Cheers

For other meanings of 'Cheers' see Cheers (disambiguation)

Cheers
File:Cheers intro logo.jpg Cheers Title Screen
Created by	James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles
Starring	Ted Danson Shelley Long Kirstie Alley Nicholas Colasanto Rhea Perlman John Ratzenberger Woody Harrelson Kelsey Grammer Bebe Neuwirth and George Wendt
Country of origin	USA
No. of episodes	273
Production
Running time	approx. 0:24 (per episode)
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	September 30, 1982 – May 20, 1993

Cheers was a long-running American situation comedy produced by Charles-Burrows-Charles Productions in association with Paramount Television for NBC. The show was set in the eponymous Cheers bar (both the show and the bar are named after the toast "Cheers") in Boston, Massachusetts, where a group of locals met to drink and generally have fun. The show's theme song was written and performed by Gary Portnoy with its famous refrain, "where everybody knows your name" that also became the show's tagline. The character Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) later starred in his own successful show, Frasier, after Cheers ended.

Cheers was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles. After premiering on September 30, 1982, it was nearly cancelled during its first season when it ranked dead last in ratings. However, Cheers eventually became one of the most popular television shows in the United States, earning a top-ten rating during seven of its eleven seasons and spending the bulk of its run on NBC's Must See Thursday lineup. Its widely watched series finale was broadcast on May 20, 1993, and the show's 273 episodes have now entered into a long and successful syndication run. The show earned 26 Emmy Awards, out of a total of 117 nominations.

File:Cheers cast photo.jpg

The main cast of Cheers after season 5
(from left to right): (top) John Ratzenberger, Roger Rees, Woody Harrelson (middle) Rhea Perlman, Ted Danson, Kirstie Alley, George Wendt (bottom) Kelsey Grammer, Bebe Neuwirth

Cast

For a full list of characters with articles, see the individual character articles

Cheers maintained an ensemble cast, keeping roughly the same set of characters for the entire run. Numerous secondary characters and love interests for these characters appeared intermittently to complement storylines that generally revolve around this core group.

The table below summarizes the main cast of Cheers.

Character	Actor/Actress	Position	Other Jobs
Woodrow 'Woody' Boyd	Woody Harrelson	Assistant Bartender	Actor
Diane Chambers	Shelley Long	Waitress	Writer
Clifford Clavin	John Ratzenberger	Customer	Mailman
Frasier Crane	Kelsey Grammer	Customer	Psychiatrist
Rebecca Howe	Kirstie Alley	Manager/Waitress	Businesswoman
Sam Malone	Ted Danson	Bartender/Owner	Pitcher
Ernie 'Coach' Pantusso	Nicholas Colasanto	Assistant Bartender	Sam's coach
Norm Peterson	George Wendt	Customer	Accountant
Lilith Sternin	Bebe Neuwirth	Customer	Psychiatrist
Carla Tortelli	Rhea Perlman	Waitress	none

The character of Sam Malone was originally intended to be a retired American football player, but after casting Ted Danson, it was decided that a former relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox would be more believable. The character of Cliff Clavin was created for John Ratzenberger after he auditioned for Cheers. While chatting with producers afterward, he asked if they were going to include a "bar know-it-all", the part which he eventually played. Alley joined the cast when Long left, and Harrelson joined when Colasanto died. Ted Danson, George Wendt, and Rhea Perlman were the only actors to appear in every episode of the series. The actor who played the character of "Paul", a recurring barfly character, made an earlier appearance in the first season as "Glenn".

Guest stars

Although Cheers operated largely around that main ensemble cast, guest stars did occasionally supplement them. Notable repeat guests included Jay Thomas as Eddie LeBec, Dan Hedaya as Nick Tortelli, Jean Kasem as Loretta Tortelli, and Roger Rees as Robin Colcord. Other celebrities guest starred in single episodes as themselves throughout the series. Some sports figures appeared on the show as former teammates of Sam's from the Red Sox such as Luis Tiant and Wade Boggs, while others appeared with no connection to Cheers such as Kevin McHale or Mike Ditka. Some television stars also made guest appearances such as Johnny Gilbert, Alex Trebek, Arsenio Hall, and Johnny Carson. Some political figures even made appearances on Cheers such as then-Speaker Tip O'Neill, Senator John Kerry, and then-Governor Michael Dukakis (all of whom represented Cheers' home state). John Cleese won an Emmy for his appearance as "Dr. Simon Finch-Royce" in a fifth season episode "Simon Says".

