Before Seinfeld came around to present us with characters with questionable moralities, Cheers was the first show to have rather sketchy individuals as part of the main cast, who were brought together due to their love of a bar.
Here, an odd bunch of people had adventures for eleven years, during which they did some things that weren’t what one would term as nice. And while we grew to be fond of these characters, they definitely had a few mean actions to dole out. So, with that in mind, here are the 10 worst things the main characters did.
Diane: Ditching Sam And Never Coming Back
Diane stuck around at Cheers for five years not because she liked it there, but because she had nothing else going on in her life. This is why, when the opportunity arrived, she took off without looking back. Sitcom characters break up for silly reasons, but the problem here was that Diane was supposed to be engaged to Sam.
Even Sam knew Diane wouldn’t be coming back now that she could follow her career aspirations, but Diane denied this; we know how that worked out. After six whole years, it was Sam who called her up in the finale which led to her coming back, and even then Diane wasn’t willing to compromise to stay with Sam in Boston.
Norm: Causing Sam And Frasier To Fight
Norm and Cliff were known to take their pranks further than necessary, but they really crossed the line when Norm suggested they call the bank and report Frasier’s card as stolen, thereby making it unfit for use at Cheers.
As he was obligated to cut up a seemingly stolen card, Sam followed through, which led to a huge fight between him and Frasier. By this point, everyone could tell there was nothing funny in this prank, but Norm still didn’t come out with being the guilty party. Heck, he could’ve just admitted to the prank before the fight even started.
Cliff: Claiming That Women Aren’t Meant To Be Independent
Here’s where Cheers feels rather dated, especially considering the sensitivity with which things airing on TV are concerned. Cliff, who had a stereotypical idea of what men and women should and shouldn’t do, argued that it was the job of men to be the one to provide while women should ideally stay at home.
While Cliff was generally harmless, it was ideals like this that led to him having no respect among his peers. We don’t know if he would’ve imposed this kind of thinking if he had been the leader of the gang like Sam.
Frasier: Having Violent Intentions On Multiple Occasions
Frasier was generally the most level headed member of the group, excluding matters where his history with Diane was concerned. After being jilted by her before their wedding, Frasier brought a gun to Cheers and threatened to shoot Sam because he was the reason Diane left him.
On other occasions, Frasier was shown having thoughts of possibly killing Diane, ideas which clearly brought him satisfaction to ponder. In the last episode of Cheers, Frasier even physically hurt Diane when she reappeared, digging his hands deep into her shoulders with thoughts of revenge.
Woody: Judging Frasier’s Life In Seattle
Woody was always a very nice guy, which means we’ll have to use his appearance on Frasier as an example of something wrong he did. Here, Woody arrived in Seattle to visit Frasier, but they both found out they now hated hanging out together due to the newfound differences in their respective lifestyles.
While Frasier ended up pretending he was happy for Woody even after fifteen years of being a bartender, Woody confessed to Frasier he thought the latter’s life was sad. Woody claimed Frasier didn’t have anything of note in his life and that he felt bad for him, when he should’ve probably just done the same as Frasier and lied to spare his feelings.
Rebecca: Being Hypocritical
Rebecca judged the people at Cheers for being slackers and not having any morals, while she herself had only one ambition in life and that was to snag a very rich husband so she wouldn’t have to work another day in her life.
She started out by pretending to be a competent businesswoman, only for it to be revealed that she was living off of money sent to her by her father. In fact, Sam was nice enough to keep her around when she did absolutely nothing, but Rebecca would act as if she had all the responsibilities on her shoulders.
Eddie LeBec: Having A Second Family While Married To Carla
Since Coach was such a sweetheart who never did anything bad, we’ll be swapping him for Eddie, who was a main character for a little while when he had his relationship with Carla. As it turned out, Eddie wasn’t faithful at all and even had a secret family.
This was revealed after his death when the second Mrs. LeBec showed up. Making things worse was that Eddie was fully aware that what he did was wrong, but he could never muster up the guts to do anything about it.
Lilith: Cheating On Frasier And Defending Herself For It
Although Lilith was judged for being cold in personality, the audience never held it against her until she coldly tossed her marriage with Frasier aside like it was nothing. After years of marriage and having had a child, Lilith engaged in an affair and didn’t admit to being the one in the wrong at all.
Instead, Lilith argued that she was finding herself and had happened upon the realization that Frasier was holding her back. Even after Frasier attempted to take his life, Lilith didn’t have much sympathy for him and still left him in total despair.
Carla: Treating Cliff Like Trash
It’s hard to see a character like Carla be successful on TV today and for good reason too because she really was a very unlikable person. Worst of all, she treated Cliff in such a deplorable way that one would wonder if she should’ve been sent to prison for it.
In one particular episode, Cliff had a ravenous dog set on him and only Carla knowing how to keep the dog from attacking him. Instead of helping out, she left Cliff to be mauled and called it a day. In Frasier, over twenty years after her debut, Carla tried to outright kill Cliff when he announced he wouldn’t be leaving Boston. Every other time we saw Carla with Cliff, she insulted him to the most personal levels, where it was more cruel than funny.
Sam: Dating Multiple Women And Glorifying It
Sure, being a man who dates multiple ladies doesn’t harm anyone, but that’s not something you should do for sport and with the intention of dumping these women just so your buddies can get a laugh.
Sam was (in)famous for doing just this right till the end of the series, and was unfaithful to most of his love interests with no remorse shown after the fact either. His friends liked to live vicariously through him, and he would encourage them to challenge him to pursue more women just so he could have his fun and then promptly dump them.
