30 September: Cheers

This date in 1982 saw the first broadcast of Cheers. 10 facts about the show:

1. The series was created by Glen & Les Charles and James Burrows. In order to get a feel for bar chat, they’d spend time in Los Angeles bars eavesdropping on conversations. The argument about the sweatiest movie ever made, which appeared in the premiere, was based on a real conversation they earwigged. Les Charles worked at a bar after college, and one of his customers was the basis for Norm (full name Hillary Norman Peterson).
2. While the internal scenes were shot in a studio, the external shots were of a real bar in Boston called the Bull and Finch, which was named after famous American architect Charles Bulfinch. Like the Cheers bar, it was located under a restaurant. When people realised, the Bull and Finch became something of a tourist attraction, and in due course, officially changed its name to Cheers.
3. The show was originally going to be set in a hotel, but it soon became clear that most of the action was going to happen in the bar, so producers went with setting it entirely in a bar.
4. The character Sam, the bartender, played by Ted Danson, was formerly a relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox nicknamed "Mayday Malone", but his Baseball career ended when he became an alcoholic. Ted Danson had never worked in a bar, so he spent two weeks at a bartending school in Burbank, California. He also had to bone up on sports, in which he previously had no interest.
5. The theme song is called Cheers (Where Everybody Knows Your Name) and was written by Gary Portnoy and Judy Hart Angelo. This was their third attempt at coming up with a theme song for the show. Their first two submissions were rejected.
6. Cheers ran for 11 seasons, but was almost cancelled after the first. The first episode rated 77th out of 100 shows. NBC’s entertainment president at the time, Brandon Tartikoff, persuaded them to keep going.
7. The character Frasier wasn’t intended to be a regular, but a short lived character in series 3. He was so popular, though, that he became a regular, and after Cheers ended, got a series of his own, Frasier, which also ran for 11 seasons. Kelsey Grammer wasn’t, however, the first choice for that role. It was originally written with John Lithgow in mind, but he had no interest whatsoever in being in a TV series and turned it down flat. Most of the regulars from Cheers made guest appearances in Frasier. The only one who didn’t was Kirstie Alley, because as a Scientologist, she didn’t believe in psychiatric treatment.
8. Almost every episode has someone peeling a Lemon.
9. The producers were careful to never portray anyone getting blotto and then driving home. They made sure anyone who’d had a few was shown calling a cab or calling on a sober designated driver.
10. There were frequent complaints that the Laugh track was too loud. There was never a laugh track – it was filmed before a live audience who clearly laughed too loudly for some people. To answer the complaints, the "Cheers was filmed before a live studio audience" announcement was added in 1983.

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

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