Cheers is an American television sitcom, created by Glen Charles & Les Charles and James Burrows, aired on NBC for eleven seasons from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association with Paramount Television. The show is set in the titular bar in Boston, where a group of locals meet to drink, relax, socialize, and escape from their day-to-day issues.
At the center of the show is the bar's owner and head bartender, Sam Malone, who is a womanizing former relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. The show's ensemble cast introduced in the pilot episode are waitresses Diane Chambers and Carla Tortelli, second bartender Coach Ernie Pantusso, and regular customers Norm Peterson and Cliff Clavin. Later main characters of the show include Frasier Crane, Woody Boyd, Lilith Sternin, and Rebecca Howe.
After premiering in 1982, Cheers was nearly canceled during its first season when it ranked almost last in ratings for its premiere (74th out of 77 shows). However, the show eventually became a Nielsen ratings juggernaut in the United States, earning a top-10 rating during eight of its 11 seasons, including one season at number one (season 9). The show spent most of its run on NBC's Thursday night "Must See TV" lineup. Its series finale in 1993 became the most-watched single TV episode of the 1990s, and the show's 275 episodes have been successfully syndicated worldwide. Nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series for all 11 of its seasons on the air, it earned 28 Primetime Emmy Awards from a record of 117 nominations.
During its run, Cheers became one of the most popular series in history and received critical acclaim from its start to its end and is frequently cited as one of the greatest television shows of all time. In 1997, the episodes "Thanksgiving Orphans" and "Home Is the Sailor," aired originally in 1987, were respectively ranked No. 7 and No. 45 on TV Guides 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time. The show was followed by three spin-offs: The Tortellis, Wings, and Frasier; and a Spanish remake.
Characters
Before the Cheers pilot "Give Me a Ring Sometime" was completed and aired in 1982, the series consisted of four employees (bar owner Sam Malone, bartender Coach Pantusso, and waitresses Carla Tortelli and Diane Chambers) in the first script. Later revisions to the script as filmed added Norm Peterson and Cliff Clavin (regular customers of Cheers) as among the regular characters of the series.Wendt 2001, pp. 112–114.
In later years, Woody Boyd replaced Coach, after the character died off-screen in season three (1984–85), following actor Nicholas Colasanto's death. Frasier Crane started as a recurring character in season three and quickly became a permanent addition to the cast. The character of Diane left the show after season five, and in season six (1987–88), new character Rebecca Howe was added. Lilith Sternin started as a one-time character in an episode of season four, "Second Time Around" (1985). After a return appearance in season five, she became a recurring character and was later featured as a permanent character during season 10 (1991–92).
Original main characters
Ted Danson as Sam Malone: A bartender and proprietor of Cheers, Sam is also a lothario. Before the series began, he was a baseball relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox nicknamed "Mayday Malone" until he became an alcoholic, harming his career. He has an on-again, off-again relationship with Diane Chambers, his class opposite, in the first five seasons (1982–1987). During their off-times, Sam has flings with many not-so-bright "sexy women" yet fails to pursue a meaningful relationship. After Diane is written out of the series, he tries to pursue Rebecca Howe, with varying results. At the end of the series, he is still unmarried and faces his sexual addiction with the help of Dr. Robert Sutton's (Gilbert Lewis) group meetings, advised by Frasier. Shelley Long as Diane Chambers: A sophisticated graduate student attending Boston University. In the pilot, Diane is abandoned by her fiancé, leaving her without a job, a man or money. Realizing that one of her few practical skills is memorization, which comes in handy when dealing with drink orders, she reluctantly becomes a bartender. Later, she becomes a close friend of Coach and has an on-and-off relationship with bartender Sam Malone, her class opposite. During their off-relationship times, Diane dates men who fit her upper-class ideals, such as Frasier Crane. Diane returns to Cheers while dating Frasier to help cure Sam of his drinking addiction with help from Dr. Crane. Diane's biggest enemy is Carla, who frequently insults her, but Diane's lack of retaliation serves to annoy Carla even more. In 1987, Diane leaves Boston and Sam to pursue a screenwriting career in California. She promises Sam she will return to Boston to marry him but does not do so. Nicholas Colasanto as "Coach" Ernie Pantusso: A "borderline senile" co-bartender, widower and retired baseball coach. Coach is also a friend of Sam and a close friend of Diane; he has a daughter, Lisa (Allyce Beasley). Coach listens to people's problems and solves them. However, other people also help resolve his own problems. In 1985, Coach died without explicit explanation, as Colasanto died of a heart attack. Rhea Perlman as Carla Tortelli: A "wisecracking, cynical" cocktail waitress, who treats customers badly. When the series premieres, she is the mother of five children by her ex-husband Nick Tortelli (Dan Hedaya). Over the course of the series, she bears three more, the depiction of which incorporated Perlman's real-life pregnancies."Top 10 Pregnant Performers: