WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.779 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today, we're walking 00:00:03.779 --> 00:00:06.839 into a place where everybody knows your name. 00:00:07.019 --> 00:00:09.660 Or, well, to be a bit more accurate for the time 00:00:09.660 --> 00:00:11.679 period we're looking at, a place where nobody 00:00:11.679 --> 00:00:14.240 knew anybody's name, and frankly, nobody was 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:16.899 watching. Right, yeah, it's hard to believe now. 00:00:17.059 --> 00:00:20.859 It really is. We are talking about Cheers, but 00:00:20.859 --> 00:00:23.920 not... The cultural juggernaut that we all remember 00:00:23.920 --> 00:00:27.179 dominating the 80s and 90s. We are going back 00:00:27.179 --> 00:00:29.559 to the very beginning. Season one, the year was 00:00:29.559 --> 00:00:34.179 1982. 1982. And here is the thing that really 00:00:34.179 --> 00:00:36.079 blew my mind when I started digging into these 00:00:36.079 --> 00:00:39.340 sources. Cheers. This show that is basically 00:00:39.340 --> 00:00:42.219 on the Mount Rushmore of sitcoms, it was a complete 00:00:42.219 --> 00:00:44.299 and total disaster when it launched. It really 00:00:44.299 --> 00:00:45.840 was. It was a near -death experience for the 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:48.159 entire franchise, right out of the gate. It's 00:00:48.159 --> 00:00:50.060 hard to reconcile the legacy of the show with 00:00:50.060 --> 00:00:52.579 the cold, hard facts of that first season. Yeah, 00:00:52.579 --> 00:00:54.609 the numbers are just brutal. If you look at the 00:00:54.609 --> 00:00:56.990 numbers in the Wikipedia article for Cheers season 00:00:56.990 --> 00:00:59.950 one, which is our source material today, it wasn't 00:00:59.950 --> 00:01:02.530 just struggling. It was arguably a massive failure. 00:01:02.750 --> 00:01:06.829 It finished 74th out of 99 regularly scheduled 00:01:06.829 --> 00:01:09.870 shows that year. 74th. I just sit with that number 00:01:09.870 --> 00:01:12.209 for a second for everyone listening. 74th out 00:01:12.209 --> 00:01:15.629 of 99. That is dangerously close to the bottom 00:01:15.629 --> 00:01:17.909 of the barrel. It is. In fact, it was dead last 00:01:17.909 --> 00:01:20.469 among the shows that actually survived to see. 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:23.939 A second season. Wow. Yeah. By all conventional 00:01:23.939 --> 00:01:26.659 logic and certainly by the ruthless standards 00:01:26.659 --> 00:01:30.159 of 1980s network television, NBC should have 00:01:30.159 --> 00:01:32.439 canceled it immediately. But they didn't. They 00:01:32.439 --> 00:01:34.560 didn't. And that is really the mission of our 00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:37.400 deep dive today. We are going to explore how 00:01:37.400 --> 00:01:40.439 a show finishing that low managed to survive 00:01:40.439 --> 00:01:43.480 its own birth. We're going to look at the bizarre 00:01:43.480 --> 00:01:47.299 what could have been casting choices which. honestly 00:01:47.299 --> 00:01:49.200 would have resulted in a completely different 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:51.959 show and the smoke and mirrors production secrets 00:01:51.959 --> 00:01:55.530 behind that bar that looks so real but absolutely 00:01:55.530 --> 00:01:57.709 wasn't. Oh, the production secrets are fascinating. 00:01:57.870 --> 00:01:59.689 There's a lot of movie magic happening there. 00:01:59.890 --> 00:02:01.950 Yeah, when we say smoke and mirrors, we aren't 00:02:01.950 --> 00:02:04.049 just using a figure of speech. We've got notes 00:02:04.049 --> 00:02:06.870 here from the source on fake beer, non -existent 00:02:06.870 --> 00:02:10.349 bathrooms, and cheese puffs that define the laws 00:02:10.349 --> 00:02:12.810 of physics. Right. But before we get into the 00:02:12.810 --> 00:02:15.370 illusions, let's set the stage a bit. The source 00:02:15.370 --> 00:02:17.550 material outlines that we are looking at a show 00:02:17.550 --> 00:02:19.789 created by James Burroughs and the Charles Brothers, 00:02:20.069 --> 00:02:23.650 Glenn and Les, and these guys were not... No, 00:02:23.870 --> 00:02:26.050 not at all. They were veterans. They had just 00:02:26.050 --> 00:02:28.009 come off working on Taxi, which was critical 00:02:28.009 --> 00:02:30.729 royalty at the time. They had a serious pedigree 00:02:30.729 --> 00:02:33.110 in the industry. Right. And the show aired on 00:02:33.110 --> 00:02:37.949 NBC from September 1982 to March 1983. The setting 00:02:37.949 --> 00:02:40.569 is totally iconic now, a neighborhood bar in 00:02:40.569 --> 00:02:42.629 Boston. But the source material points out a 00:02:42.629 --> 00:02:44.210 really interesting detail about that setting. 00:02:44.650 --> 00:02:47.370 While the visual inspiration was a real place, 00:02:47.449 --> 00:02:49.689 the Bull and Finch Pub on Beacon Hill in Boston. 00:02:50.569 --> 00:02:53.189 The reality was pure Hollywood. Yeah, it wasn't 00:02:53.189 --> 00:02:55.849 shot in Boston at all. Not a single frame. It 00:02:55.849 --> 00:02:58.530 was filmed entirely on Stage 25 at the Paramount 00:02:58.530 --> 00:03:01.530 lot in Los Angeles. So it's a Los Angeles soundstage 00:03:01.530 --> 00:03:05.930 pretending to be a gritty Boston pub. Let's unpack 00:03:05.930 --> 00:03:08.550 the blueprint of this show, because reading through 00:03:08.550 --> 00:03:10.530 the source, it wasn't always going to be the 00:03:10.530 --> 00:03:13.189 Cheers we know. The original concept wasn't even 00:03:13.189 --> 00:03:15.590 a neighborhood bar. Yeah, this is where the development 00:03:15.590 --> 00:03:17.629 process is so interesting. It was supposed to 00:03:17.629 --> 00:03:21.419 be a hotel. A hotel. Exactly. James Burroughs, 00:03:21.419 --> 00:03:23.639 who was the director and co -creator, he was 00:03:23.639 --> 00:03:27.319 a huge fan of the British sitcom Fawlty Towers. 