Samuel "Mayday" MaloneBjorklund e-Book, p. 141 is a fictional character and the protagonist of the American television show Cheers, portrayed by Ted Danson and created by Glen and Les Charles. Sam is a former relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox baseball team who owns and tends the bar called "Cheers". He is also a recovering alcoholic and a notorious womanizer. Although his celebrity status was short-lived, Sam retains that standing within the confines of Cheers, where he is beloved by the regular patrons. Along with Carla Tortelli and Norm Peterson, he is one of only three characters to appear in all episodes of Cheers. Sam has an on-again, off-again relationship with the bar waitress Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) for the series' first five seasons until her departure from the series. Then he tries to seduce Diane's replacement, Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley), who frequently rejects his advances. Sam also appears in "The Show Where Sam Shows Up", a crossover episode of the spin-off Frasier.
Other actors auditioned for the role. Producers decided to give Danson the role primarily for his chemistry with Shelley Long as Diane. Critical reception for the character has been mostly positive. Some academics considered Sam an example of satirizing masculinity. For his performance as Sam, Ted Danson won two respective Emmy Awards as an Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 1990 and 1993 and two Golden Globe Awards as a Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy Series.
Role At the time the series debuted in 1982, Sam has been the bartender and owner of Cheers for five years."Give Me a Ring Sometime." Cheers: Season 1: The Complete First Season on DVD. Paramount, 2003. DVD."Sam at Eleven." 1982. Cheers: Season 1: The Complete First Season on DVD. Writ. Glen Charles and Les Charles. Paramount, 2003. DVD. Chronologically within the series, Sam, who is Irish Catholic, dropped out of high school in his senior year to play professional baseball."Teacher's Pet". 1985. Cheers: Season 3: The Complete Third Season on DVD. Paramount, 2004. DVD. He has one older brother, Derek, who seems to be a polymath and is a highly successful international lawyer. Derek and Sam are not close, and Sam is also not close to his parents (who it is implied, always favored Derek).
Sam began his career in the minor leagues, where he met Coach Ernie Pantusso (Nicholas Colasanto). He eventually became a relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, wearing number 16. His major league career lasted approximately five years; he specifically mentions having pitched in 1973, and was a member of the 1975 AL champion Red Sox team. In 1977, he became the owner of Cheers. Although his baseball career is not highly detailed throughout the series, Sam was at times a good-to-very-good pitcher (stories of him retiring star batters occur during the series) and was the team's bullpen ace for a while. Sam's baseball career declined when he became an alcoholic, and there are also numerous stories of him pitching poorly and giving up tape-measure home runs. Over time, Sam's role as a bartender turns him into the "resident ringleader for an assortment of poor souls and wanna-be's".Davis, Walter T., Jr., et al. Watching What We Watch: Prime-Time Television Through the Lens of Faith. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001. Web. February 11, 2012. .
Throughout the series, Sam has had casual female partners, usually one-dimensional or sexually very available, and sometimes takes them along in his red Chevrolet Corvette. But, not all his advances are successful. Sam is often rejected or humbled or even humiliated. However, in "Sam Turns the Other Cheek" (episode 49, 1984), Sam reveals that he avoids "married, underage, and comatose" women, so he does have some ethical standards. Sam is very kind-hearted and always stands by his friends. In "Teacher's Pet" (season 3, 1985), Sam earns his high school diploma despite an overall bad grade from the high school geography teacher, with whom he had a brief affair while he was her student. The episode "Sam's Women" (episode 2, 1982) reveals that Sam was married to his somewhat more sophisticated ex-wife, Debra (Donna McKechnie). (In some syndicated prints, Sam's past marriage is omitted, although it is mentioned again in the 5th-season episode, "Young Dr. Weinstein".)
Notably, he has an on-and-off relationship with "a bright, attractive graduate student", Diane Chambers (Shelley Long).Carter, Bill. "TELEVISION; The Tonic That Keeps 'Cheers' Bubbling Along". The New York Times April 29, 1990. Web. January 4, 2012.Brooks, Tim, and Earle Marsh. The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows: 1946 – present. Paperback ed. New York: Ballantine-Random House, 2007. Google News. Web. January 31, 2012. One time after Sam and Diane ended their on-and-off relationship, in "Rebound, Part One" (episode 45, 1984), Sam relapses into alcoholism and excessively womanizes. Diane finds this out from Coach, and involves her new love interest Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) in helping Sam slowly regain his sobriety in the following episode, "Rebound, Part Two". In the three-part episode "Strange Bedfellows" (episodes 93–95, 1986), Sam dates an intelligent, attractive politician Janet Eldridge (Kate Mulgrew), who eventually ends the relationship because of Sam's visible feelings for Diane. Throughout the fifth season (1986–87), Sam cyclically proposes to Diane, but she rejects every proposal until, in "Chambers vs. Malone" (episode 108, 1987), Diane finally accepts his latest proposal. In "I Do, Adieu" (episode 121, 1987), Sam and Diane try to marry but call off the wedding to let her start a supposedly promising writing career.
In the following episode "Home Is the Sailor" (episode 122, 1987), Sam sells Cheers to the Lillian Corporation six months before the episode and later returns to the bar to work under employment of the "voluptuously beautiful" new manager, Rebecca Howe. Within this period, Sam constantly flirts with and attempts to seduce Rebecca, but she rejects all of his advances. In "Cry Harder" (episode 194, 1990), Sam is able to buy back the bar from the Lillian Corporation after Sam has saved the corporation from financial victimization by Robin Colcord (Roger Rees), Rebecca's lover. At the last minute, Sam and Rebecca embrace and make love. However, in the following episode "Love Is a Really, Really, Perfectly Okay Thing" (episode 195, 1990), Sam devastatingly tells Rebecca that he has no feelings for her.
