# Question about opening credits of "Cheers" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 10, 2002, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-opening-credits-of-cheers/108366 "2002-05-10T20:54:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-opening-credits-of-cheers/108366/61 "2013-07-01T02:32:03Z")
I’m happy to see that other people over the years have thought the photo shown when Woody Harrelson’s name was onscreen looked like him. I remember as a kid a number of times I’d say “That guy looks like Woody!” during the opening credits of _Cheers_ and my mother would always say “Those are just old photos, they’re not really the actors.” I know they’re just old photos, but he still looks like Woody. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Mooch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mooch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooch)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-opening-credits-of-cheers/108366/62 "2013-10-29T15:33:47Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I’ve always thought he just represented the proverbial “everyman,” and could have been either you or me. Thought I’d re-animate this zombie because this guy is the subject of the greatest Halloween costume of 2013: [ARISE!](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/28/cheers-halloween-costume_n_4169894.html) ---
**Author:** ![PooclearWar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/77aa72/32.png) [@PooclearWar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PooclearWar)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-opening-credits-of-cheers/108366/63 "2014-03-20T13:22:47Z")
This thread has been near death multiple times now so I apologize for reviving it again. This is my first post so I don’t know if it’s frowned upon. I’ve been watching all the Cheers episodes and I think I’ve figured out who Coach in the credits is. The poster who said it was someone who worked on the show may be correct; if you look in the background of _every_ episode there’s a man who sits behind the bar facing the camera. He wears a hat and suit and looks identical to the man with the newspaper in the intro. I think he comes straight after Norm’s picture because he’s there as much as Norm is. Maybe it was some sort of inside joke? I don’t know any details about him, it’s just something I’ve noticed. I’m up to season 4 and he hasn’t been absent from a single episode, he just sits there watching the show from the back! On a side note, that’s one thing I’ve found off putting about the extras in Cheers, a lot of times they watch the actors from afar as if they’re there to watch the show rather than appear in it. I don’t know if they were told to do this or what but it’s very distracting. I’m kind of obsessed with the extras in movies and TV shows, they can ruin scenes for me if they awkward or do something weird, anyone else do this or is it just me? ---
**Author:** ![PooclearWar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/77aa72/32.png) [@PooclearWar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PooclearWar)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-opening-credits-of-cheers/108366/64 "2014-03-20T13:24:42Z")
After 2 seconds on Google, it turns out that I’m talking about Al Rosen. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-opening-credits-of-cheers/108366/65 "2014-03-20T15:22:02Z")
Happy Zombie Birthday to **Sauron’s** baby, who should be 12 years old now! ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Dockery](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@Will\_Dockery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Dockery)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2014, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-opening-credits-of-cheers/108366/66 "2014-11-27T05:35:44Z")
> [@Snake\_Plissken](#): > > I remember seeing this pic on Shorpy. Great site. > [Cheers: 1937 | Shorpy Old Photos | Framed Prints](http://www.shorpy.com/node/7798) Fascinating close-up of several iconic “characters”, viewed by so many millions, in thousands of broadcasts… yet we still don’t “know their names”. I find it amazing that such recognizable people have never been identified in over thirty years of broadcasts… it seem some voewer, somewhere, would have recognizerd them. I see some obvious tinkering from the original, the man's arm is no longer around the woman, colors have changed patterns... ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Dockery](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@Will\_Dockery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Dockery)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2014, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-opening-credits-of-cheers/108366/67 "2014-11-27T07:21:12Z")
Wow, apologies for letting all the typos slip in on the previous post. Here’s a fascinating history of Craigville, Minnesotam where the famous Cheers photo was taken, including several other photos taken in the same saloon: > **[Guide to Craig Minnesota](https://www.lakesnwoods.com/Craig.htm)** > > Guide to Craig Minnesota. Complete directory including history, road and aerial maps and much more. ---
