‘Cheers’ Series Finale Was Not the Last Episode They Filmed
When the NBC comedy Cheers ended after 11 seasons, the series finale was a major event. NB aired several other specials surrounding the Cheers finale, which the creators now regret. The series finale, “One for the Road,” wasn’t even the last episode filmed. The creators explained why they had to film an earlier episode last.
Co-creators Lees and Glen Charles and James Burrows, along with series writer Ken Levine and producer Rob Long, spoke with Variety about the Cheers finale on its 25th anniversary in 2018. Here’s the episode they really filmed last, save for a pickup scene for “One for the Road.”
The real last ‘Cheers’ episode filmed
Now everybody knows that Ted Danson has gone gray, and wears a toupee. In the early ‘90s, Sam Malone’s hair was still a major part of his character. So near the end, Danson revealed his toupee and it turned out they filmed that last. Then they picked up the final shot of the series finale.
“The last show we shot was not the last show,” Burrows told Variety. “The last show we shot was Teddy taking his toupee off. And then after we shot that show, we shot the final scene of the last show, where they’re all sitting around smoking cigars, and that scene — it was everything I could do not to have the tears in the episode.”
The ‘Cheers’ finale was not definitively final
The Cheers finale was the last time fans saw most of the characters. A few guest starred on the spinoff Frasier. But it was important that they not end the show with the bar getting demolished or something drastic.
“The last scene was a decision that Glen and Les made,” Long said. “They didn’t want to wrap things up and have it be done. They wanted it to be just another episode. And I think that was really smart.”
So the gang has a normal conversation, though the actors all knew it was their last one.
“The final scene, where everybody is sitting in the bar and it’s just very reflective as they talk about their lives and everything,” Levine said. “I think that’s just an absolutely remarkable scene. And that was all Glen and Les. There’s not a word of that scene that wasn’t Glen and Les. And I just think it’s so beautiful and so poignant.”
The ‘Cheers’ finale was not like most finales
Most shows do film their last episode last, so that’s one difference. Other than that, it was also remarkable to make the finale just another episode of Cheers. Les Charles pointed out that the landmark final episode of M*A*S*H really did end the story of the characters.
The problem with last episodes is that they’re not typical episodes. They change. They do something different than they’ve done before. They’re usually longer. You take a half-hour form, for the most part, and turn it into an hour — or in our case, I think we went an hour and a half — and it really stretches your story. Everybody wants to see a typical Cheers episode. They don’t want it to all of a sudden be horribly dramatic or give you something out of context. But they want it to be special and to somehow be the best Cheers episode ever. Well, you know, every week you’re trying to do the best Cheers episode ever! So there’s just a lot of expectations placed on that particular episode of a series, and in a lot of cases people are disappointed. And it’s kind of understandable.
Les Charles, Interview with Variety, 5/18/18
