The famous Boston bar "Where everybody knows your name" first opened its doors September 30, 1982, on NBC. The original cast of the classic sitcom Cheers included Ted Danson as Sam Malone, the womanizing ex-ballplayer and recovering alcoholic who owned the titular Beacon Street watering hole; Shelley Long as Diane Chambers, the college-bred intellectual and aspiring author who was obliged to take a lowly barmaid job at Cheers when she was abandoned there by her faithless fiancé; Rhea Perlman as... the much-married Carla Torelli, Cheers' vituperative head barmaid who never had anything nice to say about anyone, least of all Diane; Nicholas Colasanto as bartender Ernie "Coach" Pantusso, onetime Red Sox coach and Sam's best friend; and Cheers' two most frequent customers, George Wendt as chunky, habitually unemployed accountant Norm Peterson, and John Ratzenberger as mail carrier and self-appointed expert on everything Cliff Clavin. Both of these worthies were saddled with women trouble: Norm lived in mortal terror of his never-seen wife, and Cliff shared an apartment with his obstreperous mother. Among those added to the cast in later seasons were Kirstie Alley as Cheers' new manager Rebecca Howe, installed during Sam's absence while he endeavored to get over the departure of his off-and-on lover Diane (Sam had been forced by financial problems to return to the bar as Rebecca's employee -- a situation that would eventually reverse itself); Woody ...
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When I was a little kid, I used to despise this show because it aired right after The Simpsons, so that meant that was the end of my favorite show for the evening :P Over the years after watching a few reruns of it, its grown on me and now I see the show as so nostalgic. Great review, John!