Production

The concept for Cheers was the end result of a long consideration process. The original idea was a group of workers who interacted like a family, hoping to be similar to The Mary Tyler Moore Show. They considered making an American version of the British Fawlty Towers centered around a hotel or an inn. When the creators settled on a bar as their setting the show began to resemble the radio show Duffy's Tavern. They liked the idea of a tavern as it provided a continuous stream of new people arriving, giving them a constant supply of characters.

After choosing a plot, the three had to choose a location. Early discussions centered around Barstow, California, though they eventually turned to the East Coast and Boston. The Bull & Finch Pub in Boston that Cheers was styled after was originally chosen from a phone book. When Glen Charles asked the owner to shoot initial exterior and interior shots the owner agreed, charging 1$. He has since gone on to make millions, licensing the pub's image and selling a variety of Cheers memorabilia, making the Bull & Finch the 42nd busiest outlet in the American food and beverage industry in 1997. Ironically during the casting for Shelley Long (who was in Boston at the time filming A Small Circle of Friends) she remarked that the bar in the script resembled a bar she had come upon in Boston, which turned out to be the Bull & Finch.

Most Cheers episodes were shot before a live studio audience on Paramount Stage 25, generally on Tuesday nights. Scipts for a new episode were issued the Wednesday before for a read-through, Friday was rehearsal day, and final scripts were issued on Monday. Nearly 100 crewmembers were involved in the shooting of a single episode. Burrows, who directed most episodes, insisted on shooting on film rather than videotape. He was also noted for using motion in his directorial style, trying to always keep characters moving rather than standing still.

Crew

The crew of Cheers numbered in the hundreds thus this section only provides a brief summary of the many crewmembers for the show. The three creators - James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles - stayed on throughout the series as executive producers. In fact, the two Charles brothers kept offices on Paramount's lot for the duration of Cheers run. However, in the final seasons they handed over much of the show to Burrows. Burrows is regarded as being a factor in the show's longevity, directing 243 of the episodes and supervising the show's production.

David Angell was also a part of the crew from the start, writing many Cheers episodes.^[9] The show was often noted for its writing which most credit along with other production factors and the ensemble cast for Cheers success.

Awards

Over its eleven-season run, Cheers and its cast and crew earned many awards. Most notably, Cheers earned 117 Emmy nominations, edging out ER (115 as of 2005) for the most Emmy nominations for a single series. These nominations resulted in a total of 26 Emmy wins. In addition, Cheers has earned 31 Golden Globe nominations with a total of 6 wins. All ten of the actors who were regulars on the series received Emmy nominations for their roles. Cheers won the Golden Globe for "Best TV-Series - Comedy/Musical" in 1991 and the Emmy for "Outstanding Comedy Series" in 1983, 1984, 1989, 1991, and 1992.

The following table summarizes awards won by the Cheers cast and crew.

Winner	Award
Kirstie Alley	Emmy, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (1991)
	Golden Globe, Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series - Comedy/Musical (1991)
Ted Danson	Emmy, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (1990, 1993)
	Golden Globe, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series - Comedy/Musical (1990, 1991)
Woody Harrelson	Emmy, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (1989)
Shelley Long	Emmy, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (1983)
	Golden Globe, Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series - Comedy/Musical (1985)
	Golden Globe, Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV (1983)
Bebe Neuwirth	Emmy, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (1990, 1993)
Rhea Perlman	Emmy, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (1984, 1985, 1986, 1989)
Technical Awards	Emmy, Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series (1983, 1991)
	Emmy, Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series (1983, 1984)
	Emmy, Outstanding Individual Achievement in Graphic Design and Title Sequences (1983)
	Emmy, Outstanding Film Editing for a Series (1984) Emmy, Outstanding Editing for a Series - Multi-Camera Production (1988, 1993)
	Emmy, Outstanding Live and Tape Sound Mixing and Sound Effects for a Series (1985) Emmy, Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy Series or a Special (1986, 1987, 1990)

