How An 'Act Of Desperation' Led To Cheers' Very First Emmy
For 11 seasons, "Cheers" (1982-1993) was, as NBC put it back then, "must-see TV." For five of those seasons, we watched Sam Malone (Ted Danson) and Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) and their on-again-off-again relationship in a Boston bar. When Long left for a movie career, Kirstie Alley was hired as the female lead, Rebecca Howe. She was a business woman who was brought in to manage the bar after a corporation buys it, and Sam, lothario that he was, hits on her constantly.
As the show went on, Rebecca went from a put-together woman with a penchant for rich men to a neurotic and decidedly annoying woman. (I watched it as it happened and I just couldn't stand her character.) She was funny, sure, and they definitely leaned into her falling apart, but it was ... a lot. It also led the show to its very first Emmy Award in 1989. It was an "act of desperation" that netted them the win for the series (though the actors on the show had won awards before this), according to a 2018 feature in The Hollywood Reporter to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the series. That desperation led to a very odd storyline that clearly resonated with Emmy voters.
The scene plays a little differently in 2023
I say "odd" because I remember watching it live and being kind of shocked by what was happening in a TV comedy. In the article, executive producer Cheri Steinkellner said this particular episode had to be rewritten a bunch of times, and they just weren't cracking it. Then something clicked. Steinkellner said:
"There was an episode that revolved around Rebecca's sister and we just couldn't get it right. On our fourth all-night rewrite, at around 3 a.m., Billy gave up and said, 'Let's just have Rebecca shoot her damn sister!' And we all went 'Heeey,' and that was the rewrite. That act of desperation won us our first Emmy."
In the episode, Rebecca's sister Susan (Marcia Cross) shows up. She's a beauty queen and Rebecca doesn't get along with her because Susan always stole her boyfriends. Sam manages to secure a date with Susan, and Rebecca jealously says she'll date him instead, despite the fact that she's not really that into Sam.
Susan gets to the bar first and kisses Sam in his office. Rebecca shows up and finds them, takes a gun ... yes, you read that correctly ... and shoots her sister over and over again. She then asks Sam to help her drag the body out of the room to hide it, saying that everyone has done something crazy in their lives while he freaks out. Of course, it was all a joke and the rest of the main characters are waiting for the reveal that Susan was fine and that they did this on purpose.
It's funny in hindsight, I guess, but I was really young when I watched and it freaked me out. Hey, they got an Emmy out of it, so there's that.