00:03:27.479 --> 00:03:30.819 Oh, sure. John Cleese. Right. And Burroughs wanted 00:03:30.819 --> 00:03:34.000 to create an American version of that specific 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:36.840 energy. A show set in a hotel lobby or maybe 00:03:36.840 --> 00:03:40.439 a hotel bar where you have this constant revolving 00:03:40.439 --> 00:03:43.479 door of eccentric characters coming in and out. 00:03:43.800 --> 00:03:46.020 OK, I love Faulty Towers, but that is a very, 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:48.719 very different energy from Cheers. Faulty Towers 00:03:48.719 --> 00:03:51.719 is it's manic. It's high stress. It's about people 00:03:51.719 --> 00:03:53.759 passing through who you are never going to see 00:03:53.759 --> 00:03:56.539 again. Exactly. Cheers is, well, it's cozy. It's 00:03:56.539 --> 00:03:58.259 about people who never leave. And the producers 00:03:58.259 --> 00:04:00.719 realized that pretty quickly during development, 00:04:00.900 --> 00:04:03.250 they started narrowing the focus down. First, 00:04:03.310 --> 00:04:04.710 they thought, OK, maybe we just focus on the 00:04:04.710 --> 00:04:07.509 hotel bar, not the whole hotel. But then Glenn 00:04:07.509 --> 00:04:09.990 Charles made what turned out to be a crucial 00:04:09.990 --> 00:04:13.189 observation. He felt a neighborhood bar was just 00:04:13.189 --> 00:04:15.710 more cozy. It allowed for that ensemble nature 00:04:15.710 --> 00:04:17.829 to really develop where the characters could 00:04:17.829 --> 00:04:20.250 bond over a long period of time. That makes total 00:04:20.250 --> 00:04:22.670 sense. If you're in a hotel, your guests check 00:04:22.670 --> 00:04:25.670 out after three days. You can't build long term 00:04:25.670 --> 00:04:27.709 relationships. Exactly. In a neighborhood bar, 00:04:27.889 --> 00:04:30.089 your guests might sit on the exact same stool 00:04:30.089 --> 00:04:34.660 for 30 years. And that shift in setting changed 00:04:34.660 --> 00:04:38.279 the entire requirement for the cast. The source 00:04:38.279 --> 00:04:40.399 mentions they added an athletic element to the 00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:42.720 backstory because the creators themselves were 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:45.040 sports fans. Oh. Which brings us to one of the 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:47.560 biggest what -ifs in the entire Wikipedia article. 00:04:48.259 --> 00:04:50.860 Let's talk about Sam Malone. Oh, this is a great 00:04:50.860 --> 00:04:52.720 pivot. Because the Sam Malone on the original 00:04:52.720 --> 00:04:55.579 page was not the Sam Malone we saw on our screens. 00:04:56.139 --> 00:04:58.279 This is fascinating, and it really highlights 00:04:58.279 --> 00:05:00.579 how fragile the creative process is when you're 00:05:00.579 --> 00:05:03.500 casting a show. In the original script, Sam Malone 00:05:03.500 --> 00:05:05.959 was not a baseball player at all. No. He was 00:05:05.959 --> 00:05:08.000 written as a former wide receiver for the New 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:11.939 England Patriots. A football player. Now, I want 00:05:11.939 --> 00:05:14.980 to pause on this for you listening, because I'm 00:05:14.980 --> 00:05:18.420 trying to picture Ted Danson, who is this tall, 00:05:18.540 --> 00:05:22.259 elegant, almost dapper guy wearing football shoulder 00:05:22.259 --> 00:05:25.930 pads and a helmet. I just... I can't quite see 00:05:25.930 --> 00:05:28.230 it. Neither could the writers, eventually. They 00:05:28.230 --> 00:05:30.449 cast Ted Danson and pretty much immediately realized 00:05:30.449 --> 00:05:32.829 his physical build was all wrong for a professional 00:05:32.829 --> 00:05:35.550 football player. Right. He's lanky. He is. He 00:05:35.550 --> 00:05:37.449 doesn't look like a guy who takes massive hits 00:05:37.449 --> 00:05:39.269 across the middle of the field from a linebacker. 00:05:39.290 --> 00:05:41.370 He looks graceful. So they have a choice to make 00:05:41.370 --> 00:05:44.050 there. Do you fire Danson, who you obviously 00:05:44.050 --> 00:05:46.589 like for his acting, and find a guy who looks 00:05:46.589 --> 00:05:49.170 like a meathead? Or do you change the sport to 00:05:49.170 --> 00:05:51.170 fit the actor? They chose to change the sport. 00:05:51.529 --> 00:05:54.550 They pivoted to baseball. And specifically, they 00:05:54.550 --> 00:05:56.689 made him a relief pitcher for the Boston Red 00:05:56.689 --> 00:05:59.569 Sox. And I think looking at how the show developed, 00:05:59.769 --> 00:06:02.069 this is the key to the whole psychological makeup 00:06:02.069 --> 00:06:04.550 of the series. This wasn't just a minor physical 00:06:04.550 --> 00:06:07.310 pivot. It changed the DNA of the character completely. 00:06:07.509 --> 00:06:09.930 How so? Well, think about the archetype of a 00:06:09.930 --> 00:06:12.709 wide receiver in the 80s. You're thinking high 00:06:12.709 --> 00:06:16.029 energy, maybe a bit of a diva, part of a chaotic 00:06:16.029 --> 00:06:19.660 team environment. But a relief pitcher. Ah, yeah, 00:06:19.759 --> 00:06:22.279 that is the deep dive nugget right there. A relief 00:06:22.279 --> 00:06:24.899 pitcher is arguably the most isolated man in 00:06:24.899 --> 00:06:27.759 sports. Exactly. You stand on that mound, the 00:06:27.759 --> 00:06:30.220 game is entirely on the line, and it is completely 00:06:30.220 --> 00:06:33.139 up to you. It's a solitary duel between you and 00:06:33.139 --> 00:06:35.800 the batter. And when Sine talks about his drinking 00:06:35.800 --> 00:06:38.800 days in the show or his failures, It hits harder 00:06:38.800 --> 00:06:41.399 because baseball is a cerebral, lonely game. 00:06:41.540 --> 00:06:43.939 Right. It creates that brooding quality. A wide 00:06:43.939 --> 00:06:45.839 receiver has a quarterback to blame if the pass 00:06:45.839 --> 00:06:49.339 is bad. A relief pitcher only has himself. That 00:06:49.339 --> 00:06:52.019 loneliness is what made the romance with Diane 00:06:52.019 --> 00:06:54.480 work so well. That's a great analysis of how 00:06:54.480 --> 00:06:56.959 a forced production change actually deepens the 00:06:56.959 --> 00:06:59.240 narrative. Speaking of casting deviations, let's 00:06:59.240 --> 00:07:01.399 look at Diane's mother. There's a note in the 00:07:01.399 --> 00:07:03.300 source here that says the producers wanted a 00:07:03.300 --> 00:07:06.279 massive legendary comedy star for that role. 00:07:06.459 --> 00:07:08.480 They did. They wanted Lucille Ball. I mean, can 00:07:08.480 --> 00:07:11.259 you imagine Lucille Ball walking into the Cheers 00:07:11.259 --> 00:07:13.540 bar? That would have been earth shattering for 00:07:13.540 --> 00:07:15.889 a new sitcom. It would have been a massive coup 00:07:15.889 --> 00:07:18.949 for NBC. But looking back at it, you have to 00:07:18.949 --> 00:07:20.709 wonder if it would have been almost too big. 00:07:21.449 --> 00:07:24.170 Lucille Ball kind of sucks all the oxygen out 00:07:24.170 --> 00:07:26.389 of a room because she's such an absolute icon. 00:07:26.790 --> 00:07:29.009 The audience wouldn't be looking at Diane. They'd 00:07:29.009 --> 00:07:31.430 be looking at Lucy. Right. It stops being Cheers, 00:07:31.490 --> 00:07:33.670 starts being a Lucille Ball guest appearance. 00:07:33.670 --> 00:07:36.420 Right. But she turned down the role anyway. She 00:07:36.420 --> 00:07:39.300 did. And the role eventually went to Glynis Johns, 00:07:39.519 --> 00:07:42.639 who appears in the episode titled Someone Single, 00:07:42.899 --> 00:07:45.339 Someone Blue. Which was probably for the best, 00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:46.939 for the long -term health of the show. It kept 00:07:46.939 --> 00:07:50.120 the ensemble balanced. But speaking of balance, 00:07:50.300 --> 00:07:52.240 there is one character in the source material 00:07:52.240 --> 00:07:56.120 that was actually cast, filmed, and then completely 00:07:56.120 --> 00:07:59.660 erased from existence. I'm talking about Mrs. 00:07:59.779 --> 00:08:02.199 Littlefield. Oh, this story is wild. It's crazy. 