Plot

For the full list of episodes, see List of Cheers episodes

Nearly all of Cheers took place in the front room of the bar, only occasionally stepping into the rear pool room or Sam's office. In fact, Cheers didn't show any action outside the bar until later into the series. Cheers had some running gags, such as Norm arriving in the bar greeted by a loud "Norm!" Early episodes generally followed Sam's antics with his various women, following a variety of romantic comedy clichés to get out of whatever relationship troubles he was in that particular episode. As the show progressed and Sam got into more serious relationships the general tone switched to comedy on Sam settling down into a more monogamous lifestyle. Throughout the series, larger story arcs began to develop that spanned multiple episodes or seasons interspersed with smaller themes and one-off episodes.

Romance

File:Cheers sam diane kiss.jpg

Sam and Diane kiss

The show's main theme in its early seasons was the stormy romance between upper-class, overeducated server Diane Chambers and earthy ex-baseball pitcher and bar owner Sam Malone. In later episodes the focus shifted to Sam's new relationship with neurotic corporate executive Rebecca. Both romances stretched to fill the entire show with varying levels to the relationship, from Sam and Diane/Rebecca hating one another to dating and intimacy. Both relationships are characterized as "will they or won't they" relationships with sexual tension between two main characters that draw viewers in to see if the tension is resolved.

In both relationships the tension grew when Sam wanted to date the woman but she continually refused. Diane refused as she believed Sam was immoral with women and below her, the tension coming to a head at the end of the first season when she wants to date Sam's brother. Rebecca is at first only interested in dating executives at her company who might promote her, so she resists Sam's courting.

Social issues

Many Cheers scripts centered around or were improved with a variety of social issues. As Toasting Cheers puts it:

"...the script was further strengthened by the writers' boldness in successfully tackling controversial issues such as alcoholism, homosexuality, and adultery."

Social class was a strong subtext of the show. The "upper class", represented by characters like Diane Chambers, Frasier Crane, Lilith Sternin and (initially) Rebecca Howe, rubbed shoulders with middle- and working-class characters, like Sam Malone, Carla Tortelli, Norm Peterson and Cliff Clavin. An extreme example of this is the relationship between farmboy Woody Boyd and millionaire's daughter Kelly Gaines. Strong comedic support came from the bar staff, including waitress Carla Tortelli and sometimes-befuddled assistant bartender Ernie 'Coach' Pantusso (Nicholas Colasanto). Following Colasanto's death in 1985, the assistant bartender role was filled by another naïve character, Woody Boyd. Many viewers enjoyed Cheers in part because of this heavy focus on character development.

Feminism and the role of women were also recurring themes throughout the show, with some seeing each of the major female characters as a flawed feminist in her own way. Diane was a very vocal feminist, but Sam was the epitome of everything she hated: a womanizer and a male chauvinist. Their relationship led Diane to several diatribes on Sam's promiscuity, while Carla merely insulted people. Carla was respected because of her power, while Diane was ignored as she commanded little respect. Finally, Rebecca was a stereotypical ambitious and golddigging woman, seeking relationships with her superiors at the Lillian Corporation, most notably, Robin Colcord, to gain promotions or raises. However, she encountered a glass ceiling and ended the show by marrying a plumber rather than the one of the rich businessmen she originally flirted with.

Homophobia was dealt with from the very first season, a rare move for American network television in the 1980s. In the first season episode "The Boys In The Bar" (after the 1970s film The Boys in the Band) a college friend and fellow teammate of Sam comes out in his autobiography, some of the male regulars pressure Sam to take action to ensure that Cheers does not became a gay bar. The episode won an award from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, and the script's writers, Ken Levine & David Isaacs, both won an Emmy Award for their writing. Harvey Fierstein would later appear in the 1990s as "Mark Newberger", Rebecca's old high school sweetheart who is gay. Finally, the finale episode included a gay man who gets into trouble with his boyfriend after agreeing to pose as Diane's husband.

