Editing Cheers (section)

===Subsequent main characters===
[[File:Cheers cast 1991.jpg|Cast of ''Cheers'' since season six.{{efn|Only Kirstie Alley was introduced in season six, while the rest of the cast appeared in prior seasons.}} (left to right): (top) [[Rhea Perlman|Perlman]], [[Woody Harrelson]], [[Kelsey Grammer]], [[Bebe Neuwirth]]; (bottom) [[George Wendt|Wendt]], [[Kirstie Alley]], [[Ted Danson|Danson]], [[John Ratzenberger|Ratzenberger]] |thumb|upright=1.36|alt=Background is bar setting. Top row has a waitress, a young handsome bartender, and married opposite-sex psychiatrists. Bottom row has a suit-dressed man, a blonde, a middle-aged handsome bartender, and a mailman.]]
* [[John Ratzenberger]] as [[Cliff Clavin]]: <br />A know-it-all bar regular and [[postal worker|mail carrier]]. He lives with his mother [[Esther Clavin]] ([[Frances Sternhagen]]) in first the family house and later his own apartment. In the bar, Cliff continuously spouts nonsensical and annoying trivia, making him an object of derision for the bar patrons (especially Carla). Ratzenberger auditioned for the role of a minor character George, but it went to Wendt, evolving the role into Norm Peterson.<ref name="wendt113-114">Wendt 2009, pp.&nbsp;113–114.</ref> The producers decided they wanted a resident bar know-it-all,<ref name="wendt113-114" /> so the US Postal Worker Cliff Clavin was added for the pilot, as a recurring character for the first season before becoming a main character starting with the second. Originally written as a security guard, the producers changed his occupation into a mail carrier as they thought such a man would have a wider array of knowledge.<ref>{{cite news |author=Buck, Jerry |date=June 28, 1985 |title=''Cheers'' mailman describes 10 years in Britain |at=TV Times |newspaper=[[The Leader-Post]] |location=Canada |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BH9WAAAAIBAJ&dq=cheers%20cliff%20norm%20john%20wendt%20auditioned&pg=3002%2C3299013 |access-date=May 5, 2012 |archive-date=December 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211223004645/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BH9WAAAAIBAJ&dq=cheers%20cliff%20norm%20john%20wendt%20auditioned&pg=3002,3299013 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Kelsey Grammer]] as [[Frasier Crane]]: <br />A psychiatrist and bar regular, a recurring character for seasons 3 and 4 who joins the main cast by season 5. Frasier started out as Diane Chambers' love interest in the third season (1984–85). In the fourth season (1985–86), after Diane jilts him at the altar in Europe, Frasier starts to frequent Cheers and becomes a regular. He later marries [[Lilith Sternin]] and has a son, Frederick. After the series ends, the character becomes the focus of the spin-off ''[[Frasier]]'', in which he is divorced from Lilith and living in [[Seattle]].
* [[Woody Harrelson]] as [[Woody Boyd]]: <br />A not-so-bright<ref name="honey264" /> bartender, first appearing in season 4. He arrives from his Midwest hometown of [[Hanover, Indiana]] to Boston, to see Coach, his "[[pen pal]]" (as referring to exchanging "pens", not letters). When Sam tells Woody that Coach died, Sam hires Woody in Coach's place. Later, he marries his girlfriend Kelly Gaines ([[Jackie Swanson]]), also not-so-bright but raised in a rich family. In the final season, he runs for city council and, surprisingly, wins.
* [[Bebe Neuwirth]] as [[Lilith Sternin]]: <br />A psychiatrist and bar regular, a recurring character until joining the main cast in season 10. She is often teased by bar patrons about her uptight personality and appearance. In "Second Time Around" (1986), her first and only episode of the fourth season, her date with Frasier does not go well because they constantly argue. In the fifth season, with help from Diane, Lilith and Frasier begin a relationship. Eventually, they marry and have a son, Frederick. In the eleventh and final season, she commits adultery and leaves Frasier to live with another man in an experimental underground environment called the "Eco-pod". She breaks it off, returns later in the season and reconciles with Frasier. However, in the spin-off ''Frasier'', the couple has divorced, with Lilith maintaining custody of Frederick. In season 11 of ''Cheers'', Bebe Neuwirth is given "starring" credit only when she appears.
* [[Kirstie Alley]] as [[Rebecca Howe]]: <br />First appearing in season 6, she starts out as a strong independent woman, manager of the bar for the corporation that buys Cheers from Sam after his on-off relationship with Diane ends. When Sam regains ownership, she begs him to let her remain, first as a cocktail waitress and later as a manager. She has repeated romantic failures with mainly rich men and becomes more and more "neurotic, insecure, and sexually frustrated".<ref name="neurotic">{{cite web|date=July 8, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130121110517/http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-favorite-kirstie-alley-scene.html|author=Levine, Ken|url=http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-favorite-kirstie-alley-scene.html|author-link=Ken Levine (TV personality)|archive-date=January 21, 2013|url-status=live|access-date=July 21, 2012|work=... by Ken Levine on [[Blogspot]]|title=My favorite Kirstie Alley scene}}</ref> At the start, Sam frequently attempts to seduce Rebecca without success.<ref name="craig">{{cite journal|volume=2 |author=Craig, Steve |page=15 |access-date=July 31, 2012 |year=1993 |title=Selling Masculinities, Selling Femininities: Multiple Genders and the Economics of Television |url=http://www.rtvf.unt.edu/html/craig/pdfs/gender.PDF |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070625104942/http://www.rtvf.unt.edu/html/craig/pdfs/gender.PDF |archive-date=June 25, 2007 |journal=The Mid-Atlantic Almanack |url-status=dead }}</ref> As her personality changes,<ref name="neurotic" /> he loses interest in her. In the series finale, after failed relationships with rich men, Rebecca marries a plumber and quits working for the bar. In the ''Frasier'' episode "[[The Show Where Sam Shows Up]]", she is revealed to be divorced and back at the bar. When Frasier asks whether this means that she is working there again, Sam says, "No, she's just back at the bar."