Cheers - Where Everybody Knows Your Name:

This is an old article pending revision.

"Cheers" is a television series that takes place in a bar which is at the basement of a building that has a restaurant and hotel. You have to enter Cheers outside by going down a flight of stairs, or on the inside by going down a flight of stairs through the restaurant. There is a full size office area, with a back room that Sam says is an area equipped for anybody to survive for a very long time if they are trapped. There is a wine cellar, and a room that people play pool in. The bar is modeled after the Bull & Finch pub.



Sam Malone is a former Baseball player that buys a popular bar and turns it into a sports bar. He is very similar to Charlie Harper, which both of them appear to be unable to have long term relationships with women. Sam does pursue long term relationships with some of the main characters, but they break up in a few years. He is played by Ted Danson.


Carla Maria Victoria Angelina Teresa Apollonia Lozupone Tortelli LeBec played by Rhea Perlman, usually has very poofy hair, and as a result, has been commented that she looks the same whether she has make up on or not, and her hair practically styles itself. She is a waitress for the entire run of Cheers, and expresses herself as being usually very sarcastic, and often rude. She can be compared to the characteristics of Darlene Conner Healey on "Roseanne". She has eight children, which are usually out of control. One of her ex-husbands is Nick Tortelli. Another ex-husband is a professional athlete just like Sam, and is named is Eddie LeBec (Jay Thomas). When Eddie dies, there is a very large mystery because Carla is not the only widow. She buys a house for a very low price, which is because it is at the end of a runway. She does not care, as long as it is not cursed. She is very superstitious.


Norm Peterson is an accountant. This Dan Conner look-alike also drinks beer, but seemingly more than anybody else. He has a tab at Cheers, and also is considered an employee when Cheers applied for Health insurance but does not have enough staff. He really does not work there, but is a daily visitor and enjoys sampling pretzels and alcoholic beverages, and one time he became an employee at a marketing company to sample different flavors of beer. He caves after an interview with the head of the company. Rebecca and Norm are friends, both having failed at many things. While Rebecca is very upset about her failures, Norm is usually laid back about his. They both enjoy ice cream after Rebecca introduces eating ice cream as a pastime, and continues to enjoy the kind of ice cream that is Rebecca's favorite. It quickly becomes his favorite flavor also. He is very sneaky, while getting hired with a different last name so he is able to collect unemployment checks and pay checks at the same time. He is an expert at interior design, and is an accountant, but usually does not work. His wife is employed full time. Her name is Vera (Bernadette Birkette), and is rarely seen onscreen. Norm loves Vera, but at the same time he constantly jokes about her. Everybody at Cheers (and also restaurants) literally knows his name, and shout it out whenever he enters saying "Good evening, everybody!!" He is portrayed by George Wendt.


Ernie Pantusso is played by Nicholas Colasanto. Ernie is Sam's Baseball coach. They both have retired, and ran Cheers together. Sadly, Nicholas died in1985, during the 3rd season. Unused stock footage was featured afterwards until the 4th season.


Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) is very intelligent, yet naïve. She finds a second home as a waitress at Cheers. She breaks up with Sam, has a long term relationship with Frasier Crane, and then again with Sam Malone. She leaves to pursue her career, and promised to return soon. Instead, she returns many years later.


Rebecca Howe is the owner of Cheers when the company that she works for purchased the bar after Sam sells it which is when Diane left. His vacation around the world ends very soon after his boat crashes. Rebecca transforms the sports bar into a lounge. She is an over achiever that is always wanting to impress wealthy men, including her executives. After discovering that one of her executives (which she is dating of course) is an embezzler, she eventually gets fired from the company due to lack of interest. Sam buys the bar back for a very low price, and also hires Rebecca as an assistant manager. He later faces problems with his upstairs neighbor, who has half of Cheers on the title of his restaurant. He forces Sam to pay rent, if he fails to do so, the hall to the public restrooms and pool room is barricaded. Rebecca intends to buy Cheers, this time all by herself, and Sam says that the bar is for sale for $25,000,000.00 but because of problems with the restaurant, Rebecca agrees to buy half of Cheers, not from Sam, but from the restaurant. They work together now, and sometimes separately, since Rebecca is filled with ideas. She wants to convert the pool room of Cheers into a tea room. When her tea room is unsuccessful, she drags a pot of Chili to the back of Cheers, but Sam accidentally destroys it by blowing up a pot of chili. She gets even with him by smashing the windows of his car. Rebecca's smoking addiction and the mistake of putting a cigarette in a trash can causes Cheers to burn, which she uses her life savings to restore the uninsured bar. She is a building superintendent, although one time locking herself out regardless. Kirstie Alley's character on Cheers appears to match her Vulcan character on Star Trek, which shields her emotions. Sam is curious to find out why. Rebecca suffers several emotional breakdowns; she is actually a very sensitive and vulnerable person that is recognized as a jinx that loses everything. She never won anything from a slot machine, unless it was rigged, which she got her coin back. The emotional side of her exists usually for comic purposes. The strict side of her character would be filled by increasing the appearances of Dr. Lilith Sternin.