Addiction also plays a role in Cheers, almost exclusively through Sam, although some critics believed the issue was never really developed. Sam was a recovering alcoholic who ended up buying a bar after his baseball career was ruined by his drinking. Frasier also has a notable bout of drinking in the fourth season episode "The Triangle", although Sam is the primary alcoholic figure on the show. Some critics believe Sam was a generally addictive personality who had largely conquered his alcoholism but was still a sexual addict, shown through his womanizing.

Cheers owners

File:Cheers sign.jpg

The Cheers sign

Cheers evidently had several owners before Sam, especially implied in the bar's sign that claims it was established in 1895. In the second episode, "Sam's Women", Norm tells a customer looking for the owner of Cheers that the man he thought was the owner has been replaced, and his replacement replaced by Sam. The biggest storyline surrounding the ownership of Cheers begins in the fifth season finale, "I Do, Adieu", when Sam and Diane part ways, Shelley Long leaves the regular cast, and Sam leaves to attempt circumnavigating the Earth. Before he leaves, Sam sells Cheers to the fictional Lillian Corporation. Sam returns in the sixth season premiere, "Home is the Sailor", having sunk his boat, to find the bar under the new management of Rebecca Howe. He begs for his job back and is hired by Rebecca as a bartender. Throughout the sixth season, Sam tries a variety of schemes to buy back Cheers. This plot largely comes to an end in the seventh season premiere, "How to Recede in Business", when Rebecca is fired and Sam promoted to manager. From there Sam would occasionally attempt to buy the bar back with schemes that usually involved wealthy executive Robin Colcord. Cheers did eventually end up back in Sam's hands in the eighth season finale, when it was sold back to him for eighty-seven cents by the Lillian Corporation after he alerted the company of Colcord's embezzlement.

Other recurring themes

Aside from the storylines that spanned across the series, Cheers had several themes that followed no storylines but that recurred throughout the series. There was a heated rivalry between Cheers and the rival bar, Olde Towne Tavern, owned by a man named Gary. One episode of every season depicted some wager between Sam and Gary, which resulted in either a sports competition or a battle of wits that devolved into complex practical jokes. Aside from the very first and very last "Bar Wars" episodes, the Cheers gang always lost to Gary's superior ingenuity.

Norm Peterson continually searched for gainful employment as an accountant but spent most of the series unemployed, thereby explaining his constant presence in Cheers at the same stool. The face of his wife, Vera, was never fully seen onscreen, despite a few fleeting appearances and a couple of vocal cameos.

Cliff Clavin seemed unable to shake the constant presence of his mother, Esther Clavin (Frances Sternhagen). Though she did not appear in every episode, he would refer to her quite often, mostly as both an emotional burden and a smothering parent.

Carla Tortelli carried a reputation of being both extremely fertile and matrimonially inept. The last husband she had on the show, Eddie LeBec, was a washed-up ice hockey goaltender who ended up dying in an ice show accident. Carla later discovered that Eddie had cheated on her, marrying another woman after impregnating her. Carla's sleazy first husband, Nick Tortelli, also made frequent appearances, mostly to torment Carla with a new custody battle or legal scam that grew out of their divorce. Carla's eight kids were also notoriously ill-behaved.

Critical reactions

Cheers was critically acclaimed even in its first season, though it landed a disappointing 74th in the ratings that year. This critical support, coupled with early success at the Emmys and the support of the president of NBC's entertainment division Brandon Tartikoff, is thought to be the main reason for the show's survival and eventual success. The cast themselves went across the country on various talk shows to try and further promote the series after its first season. When NBC discovered Family Ties and The Cosby Show and placed them both on Thursday night with Cheers' second season, the show's audience expanded (starting what NBC would go on to call "Must See Thursday"). By its final season Cheers had had a run of eight consecutive seasons of single-digit ratings (that is, ranking 1st-9th in overall ratings). Critics have a variety of opinions on addiction in Cheers (see above). Some critics now use Cheers and Frasier as a model of a successful spin-off for a character from an already successful series to compare to modern spin-offs, such as Joey from Friends.

