Thanks for this tribute to Shelley's talent and legacy. Come the night in question, Diane arrives with a woman for Sam. So he makes no effort to find her a date. Sam and Diane agree to set each other up with dates, but Sam thinks that’s just a ruse and that Diane is going to set him up with herself. From the episode “Diane’s Perfect Date” written by David Lloyd and directed by James Burrows. It’s been 25 years, there have been a lot of shows since, many with really gifted comediennes, but I’ve never seen anyone better. Kinda like walking a tightrope in a typhoon. But Shelley managed to make her likeable and vulnerable and hysterically funny while still keeping the edge and condescension that “Diane” required. Without just the perfect actress you could reeeeally hate that character.
Diane Chambers was a role fraught with danger. Recently, I caught a first year episode of CHEERS and was reminded all over again of just how brilliant Shelley Long was.
It still kills me that Shelley lost the Emmy one year to Jackee. An unavoidable delay in the Grammy review.
