Adored by the Network: When Cheers finally went off the air on May 20, 1993, NBC dedicated a whole night to the show's final episode. The night began with a "pregame" show hosted by NBC sportscaster Bob Costas, followed by the final 98-minute episode itself. NBC stations, O&Os and affiliates alike, then aired tributes to Cheers during their local newscasts, and the night concluded with a special edition of The Tonight Show broadcast live from the Bull & Finch Pub.
The tributes didn't end there. On the following day's Today broadcast, the show dedicated an almost ten-minute segment documenting how loved the show was to people, with Today anchor Katie Couric being seen briefly on the Cheers set. The segment began with the show documenting the Tonight Show broadcast with brief comments from the show's cast, in addition to recapping the finale. The show then did an on location report in which NBC News correspondent Roger O'Neil went on location to actual bars across the country, in which staff and patrons of those bars reflected on watching the program from those exact bars. After that, the segment concluded with Couric, now back at NBC News world headquarters in New York, sitting down for an interview with then NBC Entertainment president Warren Littlefield, speaking from the Bull & Finch, about what shows he was going to use to fill the void, along with a side interview with Jeannie Park, then senior editor for television at Entertainment Weekly, in which she and Couric discussed the phenomenon of how Cheers was able to run for 11 seasons despite having abysmal ratings on its inaugural season.
So adored that the show was an utter bomb in its first year, having the worst Neilsen ratings of the year. Fortunately, NBC Entertainment president Brandon Tartikoff refused to cancel it, and put it in a prime slot right after The Cosby Show and Family Ties, and soon became the #1 sitcom in America, even beating its lead-ins. Ironically, Tartikoff would later serve as chairman of Paramount, which produced both Cheers and Family Ties.
Irony as She Is Cast: Lilith Sternin was initially depicted as a terrible singer, even though before Cheers Bebe Neuwirth was mostly known for her singing roles in Broadway musicals; in 1986 she even won a Tony Award for a production of Sweet Charity. Later on the writers had Lilith take some singing lessons, and all of a sudden she became a great singer.
Throw It In: According to John Ratzenberger, he badly botched his audition for the role of Norm, and, figuring he had nothing to lose, asked if the cast included a bar know-it-all. He proceeded to improvise for a few minutes as such a character, and the writers subsequently created the part of Cliff for him.
