"Give Me a Ring Sometime" | |
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Cheers episode | |
Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 1 |
Directed by | James Burrows |
Written by | Glen and Les Charles |
Production code | 001 |
Original air date | September 30, 1982 |
Running time | 24:56 |
Guest appearance | |
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"Give Me a Ring Sometime" is the pilot episode and the first episode of the first season of the American situation comedy Cheers . Written by Glen and Les Charles and directed by James Burrows, the episode first aired September 30, 1982, on NBC in the contiguous United States and on October 14, 1982 in Alaska. The pilot episode introduces the characters at the Cheers bar in Boston: employees Sam Malone, Diane Chambers, Coach Ernie Pantusso, and Carla Tortelli; and regular customers Norm Peterson and Cliff Clavin. In this episode, Diane, brought in by her fiancé, meets the employees and patrons of the bar. When she realizes that her fiancé has left her alone in the bar, Diane accepts Sam's offer to be the bar's waitress to start over.
In the original script, the employees were the principal characters, and Norm and Cliff were not included. Later revisions added Norm and Cliff, and scenes were restructured and rewritten. Originally, Cheers' set would be a hotel, but it was ultimately changed to a bar. Ratings were low when the episode first aired, but they were moderately successful in reruns. It has been critically praised over the years, and earned its writers awards for Best Writing in 1983.
As owner Sam Malone opens the Cheers bar in Boston at the beginning of the series, a professor, Sumner Sloane, and his Boston University student fiancée, Diane Chambers, are the first customers of the day. They plan to go to Barbados to be married but do not have a wedding ring; Sumner leaves to retrieve the ring from his ex-wife. Sumner returns a few hours later, telling Diane that he could not obtain his ex-wife's ring. His ex-wife calls the bar with a change of heart, so Sumner leaves Diane again. Sam pointedly tells her that Sumner is probably on a plane with his ex-wife. Diane calls the airport to change their flight reservation, and finds out that "Mr. and Mrs. Sloane" have already used it. Heartbroken, she prepares to go home before realizing that her job as Sumner's teaching assistant is gone. Out of pity, Sam offers her a job at Cheers as a waitress. Despite being highly educated, Diane reluctantly accepts the offer when she remembers a number of orders (including special requests) from a table. The following day, Diane's first customer is an international tourist, asking for his lost luggage.
The pilot introduces employees of the bar, Cheers, in Boston, Massachusetts in order of appearance:
The creators rejected the idea of casting a star such as Mary Tyler Moore, and sought actors who were previously unknown to the public. They interviewed almost 1,000 people for the four principal roles: Sam Malone, Diane Chambers, Carla Tortelli, and "Coach" Ernie Pantusso. [3] Steve Kolzak (credited as Stephen Kolzak) [4] cast the original characters. [5] According to Danson, Rhea Perlman was the first to be cast. [6] Former umpire Ron Luciano auditioned for Coach; however, the producers "wanted an experienced actor". [7] Robert Prosky, who later appeared as Rebecca Howe's (Kirstie Alley) Navy father in the 1992 Cheers episode "Daddy's Little Middle-Aged Girl" and an author in the 1996 Frasier episode "A Crane's Critique", turned down the role of Coach. [8] [9] Actor-director Nicholas Colasanto won the role. [3]
Auditions were held for Sam and Diane. [10] Three pairs were tested: William Devane and Lisa Eichhorn, Fred Dryer and Julia Duffy, and Ted Danson and Shelley Long. [11] Before the show premiered Danson appeared in 1979's The Onion Field ; [12] Long appeared in 1982's Night Shift , starring Henry Winkler of Happy Days . [13] Fred Dryer later appeared as Dave Richards, a sportscaster friend of Sam's, in "Sam at Eleven" in 1982. [14] Sam Malone was originally "a former wide receiver for the New England Patriots", [11] and Fred Dryer was considered for the role because he was a football player. [15] However, NBC executives liked test scenes with Danson and Long so the creators chose them instead, [16] making Sam a former relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. [11] Ed O'Neill also auditioned for the role of Sam Malone. [17]
We had some surprises. Some actors were terrific by themselves but not in concert with others. Each actor read the same scene. Everyone got the same chance. We were looking for actors who could make us laugh by being loyal to the characters. Then we matched them up. [3]
— Les Charles, to United Press International, July 11, 1982
Two customers were introduced:
George Wendt and John Ratzenberger originally auditioned for the role of "George", and Wendt was cast. [18] [19] In the original script, George was Diane's first customer at the end of the episode. Annoyed with Diane's long-winded explanation of how she became a waitress, he delivered his one-word line: "Beer!" [18] After Wendt was cast, the writers revised the script; his role evolved into Norm Peterson, the first onscreen customer to enter the bar and "[badgering] Diane rather than the other way around". [20] After Wendt was cast, Ratzenberger suggested to the producers that a know-it-all character be added; this led to the creation of another character, Cliff Clavin. [19]
