Decades after the hit television series Cheers came to an end in 1993,
people are still spreading rumors about how much the cast of the series hated each other.
Most of these rumors stem from the stories of original cast member Shelley Long and her
relationship with her coworkers before leaving the series behind after its fifth season. One of
the big reasons why Shelley chose to leave the series was professional jealousy over costars
Ted Danson and Kelsey Grammer, the latter of whom she felt was eating up her lines. Join
Facts Verse as Shelley Long’s true feelings about the Cheers cast are finally confirmed.
Shelley Long Hated Everybody on the Set of Cheers
Although Kelsey Grammer remains one of the most memorable and beloved former cast members
of the classic sitcom Cheers, he wasn’t introduced to the show until the first episode of its third
season. Not only that but the actor’s introduction to the series wasn’t met with open arms by one
of its previous biggest stars. Prior to Kelsey Grammer’s introduction to the show,
the main conflict of Cheers had been the romantic relationship of Ted Danson’s
Sam Malone and Shelley Long’s Diane Chambers. Kelsey Grammer’s character of Frasier Crane
was introduced to the show as a temporary third point in a romantic triangle. After two seasons,
producers decided that Sam and Diane’s romance could no longer carry the series on its own.
Legend suggests that producers only meant to bring Kelsey Grammer onto Cheers for three
episodes. However, the actor ended up staying over the course of the show’s remaining run. When all
was said and done, Kelsey Grammer appeared on more seasons of Cheers than Shelley Long
did. The original romantic premise of Cheers was simple, with Shelley Long’s character being prim,
proper, and educated, while Ted Danson’s character was the exact opposite. As romantic
competition for the character of Sam Malone, Kelsey Grammer’s character of Frasier Crane
was written to be more like Diane. This was all well and good until Shelley Long started
getting jealous that the character of Frasier was getting lines that could’ve gone to her instead.
Prior to Kelsey Grammer being introduced to Cheers, Shelley Long was already dealing with
a good deal of professional jealousy due to the fact that Ted Danson seemed
to be the true star of the series. Though Shelley played his main romantic interest,
she felt like she was always a side note to her male costar. When another male
costar was brought in that was much more in line with her character personality-wise,
this issue became even more dire. As soon as Kelsey was brought on, Shelley began
complaining to the producers. It didn’t matter that Kelsey’s character of Frasier Crane was
only meant to be a temporary addition to the show. Shelley wanted Kelsey off of the program!
Frasier Was Given a Bigger Role to Piss Shelley Off
The producers had already had negative experiences with Shelley Long by the point that Kelsey
Grammer’s Frasier Crane was introduced to Cheers. Of course, most of these negative experiences
came as a result of the actress insisting that she needed a bigger role in the program. Some suggest
that the producers saw how much Kelsey Grammer’s presence bothered her and decided to make
him a regular on the program out of spite. Shelley herself has put forth this theory,
though both writers and producers have denied it. The writers of the show have claimed that
Kelsey simply did such a great job with the material that they wanted to keep him on.
Of course, Shelley Long feels that the material he was doing such a great job with was hers.
Shelley Long had her issues with the other cast members of Cheers before, but she grew to despise
Kelsey Grammer most of all. This ire came from professional jealousy more than on-set behavior,
though it seems that Kelsey got pretty tired of Shelley’s issues with him behind
the scenes of the show by the time that she decided to quit. Shelley had few friends on
the set of Cheers by the time she decided to quit the program after its fifth season came to an end.
After Shelley Long quit Cheers, she ended up coming back for the show’s finale.
That series finale aired in 1993. Not only did Shelley return to reprise the role of Diane
Chambers for Cheers’ finale, but she also returned to reprise the role for an episode of the spin-off
series Frasier! Given that Frasier’s titular star was one of the supposed main reasons that Shelley
Long had quit Cheers so many years ago, this guest appearance came as a pleasant surprise
for fans of both series. If you’re enjoying this video so far, be sure
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Shelley Long Appeared on Frasier Diane Chambers showing up on Frasier
was meant to mark the end of Shelley Long and Kelsey Grammer’s longstanding feud. However,
the two still haven’t held back in the ensuing years about how things went down back on the set
of Cheers. Though the writers and producers have claimed otherwise, Kelsey has backed up Shelley’s
theory that he was kept on the show longer than was originally planned simply because he made
her upset. Regardless of the reason that Kelsey Grammer was promoted to a regular cast member on
Cheers, there were numerous reasons that Shelley Long decided to leave the show. While she had
never had an easy time getting along with anybody on the set of the show and had always dealt
with professional jealousy, the main reason for Shelley quitting the show was so that she could
try and start up a film career. Shelley was also never really fond of her character on the series.