Clifford C. Clavin (John Ratzenberger)works at the post office, and lived at home with his mother named Esther (Frances Sternhagen) until she moved to Florida after being paid to have her house demolished. He dated fellow postal worker Margaret O'Keefe (Annie Golden). He is annoying to most people and talks about various things.


Woody Boyd (Woody Harrelson)becomes a bartender in the 4th season, and is very literal-minded. He talks about life on a farm, from hilarious stories to disgusting ones. He falls in love with a wealthy girl named Kelley Gaines (Jackie Swanson). She leaves for France, and returns with a man named An-Re. Woody and Kelly get married, and even if they do not have the same backgrounds, they have very similar personalities.


Dr. Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) is a psychiatrist that believes in psychoanalysis. He met Diane Chambers who was recovering from severe depression as a result of a fight and break up with Sam Malone. The character would later appear in his own series where he moved to Seattle, and talks of tossed salad and scrambled eggs.


Dr. Lilith Sternin (Bebe Neuwirth) is introduced as a rival to Frasier and later as a wife. Her personality also substitutes for the mean side of Rebecca Howe. She is very strict and serious and dresses professionally. She does laugh, and laughs at Cliff Clavin's jokes, since both of them know many things that others might not understand. Frasier once introduced himself to two women, and does not see his wife walk in. The customers flee after seeing her. She is a physiatrist that believes in behaviorism. She also does research on lab rats. Frasier and herself have a child toeter, named Frederick. She leaves to go on an eco-pod research project for space colonization. She leaves Frasier for one of the other scientists. They eventually resolve this problem, but eventually end up getting divorced. When Dr. Crane stars in his own show, Lilith does not move to Seattle with him. She stays behind and raises Frederick. Daphne claims to get migraines and that she senses evil as a result of Lilith's presence.


Paul Krapence is anoter barfly in Cheers. He spends much of his time being ignored by the other people. When Rebecca asked for somebody to talk to her when she needed advice, Paul goes in, and then comes back out, with Rebecca saying "Not Paul!!" He is portrayed by Paul Willson.


Phil and Al are two very old barflies. There is a fireman that gets tortured by the other people. His regular saying is "What are you doing?!". Harry Anderson played a character called Harry The Hat. He is a magician and con artist. Harry Anderson would later become a judge in the situation comedy "Night Court".


John Allen Hill (Keene Curtis)became the new owner of Melville' fine sea food. He discovers that half of Cheers on the title. He forces Sam Malone to pay rent and also uses Cheers as a waiting room. Rebecca's intent to buy the bar is helpful when she buys the half of Cheers that John is in charge of. She is rarely remembered for doing this, and is usually regarded as a lazy waitress. When Carla and John aren't arguing with each other, they are sleeping with each other.


Cheers has several spin off and related series.


"The Tortellis" is about Nick Tortelli (Dan Hedaya) and Loretta Tortelli (Jean Kasem). Nick is Carla's former husband. The series does not last very long; one of the reasons is because of stereotypes that the viewing audience did not like.


"Frasier" is about Dr. Frasier Crane, who moves from Boston to Seattle.


"Wings" is a series about an airport with two competing and rival airlines. It is at the nearby Nantucket, Massachusetts. John Ritter and Amy Yasbeck were formerly a couple in this series, and these two actors have played couples before in other series. There were two recurring characters, Carlton and Sandy. They appeared each year. There were also guest stars from Cheers, such as Frasier and Lilith, and also Rebecca Howe, who is still searching for rich men. The series is created by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee, who were producers at Cheers.


"Becker" is a series starring Ted Danson, as a very grumpy doctor. It is not part of the same cannon, but of the same cannon of other CBS shows, such as The King Of Queens, COSBY, and Everybody Loves Raymond. Each of these series cast guest starred in each other's show.