Cheers/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Acting for Two: Rhea Perlman appeared in one episode as Carla's sister Annette.
  • Actor Allusion: A strange case. For a while, Carla's ex-husband Nick was The Faceless, and was described as Danny DeVito. Rhea Perlman played Zena, Louis DePalma's girlfriend on Taxi. DeVito was going to play Nick, but his movie career took off and Dan Hedaya was hired to play the role instead.
  • Adored by the Network: When Cheers finally went off the air on May 20, 1993, NBC dedicated a whole night to the show's final episode. The night began with a "pregame" show hosted by NBC sportscaster Bob Costas, followed by the final 98-minute episode itself. NBC affiliates then aired tributes to Cheers during their local newscasts, and the night concluded with a special Tonight Show broadcast live from the Bull & Finch Pub.
    • The tributes didn't end there. On the following day's Today broadcast, the show dedicated an almost ten-minute segment documenting how loved the show was to people, with Today co-anchor Katie Couric being seen briefly on the Cheers set. The segment began with the show documenting the Tonight Show broadcast with brief comments from the show's cast, in addition to recapping the finale. The show then did an on location report in which NBC News correspondent Roger O'Neil went on location to actual bars across the country, in which staff and patrons of those bars reflected on watching the program from those exact bars. After that, the segment concluded with Couric, now back at NBC News world headquarters in New York, sitting down for an interview with then NBC Entertainment president Warren Littlefield, speaking from the Bull & Finch, about what shows he was going to use to fill the void, along with a side interview with Jeannie Park, then senior editor for television at Entertainment Weekly, in which she and Couric discussed the phenomenon of how Cheers was able to run for 11 seasons despite having abysmal ratings on its inaugural season.
  • The Character Died with Him: Nicholas Colasanto/Coach Ernie Pantuso. Frasier later revealed that the same thing happened with Al Rosen/Al.
  • The Danza: Woody Harrelson played Woody Boyd. Oddly enough, the character was named Woody before Harrelson got the part.
    • All of the minor barflies, such as Paul (Paul Wilson), Al (Al Rosen), Pete (Peter Schreiner), Alan (Alan Koss), Tim (Tim Cunningham), Steve (Steve Giannelli), Phil (Philip Perlman, Rhea's father), Hugh (Hugh McGuire), Tom (Thomas Babson), Larry (Larry Harpel), Paul (Paul Vaughn) Tony (Tony DiBenedetto), and Mark (Mark Arnott).
    • A few of the recurring characters in the show's early run...including a pre-Night Court Harry Anderson as itinerant Con Man "Harry the Hat".
      • Lampshaded when Woody won the lead in Our Town and remarked that his co-star was named Emily (same as her character), so she wouldn't have to worry about difficult things like responding to a new name.
  • Development Gag: Former NFL star Fred Dryer was up for the part of Sam Malone, while Julia Duffy (later of Newhart) was up for the part of Diane Chambers. Both later guest starred on the show, Dryer as Sam's crasser, dumber sportscaster friend, Dave Richards, and Duffy as Diane's even more pretentious, even snootier best friend, Rebecca Prout.
  • Directed by Cast Member: Four episodes by John Ratzenberger in later seasons.
  • He Also Did: Roger Rees plays Robin Colcord in this series, Lord John Marbury on The West Wing, and the Sheriff of Rottingham in Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
  • Life Imitates Art: Jeopardy! uses "pulling a Clavin" to refer to when a contestant whiffs the way Cliff did on an episode.
  • Network to the Rescue: The show was an utter bomb in its first year, having the worst Neilsen ratings of the year. Fortunately, NBC Entertainment president Brandon Tartikoff refused to cancel it, and put it in a prime slot right after The Cosby Show and Family Ties, and it soon became the #1 sitcom in America, even beating its lead-ins. Ironically, Tartikoff would later serve as chairman of Paramount, which produced both Cheers and Family Ties.
  • The Other Darrin: Two different actors played Gary in the various "Bar Wars" episodes.
  • Real Life Relative: Kelsey Grammer's daughter Spencer had an uncredited role in "One Hugs, the Other Doesn't".