00:08:02.420 --> 00:08:04.620 It's a deep cut that really changes how we view 00:08:04.620 --> 00:08:07.360 the show's early development. Mrs. Littlefield 00:08:07.360 --> 00:08:10.120 was intended to be a regular character. She was 00:08:10.120 --> 00:08:13.160 written as an elderly, conservative, and often 00:08:13.160 --> 00:08:17.379 overtly racist bar patron. Yeah. The idea the 00:08:17.379 --> 00:08:20.800 writers had was to have this older voice injecting 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:23.660 these controversial, abrasive opinions into the 00:08:23.660 --> 00:08:26.680 regular bar chat. So they cast someone for this. 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:29.379 They did. They cast an actress named Margaret 00:08:29.379 --> 00:08:31.459 Whaler in the role. They filmed her in the pilot 00:08:31.459 --> 00:08:34.559 episode. She had lines. She was part of the conversational 00:08:34.559 --> 00:08:36.519 flow of the bar. So they have this character 00:08:36.519 --> 00:08:39.039 who is essentially there to be the antagonist, 00:08:39.039 --> 00:08:40.820 the person who says the things you absolutely 00:08:40.820 --> 00:08:43.080 aren't supposed to say. Right. And then they 00:08:43.080 --> 00:08:45.299 actually watched the footage back in the editing 00:08:45.299 --> 00:08:49.100 room and they realized it just didn't work. The 00:08:49.100 --> 00:08:51.100 vibe was completely wrong. It was too harsh. 00:08:51.259 --> 00:08:54.320 Way too harsh. It soured that cozy atmosphere 00:08:54.320 --> 00:08:57.440 they were trying so hard to build. So they made 00:08:57.440 --> 00:09:00.120 a drastic decision in post -production. They 00:09:00.120 --> 00:09:02.519 cut every single one of her lines from the final 00:09:02.519 --> 00:09:04.539 edit of the pilot. But she's still physically 00:09:04.539 --> 00:09:07.279 there on screen. She is. If you watch the pilot 00:09:07.279 --> 00:09:09.120 carefully, you can see her sitting in the background. 00:09:09.379 --> 00:09:12.899 She's just an extra now. A sweet, white -haired, 00:09:12.899 --> 00:09:15.960 little old lady who sits there silently drinking. 00:09:16.419 --> 00:09:19.220 That is incredible. But originally, she was supposed 00:09:19.220 --> 00:09:21.980 to be this abrasive force that completely wrote 00:09:21.980 --> 00:09:24.360 her out of all subsequent episodes. It's amazing 00:09:24.360 --> 00:09:27.460 how editing can change the entire DNA of a show. 00:09:27.940 --> 00:09:31.000 If they'd kept a racist grandmother figure as 00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:33.840 a main cast member, the warmth of the bar might 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:35.700 have felt very different. It might have felt 00:09:35.700 --> 00:09:37.980 more like All in the Family, but set in a pub. 00:09:38.179 --> 00:09:40.500 It would have changed the chemistry. entirely 00:09:40.500 --> 00:09:43.019 and the source doesn't explicitly state this 00:09:43.019 --> 00:09:45.980 but if you look at the structure by removing 00:09:45.980 --> 00:09:49.620 the elderly antagonist figure it kind of cleared 00:09:49.620 --> 00:09:52.240 space for the elderly heart figure oh you mean 00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:55.370 coach Exactly. It allowed Coach to become the 00:09:55.370 --> 00:09:58.350 primary older voice in the room. And his voice 00:09:58.350 --> 00:10:00.690 was one of love and support, not judgment and 00:10:00.690 --> 00:10:02.850 racism. That is a brilliant point. We'll definitely 00:10:02.850 --> 00:10:04.710 get to Coach in a minute. But we have to talk 00:10:04.710 --> 00:10:06.350 about the two characters who filled the comedy 00:10:06.350 --> 00:10:09.610 void and became the absolute engines of the show. 00:10:09.929 --> 00:10:12.629 Believe it or not, according to the source, Norm 00:10:12.629 --> 00:10:14.789 and Cliff were not in the original pilot script 00:10:14.789 --> 00:10:17.220 at all. I know, it sounds impossible to picture. 00:10:17.340 --> 00:10:19.159 The source material is very clear on this fact. 00:10:19.340 --> 00:10:22.460 The original pilot script only had four principal 00:10:22.460 --> 00:10:27.580 characters. Sam, Diane, Carla, and Coach. That's 00:10:27.580 --> 00:10:31.580 it. No Norm. No Cliff. No. A cheers without someone 00:10:31.580 --> 00:10:33.720 shouting Norm every time the door opens. Yeah. 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:36.179 That feels like a violation of natural law. Yeah. 00:10:36.259 --> 00:10:38.159 How did they get added to the show? It really 00:10:38.159 --> 00:10:40.519 came down to the magic of the audition process. 00:10:40.659 --> 00:10:43.559 George Wendt came in and auditioned for a very 00:10:43.559 --> 00:10:46.279 minor role. The character's name was just George 00:10:46.279 --> 00:10:48.980 and he had exactly one line in the entire script. 00:10:49.080 --> 00:10:51.299 One line. And knowing George Wendt, I have a 00:10:51.299 --> 00:10:53.539 feeling I know what that line was. Beer. That's 00:10:53.539 --> 00:10:55.320 it. Just the word beer. Just beer. But think 00:10:55.320 --> 00:10:57.960 about the context of the delivery. He's a guy 00:10:57.960 --> 00:11:00.820 entering a bar and his entire existence, his 00:11:00.820 --> 00:11:03.399 whole motivation is summed up in that one word. 00:11:03.879 --> 00:11:06.000 The producers noted he delivered it with such 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:08.799 specific, heavy weariness, like a guy who has 00:11:08.799 --> 00:11:11.620 just had a long, terrible day and desperately 00:11:11.620 --> 00:11:14.139 needs that relief that it resonated with them 00:11:14.139 --> 00:11:16.759 immediately. So that one word line evolved into 00:11:16.759 --> 00:11:19.299 the character of Norm Peterson. Exactly. He became 00:11:19.299 --> 00:11:21.279 a regular almost immediately because of that 00:11:21.279 --> 00:11:23.509 one reading. It's a lesson in acting, really. 