The Two Rules That Prevented Bill Cosby From Getting Cast In Cheers
When NBC premiered "The Cosby Show" on September 20, 1984, the network effectively claimed ownership of Thursday night primetime television for several decades. This was the unofficial beginning of Must-See TV (the moniker wouldn't be coined until 1993), and the series' ratings prominence throughout the mid- to late-'80s anchored NBC's lineup, allowing them to switch out sitcoms in the 8:30 and 9:30 slots as needed (the 10 p.m. hour-long drama spot was owned by "Hill Street Blues" and, starting in 1986, "L.A. Law").
The other Thursday half-hour slot deemed untouchable by the network was the 9 p.m. post dominated by "Cheers." Created by James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles, the show built around a neighborhood Boston bar where everybody knows your name bounced around during its first two seasons before permanently bellying up to 9 p.m. for the rest of its 11-season run. It was the lightly ribald counterpart to the family-friendly antics of "The Cosby Show," and it never had a bad season.
These two series changed television history forever, but there's an alternate timeline where only one of them exists.
Bill Cosby as Sam Malone?
The creators of "Cheers" spoke to The Hollywood Reporter for the series' 25th anniversary in 2018, and revealed that the star of NBC's top-rated show for most of the 1980s was almost their lead bartender. According to Les Charles:
"In the early stages, Bill Cosby had a deal at NBC and was unattached to a project. So, he was offered to us as the bartender. But we had two rules. No known names and no [character's] name as the title of the show."
Thank god for those rules, but what if NBC had made a series order contingent on Cosby's involvement? The comedian was one of the most popular stand-ups in America, but his film career had stalled after the box-office disappointment of "The Devil and Max Devlin." As for television, he was a fixture of Saturday morning television via "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids," and popped up on Nickelodeon's "Pinwheel" with his "Picture Pages" segment, but primetime success had eluded him since the cancellation of "I Spy" in 1968.
People loved Cosby, so it was just a matter of finding the right project to exploit his affable persona. But Sam Malone? A retired baseball player and recovering alcoholic who caddishly pursues one of his barmaids? He was wrong for the role then in terms of acting type, but years later, we'd discover that he would've been disastrous casting for truly heinous reasons.
Bill Cosby belongs behind bars, not a bar
Beginning in 2014, a multitude of women stepped forward to accuse Bill Cosby of sexual assault. By the time Cosby was brought to trial in 2017, his accusers numbered over 60. He was convicted in 2018 and sentenced to 10 years in prison, but was released after three years when his conviction was overturned due to an appalling technicality that had nothing to do with the merits of the allegations. Let there be no doubt: Cosby was not cleared.
In light of this, the "what if" game we're playing here seems awfully insensitive. But given that one of Cosby's preferred methods of seduction was drugging women's drinks with "spanish fly" (something he joked about in his act as far back as 1969), casting him as a bartender would've been an abomination. In the wake of his conviction, this would've meant the complete syndication death of "Cheers."
"The Cosby Show" is still offered by Amazon Prime Video and Philo, but TV One is the only cable channel to still run syndicated reruns of the series. I loved the show when it aired, and I used to consider him one of the greatest comedians to ever brandish a microphone. Now that we know his self-appointed role as "America's Dad" was a miserable lie, I'm finished with the man. That he didn't taint one of the greatest sitcoms of all time is frigid comfort.