NBC dedicated a whole night to the final episode of Cheers. The show began with a "pregame" show hosted by Bob Costas, followed by the final 98-minute episode itself. Local news then aired tributes to Cheers, and the night concluded with a special Tonight Show broadcast live from the Bull & Finch Pub. Some critics disliked the finale for the sudden reentry of Shelley Long which they felt was flawed, the odd length of the episode, Leno's monologue, and a seemingly uninterested Cheers cast that resorted to spitball fights. Although the episode fell short of its hyped ratings predictions to become the most-watched television episode, it was the most watched show that year and ranked 11th all time in entertainment programming. The episode originally aired in the usual Cheers spot of Thursday night and was then rebroadcast on Sunday. Some estimate that while the original broadcast did not outperform the M*A*S*H finale, the combined non-repeating audiences for the Thursday and Sunday showings did. Toasting Cheers also notes that television had greatly changed between the M*A*S*H and Cheers finales, leaving Cheers with a broader array of competition for ratings.

Spin-offs and Crossovers

Woody, Cliff, and Norm on The Simpsons

Some of the actors and actresses from Cheers brought their characters into other television shows, either in a guest appearance or in a new spin-off. The most successful Cheers spin-off was the show Frasier which directly followed Frasier Crane after moving back to Seattle, Washington, where he lived with his family and hosted a call-in radio show. Ironically, Frasier was originally supposed to be a small disliked character who only existed to further Diane and Sam's relationship, but Grammer's acting turned what were supposed to be unfunny lines into comedy the audience enjoyed. Sam, Diane, and Woody all had individual crossover appearances on Frasier where they came to visit Frasier, and his ex-wife Lilith remained a constant supporting character throughout Frasier. Cliff, Norm, Carla, and two of Cheers' regular background barflies Paul and Phil had a crossover together in the Frasier episode "Cheerful Goodbyes". Frasier, on a trip to Boston, meets the Cheers gang and Cliff thinks Frasier has flown out for his retirement party, which Frasier ends up attending. Frasier was on the air as long as Cheers, going off the air in 2004 after an eleven-season run. Although Frasier was the most successful spin-off, The Tortellis was the first series to spin-off from Cheers, premiering in 1987. The show featured Carla's husband Nick Tortelli and his wife Loretta, but was cancelled after 13 episodes and drew protests for its stereotypical depictions of Italian Americans.

In addition to direct spin-offs, several Cheers characters had guest appearance crossovers with other shows. In The Simpsons episode "Fear of Flying", Homer stumbles into a Cheers-like bar after being kicked out of Moe's. Most of the central cast appears in the episode, including Frasier, but he is the only character to remain silent despite Grammer being the only common guest star on The Simpsons (he voices the recurring character Sideshow Bob). The tagline for Moe's Tavern "Where nobody knows your name" is also a reference to Cheers. Characters also had crossovers with Wings—which was created by Cheers producers/writers—and St. Elsewhere in a somewhat rare comedy-drama crossover. Finally, the Star Trek character Morn, who can always be spotted at Quark's Bar, is named for Norm Peterson.

Syndication and home video

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Season 3 DVD

Cheers grew in popularity as it aired on American television and entered into syndication. When the show went off the air in 1993, Cheers was syndicated in 38 countries with 179 American television markets and 83 million viewers. Then, after going off the air, Cheers entered a long, successful, and continuing syndication run on Nick at Nite. While the quality of some earlier footage of Cheers had begun to degrade, it underwent a careful restoration in 2001 due to its continued success. Notably, a Cheers rerun replaced Australia's Naughtiest Home Videos on Australia's Nine Network. The latter was cancelled mid-episode on its only broadcast by Kerry Packer, who pulled the plug after a phone call. Cheers was aired by NCRV in the Netherlands. After the last episode, NCRV simply began re-airing the series, and then again, thus airing the show three times in a row, showing an episode nightly. Paramount Studios began to release individual seasons of Cheers on DVD with the first seasons on May 20, 2003, the seventh season being the most recently released on November 15, 2005.

