'Cheers' Cast, Creators Reunite At ATX TV Festival

Austin, Texas (June 3, 2023) — The "Cheers" Reunion was filmed before a live studio audience Friday night in downtown Austin.

Almost exactly 30 years since the series finale was watched by 93 million people, the ATX TV Festival honored the sitcom's legacy by reuniting cast members Ted Danson, John Ratzenberger and George Wendt alongside creators Glen and Les Charles and director James Burrows.

"It's really nice to be in front of a group of people that are clearly fans of television," Danson told the enthusiastic crowd gathered at Austin City Limits Live at the Moody Theater.

Moderated by Variety TV editor Michael Schneider, the conversation ranged from audition stories to memories of the making of the long-running NBC sitcom set at a Boston bar, which is beloved by a new generation thanks to TV reruns and streaming on Paramount+.

"All the time, people ask me for little known facts," Ratzenberger said of the legacy of 11 seasons of playing postman Cliff Clavin, the "bar know-it-all" who "knew a little bit about a lot of things."

The Charles brothers said they wrote the role of Norm Peterson for George Wendt, who took the ACL stage to resounding shouts of "Norm!"

"I had to look like a guy who wanted another beer and I was like, ‘that I can do,’" Wendt said.

"We wanted to be in a bar. We liked the idea of a romance developing, so one thing led to another," Glen Charles said of the dynamic between Sam Malone and Diane Chambers, played by Danson and Shelley Long. "I can see some influence over the years on a lot of shows…will-they-won't-they romances seem to be required now."

"I don't think we’d seen a character like that since Lucille Ball," Danson said. "She just really nailed it. I go out of my way to say I do believe I was on ‘Cheers’ because I worked well with Shelley."

A live script reading preceded the panel, with actors David Walton, Cassidy Freeman, Harold Perrineau and more embodying the characters and celebrating the brilliant comedic writing of the pilot.

"I was amazed that the first episode does not look like the first episode," Les Charles said of the pilot. "It looks like people in the bar who have been friends forever."

Those friends were remembered at the reunion event, including cast members like Rhea Perlman and later additions Bebe Neuwirth, Kelsey Grammar and Woody Harrleson. The late Nick Colasanto and Kirstie Alley were also honored. "‘[This] brought back so many memories of working with this group, and several of them who aren't here," Glen said.

The audience felt like a central part of the discussion Friday night, a relationship which Burrows and "the brothers" say began in 1993 when audiences discovered "Cheers" in summer reruns after lackluster first seasons ratings. "I like to say we were 70th out of 69 shows," Burrows said. But the viewership grew as people found common ground with the men and women working and chatting inside a bar. As the cast and creators shared stories of on-set hijinks (flying spitballs and prank presents), it felt like pulling up a barstool alongside the beloved television characters they created decades ago.

Burrows spoke to the rarity of good multi-camera sitcoms in the streaming age. "I’ve attended the funeral for the sitcom many times and somehow it springs out of the coffin," the director of "Friends," "Frasier," "Will & Grace" said. "I don't understand why there are not more sitcoms."

But clearly the show's impact lives on, as Danson pointed out a poignant reference to "Cheers" in the recent finale of "Ted Lasso. (The show is helmed by Jason Sudeikis, nephew of Wendt: "He's a good boy, my godson.")

"I would like to think that ‘Cheers’ had a positive influence on television comedy….It's very remarkable how it's held up," Les Charles said. "Our ratings were so low…the idea of somebody watching it 30, 40 years later is beyond our wild imagining. We’re still hearing kids our grandchildren's age coming up and saying they like ‘Cheers,’" Les said.

Danson noted how the fanbase has gotten "younger and younger" over the years as families watched the show in quarantine during the pandemic. Burrows added that his four daughters and grandchildren are binge-watching "Cheers" now. "I’m so proud of what that show was," he said. "I will always cherish it, of all the shows I’ve ever done, and I have done a lot. This will always be my fifth child."

"I carved my name in the bar the last two days of shooting the show," Ratzenberger said. Much like the hit series’ impact on the television vernacular, popular culture and a generation of laughter in living rooms: "It's still there."