With the recent passing of Kirstie Allie, I thought it might be time to revisit our favourite characters from Cheers. (I’m sure we’ve had similar polls in the distant past, though the results have not survived the transition to Discourse.)
Poll 1: Favourite main characters—select up to three.
Carla Tortelli
Cliff Clavin
Diane Chambers
Ernie “Coach” Pantusso
Frasier Crane
Lilith Sternin
Norm Peterson
Rebecca Howe
Sam Malone
Woody Boyd
0voters
Poll 2: Coach or Woody?
Ernie “Coach” Pantusso
Woody Boyd
0voters
Poll 3: Diane or Rebecca?
Diane Chambers
Rebecca Howe
0voters
For discussion: Who were your favourite recurring characters? There are far too many to put into a poll; you can see Wikipedia’s list if you need to jog your memory.
I started watching the show only after Nicholas Colasanto had died and Shelley Long had left, so I’m predisposed to pick Woody and Rebecca over Coach and Diane. But having since watched the entire series on home media a couple times, I’m happy to admit that the earlier characters were also quite good.
My favourite character is and always has been Cliff Clavin. As a kid and an avid Trivial Pursuit player, I could never understand why the other characters thought he was such a bore.
Fun fact about Cliff that I just discovered after rewatching the series pilot: in his very earliest appearance, he’s not a mailman! He wears his usual blue uniform, but the US Postal Service insignia is replaced with some other logo. According to Wikipedia, he was originally written as a security guard. Also, according to the pilot’s script, Cliff’s last name was originally Claben, not Clavin.
I chose Cliff, too. And I’ve sure you’ve seen it, but if not, you should see the episode “What is Cliff Calvin?” in which Cliff competes on Jeopardy! with hilarious results.
For sheer silliness, the episode where Sam tries being a television sports announcer is one of my favorites, especially when he starts rapping about his g-g-g-groin injury.
I like Rebecca’s character better in her first couple of seasons, where she was still portrayed as a hard-driving Yuppie trying to climb the corporate ladder. After she was downsized into a whiny, helpless butt-monkey her character lost any appeal for me. By contrast, Diane Chambers actually became slightly more human as the series went along.
I think his character morphed into a caricature over time. I thought he really did dispense actual facts during the early part of the show. But by the end, it was mostly BS. The SDMB would have served him well.
Same here — I like a layer of competence in at least a few characters. A hefty dose of neuroses and self-doubt would have been good for Rebecca, since everyone in the show was flawed, but the writers went overboard.
(And were were any of the characters free of serious flaws? Personally I found Lilith’s supposed quirks very appealing. Frasier’s biggest flaw might have been that he started hanging around Cheers all the time.)
I also preferred Sam as a bar owner, rather than an employee, but can’t fault the show’s creators for shaking things up,
So many lines from Cheers continue to remain in the day-to-day usage amongst my friends. I thought Seinfeld lines would stay with me forever, but they didn’t age well. Legendary show.
The first time I tuned into an episode of Cheers! back in '82, Cliff was talking about the bowels of a whale. I thought “Oh, my God, another dumb sitcom with lame jokes and a laughtrack!” and switched it off.
Obviously, I didn’t get the joke. I’m glad I started watching again after I read some good reviews of the show.
(FTR, I felt the same way about Taxi, Night Court, and Seinfeld at the beginning. Goes to show how wrong a person can be.)
He’s still my favourite character even now that I know he was often spouting nonsense.
