Who is Rebecca Howe in Cheers?

Show

Cheers

Played by

Kirstie Alley

First episode

“Home Is the Sailor”Season 6, Episode 1, aired September 24, 1987

Role

Main cast

Network

NBC

Occupation

Corporate manager of Cheers

Show run

1982 to 1993

Also known as

Backseat Becky

Rebecca Howe takes over Cheers in season six as the no-nonsense manager installed by the corporation that bought the bar. Played by Kirstie Alley, she starts out cool and in command, then becomes one of the show's great comic messes as her plans for love and promotion collapse again and again.

On Cheers, Rebecca Howe's story runs through Sam Malone (Employee, then partner), Carla Tortelli (Waitress), Woody Boyd (Bartender), Norm Peterson (Regular), and Frasier Crane (Friend).

Who is Rebecca Howe?

Rebecca is the manager the Lillian Corporation puts in charge of Cheers after Sam sells the bar. When Sam comes back broke from his failed sailing trip, she hires him as a bartender, which puts her in charge of the man whose name is still on everyone's lips at the bar.

She is driven, career-minded, and determined to climb the corporate ladder, ideally by attaching herself to a powerful, wealthy man along the way. Her early aloofness gives way quickly, and the bar becomes the place she keeps returning to as her bigger dreams fall through.

Personality and comedy

Rebecca's comedy is built on insecurity under a polished surface. She wants to look sophisticated and in control, but she cries easily, panics under pressure, and makes dramatic, terrible decisions about men. Kirstie Alley's physical comedy turns her meltdowns into some of the show's biggest laughs.

Her relationship with Sam drives a lot of the humor. For years he tries every line he knows on her, and for years she shuts him down. Over time they become something closer to sparring friends, and later business partners, than a couple.

Key storylines

Rebecca's first big crush is her boss, Evan Drake, who never returns her feelings, and in season seven his replacement fires her and makes Sam the manager before she wins her job back. In season eight she starts dating Robin Colcord, a charming millionaire, but Robin turns out to be using her access to the corporation for a scheme. Sam exposes it and wins back ownership of the bar. Robin keeps pulling Rebecca back into his orbit until she jilts him at their wedding in season nine, and that same season she uses money from her father to help Sam buy the back room, making the two of them co-owners.

In the final season, Rebecca's last cigarette starts a fire that badly damages the bar, and she puts her own savings toward the repairs. Near the end she falls for Don Santry, a plumber who comes to fix the pipes, and in the series finale she marries him and leaves her job to start a new life.

Behind the scenes and legacy

Kirstie Alley joined Cheers in 1987 after Shelley Long left the show. Casting director Jeff Greenberg pushed for her even though the producers worried about her limited comedy experience, and she won both the Golden Globe and the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 1991.

Rebecca appeared in 147 episodes and turned up once on Wings, but she never appeared on Frasier. Critics have been divided on how the character changed over time, with some praising Alley's physical comedy and others feeling the later, more frantic Rebecca has not aged as well.

Rebecca Howe: frequently asked questions

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