Cheers was a popular TV show in America in the 1980s and early 1990s. It was about a group of quirky characters in a bar, tackling romantic problems or everyday problems. Although it went off the air in 1993, Cheers is one of the most syndicated shows to date and lives with a cult following.

The show was set at Cheers, a Boston bar. The show opened up with a theme song, perhaps the most famous theme song of America. It sang about a place where everybody knows your name. The show combined romance in a comedy format. It avoided social issues, despite some of the characters being working class. It was very character based as well, basing stories mostly off of the attitudes and lives of the characters.

Characters

Sam Malone

Sam Malone, played by Ted Danson is considered to be the main character. He used to be an alcoholic, which made it a challenge to own a bar. He was famous when he was a relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and is constantly trying to relive that fame. He is obsessed with his hair and his Corvette and is a notorious womanizer. He keeps a little black book with the phone numbers of women. This book is occasionally lusted after by the more deprived men of the bar.

Diane Chambers

Diane Chambers, played by Shelley Long, is a pretentious, educated barmaid. Diane isn't completely willing to be a barmaid. She is left in the bar after being abandoned in the bar by her fiance. Diane doesn't quite fit in with the Cheers gang, best shown by Carla's jokes at her expense. She tries to share her knowledge of culture with the group, but usually fails. Throughout most of her run, Diane and Sam have romantic tension.

Norm Peterson

Norm Peterson, played by George Wendt is a somewhat overweight bar regular. He is an accountant, but is out of work for much of the series. He is married to Vera Peterson¹, and, although he says bad things about her, it's quite obvious he loves her. Norm sits at the same bar stool every day, the one closest to the beer tap. It's hinted that he has a huge bar tab, and the documentation of it is kept in a heavy binder. Norm's best friend is Cliff² who regularly sits on the bar stool next to him.

Norm is so well known in Cheers that whenever he walks into the bar, and greets its body, he is answered back with an enthusiastic 'NORM!'.

Cliff Clavin

Cliff Clavin is the know-it-all of the bar. In the early days, most of what he said was true, but in the later years of the show, most of the 'facts' he says are made up. He has a strange relationship with his mother, who is very similar to him in his 'fact' spewing nature. Cliff is a mailman, and very proud of it.

Carla Tortelli-Lebec

Carla Tortelli-Lebec, played by Rhea Pealman is a superstitious barmaid of Italian descent. She mothered almost a dozen children to several fathers. She had two husbands during the series - Eddie Lebec and Nick Lozupone. Of course, having so many children, she is usually strapped for money. Her children are hinted as being out of control and regularly have brushes with the law. She is extremely bitter, mostly from her children and makes mean jokes at everyone in the bar, except Sam.

Ernie 'Coach' Pantusso

Coach, played by Nicholas Colanstano is the bartender at Cheers. Coach always seemed to be confused. He was Sam's coach when Sam was still a pitcher for the Red Sox, earning him the title 'Coach'. Though he contends that his name is because he never flew First Class, he always flew coach. Nicholas Colanstano died in the middle of the run of Cheers and as a result, so did Coach.

Frasier Crane

Dr. Frasier Crane, played by Kelsey Grammer is a psychiatrist who regularly visits the bar. He is introduced as a very serious character when Diane invites him to analyse the behaviour of the bar patrons. Around the middle of the series, he is quite bitter, for a number of reasons, more directly because of Diane leaving her at the altar at their wedding. Near the end of the series, he becomes just as light natured as Cliff or Norm. He eventually started dating Lilith Sternin until they married and had a child named Frederick.

Lilith Sternin

Dr. Lilith Sternin, played by Bebe Neuwirth is a psychiatrist that opposes Frasier's freudian ways. She is buttoned down and very serious. She is pale and monotone and has been compared to a dead person.

Rebecca Howe

Rebecca Howe, played by Kirstie Alley became the bar's manager after Sam sold the bar. She thinks of herself as a career woman and tries to climb the corporate ladder, though all she really wants to do is marry a rich man.

Woody Boyd

Woody Boyd, played by Woody Harrelson is a naive farm boy from Hanover Indiana. Woody is often confused, and somewhat simpleminded. He is the junior bartender, always eager to help out friends and bar patrons. Woody does work for and occasionally acts at a Community Theater. He has an equally confused and naive girlfriend named Kelly who is rich, causing her parents to look down on Woody.

