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Cheers Characters
Cheers made a Boston basement bar the most welcoming room on television for eleven seasons on NBC.
- Network
- NBC
- Original run
- 1982 to 1993
- Guides
- 8
- Lead
- Sam Malone
Cheers is set in a Boston bar owned by Sam Malone, a charming former Red Sox relief pitcher played by Ted Danson. The bar's regulars are its heart: Norm Peterson, greeted by name every time he walks in, know-it-all mail carrier Cliff Clavin, and the sharp-tongued waitress Carla Tortelli.
The early seasons are built around the on-again, off-again romance between Sam and Diane Chambers, an educated grad student who ends up waiting tables. Later seasons bring in Rebecca Howe as the bar's new manager and Woody Boyd, the sweet farm boy from Indiana, behind the bar.
Cheers was a slow starter in the ratings before becoming one of NBC's biggest hits. It also introduced psychiatrist Frasier Crane and his wife Lilith, which led to one of the most successful spinoffs ever made.
New to the show, or planning a rewatch? Start with the essential Cheers episodes, led by the 6 that matter to more than one character. Already a superfan? Try the 20-question Cheers trivia quiz.
Cheers main cast(8)
- Sam MaloneLeadPlayed by Ted DansonThe charming, womanizing owner and bartender of Cheers, a former Boston Red Sox relief pitcher and recovering alcoholic who runs the Boston bar…
- Carla TortelliMain castPlayed by Rhea PerlmanThe sharp-tongued, superstitious waitress at Cheers, a hardworking single mother of a large and chaotic brood who insults nearly every customer and…
- Cliff ClavinMain castPlayed by John RatzenbergerThe know-it-all Boston mail carrier who sits beside Norm at the Cheers bar, lives with his mother, and has a dubious fact ready for every…
- Diane ChambersMain castPlayed by Shelley LongThe brainy, high-minded graduate student who takes a waitress job at Cheers after her fiance abandons her there…
- Lilith SterninMain castPlayed by Bebe NeuwirthThe icy, brilliant psychiatrist who becomes Frasier Crane's wife on Cheers, the mother of his son Frederick…
- Norm PetersonMain castPlayed by George WendtThe beer-loving, perpetually underemployed regular who occupies the same stool at the end of the Cheers bar every day…
- Rebecca HoweMain castPlayed by Kirstie AlleyThe ambitious, increasingly neurotic corporate manager sent to run Cheers in season six, who spends years fending off Sam's advances while chasing…
- Woody BoydMain castPlayed by Woody HarrelsonThe sweet, gullible farm boy from Hanover, Indiana, who comes to Boston to meet his pen pal Coach and ends up behind the Cheers bar as its second…
Cheers couples and catchphrases
See how they compare with the best sitcom couples from every show, or find all 2 Cheers catchphrases in our list of famous sitcom catchphrases.
Think you know Cheers? Today's mystery character could be from any of our 34 shows.
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