00:11:23.690 --> 00:11:26.590 There are no small parts. He took one syllable 00:11:26.590 --> 00:11:29.409 and built an entire career on it. And what about 00:11:29.409 --> 00:11:32.350 John Ratzenberger? He plays Cliff Clavin, the 00:11:32.350 --> 00:11:35.269 know -it -all postal worker. Radzenberger also 00:11:35.269 --> 00:11:37.990 came in to audition for a minor unnamed role. 00:11:38.210 --> 00:11:40.429 But as he was leaving the audition room, he did 00:11:40.429 --> 00:11:43.409 something incredibly bold. He turned back to 00:11:43.409 --> 00:11:46.009 the producers and asked if they had a bar know 00:11:46.009 --> 00:11:48.350 -it -all character. A bar know -it -all? Yeah. 00:11:48.470 --> 00:11:51.129 You know, the kind of guy who thinks he has an 00:11:51.129 --> 00:11:54.389 endless supply of trivia and facts, but is usually 00:11:54.389 --> 00:11:56.789 completely wrong or just incredibly annoying 00:11:56.789 --> 00:11:58.909 to everyone else. So he basically pitched his 00:11:58.909 --> 00:12:01.090 own character to them right there. He did. He 00:12:01.090 --> 00:12:08.289 improvised the entire concept of clip. That's 00:12:08.289 --> 00:12:11.230 amazing. But here's a strange nuance that the 00:12:11.230 --> 00:12:13.610 source material points out. Despite appearing 00:12:13.610 --> 00:12:15.970 in almost every single episode of season one, 00:12:16.129 --> 00:12:18.649 I think the article says he only missed two episodes, 00:12:19.129 --> 00:12:21.210 Ratzenberger wasn't actually credited in the 00:12:21.210 --> 00:12:23.429 opening sequence. Really? Even though he was 00:12:23.429 --> 00:12:25.830 sitting at the bar the whole time? No. His name 00:12:25.830 --> 00:12:27.850 only appeared in the closing credits for that 00:12:27.850 --> 00:12:31.419 first year. It wasn't until later seasons that 00:12:31.419 --> 00:12:34.840 he got that main cast opening billing. In season 00:12:34.840 --> 00:12:37.379 one, he was technically just a recurring character 00:12:37.379 --> 00:12:40.240 who just happened to never, ever leave the bar. 00:12:40.500 --> 00:12:43.399 That is wild. It just goes to show how organic 00:12:43.399 --> 00:12:45.519 the development of this show was. It wasn't a 00:12:45.519 --> 00:12:48.480 rigid, pre -planned machine. It was adapting 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:51.330 to the actors they found. So we've got the cast 00:12:51.330 --> 00:12:53.570 set. Let's look at the characters they inhabited 00:12:53.570 --> 00:12:56.070 in this first season, starting with Sam Malone. 00:12:56.210 --> 00:12:58.490 Sam is the anchor of the whole thing. He's complex. 00:12:58.889 --> 00:13:00.970 As we discussed, he's an ex -baseball player, 00:13:01.070 --> 00:13:03.690 but he's also an ex -alcoholic. He's a bartender 00:13:03.690 --> 00:13:05.230 who actually bought the bar while he was still 00:13:05.230 --> 00:13:07.909 drinking heavily. But in season one, the source 00:13:07.909 --> 00:13:10.090 notes we learn he's been sober for three years. 00:13:10.370 --> 00:13:12.330 Which is a pretty heavy backstory for a network 00:13:12.330 --> 00:13:16.210 sitcom lead in 1982. Usually, the bartender's 00:13:16.210 --> 00:13:18.840 the party guy. Sam is the guy watching the party, 00:13:18.919 --> 00:13:21.059 making sure it doesn't go off the rails while 00:13:21.059 --> 00:13:23.779 fighting his own demons. Exactly. He's grounded. 00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:26.799 And then you have Diane Chambers, played by Shelley 00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:29.519 Long. She is the catalyst for the whole plot. 00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:32.299 The pilot, which is called Give Me a Ring Sometime, 00:13:32.340 --> 00:13:35.179 sets her up perfectly as the ultimate fish out 00:13:35.179 --> 00:13:38.139 of water. Right. She's an academic, very sophisticated, 00:13:38.500 --> 00:13:41.059 supposedly studying at Boston University. She 00:13:41.059 --> 00:13:43.539 comes into the bar with her fiance, Sumner Sloan. 00:13:43.580 --> 00:13:46.299 Who is a real... Piece of work. He absolutely 00:13:46.299 --> 00:13:48.480 is. He jilts her right there, leaves her in the 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:51.879 bar without money or a job. So Sam, taking pity 00:13:51.879 --> 00:13:54.820 on her, hires her as a waitress. And that sets 00:13:54.820 --> 00:13:57.899 up the central dynamic of the entire series, 00:13:57.940 --> 00:14:00.220 the intellectual snob versus the blue collar 00:14:00.220 --> 00:14:02.879 bar regulars. And a big part of that blue collar 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:05.720 pushback comes from Carla Tortelli, played by 00:14:05.720 --> 00:14:09.019 Rhea Perlman. Yes, the cynical, wisecracking 00:14:09.019 --> 00:14:12.139 waitress. She is a divorced mother of four. And 00:14:12.139 --> 00:14:14.039 the source notes a very specific detail. She 00:14:14.039 --> 00:14:16.259 is actually pregnant with her fifth child during 00:14:16.259 --> 00:14:17.720 this first season. We're going to get into that 00:14:17.720 --> 00:14:19.720 pregnancy in a bit because the production trickery 00:14:19.720 --> 00:14:22.240 they use there is hilarious. But first, we have 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:26.220 to mention Coach. Ernie Pantuso, Coach, played 00:14:26.220 --> 00:14:29.120 brilliantly by Nicholas Colasanto. He is the 00:14:29.120 --> 00:14:31.980 heart of the bar. He's aging. He's befuddled. 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:34.679 He's got that great gravelly voice. He was Sam's 00:14:34.679 --> 00:14:37.080 coach in baseball and is now his co -bartender. 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:40.299 But the source makes a really important point 00:14:40.299 --> 00:14:42.679 about his role in the narrative. He isn't just 00:14:42.679 --> 00:14:44.940 the dumb guy trope. No, he's not just there for 00:14:44.940 --> 00:14:48.120 comic relief. Not at all. He actively listens 00:14:48.120 --> 00:14:51.159 to people's problems. He solves them with advice 00:14:51.159 --> 00:14:54.360 and analysis. He is a father figure to Sam and 00:14:54.360 --> 00:14:57.200 really to everyone in the bar. He has this deep 00:14:57.200 --> 00:15:00.340 emotional intelligence that completely contradicts 00:15:00.340 --> 00:15:02.639 his intellectual confusion. And then, of course, 00:15:02.679 --> 00:15:04.600 there's the dynamic that drove the whole show, 00:15:04.700 --> 00:15:06.799 the Sam and Diane engine. It starts right away. 00:15:06.919 --> 00:15:08.830 Immediately. Immediately in the pilot. The critical 00:15:08.830 --> 00:15:11.070 reception for season one, according to the article, 00:15:11.169 --> 00:15:13.210 was heavily fueled by what reviews called the 00:15:13.210 --> 00:15:15.549 sexual tension between Ted Danson and Shelley 00:15:15.549 --> 00:15:17.850 Long. It was the original will they won't they 00:15:17.850 --> 00:15:20.389 that pretty much defined television for a decade. 00:15:20.649 --> 00:15:22.549 And in season one, they actually answer that 00:15:22.549 --> 00:15:24.889 question at least temporarily right in the finale. 