Minor Characters

• Harry the Hat periodically comes by the bar, scamming people with magic tricks or bets. He easily makes money off of less intelligent people, usually without their knowledge.
• Robin Colcord is a millionaire who becomes engaged to Rebecca Howe. He and his corporation are found to have committed fraud and Robin is sent to jail.
• Alan is a bar regular, though not a show regular. He is an old man without many lines. He shows up as a prop in the background in many episodes, but only occasionally has something to say.
• Gary owns a competing bar, Gary's Old Towne Tap which the gang at Cheers constantly competes with in sports, practical jokes or even making margaritas. Of course they always fail.
• Paul Kraypantz is the chubby barfly who appears in many episodes. It's hinted that he's very insensitive and apathetic, but is generally a well liked character. In the beginning of the series, he was referred to as Glen and Gregg as well as Paul.
• John Hill is the snobby upstairs neighbor of Cheers, owning Melville's seafood restaurant. Sam constantly feuds with him, almost going mad on several occasions.
• Eddie Lebec is probably the only good natured, nice man ever to be interested in Carla. He is a very successful hockey goalie until he starts dating Carla. They marry and Eddie starts working on an ice show. Unfortunately Eddie is killed when he saves another penguin dancer in the ice show from a Zamboni. At his funeral, it is revealed that Eddie lived two lives.
• Nick Lozupone is the disgusting husband of Carla. He charms her³, but leaves her for a younger woman, Loretta. Nick and Carla occasionally meet again, but Carla is very bitter for the way Nick treated her.

Guest Stars

• Dick Cavett - In episode 31 'They Called Me Mayday' Dick Cavett stops by the bar and suggests that Sam write an autobiography.
• Alex Trebek - Episode 182 'What is... Cliff Clavin?' Alex Trebek hosts Jeapordy which Cliff Clavin appears on.
• Gary Coleman - In episode 30 'Manager Coach' Coleman appears as a child on a team that Coach is managing.
• John Cleese - In episode 116 'Simon Says' Cleese plays Dr. Simon Finch-Royce, a marraige counselor for Sam and Diane.
• Johnny Carson - In episode 245 'Heeeeeere's... Cliffy!' Carson appears as himself hosting the 'Tonight Show'. Cliff submitted a joke for the 'Tonight Show' and Norm tells Cliff that they're using his material. They're not. And Cliff has 'Tonight Show' tickets!
• Mike Ditka - In the first part of the last episode 273 'One for the Road' Mike Ditka, the famous coach appears presenting an award on TV.
• Tip O'Neill - Tip O'Neill, the former US Speaker of the House appears in episode 18 'No Contest' at the bar. Everyone in the bar is criticizing the government with this seemingly normal man until they realize who he is.

The Bar

The bar is the setting of the entire show essentially. Some episodes never left the bar, and when a transition was needed, it simply moved to a different room. The exterior shot, introducing a scene at the bar would show a railed staircase leading down to a pair of doors. Above Cheers is Melville's Seafood, which also appears in the exterior shot most of the time. Today, the bar is preserved in Hollywood Waxwork Museum.

The Main Area

The room where most of the action takes place is the entrance from outdoors. In the centre is a hollow rectangular bar surrounded with stools. In the middle of the bar is where the bartenders prepare drinks, and generally spend their time. Scattered periodically about the main area are a number of tables. There is a staircase leading up to Melville's in the back and to the right is a hallway and a door leading to an office.

The Office

An large amount of action takes place in the office. It is used for private things, and sometimes hiding. There is a large desk in the middle, usually untidy. Throughout the run of the series, Sam and Rebecca both inhabited it. Sam's office was disorganized and decorated with a moose head. Rebecca's office is tidy and well maintained. To the left side of the room, in Sam's office is a long couch. This occasionally serves as a site for Sam's accomplishment with women.

The Pool Room

The Pool Room contains a billiards table and a dart game. This room is sometimes used for private things for the people who don't work for the bar. It turns out that the Pool Room is technically owned by Melville's, and John Hill, the owner of Melvilles rents it to Sam.

The Bathrooms

Probably the least seen area of the bar is the bathrooms. In it is a very simple sink and a few dirty stalls. It had handwritten remarks all over it, implying that it isn't very well maintained.

A History

Despite being one of the biggest hits ever, Cheers started out as a long shot. James Burrows, who was collaborating with Glen Charles and Les Charles⁴ was looking for a bar to set a sitcom. He walked into The Bull and Finch Tavern in Boston and quickly thought that this was the right bar for a sitcom. He bought the floor plan of The Bull and Finch Tavern for just one dollar⁵.

After the bar had been determined, Cheers went into production. The two leading parts, Sam and Diane were cast very carefully. The parts were auditioned for in pairs, which meant that a Sam and a Diane had to be cast together. Ted Danson and Shelley Long, who were considered to be the underdogs, were given the parts.

