Cheers Guest Star
Is it true Kirstie Alley was the only member of cheers not to appear on this show? I had heard it was because she's Scientologist and Frasier was a psychiatrist. That doesn't make sense to me because it was only a character.
shareNever heard that, but you're right, it makes no sense.
She was on Cheers regularly, and Frasier was the same psychiatrist on it, too.
Was she a Scientologist when Cheers was on? If not, maybe that wasn't an issue.
Or if she was, maybe she thought that Frasier being the central character to the show made a difference? He was a psychiatrist in Cheers, but was more of a side-character.
Who knows?
But with respect to Kirstie Alley, I don't think she was missed a great deal. We had an episode of Frasier where Sam made an appearance, one with Woody, a Diane episode, an episode where he met Cliff, Norm and Carla again. (Amongst others.) And obviously Lilith was often in it, because of Frederick. The Cheers cast was well represented.
It would've been nice to see Rebecca turn up in an episode, but it didn't hurt the show any. Frasier wasn't really about being Cheers 2. It was Frasier's story, with occasional cameos from old regulars.
Could be she wasn't a Scientologist when Cheers was on, and was by the time Frazier was airing.
It's not a big deal that she wasn't on the show, but as you said, it was fun when the characters from Cheers showed up.
Diane was the reason Frasier appeared on Cheers, so it makes sense for her to guest-star
Sam was Cheers's central character, so he makes sense too
Woody I took to be an inside joke of sorts - the simplest Cheers character was now the biggest film star of them all
And Norm, Cliff and Carla are sort of a "bunch," so they belong together as part of Frasier's old gang
Rebecca just never struck me as having any real connection to Frasier himself, is all.
That said, I'm sure the producers considered it; maybe she wasn't available. Or just didn't want to
IIRC she was asked, and didn't want to.
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