According to Shelley Long, both her fellow cast members and the audience began to think that the
actress was more like the character of Diane Chambers than she actually was.
Shelley Long says that this is the reason that so many members of Cheers’ cast and
crew didn’t get along with her. Shelley thinks that they simply assumed that she was like Diane
and never actually took the time to get to know her. Shelley also didn’t like
the way that audiences viewed her, and she wanted to shift her image on the big screen.
Shelley Long’s final episode of Cheers, before the series finale, was the last episode of the
show’s fifth season. The episode premiered on May 7, 1987. The show’s writers and producers spent
a lot of time considering how best to write the character of Diane Chambers off of the program.
The series’ creators ended up taking on the task themselves, and they kicked around numerous ideas
before ultimately deciding on the one that made it to the air. Three separate endings for the
show were filmed in an effort to keep the secrets of the highly anticipated episode under wraps.
Shelley Long’s Departure Episode Was a Big Secret
Shelley Long’s departure episode from Cheers saw the character of Diane Chambers leaving to
go finish work on a manuscript that had been submitted to publishers without her knowledge
by a former professor and lover. The existence of this character was a callback to Cheers’
very first episode, where this professor and lover stood up to Diane Chambers so that he could return
to his ex-wife. This new opportunity was announced just as the characters of Diane Chambers and Sam
Malone were preparing to get married. Diane ended up calling the wedding off to go work on
her manuscript at Sam’s instance. The following season, Kristie Alley was brought onto the show
to fill the void left in Shelley Long’s wake. Meanwhile, Shelley tried her hand at film work.
Though fans of Cheers were satisfied with the ending of Diane Chambers’ arc, they
held plenty of ill will against Shelley Long for abandoning the program that had made her a star.
Shelley Long had come onto Cheers a relative nobody, and the program had turned her into
a household name. After leaving Cheers behind, Shelley then attempted to use the
goodwill that she had garnered from her time on the series to start up a film career. However,
it seems that many fans weren’t willing to follow Shelley to the big screen.
The same year that Cheers premiered, Shelley Long could be seen in the Ron Howard-directed film
Night Shift. However, she put her fledgling film career by the wayside to focus on a
successful show. After leaving Cheers, Shelley then attempted to translate her superstardom
on the small screen into equal success in cinemas. Sadly, Shelley didn’t end up being very successful
in this endeavor. Still, she has appeared in several films over the course of her career.
Shelley Long’s Disappointing Film Career Shortly before leaving Cheers,
Shelley Long appeared alongside Tom Hanks in the 1986 comedy The Money Pit. The film was a success,
and this success was a big part of what gave Shelley the confidence to finally abandon Cheers
after years of suffering in the company of Kelsey Grammer and her other fellow cast members. Sadly,
the success of The Money Pit was more emblematic of Tom Hanks’ future film
career than Shelley Long’s. Tom Hanks, who had also found his origins on television,
went on to become one of the biggest stars in the world. Meanwhile, Shelley Long’s greatest
cinematic accomplishment is arguably her pitch-perfect impersonation of matriarch
Carol Brady in the pair of 1990s comedies The Brady Bunch Movie and A Very Brady Sequel.
The movie that is often credited with destroying Shelley Long’s leading-lady
prospects is 1989’s Troop Beverly Hills, which was a box-office bomb.
Shelley Long never got along with her cast members on the show Cheers and ended up abandoning
the show once she felt that she could make a successful transition to the big screen. Now it’s
time to hear from you: did you know that Shelley Long hated both Kelsey Grammer and Ted Danson
and that she left Cheers as soon as she could? As always, like this video
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