One character who was cut from the pilot episode was an unpleasant, racist old woman in a wheelchair named Mrs. Littlefield, supposedly a regular customer of Cheers, who was intended to be a recurring character. Her lines were filmed as part of a rough cut of the pilot. However, the producers decided to cut the character out of the episode, as they found her character did not mesh with other characters or with the overall tone of the show. Nevertheless, the uncredited actress who played her can still be seen as a background performer in a few scenes. Some sources credit this actress as Elaine Strich, although the unidentified actress who is still seen on camera looks nothing like Stritch. In answer to a question about the actress, Cheers writer/producer Ken Levine has stated on his blog "that was not Elaine Stritch." [21] According to the episode's script, the character in question was played by Margaret Wheeler. [22] The producers ultimately decided to eliminate Mrs. Littlefield completely from the show from that point forward, necessitating changes to some yet-to-be-filmed scripts for the first few episodes. [23] [24]
Three other bar patrons have speaking roles in the completed episode: John P. Navin, Jr. portrays a teenage boy in the cold open, Erik Holland has a brief bit as Diane's first customer, and Ron Frazier appears as a barfly who stands at the bar near Cliff (and who offers "Ben Hur" as his choice for the sweatiest movie ever made.) [25]
The creators of Cheers (and the crew of Taxi ), co-writers Glen and Les Charles and director James Burrows, created a sitcom project in 1981. Initially set in a hotel, the setting changed to a hotel bar and finally a "Boston neighborhood bar". The show was filmed not in a pub, but on Stage 25 of the Paramount Studios lot. Cheers' set was inspired by the Bull & Finch Pub in Boston, [26] now known as Cheers Beacon Hill (pictured, right). [27] A Boston bar was chosen because of its "interior [made out of] brick, polished mahogany, and brass"; the city was chosen because it is "cosmopolitan", "a great sports town" and was not previously explored on television. [3] Because the creators are sports fans, an athletic element was added to the bar. [28] Burrows said that the show was intended to be about a bar which people visit for more than drinks. [3]
Jokes from earlier scripts were used. In one scene, Carla Tortelli orders a phone caller to do something about their unruly children. When one of the bartenders suggests hiring a babysitter, Carla replied that the caller was the babysitter. The cast did not know the ending of the pilot episode during production, [29] since the final draft of the script was dated April 16, 1982. [30]
The NBC premiere lineup on September 30, 1982 consisted of (beginning at 8:00 pm Eastern and Pacific Time) Fame , Cheers, Taxi and Hill Street Blues . Cheers debuted at 9:00 pm against the two-hour season premiere of Magnum, P.I. and the one-hour season premiere of Too Close for Comfort . [31] It finished in 60th place [32] (out of 63 programs), with a 9.6 Nielsen rating. [33] In Alaska, it premiered on October 14, 1982 at 8:00 pm AKT. [34] On December 23, 1982 the episode was rerun, [35] receiving an 11.5 rating and finishing 57th out of 68 programs airing from December 20–26, 1982. [36]
When the episode originally aired in 1982, Fred Rothenberg of the Associated Press called it an introduction to a "new wise-cracking comedy", "a warm and wacky companion of a television show, a delightful place to spend idle time, [and] a five-star watering hole" known as Cheers. [2] Television and radio critic Mike Drew said it was not great but "funnier [...] with cute lines [...] than" any other sitcom, even those (like Archie Bunker's Place on TV and Duffy's Tavern on radio) set in bars. [37] Fred L. Smith of The News and Courier found this episode similar to Taxi : "Both are set in a place of business−Cheers at a [Boston bar], Taxi at a [New York taxi company]—both have a sensible guy and a pretty, preppy girl as main characters—Ted Danson and Shelley Long in Cheers and Judd Hirsch and Marilu Henner in Taxi—and both are wacky comedies." He found it "amusing"; some jokes, funny; many others, forced; and the number of "weird characters" in the show greater than their real-life bar counterparts. [38]
In 2009, Lex Walker on the Just Press Play website found this episode "sadder and more sentimental" than funny; the episode focuses "less on character development and more on" Diane restarting her life as a waitress after the loss of love, and he said it contradicts "what [Cheers] will grow to be". Nevertheless, he called the episode a true introduction to the series and considered the intertwining stories of Sam and his friends the series' premise. [39] In 2010, Robin Raven from Yahoo! Voices called it one of her top five Cheers episodes. [40] In 2011, Austin Lugar from The Film Yap website called it the "best". [41] IGN ranked it number nine of the top ten Cheers episodes. [42]
Joseph J. and Kate Darowski in their 2019 book Cheers: A Cultural History rated the episode all four stars. [43]
At the 1983 Primetime Emmy Awards, writers and co-creators Glen and Les Charles won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series for this episode. [44] [45] [note 4] The brothers also received a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Screenplay - Episodic Comedy. [46] The episode earned production designer Richard Sylbert and set decorator George Gaines an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Art Direction for a Series [45] (won by Tales of the Gold Monkey ). [47] "Give Me A Ring Sometime" was Shelley Long's winning submission for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
The first home media release of the episode was a VHS cassette in the United States on September 29, 1993. It was part of the initial launch of seven cassettes by Paramount Home Video. One volume contained only the pilot episode itself, while each of other six volumes contained two episodes. [48] The episode was released on Region 1 DVD as part of the season one box on May 20, 2003, [49] and as part of Fan Favorites: The Best of Cheers on March 6, 2012. [50]
Cheers is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993, for 11 seasons and 275 episodes. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association with Paramount Television and was created by the team of James Burrows and Glen and Les Charles. The show is set in the titular bar in Boston, where a group of locals meet to drink, relax, socialize, and escape from their day to day issues.