00:15:25.309 --> 00:15:29.070 Yes, the episode showdown part two. They argue, 00:15:29.230 --> 00:15:31.730 they insult each other, they spew these terrible 00:15:31.730 --> 00:15:34.490 remarks back and forth, and then they kiss. It's 00:15:34.490 --> 00:15:36.590 the massive payoff the audience was waiting for 00:15:36.590 --> 00:15:39.070 all season. Now, I want to go back to Carlo for 00:15:39.070 --> 00:15:41.230 a second. You mentioned Rhea Perlman's character 00:15:41.230 --> 00:15:43.940 was pregnant. But this wasn't just a character 00:15:43.940 --> 00:15:46.019 arc. The actress was actually pregnant in real 00:15:46.019 --> 00:15:48.559 life, right? Correct. Ray Parleman was pregnant 00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:51.600 during the actual filming of the season. And 00:15:51.600 --> 00:15:53.639 for the first half of the season, the producers 00:15:53.639 --> 00:15:56.940 decided to try and hide it. Ah, the classic sitcom 00:15:56.940 --> 00:16:00.019 trope. The hide the bump game. Exactly. They 00:16:00.019 --> 00:16:02.700 used what I like to call the tray method. If 00:16:02.700 --> 00:16:05.440 you go back and watch the early episodes, Carla 00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:07.799 is constantly standing directly behind the bar 00:16:07.799 --> 00:16:10.039 or she's holding a massive tray full of drinks 00:16:10.039 --> 00:16:12.360 right in front of her stomach. Right. It gets 00:16:12.360 --> 00:16:14.659 almost comical if you're looking for it. He becomes 00:16:14.659 --> 00:16:17.299 the most stationary waitress in television history 00:16:17.299 --> 00:16:19.980 for a few episodes. Just anchored to one spot 00:16:19.980 --> 00:16:22.960 holding a tray. But eventually they couldn't 00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:26.029 hide it anymore. No, they couldn't. So in episode 00:16:26.029 --> 00:16:29.750 15, which is called Father Knows Last, they just 00:16:29.750 --> 00:16:32.269 leaned into it. They wrote the pregnancy directly 00:16:32.269 --> 00:16:35.090 into the script. They revealed that Carla is 00:16:35.090 --> 00:16:37.830 pregnant with her ex -husband Nick's child. And 00:16:37.830 --> 00:16:40.710 the production timing was... Incredibly tight 00:16:40.710 --> 00:16:43.350 on this. Very tight. The source notes Rhea Perlman's 00:16:43.350 --> 00:16:46.950 daughter was born on March 12th, 1983. That is 00:16:46.950 --> 00:16:49.169 literally just a couple of weeks before the season 00:16:49.169 --> 00:16:52.049 finale aired on March 31st. Talk about cutting 00:16:52.049 --> 00:16:53.850 it close. Yeah. All right, let's move inside 00:16:53.850 --> 00:16:56.809 the bar. Because while the emotions and the cast 00:16:56.809 --> 00:16:59.750 chemistry were very real, almost everything else 00:16:59.750 --> 00:17:02.549 you saw on screen was completely fake. I want 00:17:02.549 --> 00:17:04.410 to ruin the magic for the listener for a second 00:17:04.410 --> 00:17:07.099 here. Because... If you're watching season one 00:17:07.099 --> 00:17:10.039 and you see Norm taking that long, refreshing 00:17:10.039 --> 00:17:13.059 pull from a frosty mug, you're thinking, man, 00:17:13.140 --> 00:17:15.380 I really want a beer. You do not want that beer. 00:17:15.500 --> 00:17:17.200 You really don't. The notes on the production 00:17:17.200 --> 00:17:18.740 here are actually kind of stomach -churning. 00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:21.240 Think about it. They needed that head of foam 00:17:21.240 --> 00:17:23.539 to stay stiff under the hot, bright studio lights 00:17:23.539 --> 00:17:26.759 for take after take after take. Real beer just 00:17:26.759 --> 00:17:29.799 goes flat and looks terrible on camera. So what 00:17:29.799 --> 00:17:32.920 was the solution? Salt. And not just a tiny pinch. 00:17:33.079 --> 00:17:36.339 They were salting this near beer, which was already 00:17:36.339 --> 00:17:39.619 just colored water and weird, non -lingering 00:17:39.619 --> 00:17:42.039 extracts to keep the foam active and bubbling. 00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:45.599 So you have Ted Danson sliding a beautiful mug 00:17:45.599 --> 00:17:48.619 down the bar, and George Wendt has to drink this 00:17:48.619 --> 00:17:52.279 warm, hypersaline broth and go, ah, delicious. 00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:55.180 It actually explains why Norm usually just nurses 00:17:55.180 --> 00:17:58.329 his beers. Yeah. If you watch the actors closely, 00:17:58.549 --> 00:18:00.750 they are doing everything they possibly can to 00:18:00.750 --> 00:18:03.369 not actually swallow that stuff. And the scotch 00:18:03.369 --> 00:18:05.390 wasn't any better, really. It was just tap water. 00:18:05.589 --> 00:18:07.269 Well, honestly, water is probably better than 00:18:07.269 --> 00:18:09.309 salted fake beer. What about the food? They were 00:18:09.309 --> 00:18:11.490 always snacking on things. The cheese puffs. 00:18:11.509 --> 00:18:14.029 Not real. The Wikipedia article simply says the 00:18:14.029 --> 00:18:16.609 cheese puffs were not real, which strongly suggests 00:18:16.609 --> 00:18:18.730 they were some kind of permanent prop or completely 00:18:18.730 --> 00:18:21.089 inedible substance. I feel totally betrayed by 00:18:21.089 --> 00:18:22.930 this. Next, you're going to tell me the bathroom 00:18:22.930 --> 00:18:25.400 wasn't real either. It wasn't. The set design 00:18:25.400 --> 00:18:27.579 included those iconic doors for the bathrooms, 00:18:27.740 --> 00:18:30.519 but if an actor walked through them, there were 00:18:30.519 --> 00:18:32.920 no toilets or sinks back there, just empty space 00:18:32.920 --> 00:18:35.420 and cables on the soundstage. It's all an illusion. 00:18:35.559 --> 00:18:37.880 But there is one thing that people often think 00:18:37.880 --> 00:18:41.279 is fake, but was actually entirely real. The 00:18:41.279 --> 00:18:43.980 laughter. Yes. This is a very common misconception 00:18:43.980 --> 00:18:47.359 about 80s sitcoms. People hear the laughter on 00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:49.519 Cheers and assume it's a laugh track or canned 00:18:49.519 --> 00:18:52.500 laughter added in post -production. But the source 00:18:52.500 --> 00:18:56.000 is explicit canned laughter was not used. The 00:18:56.000 --> 00:18:58.279 show was filmed before a live studio audience. 