In "The Days of Wine and Neuroses" (1990), Sam rejects Rebecca's advances one night while she is drunk over her doubts when now-impoverished Robin proposed to her. In the tenth season (1991–92), they try to conceive a child, but by then, they have decided to stay friends. In "The Guy Can't Help It" (1993), Sam plays with the idea of marrying Rebecca (as a safety net "in case no one better comes along"), but several bar patrons and even Carla tell Sam his womanizing is getting him nowhere, prompting him to join Dr. Robert Sutton's (Gilbert Lewis) group meetings for sex addicts, a referral made by Frasier.
In the series finale, "One for the Road" (1993), Sam reunites with Diane after six years of separation. They try to rekindle their relationship, but just before they fly off together to California, Sam and Diane begin to have doubts about their future together, and they re-separate. Sam returns to the bar, where his friends celebrate his return. Then, when Norm and Sam remain while everyone else leaves, Norm reassures Sam that Sam would return and never leave his one "true love"which the TV Guide implies is the Cheers bar."TV's Best Finales Ever". TV Guide, 2010. Web. 1 June 2012. Record no at NewsBank: 113001A60C3FB35B .
In a Frasier episode, "The Show Where Sam Shows Up" (1995), Sam is engaged to Sheila (Téa Leoni), a fellow sex addict whom he met during group therapy, but he breaks off the engagement after she admits that she slept with two regular Cheers customersPaul Krapence and Cliff Clavinduring their engagement. Unbeknownst to Sam, she slept with Frasier, which she does not reveal to Sam.
Skit appearances Ted Danson reprised the role of Sam Malone in pre-game segments of the 1983 Super Bowl Microfilm. and of one of the baseball games of the 1986 World Series, At NewsBank: . At official website: . Record no. 861005579. The Magical World of Disney episode "Mickey's 60th Birthday", NewsBank: . Syracuse.com: . Record no. 8811110139. and The Simpsons episode "Fear of Flying". In the Super Bowl pregame skit, Sam and his customers at the bar chide Diane for not knowing and ridiculing football. They meet Pete Axthelm, an NBC sportscaster who visits the bar.Super Bowl XVII Pregame. NBC. January 30, 1983. Television. In the pregame skit of the 1986 World Series game, Bob Costas interviews Sam at the bar. In "Mickey's 60th Birthday", Sam forgets Rebecca's birthday and begs Mickey Mouse to sing "Happy Birthday to You" as her birthday present. Rebecca chooses Mickey over Sam, who still wants to seduce her."Mickey's 60th Birthday". The Magical World of Disney. NBC. November 13, 1988. Television. In The Simpsons, Sam is dating twins while trying to marry Diane without Rebecca knowing.
Development
Conception, writing, and casting
Before the series began in September 1982, various actors considered or were considered for the role of Sam Malone. Before he was cast, Ted Danson appeared in films and television series. Danson appeared in the 1979 film The Onion Field, adapted from the nonfiction book of the same name, as Officer Ian Campbell, who was murdered by two criminals. Danson also appeared in Taxi episode, "The Unkindest Cut" (1982), as one-time character Vincenzo Senaca—"a flamboyant and decidedly effeminate hairdresser, who ruined Elaine's but got his comeuppance at the end." Cheers creators Glen and Les Charles—along with James Burrows—were executive consultants for the episode. Danson, William Devane and Fred Dryer were shortlisted for the role of Sam Malone. Ed O'Neill auditioned for the role but did not win the part. John Lithgow missed the audition because he was ill.
Originally, Sam Malone was intended "to be a former wide receiver for the American football team, New England Patriots."Meade, Peter. "We'll Cry In Our Beers As Sam, Diane Split." Spartanburg Herald-Journal TV Update [Spartanburg, NC] April 29, 1984: 14. Google News. Web. January 21, 2012. Fred Dryer was initially chosen for that role because he is a former football player, but the Charles brothers chose Danson because NBC executives noticed the chemistry between him and Shelley Long.Balk, Quentin, and Ben Falk. Television's Strangest Moments: Extraordinary but True Tales from the History of Television. London: Robson–Chrysalis, 2005. 166. Google Books. Web. February 10, 2012. The character then evolved into a former relief pitcher for the baseball team Boston Red Sox. To prepare for the role, Danson attended a bartending school in Burbank, California.
Fred Dryer later appeared as Dave Richards, one of Sam Malone's friends and a sports commentator, in Cheers. Danson said:
Sam is "athletically handsome" and a womanizer who casually dates and has sex with various women "who want to have fun".Craig, Steve. p. 15Piccalo, Gina. "Ted Danson is hip again." Los Angeles Times October 18, 2009. Web. January 4, 2012.Hecht, 235. Google Books. Web. February 11, 2012 . However, his relationships invariably fail.Blake, Marc. How Not to Write a Sitcom: 100 Mistakes to Avoid If You Ever Want to Get Produced. London: A & C Black, 2011. Google Books. Web. January 31, 2011. Les Charles said that Sam was a "straight man" to Diane; after Shelley Long's departure, he became more "carefree" and a "goof-off."