Ted Danson brought Sam Malone to life on Cheers, the long-running sitcom that allowed fans to fall in love with patrons of the titular bar. When a woman named Diane (Shelley Long) comes in needing a job, Sam eventually comes to realize that he has feelings for her. Sam and Diane’s relationship is one that fans cling to; a staple of sitcom history. But Danson revealed on his podcast, Where Everybody Knows Your Name, that he originally did not want Long to take on the role of Diane. Danson also admits that he was wrong.
Danson was talking about Long when he revealed that, while on Cheers, his opinion on things was often ignored because everyone knew that he was wrong about it. “I had the reputation on Cheers where if I suggested something, pretty much – this is not self-deprecating humor or false humility – I was dead wrong. And if they did the opposite, it would work brilliantly,” Danson said. “I love being able to have an opinion, and I don’t really have that much at stake because it’s wrong. I’m okay to be wrong.“
In Danson’s defense, it wasn’t because he didn’t like Long. He thought that she just wasn’t the right fit for Diane and shared that opinion with the creatives behind the show. “One of my first obvious ones was Cheers casting Shelley Long,” Danson said. “And I’m going, ‘Oh, no, not Shelley Long. That’d be, that’s all wrong. She’d be terrible for that.’ And she, right out of the shoot, she became this instant, brilliant character actor doing a brilliant job.” He went on to praise Long further, say “Serving the entire thing perfectly. It sounds like I’m discounting all the other actors, but that first year she put us on the map. Yeah, she really did.”
Did Shelley Long Know How Ted Danson Originally Felt?
When asked by guest Andy Ritcher if Long knew that Danson had originally thought this, Danson revealed that she might not have known exactly what he said but that he thought she at least knew that he originally wasn’t on board with her casting. “Yeah, I’ve said it enough that, yeah. But she may not [have]. Maybe she never listened to anything I’ve ever said. I say it as a form of compliment, ’cause my God, she is astounding.“
Danson has been talking about his reaction to Long’s casting in other interviews as well. He shared on the SmartLess podcast that he was “horrible” about Long. “I don’t know, we were so different,” he said of how he and Long worked together. “Our styles, our approach, our everything is really different, which is why I think it worked because it was like this fair fight.” He shared how it was filming together. “It was hard for us sometimes to be in the room together,” he said. “But when we started working, it was just fantastic because you’d smack her and she’d smack you back harder. She was just brilliant.”
You can see Danson and Long bring Sam and Diane to life on Cheers.
- Release Date
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1982 – 1992
- Network
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NBC
- Showrunner
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James Burrows, Glen Charles, Les Charles, Ken Estin, Sam Simon, David Angell, Peter Casey, David Lee, Bill Steinkellner, Cheri Steinkellner, Phoef Sutton, Tom Anderson, Dan O’Shannon
Source: Where Everybody Knows Your Name