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Lucy & Cheers


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GQ has great oral history of Cheers in their latest issue, where they interviewed the entire cast and creative team.

This fascinating piece of information was included:

 

Bill Steinkellner [(writer-executive producer)]: That was the aura of Cheers: It was special. It was more than TV; you could get people to guest on the show you couldn't normally get.

 

Cheri Steinkellner[(writer-executive producer)]: Somebody would let us know they were a fan, and we'd say, "Let's put him on."

 

[Ken] Levine [(writer-producer)]: We heard the first year that Lucille Ball loved Cheers, and we all thought she should play Diane's mom. We thought that would really boost the show. Somehow, the Charles brothers and Jimmy got a meeting with her.

 

Glen Charles: That was really a treat. But she backed out.

 

Les Charles: She said everybody tuning in would expect to see Lucy, and for her to play something so completely different—even a little bit different—would be disappointing to her fans.

 

 

I wish Lucy would have taken more roles in sitcoms as a non-Lucy character. Glynis Johns ultimately played Diane's mother.

 

Here is the complete oral history:My link

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GQ has great oral history of Cheers in their latest issue, where they interviewed the entire cast and creative team.

This fascinating piece of information was included:

 

 

 

I wish Lucy would have taken more roles in sitcoms as a non-Lucy character. Glynis Johns ultimately played Diane's mother.

 

Here is the complete oral history:My link

Isn't that funny, there were two roles i looked at the actress and thought to myself Lucy would have been great as this character, one was Mary Tyler Moore's aunt Flo, and the other was Glynis Johns whom i adored, playing Diane's mom on Cheers.

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GQ has great oral history of Cheers in their latest issue, where they interviewed the entire cast and creative team.

This fascinating piece of information was included:

 

 

 

I wish Lucy would have taken more roles in sitcoms as a non-Lucy character. Glynis Johns ultimately played Diane's mother.

 

Here is the complete oral history:My link

 

Very fascinating! Thanks for sharing.

 

Les Charles: She said everybody tuning in would expect to see Lucy, and for her to play something so completely different—even a little bit different—would be disappointing to her fans.

 

This is, in all honesty, one of the most infuriating things about the later Lucy years. So many opportunities missed because she was reluctant to challenge the "fans".

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Very fascinating! Thanks for sharing.

 

 

 

This is, in all honesty, one of the most infuriating things about the later Lucy years. So many opportunities missed because she was reluctant to challenge the "fans".

I think she proved with Stone Pillow that she was NOT afraid to challenge her fans. AND a lot of those missed opportunities never got to her, they stopped at her manager husband who needed to get HIS CUT to discuss ANY project with her it seems.

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Very fascinating! Thanks for sharing.

 

 

 

This is, in all honesty, one of the most infuriating things about the later Lucy years. So many opportunities missed because she was reluctant to challenge the "fans".

Your last statement is so true. Imagine how much she couldve/would've done if she was willing to go outside the box.

 

One thing I'm really surprised she did was Stone Pillow, so out of her element and she did great.

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It wasn't HER choice, every time she gave the public a variation on the Lucy character, they never accepted her in those roles, Wildcat being a prime example, Mame being another.

 

Yes, it was her choice. IMO, she should have perservered and flexed her considerable muscle, "public" be damned, and sought out the roles that satisfied her, Stone Pillow notwithstanding. The "public" would have come around...and she probably would have picked up plenty of new "public" along the way.

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Yes, it was her choice. IMO, she should have perservered and flexed her considerable muscle, "public" be damned, and sought out the roles that satisfied her, Stone Pillow notwithstanding. The "public" would have come around...and she probably would have picked up plenty of new "public" along the way.

No, because she never succeeded when she gave her fans stuff like Catherine Curtis, and morty the goldapper was afraid to stand up to her and tell her she should try those other roles, she was very insecure and it would have been terrific had he introduced her to the top people in the industry and she could have really been BIG in the business, LOL! Look what happened the few times she did work with the best, the Danny Kaye special produced by the great Jess Oppenheimer, when she did something different was always great, Lucy in London as another example, because we were so used to her repeating the same stale storylines on her shows.

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No, because she never succeeded when she gave her fans stuff like Catherine Curtis, and morty the goldapper was afraid to stand up to her and tell her she should try those other roles, she was very insecure and it would have been terrific had he introduced her to the top people in the industry and she could have really been BIG in the business, LOL! Look what happened the few times she did work with the best, the Danny Kaye special produced by the great Jess Oppenheimer, when she did something different was always great, Lucy in London as another example, because we were so used to her repeating the same stale storylines on her shows.

Exactly, she was insecure when it went outside of that Lucy zone so she listened to those around her. Her husband to Desi to writers to her fans. I always thought it was her decision to not go into other parts. She wanted them to be pleased by her performance and her role was Lucy. But in every special, guest appearance she was the Lucy persona. Except for talks shows, quiz shows, or musical tribute, which sometimes still were pure Lucy. I think that's why it hurt her so much that LWL wasn't a success. They all wanted Lucy back and when she did it, they rejected her. So it seemed she felt as if she lost it all.

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The Cheers episode with Glynis Johns as Diane's mother was on TV tonight and I watched. I wonder if the episode was written before or after Lucy declined the offer. The character in the episode would have been a very fun role for her.

Exactly what i thought every time i saw that show. Although i LOVE Glynis and was so happy to see her get work again.

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