![]() Rhea Perlman wasn’t the only member of her family to grace the set of Cheers. Among them was a season six cliffhanger in which Sam learns that a former girlfriend is HIV positive. In 1988, the Writers Guild of America went on strike, which meant that several planned episodes of the series were never filmed. PLANS FOR AN HIV SCARE FOR SAM HAD TO BE ABANDONED. The season one episode “The Boys in the Bar,” in which one of Sam’s former teammates announces that he is gay, earned writers Ken Levine and David Isaacs a GLAAD Media Award. CHEERS WASN’T AFRAID TO TACKLE SOCIAL ISSUES.Ĭheers’ writers never shied away from taboo topics such as alcoholism or homosexuality, through they always had a sense of humor about them. ![]() In the series premiere, there’s an argument about the sweatiest movie ever made, which was lifted from one of these overheard conversations. In order to nail the bar talk aspect of the series, the creators regularly visited bars in the Los Angeles area to eavesdrop on patrons’ conversations. SOME OF THE DIALOGUE CAME FROM REAL BAR CONVERSATIONS. But the art is knowing when to shut up and let other people talk. Because I know when to stop … It's easy to improvise comedy. “So little by little they've let me just sort of run off. “After a couple of years on the show they realized they could trust me not to mess it up,” Ratzenberger told Deseret News in 1993. Many of the random (and untrue) facts that Cliff Clavin offers up were ad libbed by Ratzenberger. JOHN RATZENBERGER IMPROVISED MANY OF CLIFF’S FUN FACTS. Birkett did make one appearance on the show-as a love interest of Cliff’s-in season three. Though she’s only credited in one episode, George Wendt’s wife, Bernadette Birkett, provided the voice for Norm’s wife, Vera. ![]() NORM’S NEVER-SEEN WIFE VERA IS VOICED BY GEORGE WENDT’S REAL WIFE. His wife would call, and he'd always say, ‘Tell her I'm not here.’” 7. He wasn't named Norm, was always going to have just one beer, and then he'd say, ‘Maybe I'll just have one more.’ We had to help him out of the bar every night. “I worked at a bar after college, and we had a guy who came in every night. In 2012, co-creator Les Charles told GQ that Norm was based on a real person. And I said, ‘Well, every local bar in New England has got a know-it-all-someone who pretends to have the knowledge of all mankind between his ears and is not shy about sharing it.’” Thus, Cliff Clavin was born. “None of the creators was from New England. “As I was leaving the office after the audition, I turned around and asked them, ‘Do you have a bar know-it-all?,’” the Bridgeport, Connecticut-born Ratzenberger recalled to Ability Magazine. But Ratzenberger wasn’t about to give up so easily. NORM AND CLIFF WEREN’T INTENDED TO BE REGULAR CHARACTERS.īoth George Wendt and John Ratzenberger auditioned for the same role in the pilot, a minor character named George who had a single line: “Beer!” The character’s name was changed to Norm Peterson when Wendt was cast. ![]() TED DANSON ATTENDED BARTENDING SCHOOL.ĭanson spent two weeks at a bartending school in Burbank, California as part of his training to play Sam. Once the casting was finalized, the creators swapped out football for baseball, based on Danson’s body type. Ultimately, it was the chemistry between Ted Danson and Shelley Long that led to them getting the gigs. In the script’s earliest incarnations, Sam Malone was an ex-football player, which made sense considering that Fred Dryer-the former NFL defensive end who would go on to star in Hunter-was a top choice to play the role of Sam (opposite Julia Duffy as Diane William Devane was also a strong contender). SAM MALONE WAS ORIGINALLY A PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL PLAYER. One year later, the Bull & Finch officially changed its name to Cheers. To satisfy the masses, a second location-this one actually called "Cheers" and featuring a replica of the bar viewers were used to-was opened in nearby Faneuil Hall in 2001. Bjorklund in his book, Toasting Cheers.Īs the show’s popularity rose, it didn’t take long for word to spread that the Beacon Hill tavern was the “real” Cheers (though only the exterior shots were filmed there), turning the neighborhood hangout into a tourist attraction. “Boston was chosen partially because only five short-lived television shows claimed the city and the East Coast pubs were real neighborhood hangouts,” wrote Dennis A. After it was decided that the series would be set in a bar instead of a hotel, co-creators Glen and Les Charles decided the locale should be moved to New England.
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