This year marks the 30th anniversary of the conclusion of “Cheers,” one of the most celebrated and popular comedies in television history.
The relationship between Ted Danson’s womanizing bartender Sam Malone and Shelley Long’s snobby academic waitress Diane Chambers won over viewers over the first half of the show’s 11-year run.
He believes he got Sam in large part since he worked well with Shelley, and Shelley was just brilliant, he thinks, as that character, Danson said in an interview with co-stars George Wendt, John Ratzenberger, and show co-creator James Burrows on TODAY on June 5. The band had just reformed at the ATX TV Festival in Austin, Texas.
Many episodes stand out, including a fifth season favorite in which the bar group celebrates Thanksgiving together, only for a food brawl to break out.
“Cheers,” which earned a total of 28 Emmys, continues to prosper despite major cast changes. After Season 3 was over, Nicholas Colasanto’s character Coach passed away, and Long left the show after Season 5.
Long was replaced by the late Kirstie Alley, who played Rebecca Howe, an aspiring high-powered businesswoman whose insecurities and incapacity to advance were continually used for laughs.
He was definitely concerned. ‘Oh, Shelley, I just lost my dancing partner. Will this even work?’ asked Danson.
It did the job.
She was the funniest individual, living on the edge of just completely dissolving in tears, Danson recalled of Rebecca. Alley earned an Emmy in 1991 for her work.
“Cheers” ran for an incredible 11 seasons. Les Charles, who co-created the program with his brother, Glen Charles, and Burrows, says he had no clue it would be so successful.
In the start, they were simply trying to get — they had 13 on-air episodes, and there was a possibility of nine after that, he said to Smith. And they were just praying for those nine episodes, just hoping for a full season. So going 24 episodes looked great on their portfolio.
And he does not think they ever imagined — he believed if they could get five years in, he’d be pretty happy with this program. He had no idea this could be as successful as it was. And with each passing year, he was more and more startled. It’s been a long time. It’s been eleven years.
“Cheers” threaded a needle with a group of colorful characters that mingled everyday Joes with sophisticated characters, such as Kelsey Grammer’s Frasier Crane. As a consequence, some of the jokes may have passed over viewers’ heads.
“We made surefire jokes about Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, and Pomme de Terre,” Burrows said.
“Cheers” did not become a success straight away. The pilot was ranked 60th out of 63 programs. Those working on the program, though, had a feeling that something exceptional was occurring.
Well, as previously stated, their early readings were abysmal and finished way down until the summer return came around, Glen Charles explained. But they understood, and he believes the cast understood, they were doing something right since they had a live audience every week. This was before the program ever aired on television. And the live crowd responded—they recognized these people despite having never seen them on television.
They recognized them and laughed. That gave him a pleasant sensation. As a result, they understood that this was their bottom line. If they’re not successful when they go on the air, they’ll have something to show for it. They can demonstrate this to them.
The comedy did, however, amass a following that other programs could only dream of.
“It didn’t really hit me until we went to Boston, like the fifth year, and they were going to throw a big parade for us and whatever,” Ratzenberger said. “I’m thinking, ‘Great. Who’s going to show up at a Wednesday afternoon?’ It was a sea of faces and heads, as far as you can see, and that’s when I was really speechless.”
The sitcom, which produced the megahit spinoff “Frasier,” stayed faithful to its origins until the last episode, which drew 90 million viewers.
A memorable moment shows Sam altering a portrait on the bar’s wall, a subtle nod to Colasanto.
“When Nick died, Colasanto, and when we came back the next year, he had a famous photograph, a sepia, of Geronimo. And we wanted it on the set. I love the little nod of straightening that because it is a nod to Nick.”
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