00:18:58.579 --> 00:19:01.420 So those reactions, the groans, the laughs, they 00:19:01.420 --> 00:19:03.890 are genuine. They are. In fact, starting from 00:19:03.890 --> 00:19:06.170 episode 13, they added an explicit announcement 00:19:06.170 --> 00:19:08.650 at the very start of the broadcast. The announcer 00:19:08.650 --> 00:19:11.170 says, cheers, this film before a live studio 00:19:11.170 --> 00:19:13.690 audience. They wanted people at home to know 00:19:13.690 --> 00:19:16.430 that the energy in the room was real. That massive 00:19:16.430 --> 00:19:18.710 laugh you hear when Norm cracks a joke, that's 00:19:18.710 --> 00:19:21.369 200 actual people laughing in real time. Speaking 00:19:21.369 --> 00:19:23.710 of energy, let's talk about the music, the theme 00:19:23.710 --> 00:19:26.210 song, where everybody knows your name. I mean. 00:19:26.490 --> 00:19:28.849 It is arguably the most famous television theme 00:19:28.849 --> 00:19:30.950 song of all time. But the road to getting it 00:19:30.950 --> 00:19:33.990 was pretty rocky. It was a huge struggle. The 00:19:33.990 --> 00:19:36.589 songwriters, Gary Portnoy and Judy Hart Angelo, 00:19:36.750 --> 00:19:39.730 they had to pitch multiple times. The producers 00:19:39.730 --> 00:19:42.569 flat out rejected their first two attempts. What 00:19:42.569 --> 00:19:45.150 were the rejected songs? I'm so curious. One 00:19:45.150 --> 00:19:47.369 was called People Like Us. The other was called 00:19:47.369 --> 00:19:49.829 My Kind of People. My Kind of People. I mean, 00:19:49.849 --> 00:19:52.140 that sounds nice enough for a bar. Well... Here 00:19:52.140 --> 00:19:54.759 is the twist on that one. My Kind of People was 00:19:54.759 --> 00:19:57.980 originally written by them as a satire. It was 00:19:57.980 --> 00:20:02.279 a song mocking decadent old money wasps. Wait, 00:20:02.299 --> 00:20:05.380 what? Yeah. But the songwriters really wanted 00:20:05.380 --> 00:20:07.839 the job, so they rewrote the lyrics to be about 00:20:07.839 --> 00:20:10.240 likable losers to try and please the producers. 00:20:10.460 --> 00:20:12.660 They took a song making fun of rich people, turned 00:20:12.660 --> 00:20:15.079 it into a song about lovable barflies, and the 00:20:15.079 --> 00:20:17.650 producers still said no. Exactly. It still failed. 00:20:17.750 --> 00:20:19.630 The producers didn't feel it captured the tone. 00:20:19.769 --> 00:20:22.130 It wasn't until NBC actually commissioned the 00:20:22.130 --> 00:20:25.670 first full 13 episodes that the duo went back 00:20:25.670 --> 00:20:27.710 to the drawing board and wrote the song we know 00:20:27.710 --> 00:20:30.430 today, where everybody knows your name. And that 00:20:30.430 --> 00:20:33.769 one finally clicked. Thank goodness it did. I 00:20:33.769 --> 00:20:36.049 cannot imagine the show starting with a repurposed 00:20:36.049 --> 00:20:39.109 satire of wasps. Now, we touched on this in the 00:20:39.109 --> 00:20:41.890 intro, but we really need to dive deep into the 00:20:41.890 --> 00:20:44.880 ratings paradox. Because we have this amazing 00:20:44.880 --> 00:20:47.259 cast, this great writing, this live audience 00:20:47.259 --> 00:20:50.380 energy, a perfect theme song, and nobody was 00:20:50.380 --> 00:20:52.680 watching it. The numbers are incredibly stark. 00:20:52.819 --> 00:20:56.319 As we said, 74th place out of 99. It was airing 00:20:56.319 --> 00:20:59.539 on Thursday nights at 9 p .m. And the television 00:20:59.539 --> 00:21:01.920 competition was stiff. It was up against Simon 00:21:01.920 --> 00:21:04.740 & Simon on CBS, which was a hit, and Too Close 00:21:04.740 --> 00:21:07.259 for Comfort on ABC. And we have to remember for 00:21:07.259 --> 00:21:11.059 context, NBC's famous must -see TV Thursday lineup, 00:21:11.200 --> 00:21:13.750 that wasn't a powerhouse yet. It didn't exist 00:21:13.750 --> 00:21:15.829 in the way we remember it from the 90s. No, it 00:21:15.829 --> 00:21:19.190 was in its absolute infancy. Cheers was sandwiched 00:21:19.190 --> 00:21:21.109 in a block. It followed Fame, the musical series, 00:21:21.230 --> 00:21:23.789 and it preceded Taxi and Hill Street Blues. It 00:21:23.789 --> 00:21:25.890 was a good, critically respected block of quality 00:21:25.890 --> 00:21:28.470 television, but it wasn't grabbing the massive 00:21:28.470 --> 00:21:31.269 mainstream audiences yet. NBC did try to help 00:21:31.269 --> 00:21:32.849 it. Didn't they? They didn't just leave it to 00:21:32.849 --> 00:21:35.650 die. They did try. They moved it to 930 p .m. 00:21:35.650 --> 00:21:37.170 at one point to see if that time slot helped. 00:21:37.369 --> 00:21:39.609 And they even tried a cost saving experiment 00:21:39.609 --> 00:21:42.069 where they shot one episode on videotape instead 00:21:42.069 --> 00:21:45.160 of traditional film. Oh, wow. Videotape. So it 00:21:45.160 --> 00:21:47.559 had that cheap soap opera look. Right. They wanted 00:21:47.559 --> 00:21:49.980 to lower the production costs significantly because 00:21:49.980 --> 00:21:51.740 the ratings were so bad they were losing money. 00:21:51.960 --> 00:21:55.180 But the producers absolutely hated the look of 00:21:55.180 --> 00:21:57.819 the videotape. It ruined the cinematic lighting 00:21:57.819 --> 00:22:00.140 of the bar. So they demanded to go back to film 00:22:00.140 --> 00:22:03.519 immediately and NBC relented. So why wasn't it 00:22:03.519 --> 00:22:07.039 canceled? Shows with way better ratings get axed 00:22:07.039 --> 00:22:09.720 all the time. This is the million dollar question 00:22:09.720 --> 00:22:12.319 for television historians. It survived because 00:22:12.319 --> 00:22:15.359 of two very specific things, critical acclaim 00:22:15.359 --> 00:22:18.599 and executive protection. The TV critics absolutely 00:22:18.599 --> 00:22:21.259 loved it. They wrote glowing reviews calling 00:22:21.259 --> 00:22:24.059 it intelligent, sophisticated and the best comedy 00:22:24.059 --> 00:22:27.779 on TV. And crucially, the executives at NBC actually 00:22:27.779 --> 00:22:30.480 listened to the critics. There is a quote here 00:22:30.480 --> 00:22:32.799 in the notes from Grant Tinker, the NBC chairman 00:22:32.799 --> 00:22:35.240 at the time, that is just incredible. It's a 00:22:35.240 --> 00:22:37.680 legendary quote in the industry. He said, that 00:22:37.680 --> 00:22:40.240 is just so well done that we should be sent to 00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:43.400 jail for canceling it. Sent to jail for canceling 00:22:43.400 --> 00:22:46.799 it. You just do not hear modern network executives 00:22:46.799 --> 00:22:49.309 talking like that anymore. Today, they usually 00:22:49.309 --> 00:22:51.490 just talk about target demographics and ad revenue 00:22:51.490 --> 00:22:54.369 and algorithms. But Tinker saw something else 00:22:54.369 --> 00:22:57.150 entirely. He saw the sheer quality of the writing 00:22:57.150 --> 00:22:59.250 and the acting. And he believed fundamentally 00:22:59.250 --> 00:23:02.410 that if he just gave it time, the audience would 00:23:02.410 --> 00:23:04.789 eventually find it. And his faith was rewarded. 