Cheers
Genre Sitcom
Created by
Glen Charles
Les Charles
James Burrows
Judy Hart Angelo
Opening theme “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” by Gary Portnoy
Cheers is an American sitcom that ran on NBC from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993, with a total of 275 half-hour episodes for eleven seasons. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association with Paramount Network Television. The show was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles. The show is set in a bar named Cheers in Boston, Massachusetts, where a group of locals meet to drink, relax, and socialize. The show’s main theme song, co-written and performed by Gary Portnoy, lent its refrain “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” as the show’s catchphrase.
After premiering on September 30, 1982, it was nearly canceled during its first season when it ranked almost last in ratings for its premiere (74th out of 77 shows). Cheers, however, eventually became a highly rated television show in the United States, earning a top-ten rating during eight of its eleven seasons, including one season at number one. The show spent most of its run on NBC’s Thursday night “Must See TV” lineup. Its widely watched series finale was broadcast on May 20, 1993, and the show’s 275 episodes have been successfully syndicated worldwide. Nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series for all eleven of its seasons on the air, it earned 28 Primetime Emmy Awards from a record of 117 nominations. The character Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) was featured in his eponymous spin-off show, which aired until 2004 and included guest appearances by virtually all of the major and minor Cheers characters.
During its run, Cheers became one of the most popular series of all time and has received critical acclaim from its start to its end. 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 Guide’s 100 Greatest Episodes of All-Time. In 2002, Cheers was ranked No. 18 on TV Guide’s 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. In 2013, the Writers Guild of America ranked it as the eighth best written TV series and TV Guide ranked it #11 on their list of the 60 Greatest Shows of All Time.
Before the Cheers pilot “Give Me a Ring Sometime” was completed and aired in 1982, the series originally consisted of four employees in the first script. Neither Norm Peterson nor Cliff Clavin, regular customers of Cheers, were featured; later revisions added them as among the regular characters of the series.
In later years, Woody Boyd replaces Coach, who dies off-screen in season four (1985–86) due to actor Nicholas Colasanto’s death. Frasier Crane starts as a recurring character and becomes a permanent character. In season six (1987–88), they added a new character Rebecca Howe, who was written into the show after the finale of the previous season (1986–87). Lilith Sternin starts as a one-time character in an episode of season four, “Second Time Around” (1985). After she appears in two episodes in season five, she becomes a recurring character, and later featured as a permanent one for season ten (1991–92)
Above: Cast of seasons one through three: left to right: (top) Shelley Long, Ted Danson; (middle) Rhea Perlman, Nicholas Colasanto; (bottom) George Wendt, John Ratzenberger
Original main characters
Ted Danson portrays Sam Malone, a bartender and an owner 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 and fails to seduce other women, such as intellectuals. 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 sexual addiction with the help of Dr. Robert Sutton’s (Gilbert Lewis) group meetings, advised by Frasier.
Shelley Long portrays Diane Chambers, an academic, sophisticated graduate student attending Boston University. In the pilot, Diane is abandoned by her fiancé, leaving her without a job, a man, or money. Therefore, she reluctantly becomes a cocktail waitress. 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. In 1987, she leaves Boston behind for a writing career and to live in Los Angeles, California. Diane returns to Cheers to cure Sam of his drinking. Diane’s biggest enemy is Carla but Diane doesn’t insult Carla the way Carla does Diane which annoys Carla even more.
Nicholas Colasanto portrays 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 portrays Carla Tortelli, a “wisecracking, cynical” cocktail waitress, who treats customers badly. She is also highly fertile and matrimonially inept. When the series premiered, she is the mother of four children by her ex-husband Nick Tortelli (Dan Hedaya). Over the course of the series, she bears four more, the depiction of which incorporated Perlman’s real-life pregnancies. All of her children are notoriously 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 died 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 Hill to Sam’s annoyance and anger.
George Wendt portrays Norm Peterson, a bar regular and occasionally-employed accountant. A recurrent joke on the show, especially in the earlier seasons, was 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; 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. He has infrequent accounting jobs and a troubled marriage with (but is still in love with and married to) Vera, an unseen character. Later in the series, he becomes a house painter and an interior decorator. 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 to only be Diane Chambers’ first customer and had only one word: “Beer!” After he was cast in a more permanent role, the character was renamed Norm.
John Ratzenberger portrays 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 an apartment. In the bar, Cliff continuously spouts nonsensical and annoying trivia, making him an object of derision to the bar patrons. Ratzenberger auditioned for the role of a minor character George, but it went to Wendt, evolving the role into Norm Peterson. The producers decided they wanted a resident bar know-it-all, so the security guard Cliff Clavin was added for the pilot. Cliff auditions for, gets on and loses Jeopardy, betting his entire $22,000 on the final question. The producers changed his occupation into a mail carrier as they thought such a man would have wider knowledge than a guard.
Subsequent main characters
Kelsey Grammer portrays Frasier Crane, a psychiatrist and bar regular. 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 ends up frequenting 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 portrays Woody Boyd, a not-so-bright[9] bartender. 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 political office, and surprisingly wins.
Bebe Neuwirth portrays Lilith Sternin, a psychiatrist and bar regular. She is often teased by bar patrons about her uptight personality and appearance. In “Second Time Around” (1986), her first episode, also her only one 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 leaves Frasier to live with another man in an experimental underground environment called the “Eco-pod.” She returns later in the season and reconciles with Frasier. However, in the spinoff Frasier, Lilith divorces Frasier and bears the custody of Frederick.
Kirstie Alley portrays Rebecca Howe. She starts out as a strong independent woman, managing the bar for the corporation that bought the bar from Sam after Diane jilted him. Eventually, when Sam regains ownership, she begs him to let her remain as business manager. She repeatedly has 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, Rebecca marries the plumber Don Santry (played by Tom Berenger) 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 if this is to mean she is working there again Sam says no, she’s just “back at the bar.”
Name Actress / Actor Role at Cheers Occupation Seasons
Sam Malone Ted Danson Owner, Bartender Former baseball player Main
Diane Chambers Shelley Long Waitress Graduate student, writer Main Guest
Ernie “Coach” Pantusso Nicholas Colasanto Bartender Former baseball player and coach Main
Carla Tortelli Rhea Perlman Waitress Mother, divorcee Main
Norm Peterson George Wendt Customer Accountant; house painter; interior decorator Main
Cliff Clavin John Ratzenberger Mailman Recurring Main
Woody Boyd Woody Harrelson Assistant Bartender Actor; politician Main
Frasier Crane Kelsey Grammer Customer Psychiatrist Recurring Main
Rebecca Howe Kirstie Alley Manager Superintendent Main
Lilith Sternin Bebe Neuwirth Customer Psychiatrist Guest
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