Random Behind The Scenes Secrets From The Set Of 'Cheers' (17 items)

(#8) Norm Drank Real Beer

Well, sort of. Norm was drinking near-beer, which has an alcoholic content of less than .5 percent.

"It was pretty nasty," George Wendt admitted in a Q&A with ESPN:

It wasn't available in kegs, and the producers wanted it to be on tap. So they took these cans of this generic non-alcoholic beer and put it into soda pop dispensers and put it in well before we would roll the cameras, so it was nice and flat. So the prop masters would put some salt in the mug to give the head a little pop. That was some serious acting to pretend I liked that stuff.
(#6) Katharine Hepburn And Spencer Tracy Inspired Sam And Diane

The romance between Sam and Diane was one of the sparks that kept Cheers going in the first several seasons. Writer-director James Burrows originally viewed the characters as a sort of modern-day Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. "She is uptown, he is downtown," Burrows said.

But, as time went on, he admitted that Sam and Diane forged their own path and strayed from the Hepburn-Tracy mold. "Our initial concept was to... [have] that marvelous mixture of romance and antagonism of two people in a competitive situation," he later said. "We got away from that in the Sam-Diane scenes."
(#3) The Show Fired Jay Thomas For Saying It Was "Brutal" To Kiss Rhea Pearlman

The late Jay Thomas played the recurring character of Eddie LeBec, Carla's husband. Thomas also hosted a radio show at the same time he was on Cheers, and when someone called in and asked him about what it was like working on the celebrated sitcom, Thomas replied, "It’s brutal. I have to kiss Rhea Perlman." One of the listeners that day was none other than Rhea Pearlman.

When Cheers returned the following season, Eddie LeBec was no more. The show revealed he had been killed offscreen in a run-in with a Zamboni, and Carla found out he was a bigamist with another grieving widow in tow.
(#1) The Show Almost Didn't Survive Season 1

While Cheers was always a critical darling, audiences took a while to warm up to it. In fact, it almost didn't live to see a second season. The show's low ratings prompted NBC to consider cancellation. Out of the 77 shows on the air that season, Cheers's first episode ranked an abysmal 74th.

By the end of its run, and still today, it's considered by many to be the greatest sitcom of all time.
(#12) Cliff Was The Creation Of John Ratzenberger

In all of television history, there is no single character quite like the Cheers mailman Cliff Clavin. He is a truly original creation that was primarily the brainchild of actor John Ratzenberger. Ratzenberger went in to audition for Norm, but suspecting he wasn't right for the part, asked producers if they had a know-it-all type of character.

He improvised a quick scene, and showrunners were so impressed they wrote the character of Cliff for him. Ratzenberger's ad-libbing skills came in handy during filming; he improvised many of Cliff's "facts" right on the spot.
(#13) A 'Cheers' Mini-Episode Was Made To Get People To Buy Savings Bonds

In 1983, the US Treasury recruited the Cheers team to encourage viewers to buy savings bonds. The result was the Cheers mini-episode entitled "Uncle Sam Malone."

Coming in at just under 12 minutes, the single scene shows the ensemble discussing Cliff's trip to Tahiti, which he paid for by cashing in his US savings bonds. The gang then wonders whether they too should invest in bonds.