After casting Sam and Diane, producers decided that they needed a barfly and wrote the character of Norm. John Ratzenberger and George Wendt were the main contenders for the part but Wendt was cast as Norm. After Ratzenberger was told, he made an effort to create a new character. He demonstrated a bar know-it-all who was confident of himself and always jangled keys around in his pockets. This would become the basis for the character of Cliff Clavin.

After writing and casting, Cheers finally went to air in September 1982. Unfortunately, at the time, the genre of comedy was dying out. For a while in the first season, Cheers was dead last in the ratings overall. Despite this, critics reviewed the show extremely well and Cheers was nominated for an unprecented 13 Emmys. It was unheard of for a show to be nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series in its first season, but Cheers accomplished just this.

It was nominated⁶ in the 1982-1983 series for the art direction, music, outstanding comedy series, editing, graphic and title sequences, outstanding lead actor, outstanding lead actress, outstanding director, outstanding supporting actor, outstanding supporting actress and outstanding writing awards. They won several of these as well.

After this, executives at NBC realized that this show had the capacity to become a hit. It escaped cancellation narrowly, due in part to the gut feeling of an NBC executive. By the 1984-1985 season, Cheers became better known and had a strong enough following to avoid cancellation again. It repeated a good performance at the Emmy awards, earning the Outstanding Comedy Series award for the second time.

Unfortunately, at the end of the third season, Nicholas Colasanto who played the much beloved Coach, died. He had been in the hospital through much of the end of the season. He provided his voice to use as if Coach was on vacation or at a family reunion and calling on the telephone. To replace Coach, writers made a character called Woody Boyd for the fourth season. A young Woody Harrelson, who happened to have the same first name, auditioned and received the part. Harrelson, who was a young man, helped get ratings from a younger audience from Cheers' lead-in, Family Ties which had a similar young star, Michael J Fox.

It wasn't until the 1985-1986 season that Cheers became a hit. It developed a strong following and ended the year at the number five ranking in the season's Nielson ratings. For the next six seasons, Cheers wouldn't drop below number five in the yearly ratings.

At the start of season five, a psychiatrist character called Frasier Crane⁷ entered the cast⁸. He had a love-hate relationship with another psychiatrist named Lilith Sternin.

Shelley Long, like her character, didn't exactly fit in with the Cheers gang. The other stars might play games or some such on the set, but Long was excluded.

Her contract, which was not standard to the industry required her to stay until the sixth season, at which point she could exit or renew it. Long informed producers that she intended to leave the show and not return for the sixth season. Writers shifted away from the love story between Sam and Diane to focus on the love story between Frasier and Lilith to cushion the public for her leaving. In order to maintain secrecy about Shelley Long leaving Cheers, an episode was taped in which Diane and Sam get married. This of course never made it to air.

Diane was replaced by Rebecca Howe, a character that managed the bar and was quite bossy. Played by Kirstie Alley, she stayed with the show for the remainder of its run. Of course, where Diane stopped, Rebecca started. Sam hounded Rebecca for his sexual desires.

In 1993, Cheers went off the air. Ted Danson earning almost half a million dollars per episode, refused to continue his role, and said that no amount of money would change his mind. This coupled with overall high production costs caused Paramount to cancel it in its 11th season. After 11 seasons Cheers became NBC's longest running sitcom.

NBC created a three part finale in May 1993. This finale was the second most watched single episode of any show ever. It earned a whopping 64 percent audience share. After 11 seasons, Cheers racked up a record 111 Emmy nominations, 26 wins⁹ and many other awards.

After the show, George Wendt created a failed series The George Wendt. About a year after the finale of Cheers, Kelsey Grammer launched his own sitcom, Frasier. Woody Harrelson and Ted Danson went on to very successful careers in movies.

The Cheers actors and characters still often meet. Ted Danson's latest show, Becker often had guest appearances from regulars on Cheers. Rhea Pearlman and George Wendt appeared prominently. On Kelsey Grammer's show, Frasier the main character, Frasier goes to Boston and meets some of his old Cheers pals, Cliff, Norm, Carla and Paul.

Because of the show, the Bull and Finch Tavern is Boston's fourth busiest tourist attractions, and fills the glasses of over a million people every year. It generates millions of dollars in income from its gift shop. Also, in many airports and other various places are mock Cheers bars, that look like the Cheers bar from the show. The food and drink is themed after the characters of the show. In fact, the only two characters not mentioned on the menu are Rebecca and Woody. They even have robot barflies¹⁰.