Hilary Norman Peterson is a regular fictional character on the American television show Cheers. The character was portrayed by actor George Wendt and is named Hilary after his paternal grandfather.
Carla Maria Victoria Angelina Teresa Apollonia Lozupone Tortelli LeBec, commonly known as Carla Tortelli, is a fictional character in the American television show Cheers, portrayed by Rhea Perlman. Outwardly, at least, Carla is a sarcastic woman who often mocks and makes jabs at others. She had five children with her then-husband Nick when the series started and eight children with three different men when it ended.
Clifford C. Clavin, Jr. is a fictional character on the American television show Cheers played by John Ratzenberger. A postal worker, he is the bar's resident know-it-all and was a contestant on the game show Jeopardy! Cliff was not originally scripted in the series' pilot episode, "Give Me a Ring Sometime", but the producers decided to add a know-it-all character and Ratzenberger helped flesh it out. The actor made guest appearances as Cliff on The Tortellis, St. Elsewhere, Wings, and Frasier.
Samuel "Mayday" Malone is a fictional character and the protagonist of the American television show Cheers, portrayed by Ted Danson and created by Glen and Les Charles. Sam is a former relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox baseball team who owns and tends the bar called "Cheers". He is also a recovering alcoholic and a notorious womanizer. Although his celebrity status was short-lived, Sam retains that standing within the confines of Cheers, where he is beloved by the regular patrons. Along with Carla Tortelli and Norm Peterson, he is one of only three characters to appear in all episodes of Cheers. Sam has an on-again, off-again relationship with the bar waitress Diane Chambers for the series' first five seasons until her departure from the series. Then he tries to seduce Diane's replacement, Rebecca Howe, who frequently rejects his advances. Sam also appears in "The Show Where Sam Shows Up", a crossover episode of the spin-off Frasier.
The Tortellis is an American sitcom television series and the first spin-off of Cheers, starring Dan Hedaya and Jean Kasem. It aired on NBC from January 22 to May 12, 1987.
"What Is... Cliff Clavin?" is the fourteenth episode of the eighth season of the American television sitcom Cheers, co-written by Dan O'Shannon and Tom Anderson, and directed by Andy Ackerman rather than James Burrows, who directed most of the other episodes of the series. It originally aired on January 18, 1990, on NBC. In this episode, Cliff Clavin appears on the game show Jeopardy! and game show host Alex Trebek guest stars as himself. Cliff racks up an insurmountable lead during the game, only to lose it all in the final round. The episode received praise from critics for its concept and its guest star.
"One for the Road" is the final episode of the American television series Cheers. It was the 271st episode of the series and the twenty-sixth episode of the eleventh season of the show. It first aired on NBC on May 20, 1993, to an audience of approximately 42.4 million households in a 98-minute version, making it the second-highest-rated series finale of all time behind the series finale of M*A*S*H and the highest-rated episode of the 1992–1993 television season in the United States. The 98-minute version was rebroadcast on May 23, 1993, and an edited 90-minute version aired on August 19, 1993.
"I Do, Adieu" is the fifth-season finale of the American television sitcom Cheers, written by Glen and Les Charles and directed by James Burrows. It aired on May 7, 1987, on NBC. During the fifth season, Sam Malone repeatedly proposes to Diane Chambers, and she refuses repeatedly until she accepts engagement in "Chambers vs. Malone" (1987). In the previous episode, "A House Is Not a Home", Sam and Diane bought a house together. Before this episode aired, Ted Danson decided to renew his contract with the show as Sam Malone, while Shelley Long decided to quit the series, which could conclude the on-and-off romance of "Sam and Diane" that went on for the first five years since 1982.
