Characters
Before the Cheers pilot, "Give Me a Ring Sometime", was completed and aired in 1982, the series originally consisted of four employees of Cheers, the bar, in the first script. Neither Norm Peterson nor Cliff Clavin, regular customers of Cheers were featured; later revisions added them as among the regular characters of the series.
In later years, Woody Boyd replaces Coach, who dies off-screen in season four (1985-86). Frasier Crane starts as a recurring character and becomes a permanent character. In season six (1986-87) Rebecca Howe replaces Diane Chambers, who was written out of the show last season (1986–87). Lilith Sternin starts as a one-time character in an episode of season four, "Second Time Around" (1985). Since season five, she became a recurring character, featured as a permanent one for seasons ten and eleven (1991–93).
| Name | Portrayed by | Role at Cheers | Occupation | Seasons | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | |||||
| Sam Malone | Ted Danson | Owner, Bartender | Former baseball player | Starring | |||||||||||
| Diane Chambers | Shelley Long | Waitress | Graduate student, writer | Starring | Guest | ||||||||||
| Ernie "Coach" Pantusso | Nicholas Colasanto | Bartender | Former baseball player and coach | Starring* | |||||||||||
| Carla Tortelli | Rhea Perlman | Waitress | Housewife | Starring | |||||||||||
| Norm Peterson | George Wendt | Customer | Accountant; house painter; interior decorator | Starring | |||||||||||
| Cliff Clavin | John Ratzenberger | Customer | Mailman | Recurring | Starring | ||||||||||
| Frasier Crane | Kelsey Grammer | Customer | Psychiatrist | Recurring | Starring | ||||||||||
| Woody Boyd | Woody Harrelson | Assistant Bartender | Actor; politician | Starring | |||||||||||
| Lilith Sternin | Bebe Neuwirth | Customer | Psychiatrist | Guest | Recurring | Starring† | |||||||||
| Rebecca Howe | Kirstie Alley | Businesswoman | Superintendent | Starring | |||||||||||
| *Before production of season 3 was finished, Nicholas Colasanto died. Therefore, his character Coach was written out as deceased in season 4.
†In season 11, Bebe Neuwirth is given "starring" credit only when she appears. However, Neuwirth appears in six episodes, so she is not given credit. |
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Read more about this topic: Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions
Famous quotes containing the word characters:
“To marry a man out of pity is folly; and, if you think you are going to influence the kind of fellow who has “never had a chance, poor devil,” you are profoundly mistaken. One can only influence the strong characters in life, not the weak; and it is the height of vanity to suppose that you can make an honest man of anyone.”
—Margot Asquith (1864–1945)
“When the characters are really alive before their author, the latter does nothing but follow them in their action, in their words, in the situations which they suggest to him.”
—Luigi Pirandello (1867–1936)
“It is open to question whether the highly individualized characters we find in Shakespeare are perhaps not detrimental to the dramatic effect. The human being disappears to the same degree as the individual emerges.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)