‘Cheers’ Norm Actor George Wendt Hated Episodes Centered on Norm
Norm was one of the most memorable characters on the NBC comedy Cheers. Perhaps it helped that the show screamed his name every time he entered the bar. George Wendt played Norm on Cheers, but he never wanted the spotlight. He preferred the ensemble episodes of Cheers.
The L.A. Times spoke with the cast of Cheers in 1993 before the series finale aired. During his interview, Wendt revealed why he didn’t like Norm-centric Cheers episodes.
‘Cheers’ was best when everyone was involved
Cheers was the place where everybody knows your name. The bartenders, waitresses and patrons were all friends. That’s why Wendt preferred the episodes that included the entire cast equally.
“For me, my favorite sort of Cheers are the ones where everything is sort of clicking the way it is supposed to,” Wendt told the L.A. Times. “I think my favorite ones would be in the romantic comedy years, the first two or three years where the stories were about Sam and Diane. Coach would have a nice little scene, Cliff had some wacky thing and Norm had a little entrance and a teaser. Everything sort of fit into the pegs they were supposed to.”
Norm episodes of ‘Cheers’ broke the flow
Occasionally, Cheers would focus on one of the patrons more prominently. Cliff Clavin (John Ratzenberg) got a romance once. Norm always had his wife Vera to deal with. Those weren’t indicative of the Cheers magic to Wendt though.
“I always sort of hated Norman episodes,” Wendt said. “When the supporting cast had stories they would always end up having us do something way out of character. It was not quite as cool as the quintessential Cheers show.”
11 years of magic
After 11 seasons on the air, Cheers proved itself a staple of NBC’s original must see TV lineup. It really turned the corner after a disastrous first season. Another 11 years of the spinoff Frasier proved audiences weren’t done with these characters. They even considered a Norm spinoff briefly. The success was a mystery to Wendt.
Why was the show so popular? It is so hard to pinpoint. Les Charles one day was quoting J. Paul Getty, referring to our show. He said the secret to success was to get up early, work very hard and strike oil. There is really no other way to put it. We all sort of won the lottery. It was a combination: it was the writing, the direction, the casting, maybe the age groups we were in, the times and the network we were on. And the fact that Grant Tinker had just been put into power and his master plan was to put quality shows on the air and leave them there. It might not have happened under a different regime at that network or any other. There were just too many variables.
George Wendt, The L.A. Times, 5/16/93
