Cheers is one of the most successful and beloved sitcoms of all time, still gaining new fans even decades after it went off the air.
Recently, several of the show’s iconic cast members reunited for a panel discussion, reminiscing on the classic show and paying tribute to a cast member who recently passed away.
Ted Danson, George Wendt and John Ratzenberger — who starred in all 11 seasons of Cheers as Sam, Norm and Cliff, respectively — took the stage at the ATX TV Festival in Austin, Texas on June 2, along with co-creators James Burrors, Les Charles and Glen Charles.
Remembering Kirstie Alley
During the panel, Danson got emotional while talking about Kirstie Alley, who died of cancer in December.
“She’s not here. It’s very strange,” Danson said, per Variety.
Alley joined the series in season 6 playing Rebecca Howe, a character meant to replace previous leading lady Diane after the departure of actress Shelley Long.
“She came in like a ball of fire… She was making her entrance into the table read and she put on a Shelley Long, blonde wig,” Danson recalled. “We’re like, ‘OK, you’ll do great.’”
“She played a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown better than anybody,” he said.
The cast also remembered the surprising welcome gift they got her — a shotgun.
Wendt and Ratzenberger were tasked with buying the new actress a welcome gift, and after passing a sporting goods store decided on the unusual gift. “George wrote on the card, ‘You’re going to have to shoot your way out,'” Ratzenberger recalled.
They also recalled challenging Woody Harrelson, who also joined the show a few seasons in, to games of basketball, chess and arm wrestling to try to humble the newcomer, but Harrelson won all the games, according to USA Today.
Fake beer and other revelations
The characters on Cheers ordered many, many beers over the 11 seasons, but the actors on set weren’t exactly enjoying a cold one.
Since drinking real beer would mean the actors getting too tipsy on set, a special prop beer was made instead — and it doesn’t sound too appetizing.
“It was Near Beer, and it was non-alcoholic beer, and they wanted it to be draft,” Wendt recalled, per People. “So it was warm and flat, and the prop man put salt into it. So it was warm, flat, salty, non-alcoholic beer.”
In addition to paying tribute to Alley, Danson also praised his original co-star Shelley Long, after Burrows talked about their chemistry during their audition.
“I don’t think we’d seen a character like that since Lucille Ball,” Danson said of Long’s performance as Diane. “I do believe I was on Cheers because of Shelley, because Shelley was a knockout.”
He also admitted he was ready to say goodbye to the show when it wrapped up in 1993, saying it led to him meeting his wife.
“My life was a hot mess. I think I needed time to get my life together,” Danson said. “If I had kept going, I wouldn’t have met my wife Mary Steenburgen.”
Thirty years after Cheers ended, it’s had an incredible legacy and continues to be loved by fans. The iconic bar set recently sold for $675,000 at an auction in Dallas.
Danson said that Cheers fans “are getting younger and younger” as new generations discover the show, and the creators said they’re happy to see the show has lasted so long after such a low-rated start.
“To see new people watching, it’s just flattering beyond belief,” Burrows said, according to USA Today.
Cheers is one of the best shows of all time, and it’s great to see so many cast and crew members sharing their memories of this iconic sitcom!
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READ MORE:
- ‘Taxi’ cast reunites 40 years after classic sitcom ended: see them today
- ‘Cheers’ cast pays tribute to Kirstie Alley, remembering her as ‘brilliant’ and ‘wonderful’
- Kirstie Alley says she and Patrick Swayze had an “intense attraction” while working together
- Ted Danson made it his 75th birthday because of his ‘lifesaver’ wife, who changed his life
