‘Cheers’: The Character NBC Wanted to Add in Season 1
The NBC comedy Cheers was full of memorable characters. However, when the show was struggling in its first season from 1982 – 1983, NBC thought about adding one more. This character never came to be, but Cheers writer Ken Levine revealed who he might have been.
Levine discussed Cheers trivia on his podcast Hollywood & Levine. Here’s the scoop on the character NBC almost made them add after season 1.
‘Cheers’ was not always a hit’
Cheers ultimately ran for 11 seasons. They even briefly considered doing a 12th even though Ted Danson had announced his departure. Still, there’s no doubt 11 seasons is a hit. Audiences grew attached to Sam Malone (Danson), Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley), Woody Boyd (Woody Harrelson), Carla Tortelli (Rhea Perlman), Cliff Clavin (John Ratzenberger), Norm Peterson (George Wendt) and Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer).
Of course, season 1 had a slightly different lineup. Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) was there for five seasons before Kirstie Alley, and Nicholas Colosanto played Coach before his death. Co-creator and director James Burrows credits summer reruns with saving the show. You see, in its first run, Cheers Season 1 was dead last in the ratings. NBC thought a new character could help.
NBC wanted to add this kind of character to ‘Cheers’
NBC was airing the final season of Taxi at the same time Cheers was beginning. Taxi starred Danny DeVito as gruff dispatcher Louie De Palma. The network thought if it works at a taxi company, it would work in a bar.
“Once a show’s not doing well, then it’s time to tinker and then it’s time to fix it,” Levine said on Hollywood & Levine. “They also wanted a Danny De Vito Louie De Palma type character to be part of the ensemble.”
1 idea they didn’t take and another they tweaked
NBC had one suggestion for the new character. The bar could have more regular customers. At the time it was just Norm and Cliff. Frasier would become a regular after his romance with Diane ended. There was already one regular deleted from the pilot, but that’s not who the network was suggesting.
“Either as like a cop who would come in all the time who was an *sshole or maybe the guy who ran Melville’s upstairs,” Levine said.
Frankly, Cheers already had a Louie De Palma. Carla was the cantankerous waitress with an insult for everyone. Anyway, they never added the character in season 2. However, the idea of Melville’s owner being a nemesis didn’t disappear. Later in Cheers, there would be shenanigans between Cheers and its rival, John Allen Hill (Keene Curtis).
“Eventually we did give Melville’s an owner who was kind of an antagonist but a much more erudite one as opposed to a Danny De Vito type,” Levine said.