00:23:05.309 --> 00:23:08.650 In the summer of 1983, after the dismal first 00:23:08.650 --> 00:23:11.309 season ended, they aired reruns. And something 00:23:11.309 --> 00:23:14.069 just clicked with the public. Right. The ratings 00:23:14.069 --> 00:23:16.210 for those summer reruns shot up into the top 00:23:16.210 --> 00:23:18.890 20. So people finally found it when the pressure 00:23:18.890 --> 00:23:20.910 was off. It's like word of mouth finally caught 00:23:20.910 --> 00:23:23.230 up to the broadcast. Exactly. It proved the audience 00:23:23.230 --> 00:23:25.789 was indeed there. They just needed time to discover 00:23:25.789 --> 00:23:27.990 the bar on their own terms. And the television 00:23:27.990 --> 00:23:30.130 industry noticed too, didn't they? The award 00:23:30.130 --> 00:23:32.769 sweep for season one was massive, despite the 00:23:32.769 --> 00:23:36.599 ratings. Massive. It received 13 Emmy nominations 00:23:36.599 --> 00:23:39.799 in its very first year, and it won five of them. 00:23:39.940 --> 00:23:43.380 It won Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding 00:23:43.380 --> 00:23:46.140 Writing for the Pilot Episode, Outstanding Directing 00:23:46.140 --> 00:23:49.660 for the Finale, and Shelley Long won Lead Actress. 00:23:49.799 --> 00:23:52.200 It's so ironic, isn't it? The show that literally 00:23:52.200 --> 00:23:55.099 nobody in America watched won Best Series. It 00:23:55.099 --> 00:23:57.359 is the ultimate vindication for Grant Tinker 00:23:57.359 --> 00:24:00.190 and the creators. They knew they had gold. Okay, 00:24:00.250 --> 00:24:02.029 let's get into the episodes themselves. We've 00:24:02.029 --> 00:24:03.730 mentioned the pilot and the finale, but there 00:24:03.730 --> 00:24:06.170 are some absolute gems in the middle of season 00:24:06.170 --> 00:24:08.890 one that really show why this series was so critically 00:24:08.890 --> 00:24:11.369 acclaimed. I want to start with the Tortelli 00:24:11.369 --> 00:24:13.329 tort. That's episode three. This is a classic 00:24:13.329 --> 00:24:16.170 Carla episode. It establishes her extreme volatility 00:24:16.170 --> 00:24:18.569 right away. She physically attacks a customer. 00:24:18.809 --> 00:24:20.920 But not just any customer. a Red Sox fan who 00:24:20.920 --> 00:24:23.200 insulted Sam. Right. She's defending her boss, 00:24:23.359 --> 00:24:26.039 showing her intense loyalty, but she goes way 00:24:26.039 --> 00:24:28.579 too far. She gets sued by the fan, which is the 00:24:28.579 --> 00:24:30.619 tort in the title, and she is forced to go to 00:24:30.619 --> 00:24:33.640 anger management classes. It's a fantastic setup 00:24:33.640 --> 00:24:36.619 for Rhea Perlman to show her comedic range. She's 00:24:36.619 --> 00:24:39.660 loyal to a fault, but completely unhinged. And 00:24:39.660 --> 00:24:42.180 there is a really fun detail for sports fans 00:24:42.180 --> 00:24:44.440 mentioned in the source for this one. Yes, on 00:24:44.440 --> 00:24:46.279 the television playing in the background of the 00:24:46.279 --> 00:24:48.640 bar, you can hear a cameo by John Miller, who 00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:51.319 was the... real Red Sox radio announcer at the 00:24:51.319 --> 00:24:54.099 time. It just adds that subtle layer of authenticity 00:24:54.099 --> 00:24:57.039 to the Boston setting. Then there is the spy 00:24:57.039 --> 00:25:00.660 who came in for a cold one. Episode 12. This 00:25:00.660 --> 00:25:02.640 one really highlights the gullibility of the 00:25:02.640 --> 00:25:05.259 bar regulars and especially Diane. It features 00:25:05.259 --> 00:25:07.480 a stranger who comes in and claims to be a secret 00:25:07.480 --> 00:25:10.200 spy. Then later he claims to be a published poet. 00:25:10.579 --> 00:25:13.640 Then a millionaire. The bar flies are totally 00:25:13.640 --> 00:25:15.660 impressed, but Diane thinks she sees right through 00:25:15.660 --> 00:25:17.680 them until she doesn't. She believes the poetry 00:25:17.680 --> 00:25:20.089 part, right? because she considers herself the 00:25:20.089 --> 00:25:22.269 intellectual superior of everyone in the room. 00:25:22.789 --> 00:25:25.410 She thinks she recognizes a fellow genius. She 00:25:25.410 --> 00:25:28.069 does, and that is her major downfall in the episode. 00:25:28.150 --> 00:25:31.329 She buys completely into his pretension. Until 00:25:31.329 --> 00:25:34.109 Coach's sweet, befuddled coach inadvertently 00:25:34.109 --> 00:25:37.289 exposes the guy. Coach recites a poem that the 00:25:37.289 --> 00:25:39.589 spy is claiming to have just written. It turns 00:25:39.589 --> 00:25:42.589 out it was total plagiarism. It's a great character 00:25:42.589 --> 00:25:44.970 moment for Coach, showing that he knows way more 00:25:44.970 --> 00:25:47.329 than he lets on, or at least he remembers things 00:25:47.329 --> 00:25:49.890 in his own unique way. It flips the expected 00:25:49.890 --> 00:25:52.809 status script entirely. Diane is the fool, and 00:25:52.809 --> 00:25:55.650 Coach is the wise one. Now, I want to spend a 00:25:55.650 --> 00:25:58.369 moment on episode 16, The Boys in the Bar. Because 00:25:58.369 --> 00:26:00.750 reading the summary of this episode in The Source, 00:26:00.869 --> 00:26:03.230 I was actually shocked. This aired in January 00:26:03.230 --> 00:26:06.869 1983, and the central theme is homophobia and 00:26:06.869 --> 00:26:10.170 acceptance. It was a very bold, risky topic for 00:26:10.170 --> 00:26:13.309 a mainstream sitcom in 1983. The plot revolves 00:26:13.309 --> 00:26:16.150 around a former baseball teammate of Sam's coming 00:26:16.150 --> 00:26:18.910 out as gay in a tell -all book. Sam supports 00:26:18.910 --> 00:26:21.529 him immediately. He says, he's my friend. I support 00:26:21.529 --> 00:26:23.569 him. But the regulars at the bar, they don't 00:26:23.569 --> 00:26:26.509 react so well. No, they panic. They are terrified 00:26:26.509 --> 00:26:28.490 that Cheers is going to become known as a gay 00:26:28.490 --> 00:26:31.250 bar. It reflects the very real anxieties and 00:26:31.250 --> 00:26:33.970 prejudices of the culture at that time. But the 00:26:33.970 --> 00:26:36.509 resolution is classic, sophisticated cheers writing. 00:26:37.170 --> 00:26:39.309 Diane tells the panicked regulars that there 00:26:39.309 --> 00:26:41.170 are gay men in the bar right now. And so they 00:26:41.170 --> 00:26:43.309 try to spot them. They do. They try to kick out 00:26:43.309 --> 00:26:45.609 these three guys who they assume are gay based 00:26:45.609 --> 00:26:48.769 entirely on silly stereotypes. But it turns out 00:26:48.769 --> 00:26:51.349 those guys aren't gay at all. And the twist at 00:26:51.349 --> 00:26:53.769 the end. The twist is that after the regulars 00:26:53.769 --> 00:26:56.150 make complete fools of themselves, two other 00:26:56.150 --> 00:26:58.349 men who had been sitting there quietly having 00:26:58.349 --> 00:27:00.509 a drink the whole time, looking perfectly average, 00:27:00.710 --> 00:27:03.849 get up to leave. And as they leave, they kiss 00:27:03.849 --> 00:27:07.359 Norm on the cheek. That is just perfect. It subverts 00:27:07.359 --> 00:27:09.940 the whole prejudice. It's a very clever way to 00:27:09.940 --> 00:27:12.980 handle a heavy topic. It exposes the regular's 00:27:12.980 --> 00:27:15.960 homophobia as ridiculous without being preachy 00:27:15.960 --> 00:27:18.640 or heavy -handed. It was sophisticated writing 00:27:18.640 --> 00:27:20.960 that managed to be funny while holding up a mirror 00:27:20.960 --> 00:27:23.559 to the character's deepest insecurities. Absolutely. 