Ted Danson initially thought being paired with Shelley Long on “Cheers” was 'a bad, bad idea'

The actor played Sam Malone on 11 seasons of the sitcom.

Ted Danson is toasting his Cheers costar Shelley Long, more than 37 years after she departed the cast of the Emmy-winning sitcom.

He played barkeep Sam Malone, a womanizer and former major league baseball player, to her higher-brow, educated Diane Chambers, with whom he had a love-hate relationship.

"It was great," Danson said of working with Long on the Sept. 9 episode of the podcast SmartLess. "I am always always the worst. My first reaction to Shelley while we were auditioning was, 'Oh, no. No. That's a bad, bad idea."

Related: Cheers stars recall time they ditched work to get high on 'extraordinary amount of mushrooms'

"I just, I don't know," Danson went on to explain. "We were so, we're so different. Our styles, our approach, our everything is really different, which is why I think it worked, because it was. like, this fair fight."

Danson and Long's characters famously had an on-again, off-again romance, until her character left the show to marry someone else at the end of the fifth season. In real life, Long left the hit series in 1987 to focus on films and family life.

Danson recounted he and Long's relationship in real life, too.

"It was hard for us sometimes to be in a room together, but when we started working, it was, it was just fantastic," he said. "Because you'd smack her, and she'd smack you back harder. She was brilliant."

Related: Ted Danson says Cheers cast kept trying to kick Woody Harrelson's ass

He also credited Long with landing the role for which he won Emmys in 1990 and 1993.

"I think I got Cheers because of Shelley Long, because she just, she really nailed that part," he said. "And we got teamed up together when we auditioned."

Danson remained on the NBC series for all of its 11 seasons. After Long left Cheers, she was replaced by Kirstie Alley, who died in December 2022. The show continued to be a success, but it was unclear at the time if audiences would take to Alley's character, Rebecca Howe.

Related: Cheers stars Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson to reunite to share tales from sitcom, interview celebs

Danson acknowledged in June 2023 that he had been one of the doubters.

"I certainly was worried," Danson said on Today. "'Oh, I just lost my dance partner, Shelley. So will this even work?'"

He went on to praise Alley as having been "the funniest person."

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