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There wasn't a wet eye in the house. Taping the final episode of "Cheers" Ton a Paramount sound stage last month, the cast and crew seemed almost determinedly detached. Between takes Woody Harrelson (Woody) lay flat on his back on the bar, Ted Danson (Sam) retreated to a corner to do stretching exercises and Kelsey Grammer (Frasier) vanished inside his dressing room. Shelley Long (Diane), returning to the show after a six-season absence, found something other than welcoming embraces: the boys at the bar hung spoons from their noses to make her flub her lines. Rhea Perlman (Carla) wasn't any nicer to two VIPs playing extras. Slouching by the stools occupied by NBC Entertainment president Warren Littlefield and former NBC chairman Grant Tinker, Perlman suddenly jerked upright. "I don't know which of you staffs groped me," she snarled. "But the next time it happens, you're all out of here!"
Indeed they are-and perfectly in character. From its very first round in 1982 to its May 20 finale (expected to draw 100 million onlookers), "Cheers" has remained TV's most unsentimental comedy, as disdainful of schmaltz as it was resistant to preachiness. Granted, the show lacked the bite of " M*A*S*H" and the guts of "All in the Family," and it wheezed noticeably toward the end. "It was getting harder and harder to keep it fresh," allows Les Charles, the show's co-executive producer. "Every idea we came up with, someone would say: 'Don't you remember we did that already?'" Yet even after 274 episodes, "Cheers" still hovers near the top of the Nielsen chart, and its 111 Emmy nominations make it the most-honored series in TV annals. Respect must be paid.
For openers, the creators were smart enough to set it in a bar. "The stories could walk in off the street," explains Charles. Bars are also places where inhibitions dissolve and put-downs tend to ricochet, and the insults in "Cheers" approached comedic art. Yet even the nastiest sparring went down smoothly: it sprang from recognizable frailties and understandable needs. Besides, we were all friends. As the show's writers displayed remarkable adaptability over 11 seasons, adding strong new characters and giving the regulars new dimensions, only the bar, a kind of night-care center for losers, never changed its character. Bars are such sad places," complained Norm (George Wendt). "Yesterday I sat next to the same guy for 11 hours."
"Cheers" was the first sitcom to make sexual tension its central premise (thus making Bruce Willis possible). Just as we wearied of Sam and Diane's on-and-off hotsies, in strode Rebecca (Kirstie Alley). Though Rebecca eventually succumbed to Sam, it was on equal terms: she two-timed him as blithely as he cheated on her. Indeed, "Cheers" seemed obsessed with the female libido. Carla dreamed of "doin' it 'til the sheets burn," Lilith (Bebe Neuwirth) seduced Frasier just so she could wage conjugal warfare. More than any other sitcom, "Cheers" confronted the side effects of sexual attraction: humiliation, despair, self-loathing and stuck pants' zippers.
Like most love affairs, the one between "Cheers" and us leaves behind some mysteries. The questions fans ask most: What inspired "Cheers"? John Cleese's "Fawlty Towers," a British comedy series. Who provides the voice of Vera, Norm's never-seen wife? Bernadette Birkett, Wendt's real-life wife. Did anyone else test for the parts of Sam and Diane? The finalists included William Devane, Fred Dryer, Julia Duffy and Lisa Eichhorn. Is the beer real? It's near beer, lightly salted to create a head. The regulars say it tastes awful. What's with Danson's hair? It's dyed brown to cover his gray and meshed with a hairpiece. Two weeks ago Sam hesitantly owned up to the piece to Carla. Her compassionate response: "The great Sam Malone's hair is NOTHING BUT A FRAUD!"
Oh, yes, there's also some curiosity about the plot of the last episode. Well, Woody gets elected to the Boston City Council and Rebecca agrees to wed a plumber. As for Diane and Sam, they reheat their hormones and consider marriage, but then decide ... The point is, there's no mawkish resolution to their relationship, let alone any group hugs. The finale leaves the impression that America's favorite bar stays open after the cameras leave-and, in a way, it will. "With all the reruns out there," says Wendt, "all this means is that we'll be on 15 times a week instead of 16."
Exactly, big guy. So here's to "Cheers"--but hold the tears.