Editing Cheers (section)

===Death of Nicholas Colasanto===
Near the end of production of the third season, the writers of ''Cheers'' had to deal with the death of one of the main actors. [[Nicholas Colasanto]]'s heart condition had been diagnosed in the mid-1970s, but it had worsened. He had lost weight and was having trouble breathing during filming, and he was hospitalized shortly before filming finished for season three due to fluid in his lungs. He recovered but was not cleared to return to work. He was visiting the set in January 1985 to watch the filming of several episodes, and co-star [[Shelley Long]] commented, "I think we were all in denial. We were all glad he was there, but he lost a lot of weight." Co-star [[Rhea Perlman]] added that he "wanted to be there so badly. He didn't want to be sick. He couldn't breathe well. It was hard. He was laboring all the time." Colasanto ultimately died of a heart attack at his home on February 12, 1985.<ref name=showmust/>

The third-season episodes of ''Cheers'' were filmed out of order, partly to accommodate Shelley Long's pregnancy. As a result, they had  already completed filming the season finale at the time of his death, which had scenes with Colasanto in it. As the remaining episodes were filmed, Coach's absence was explained by having one of the characters mention that Coach was out of town for various reasons.

The ''Cheers'' writing staff assembled in June 1985 to discuss how to deal with the absence of Coach. They quickly discarded the idea that he had moved away, as they felt that he would never abandon his friends. In addition, most viewers were aware of Colasanto's death, so the writing staff decided to handle the situation more openly. The season four opener, "Birth, Death, Love and Rice", dealt with Coach's death and introduced [[Woody Harrelson]], Colasanto's replacement.<ref name=showmust>{{cite book|title=The Show Must Go On: How the Deaths of Lead Actors Have Affected Television Series|author=Snauffer, Douglas|year=2008|isbn=978-0-7864-3295-0|publisher=McFarland|location=Jefferson, North Carolina}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.movpod.in/gp3w6smdjos9 |title=Birth, Death, Love and Rice|publisher=Movpod.in |access-date=September 13, 2012}}{{dead link|date=November 2016}}</ref>