Post-Cheers

Cheers was a successful enough show to launch the careers of several young actors. Grammer was arguably the most successful with his spin-off Frasier, which lasted for the same eleven season run Cheers had. By the final season of Frasier, Grammer had become the highest paid actor on television, earning about $1.6 million an episode. Harrelson has also had a successful career following Cheers including appearances in a number of notable films that have established him as a box office draw. He also earned an Academy Award nomination in 1997 for The People vs. Larry Flynt. Danson, who had been the highest paid Cheers cast member earning $450,000 an episode in the final season, has starred in the successful sitcom Becker but has had few starring film roles. Ratzenberger has voice acted in all of Pixar's computer-animated feature films and currently hosts the Travel Channel show Made in America. On Made in America he travels around the United States showing the stories of small towns and the goods they produce. Coincidentally, Ted Danson starred in a film also called Made in America. Bebe Neuwirth has gone on to star in numerous Broadway musicals, earning two Tony Awards for her work. Kirstie Alley has starred in numerous miniseries and film roles. Although some believe Shelley Long leaving the show was a bad career move, she has gone on to star in several television and film roles, notably The Brady Bunch Movie and its sequel.

Kirstie Alley in Fat Actress

In addition to continuing careers after Cheers, some of the cast members have had personal problems. In 2004 Shelley Long grew depressed after divorcing her husband of 23 years and appears to have attempted suicide by overdosing on drugs. Her friends report she has continued to sink into depression, eating improperly and sometimes refusing to leave bed. Kirstie Alley gained a significant amount of weight after Cheers, which somewhat affected her career. She went on to write and star in a show partly based on her life and weight gain, Fat Actress.

The Host Marriott Corporation installed 46 bars modeled after Cheers in their hotel and airport lounges. Paramount Pictures licensed the characters and details of the show, allowing the bars to have fake memorabilia such as Sam Malone's supposed jersey while playing for the Red Sox. One of the details Marriott included were two robots, "Bob" and "Hank", one of which was heavy and the other wore a Postal uniform.

Ratzenberger and Wendt filed a groundbreaking lawsuit against Paramount in 1993, claiming that the company was illegally licensing and earning off their images without their permission. Ratzenberger and Wendt claimed that Paramount cannot earn off of their images simply because the robots are dressed like the characters Paramount still holds rights over. The case was dismissed by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge in 1996, though a federal judge reinstated the case in the LA court. Paramount tried to bring the case before the Supreme Court of the United States, but the court refused to hear the case, instead merely reaffirming the ruling to reinstate the case in the Superior Court. Some believe the case could have had significant implications in Hollywood, as its outcome would have determined whether rights over a character imply rights to reproduce the actor's image with or without his or her permission, so long as the image is of the actor as the character. However, Paramount settled with the two before the suit was ruled on. In addition to the characters, the Cheers opening sequence and theme song has become iconic. Because of this, the sequence is a common target for parody, such as on YTMND.

Outside the bar

File:Cheers bar.JPG

The bar set

Most early episodes took place entirely within the confines of the bar. When the series became a hit, the characters started venturing further afield, first to other sets and eventually to an occasional exterior location. The exterior location shots of the bar were actually of the Bull & Finch Pub, north of Boston Common, which has become a tourist attraction because of its association with the series and draws in nearly a million visitors annually. It has since been renamed Cheers Beacon Hill, though its interior is different from the TV bar. To further capitalize on the show's popularity, another bar, Cheers Faneuil Hall, was built to be a replica of the show's set to provide tourists with a bar whose interior was closer to the one they saw on TV. It is near Faneuil Hall, about a mile from the Bull & Finch Pub. The actual bar set is now on permanent display at the Hollywood Entertainment Museum.

References

(published date if available) (retrieval date)

Cheers. Created by James Burrows, Glen Charles and Les Charles. 1982-1993. Broadcast and DVD.

External links

• Cheers at IMDb
• Cheers Theme Song (.mp3 format)
• Cheers Reunion/Wedding Campaign
• The Unofficial Cheers fansite
• TVSeriesFinale Cheers page & podcast