"The Boys in the Bar" is the sixteenth episode of the first season of the American situation comedy television series Cheers. It originally aired on January 27, 1983, on NBC in the continental U.S. and on February 10, 1983 in Alaska. It is co-written by Ken Levine and David Isaacs and directed by James Burrows. This episode's narrative deals with homosexuality, coming out, and homophobia. It was inspired by the coming out story of former Los Angeles Dodgers baseball player, Glenn Burke. In this episode, Sam's former teammate, Tom—portrayed by Alan Autry—reveals his homosexuality and Sam slowly becomes supportive of him. The bar's regular customers express their disdain toward Sam's support and fear that because of Sam's support of Tom, the bar will become a place full of homosexuals. The episode's Nielsen ratings at its initial airing were low but improved after subsequent airings on NBC. This episode has received more attention since.
Diane Chambers is a fictional character in the American television situation comedy show Cheers, portrayed by Shelley Long and created by Glen and Les Charles. She is one of two main protagonists in the first five seasons of the series. After her fiancé Sumner Sloan abandons her in the Cheers bar in the pilot episode, Diane works as a bar waitress. She has an on-off relationship with the womanizing bartender Sam Malone and a one-year relationship with Frasier Crane, who later becomes a main character of the series and its spin-off Frasier. When Long left the series during the fifth season, the producers wrote her character out. After that, they added her permanent replacement Rebecca Howe, a businesswoman played by Kirstie Alley, in the sixth season. Shelley Long made a special guest appearance as Diane in the series finale, as well as in Frasier as a one-time figment of Frasier's imagination, and as the actual Diane in the crossover episode "The Show Where Diane Comes Back".
"The Show Where Sam Shows Up" is the 16th episode of the second season of the American sitcom Frasier. This episode originally aired on February 21, 1995, on NBC, intended as part of a February ratings sweep by the network. It features a special guest appearance by Ted Danson as Sam Malone, a recovering sex addict, bartender and ex-baseball player. In this episode, Sam arrives in Seattle to see his old friend Frasier and is then introduced to Frasier's family at a dinner in Frasier's home, where the inconsistencies about Martin's supposed "death" are cleared up. While visiting Seattle, Sam ends his relationship with a woman named Sheila after discovering her dalliance with other men. Danson's appearance in this episode has received mixed reviews, and the positive highlight about it is his interaction with the cast of Frasier.
The first season of the American television sitcom Cheers aired on NBC from September 30, 1982 to March 31, 1983. The show was created and produced by director James Burrows and writers Glen and Les Charles, who previously worked on Taxi, another sitcom. Cheers was produced by Charles Burrows Charles Productions in association with Paramount Television. The concept and production design of the show were inspired by a public house in Boston, the Bull & Finch, which is now called Cheers Beacon Hill.
The second season of the American television sitcom Cheers aired on NBC from September 29, 1983 to May 10, 1984. The show was created by director James Burrows and writers Glen and Les Charles and was produced by Charles Burrows Charles Productions in association with Paramount Television. The second season has been released on DVD as a four-disc set.
The third season of the American television sitcom Cheers aired on NBC from September 27, 1984 to May 9, 1985. The show was created by director James Burrows and writers Glen and Les Charles under production team Charles Burrows Charles Productions in association with Paramount Television. The third season is available on DVD in a four-disc set.
The fourth season of the American television sitcom Cheers aired on NBC from September 26, 1985 to May 15, 1986. This season marks Woody Harrelson's television debut as Woody Boyd after Nicholas Colasanto, who portrayed Coach Ernie Pantusso, died during the previous season. The show was created by director James Burrows and writers Glen and Les Charles, under production team Charles Burrows Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Television.
The fifth season of the American television sitcom Cheers aired on NBC from September 25, 1986 to May 7, 1987. This season marks the departure of Shelley Long as Diane Chambers, bringing an end to the Sam and Diane relationship. The show was created by director James Burrows and writers Glen and Les Charles, in association with Paramount Television.
The sixth season of the American television sitcom Cheers aired on NBC from September 24, 1987 to May 7, 1988. The show was created by director James Burrows and writers Glen and Les Charles under their production company Charles Burrows Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Television. This season features the debut of Kirstie Alley as Rebecca Howe.
The ninth season of the American television sitcom Cheers aired on NBC from September 20, 1990 to May 3, 1991. The show was created by director James Burrows and writers Glen and Les Charles under production team Charles Burrows Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Television.
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