**Author:** ![planetcory](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/planetcory/32/1032_2.png) [@planetcory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/planetcory)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2014, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-opening-credits-of-cheers/108366/68 "2014-11-27T11:24:58Z")
Since we’ve awakened the zombie again, I think the images in the original credits\* were\* meant to represent the characters. The Ted Danson/Shelley Long credit is showing a flirtatious couple. Yeah, there’s a third guy there but he’s uncolored and kinda sent to the background as the camera zooms in towards the pair. On the Coach credit, it’s a crowd shot but the camera zooms toward the guy behind the bar. I think they were trying to match the images from the beginning and just got better at it as time went on. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-opening-credits-of-cheers/108366/69 "2016-01-21T20:02:43Z")
I’m resurrecting this thread for the _n_th time to draw everyone’s attention to this [interview with Glen and Les Charles](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlxX1CkTInQ), two of the three producers of _Cheers_. For the first few minutes of the video, the Charles brothers talk about the show’s title sequence. The information they provide settles a couple of the open questions of this thread. In particular: [ul] [li]Yes, the people depicted in the credit montage _were_ meant to evoke particular characters in the show. (It wasn’t originally planned this way, but once the producers started going through the candidate photos provided by the title designers, they noticed that such a matching was possible, and ran with the idea.)[/li][li]The “WE WIN” headline doesn’t refer to the end of Prohibition, nor the end of World War II. Rather, it celebrates the Brooklyn Dodgers winning a pennant.[/li][/ul] Also of interest, since it was touched on in this thread: the photo of the young man representing Woody’s character wasn’t taken at a bar, but rather at a butcher shop. Unfortunately for the OP, the producers neither confirm or deny his firmly held suspicion that George Wendt was slighted. (This is still one of my all-time favourite threads, if only because I get a kick out of imagining that the OP is a disgruntled Wendt himself posting incognito.) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-opening-credits-of-cheers/108366/70 "2016-01-21T20:20:07Z")
Then kid’s pushing 14, now: “Awwww, he has his father’s eye!” ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-opening-credits-of-cheers/108366/71 "2016-01-21T21:36:12Z")
Since we’ve opened this up, in the Ken Burns documentary about prohibition, he uses some of the same photos you see in the title sequence. It actually takes you out of the documentary and I expect to hear Sam say “Cheers is filmed before a live audience.” ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-opening-credits-of-cheers/108366/72 "2016-01-21T22:24:50Z")
Speaking of reanimating the dead. . . Has anyone seen [the new Jenny Craig commercial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8vcdbFKPak), set in a bar, with Kirstie Alley serving beer to George Wendt and John Ratzenberger? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-opening-credits-of-cheers/108366/73 "2016-01-21T23:33:19Z")
> [@Will\_Dockery](#): > > Here’s a fascinating history of Craigville, Minnesota where the famous Cheers photo was taken, including several other photos taken in the same saloon. With all due respect… Having been born and raised in Minnesota, I can assure you that very little (if anything) there is “fascinating.” :mad: ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-opening-credits-of-cheers/108366/74 "2016-01-22T11:27:07Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Has anyone seen [the new Jenny Craig commercial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8vcdbFKPak), set in a bar, with Kirstie Alley serving beer to George Wendt and John Ratzenberger? Well, that’s interesting. I wonder where they got the set from. Is it a meticulous reconstruction, or has the original been lying around in storage all these years? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-opening-credits-of-cheers/108366/75 "2016-01-22T11:52:48Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Well, that’s interesting. I wonder where they got the set from. Is it a meticulous reconstruction, or has the original been lying around in storage all these years? Looks digitally recreated. There’s probably only the bar itself that’s real, the rest is greenscreen and carefully assembled photographs and CGI. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-opening-credits-of-cheers/108366/76 "2016-01-22T13:00:45Z")
How can you tell? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-opening-credits-of-cheers/108366/77 "2016-01-22T13:14:55Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > How can you tell? I’m not absolutely sure, but the fixed camera and the slightly too perfect set just looks a bit more formal than reality. I recently made all-digital backgrounds for a short film and it just feels familiar to what I made. However, I understand there’s a full re-creation of the Cheers set in the Hollywood Entertainment Museum, so it’s possible it was filmed there. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-opening-credits-of-cheers/108366/78 "2016-01-22T13:19:50Z")
Watch the subsequent clips. It’s a meticulous recreation. The original sets, if I’m not mistaken, were torn down and replaced with the ones on _ **Frasier** _. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-opening-credits-of-cheers/108366/79 "2016-01-22T13:31:00Z")
Wow. That was a hell of a lot of work for a 30-second commercial. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-opening-credits-of-cheers/108366/80 "2016-01-22T14:28:50Z")
Ah well, shows how much I know. I was fooled by fine craftsmanship. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-opening-credits-of-cheers/108366.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-opening-credits-of-cheers/108366.md?page=5)