00:27:23.779 --> 00:27:26.119 Now, before we wrap up, we have to talk about 00:27:26.119 --> 00:27:28.339 the lost episodes. Or the oddities, I guess. 00:27:28.480 --> 00:27:30.059 Because there are things in this source material 00:27:30.059 --> 00:27:33.000 that I had no idea even existed. What is Uncle 00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:36.069 Sam alone? This is a bizarre piece of television 00:27:36.069 --> 00:27:38.849 history. Uncle Sam Malone is technically a special. 00:27:39.089 --> 00:27:41.829 It's a 13 minute segment produced entirely by 00:27:41.829 --> 00:27:43.589 the US Department of the Treasury. The Treasury 00:27:43.589 --> 00:27:46.160 Department produced a sitcom episode. They did. 00:27:46.359 --> 00:27:48.960 It was designed to sell U .S. savings bonds. 00:27:49.480 --> 00:27:52.279 The plot is that Cliff convinces the gang to 00:27:52.279 --> 00:27:55.000 pool their money and buy savings bonds to pay 00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:57.900 for a group vacation to Tahiti. That sounds like 00:27:57.900 --> 00:28:00.920 the most boring plot in television history. Let's 00:28:00.920 --> 00:28:03.380 sit around and discuss bond interest rates. Well, 00:28:03.480 --> 00:28:05.619 it was meant to be educational, but what makes 00:28:05.619 --> 00:28:08.180 it so interesting is that it was filmed in character 00:28:08.180 --> 00:28:11.599 on the actual set with the main cast, but it's 00:28:11.599 --> 00:28:14.299 not available on home video or streaming. It's 00:28:14.299 --> 00:28:17.220 this rare. lost artifact of the time. And then 00:28:17.220 --> 00:28:19.420 there was also a Super Bowl sketch. Right. The 00:28:19.420 --> 00:28:22.059 Super Bowl 17 pregame segment. It's just a three 00:28:22.059 --> 00:28:24.519 minute sketch. The gang is in the bar meeting 00:28:24.519 --> 00:28:27.440 real life sportscaster Pete Axelm. It's another 00:28:27.440 --> 00:28:29.440 one of those promotional things that aired exactly 00:28:29.440 --> 00:28:31.420 once and kind of disappeared into the ether. 00:28:31.640 --> 00:28:34.059 But it shows that NBC was trying everything they 00:28:34.059 --> 00:28:36.619 could using the massive audience of the Super 00:28:36.619 --> 00:28:39.019 Bowl to pump up the ratings for cheers even back 00:28:39.019 --> 00:28:41.160 then. One important thing to note on that Super 00:28:41.160 --> 00:28:43.859 Bowl sketch coach isn't in it. That's right. 00:28:44.039 --> 00:28:46.980 Nicholas Colasanto does not appear in that segment 00:28:46.980 --> 00:28:49.619 at all. So we've gone from the absolute bottom 00:28:49.619 --> 00:28:51.599 of the ratings barrel to the top of the critics 00:28:51.599 --> 00:28:55.279 list. We've seen salted fake beer, pregnant waitresses 00:28:55.279 --> 00:28:58.019 hiding behind serving trays, and a British hotel 00:28:58.019 --> 00:29:01.019 concept that morphed into a cozy Boston home. 00:29:01.200 --> 00:29:04.660 It's a remarkable journey for one season of television. 00:29:05.160 --> 00:29:08.160 So bringing it all together, what does this all 00:29:08.160 --> 00:29:10.470 mean for you listening? When we look back at 00:29:10.470 --> 00:29:13.009 Season 1 through these sources, what is the big 00:29:13.009 --> 00:29:15.750 takeaway? I think the main takeaway is the importance 00:29:15.750 --> 00:29:19.089 of patience and having faith in quality. In modern 00:29:19.089 --> 00:29:22.150 TV, a show that finished 74th would be canceled 00:29:22.150 --> 00:29:25.430 by episode four. There's no doubt. But NBC stuck 00:29:25.430 --> 00:29:27.789 by it. They nurtured it through terrible numbers. 00:29:28.009 --> 00:29:30.730 And because they did, they got one of the greatest, 00:29:30.829 --> 00:29:33.809 most profitable sitcoms of all time. It's a massive 00:29:33.809 --> 00:29:36.329 lesson in not judging the worth of a show just 00:29:36.329 --> 00:29:39.069 by its initial data. It really is. And it's a 00:29:39.069 --> 00:29:41.309 reminder that even the biggest cultural icons 00:29:41.309 --> 00:29:43.690 have to start somewhere. Sometimes that start 00:29:43.690 --> 00:29:46.289 is incredibly rocky. Very rocky. Before we go, 00:29:46.430 --> 00:29:48.549 I want to leave you with a final thought to chew 00:29:48.549 --> 00:29:51.670 on. We talked a lot about the Sam and Diane dynamic 00:29:51.670 --> 00:29:54.529 today and how that sexual tension fueled the 00:29:54.529 --> 00:29:57.450 show's early success. But reading through this 00:29:57.450 --> 00:29:59.269 source material, I keep coming back to Coach. 00:29:59.490 --> 00:30:02.130 Yeah, Coach really is the glue of the ensemble. 00:30:02.289 --> 00:30:05.230 He is. And I want you to imagine, just for a 00:30:05.230 --> 00:30:08.230 second, what if they hadn't cut Mrs. Littlefield? 00:30:08.650 --> 00:30:11.210 What if you had that abrasive, conservative, 00:30:11.549 --> 00:30:14.630 racist voice sitting at the bar in every episode? 00:30:15.029 --> 00:30:17.809 Would Coach have been able to be that gentle 00:30:17.809 --> 00:30:20.829 father figure? Would the bar have felt as safe 00:30:20.829 --> 00:30:24.109 and welcoming? It's a huge question to ponder. 00:30:24.509 --> 00:30:27.410 Coach offered unconditional love and simple wisdom 00:30:27.410 --> 00:30:29.990 to these broken people. Mrs. Littlefield offered 00:30:29.990 --> 00:30:32.480 pure judgment. If she stays in the script, the 00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:34.900 bar becomes a place of constant conflict, not 00:30:34.900 --> 00:30:37.480 comfort. Coach might have been totally overshadowed 00:30:37.480 --> 00:30:40.599 by her negativity. Exactly. The removal of Mrs. 00:30:40.700 --> 00:30:42.839 Littlefield in that editing room might have been 00:30:42.839 --> 00:30:44.539 the single most important decision they ever 00:30:44.539 --> 00:30:47.059 made for the tone of the series. It cleared the 00:30:47.059 --> 00:30:49.180 space for Coach to become the absolute heart 00:30:49.180 --> 00:30:51.059 of the show. I think you're absolutely right 00:30:51.059 --> 00:30:54.339 on that. So do yourself a favor. Go back and 00:30:54.339 --> 00:30:57.480 watch Cheers Season 1. But watch it differently 00:30:57.480 --> 00:30:59.980 this time. Look for the salt bubbling in the 00:30:59.980 --> 00:31:02.940 fake beer. Look for the tray deliberately hiding 00:31:02.940 --> 00:31:05.759 Rhea Poorman's real -life pregnancy. And look 00:31:05.759 --> 00:31:07.960 closely for the ghost of Mrs. Littlefield sitting 00:31:07.960 --> 00:31:09.859 silently in the background of the pilot. And 00:31:09.859 --> 00:31:11.319 listen for the harsh lines that aren't there 00:31:11.319 --> 00:31:13.599 anymore. Thanks for joining us on this deep dive. 00:31:13.700 --> 00:31:14.460 We'll see you next time.