    • Phil the barfly was played by Phil Perlman, Rhea Perlman's father. In addition, Rhea's sister, Heide Perlman, was a frequent writer.
    • Vera Petersen is Bernadette Birkett, George Wendt's wife.
  • Recycled Script: Not only is the storyline of the Season 11 episode "Norm's Big Audit" virtually identical to that of the Wings episode "Hell Hath No Fury Like a Police Woman Scorned," but the same actress who played the hard-nosed, lovesick policewoman in Wings was hired to play the hard-nosed, lovesick IRS auditor in this series.
    • The "main male character's older brother who is better at everything" was used for Cheers as well. Many sitcoms used virtually the same script, including Three's Company.
    • Diane borrows money from Sam in one episode, and proceeds to spend it on apparently frivolous items before paying Sam back. This is a very common sitcom plot, used again in Frasier and many other shows.
  • Retroactive Recognition: There are several in the series.
    • Carla's daughter who gets married is played by Leah Remini (King of Queens).
    • Brent Spiner appeared in a two part episode.
    • Frasier regulars Peri Gilpin and John Mahoney appeared in separate episodes.
      • John Mahoney plays Sy Flembeck, a jingle writer - whose skills wind up being criticized by Frasier. In Frasier, Martin helps Frasier write a jingle.
      • Peri Gilpin plays a jaded reporter who has all of the same mannerisms and snarkiness as Roz.
    • Kate Mulgrew was a romantic partner for Sam in a three episode Cliff Hanger.
    • Nancy Cartwright appeared as Andy-Andy's fiance. Fellow Simpsons (and The Critic) castmember Doris Grau had a few appearances as Corrine.
    • Michael Richards appeared as a con-man who tried to bilk Sam out of his bar.
    • Thomas Haden Church appears in Death Takes a Holiday on Ice.
    • Diedrich Bader appeared as a snarky waiter in episode Sammy and the Professor.
  • Star-Making Role: True for almost the whole cast, except for Kirstie Alley who got her big break a few years earlier with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and arguably Bebe Neuwirth with her stage experience. Most dramatically true for Woody Harrelson, who went on to a very successful film career.
  • Technology Marches On: In the Season 3 finale, everyone at the bar is impressed by Sam's new answering machine. In Season 4 Sam is jealous when Diane's boyfriend has a car phone.
    • In "Where Nobody Knows Your Name", Frasier mentions the bar TV's "sixteen wonderful cable channels".
    • As Cracked noted, the Know-Nothing Know-It-All, here personified by Cliff Clavin, is basically extinct. In an age of ubiquitous portable communication devices, anyone could smack down Cliff's BS. However, in Cheerful Goodbyes, Cliff proved immune to corrections.
    • Similarly to the above, in one episode the gang has an argument about what Sam Malone's big-league batting average was. Now they could just look it up on their phones.
    • Rebecca's "very expensive calculator" in "My Son, the Father".
    • More than one scene where the bar telephone rings, Carla or Sam asks "Who isn't here?", and everyone raises their hand. Remember when people could actually go out and not be always reachable by cell phone?
    • Cliff totes around an enormous video camera in Season 11's "Sunday Dinner".
    • In "Norm and Cliff's Excellent Adventure", Woody buys Rebecca "a portable, solar-powered phone".
    • In "Those Lips, Those Ice", Frasier needs a briefcase to carry around his "portable cellular telephone".
    • Acknowledged by Cliff in "Cheerful Goodbyes" that email has hurt postal mail, but dismisses it as a "fad".
  • Throw It In: According to John Ratzenberger, he badly botched his audition for the role of Norm, and, figuring he had nothing to lose, asked if the cast included a bar know-it-all. He proceeded to improvise for a few minutes as such a character, and the writers subsequently created the part of Cliff for him.
  • Unintentional Period Piece: The show is soaked in '80s style and culture.
  • What Could Have Been: Joel Hodgson revealed in a recent interview that he auditioned for the role of Woody Boyd.
Back to Cheers
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Cheers/Trivia?oldid=1735630"