I am, I'm a student — Not just in an academic sense, but a student of life. And where better than here to study life in all its many facets ? People meet in bars . . . They part, they rejoice, they suffer . . . They come here to be with their own kind. ❞

Shelley Long as Diane Chambers in Cheers ( 1982-1993 )

[vansnecropolis]

Some doodles cuz I'm binging cheers

[janebcnnct]

this really is a duo i just made up

[conceptual-orange]

and you know what? i love her for it

[frasiercaps]

[riverlarking]

CHEERS — 05.13 - "Chambers vs. Malone" (1987)

[paksthestoic]

I know know know this post is for the one whole person (me) that is focused on lesbians in the sitcom Cheers (1982-1993) but like BEAR WITH ME and let me introduce you to the rarepair I’m pretty sure only I think about: Diane/Lilith.

you see this photo? you see it? if you are not insane, you may not know this is from season 5, episode 20, Dinner at Eight-ish. I.e. the episode that altered a young me’s brain chemistry via Bebe Neuwirth (far left) at the tender age of 12, but LISTEN.

You’ve got Lilith Sternin (left), Diane Chambers (middle, taking a sip and side-eying Lilith with what I choose to believe is lethal amounts of want), and the show’s lead ensemble character Sam Malone (far right). Diane and Sam happen to be dating, and they are in Lilith’s apartment. Not pictured is Lilith’s partner at the time, one Frasier Crane of Frasier fame.

Still with me? Why??? But I continue. Diane introduced Lilith to Frasier. Diane and Sam are their very first houseguests.

Things Diane and Lilith have in common:

incredibly intelligent - smarter than their partners.

socially awkward - they don’t really know how to choose an audience or modulate their tone.

have the incredible hots for each other, I mean, routinely point out the other’s looks and intelligence and competence to each other. Ostensibly, this is because they are two awkward women supporting each other for laughs on the show.

So why read them as having the hots for each other? In this episode, the gag is that one or both of them storms into the bathroom every time one of their boyfriends insults/offends them (which is often, as Sam is machismo incarnate and Frasier would do anything to impress Sam at this point in the show). Again, laughs.

(Shout out to Bebe Neuwirth here, btw, for playing Lilith in genuine distress at the comments from Frasier despite the laughter this episode is played for.)

At one point, Lilith and Diane both storm into the bathroom at the same time, commiserating over the awful treatment from their boyfriends. Frasier and Sam lock them in the bathroom (haha so cheeky) and grin as they both head back off to the titular bar to the sounds of Lilith and Diane banging on the door and demanding to be released.

Look back at the photo. Look at them. Are they lesbians? Probably not. Do I choose to believe that when the episode fades to black and insinuates that they spend several hours locked in misery in the bathroom that they, instead, made out sloppy style on the counter? Yes, yes I choose to believe that and, in fact, have a oneshot that will never see the light of day regarding this.

Diane/Lilith is a ship that doesn’t exist on Ao3. In fact, they’re only in a couple of episodes together at all, as Diane leaves the show as Lilith gets more appearances. But I KNOW what happened in that bathroom, okay?? And I know that Lilith mourned the absence of the only person in that bar that ever treated her like she was beautiful and intelligent and worth anything beyond being a stable place for Frasier to fall. I know she did.

Anyway please look at these women some more and know that sometime in the late 80s, they totally pinned each other against a bathroom door because their boyfriends are awful. And that at least one lesbian alive today is still thinking about it.

[starryeyesxx]