Where Everybody Knows You're Pregnant (or Not)." Time. Web. June 2, 2012. All of her children are ill behaved, except Ludlow, whose father is a prominent academic. She flirts with men, including ones who are not flattered by her ways, and believes in superstitions. Later, she marries Eddie LeBec, an ice hockey player, who later becomes a penguin mascot for ice shows. After he dies in an ice show accident by an ice resurfacer, Carla later discovers that Eddie had committed bigamy with another woman, whom he had gotten pregnant. Carla sleeps with Sam's enemy, John Allen Hill, to Sam's annoyance and anger. George Wendt as Norm Peterson: A bar regular and occasionally employed accountant. A recurrent joke on the show, especially in the earlier seasons, is that the character was such a popular and constant fixture at the bar that anytime he entered through the front door, everyone present would yell out his name ("NORM!") in greeting (when present in the scene Diane would be heard saying "Norman!" moments later); usually, this cry would be followed by one of the present bartenders asking Norm how he was, usually receiving a sardonic response and a request for a beer. ("It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear.") He has infrequent accounting jobs and a troubled marriage with (but is still in love with and married to) Vera, an unseen character, though she is occasionally heard. Later in the series, he becomes a house painter and an interior decorator. Even later in the series, Norm secures his dream job, tasting beer at a brewery. The character was not originally intended to be a main cast role; Wendt auditioned for a minor role of George for the pilot episode. The role was only to be Diane Chambers' first customer and had only one word: "Beer!"Wendt 2009, p. 112. After he was cast in a more permanent role, the character was renamed Norm.Wendt 2009, p. 113.
Subsequent main characters
John Ratzenberger as Cliff Clavin: A know-it-all bar regular and mail carrier. He lives with his mother Esther Clavin (Frances Sternhagen) in first the family house and later his own apartment. In the bar, Cliff continuously spouts nonsensical and annoying trivia, making him an object of derision for the bar patrons (especially Carla). Ratzenberger auditioned for the role of a minor character George, but it went to Wendt, evolving the role into Norm Peterson.Wendt 2009, pp. 113–114. The producers decided they wanted a resident bar know-it-all, so the US Postal Worker Cliff Clavin was added for the pilot, as a recurring character for the first season before becoming a main character starting with the second. Originally written as a security guard, the producers changed his occupation into a mail carrier as they thought such a man would have a wider array of knowledge. Kelsey Grammer as Frasier Crane: A psychiatrist and bar regular, a recurring character for seasons 3 and 4 who joins the main cast by season 5. Frasier started out as Diane Chambers' love interest in the third season (1984–85). In the fourth season (1985–86), after Diane jilts him at the altar in Europe, Frasier starts to frequent Cheers and becomes a regular. He later marries Lilith Sternin and has a son, Frederick. After the series ends, the character becomes the focus of the spin-off Frasier, in which he is divorced from Lilith and living in Seattle. Woody Harrelson as Woody Boyd: A not-so-bright bartender, first appearing in season 4. He arrives from his Midwest hometown of Hanover, Indiana to Boston, to see Coach, his "pen pal" (as referring to exchanging "pens", not letters). When Sam tells Woody that Coach died, Sam hires Woody in Coach's place. Later, he marries his girlfriend Kelly Gaines (Jackie Swanson), also not-so-bright but raised in a rich family. In the final season, he runs for city council and, surprisingly, wins. Bebe Neuwirth as Lilith Sternin: A psychiatrist and bar regular, a recurring character until joining the main cast in season 10. She is often teased by bar patrons about her uptight personality and appearance. In "Second Time Around" (1986), her first and only episode of the fourth season, her date with Frasier does not go well because they constantly argue. In the fifth season, with help from Diane, Lilith and Frasier begin a relationship. Eventually, they marry and have a son, Frederick. In the eleventh and final season, she commits adultery and leaves Frasier to live with another man in an experimental underground environment called the "Eco-pod". She breaks it off, returns later in the season and reconciles with Frasier. However, in the spin-off Frasier, the couple has divorced, with Lilith maintaining custody of Frederick. In season 11 of Cheers, Bebe Neuwirth is given "starring" credit only when she appears. Kirstie Alley as Rebecca Howe: First appearing in season 6, she starts out as a strong independent woman, manager of the bar for the corporation that buys Cheers from Sam after his on-off relationship with Diane ends. When Sam regains ownership, she begs him to let her remain, first as a cocktail waitress and later as a manager. She has repeated romantic failures with mainly rich men and becomes more and more "neurotic, insecure, and sexually frustrated". At the start, Sam frequently attempts to seduce Rebecca without success. As her personality changes, he loses interest in her. In the series finale, after failed relationships with rich men, Rebecca marries a plumber and quits working for the bar. In the Frasier episode "The Show Where Sam Shows Up", she is revealed to be divorced and back at the bar. When Frasier asks whether this means that she is working there again, Sam says, "No, she's just back at the bar."
Character table