‘Cheers’ Considered Season 12 Without Ted Danson/Sam Malone
The NBC comedy Cheers had its series finale in 1993 after 11 seasons. There was a brief chance Cheers could go on to season 12, but it would have been without Ted Danson, who starred as Sam Malone for all 11. That idea didn’t last long, creators Glen and Les Charles, James Burrows, writer/co-producer Ken Levine, and writer/producer Rob Long said.
The Cheers creators spoke with Variety for the show’s 25th anniversary in 2018. Here’s what they remembered about the discussions about Cheers Season 12.
Ted Danson said ‘Cheers’ Season 11 would be his last as Sam Malone
Danson was in every episode of Cheers. Even when Sam sold the bar, he returned to work for Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley). But, after 11 years, Danson was ready to move on.
“I remember the year before, after we’d finished a decade, thinking, ‘Ten seasons, that seems like a nice round number: five seasons with Shelley [Long], five with Kirstie [Alley],’” Glen told Variety. “But then you go, ‘Well, it puts a lot of people out of work. …Let’s give it one more year!’ And then a few months later, after we’d committed to another year, Ted popped up and said this would be his last year, that he wanted to try other things.”
Would ‘Cheers’ Season 12 have worked without Sam Malone?
They survived the departure of Shelley Long as Diane Chambers and the death of Nicholas Colosanto as Coach. They welcomed Woody Harrelson as Woody and Kelsey Grammer as Frasier Crane, with Bebe Neuwirth guest starring regularly as Lilith.
“We talked about doing another season, but he was firm,” Burrows said. “He felt he had played that character and wanted to move on.”
So the question became, could Cheers Season 12 work without Sam? The short answer was no.
“The Charles brothers and myself talked for half an hour, maybe an hour, about trying to do the show without Sam Malone,” Burrows said. “But we didn’t want to do that. We wanted to go out on top.”
Danson gave Cheers ample notice to wrap up the show.
“Ted at least gave us half a season, so we were able to prepare for the end,” Levine said. “In fact, Glen and Les came back and more or less guided the ship through probably the last third of the season.”
The beginning of the end
If you weren’t there, it’s hard to oversell how monumental the end of Cheers was. And that was just for viewers. The creators explained what it was like that final season.
“Knowing that we were going into our 11th season, we were sort of prepared,” Long said. “Although it turned out to be one of those things where you think you’re prepared, but you’re never really prepared.”
Les acknowledged that even if Danson hadn’t made his decision, they might have had the sense to wrap up anyway.
“I think everybody kind of had a feeling,” Les said. “I wouldn’t say that Cheers had run its course — it was still a very popular show, and there was a lot of energy to it — but I don’t think we would’ve called it quits just because of Ted. That was certainly the death blow, for sure, once he was pulling out. But I think we all felt it was kind of time.”
