does anyone know why she left cheers?
-
octomancer — 15 years ago(March 06, 2011 07:42 AM)
+1 for Night Shift. Her character in that is not at all uptight and she played it well, against type. Without thinking about it too deeply, Night Shift has to be my favourite film of hers. I haven't seen it for 20 years and I can still remember my jaw hitting the floor when she stood on the kitchen stool in her knickers. She always had great pins!
Octo -
-
HowYaLikeDem
1ebc
ApplesWill — 14 years ago(December 29, 2011 10:58 AM)SURELY you jest?
Clint Eastwood
George Clooney
Robert Redford
Tom Hanks
Jennifer Aniston
Billy Crystal
Michael J Fox
Woody Harrelson
Lisa Kudrow
Sarah Jessica Parker
Danny DeVito
Christopher Lloyd
John Travolta
Jamie Foxx
Will Smith
Robin Williams
Steve Carell
Jack Black
Mike Myers
Will Farrell
Adam Sandler
Jim Carrey
Tim Allen
Leonardo DiCaprio
And on and on and on.. -
gallison8 — 18 years ago(June 24, 2007 09:47 AM)
She left a plum role in a highly successful series for the same reasons that many actors in the same position doTHE MOVIES. Only a handful of actors made the successful transition from TV series to Movie Star. Fewer still were successful in both. Clint Eastwood went from TV cowboy in Rawhide to Hollywood Royalty. Don Knotts was already a TV icon (Barney Fife) when he went on to star in a series of highly successful G rated movies. Jennifer Aniston seems to be more popular at the supermarket checkout than in the movie box office. It's all about ambition. Some make it. Most don't.
-
pmiano100 — 18 years ago(March 31, 2008 07:00 PM)
James Garner, Roger Moore, Steve McQueen, Burt Reynolds, Lucille Ball, Sally Field, and Denzel Washington are among the few to have equal success in both. However, your point is well taken. Most actors and actresses don't make the transition, or at least have much less success in films. Eventually, most go back to TV.
-
TAHolcomb — 18 years ago(October 21, 2007 09:51 PM)
If I remember right from an extra on one of the Cheers box sets, She did leave because of being an outsider with the cast. If I am recalling correctly what made her decision final was the death of Nicholas Colasanto [coach]. He was the only one who seemed to take the time to make her feel welcome. She wanted to leave after he died, but her contract was for five years. That is why she left at the end of the fifth season instead of the third. Now, of course, I could be recalling wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's what they said.
I did prefer the Diane years over the Rebecca ones, but the entire show is good. If it's true the one thing i find disappointing about her is that her true character is similar to that of her character of Diane. Has anyone else heard this? As much as i liked the interaction of Diane with the other characters, I could never stand being around a person like that for long.
Finally, has anyone heard about how she is doing? I remember she had a nervous breakdown or something a while back? Has anyone heard if she is doing better? -
Haverchuck_Is_King — 18 years ago(November 07, 2007 12:03 AM)
I love Cheers, but to be honest, they really weren't doing much with her character. In fact, the whole Sam and Diane thing was repetitive. How many times did they get together, then break up? By leaving the show, she gave them an opportunity to go in a new direction, and probably prolonged the series another couple of years.
-
ChocolatePoo_of_Doom — 18 years ago(January 23, 2008 01:05 AM)
as previous posted, she had no chemistry with the other actors.
I saw the TRUE Hollywood story: Cheers and they said they didn't get along, which is why they brought Kirstey Alley in
The piano keys are black and white but they sound like a million colors in your mind -
TrentinaNE — 18 years ago(January 26, 2008 05:49 AM)
She may not have had "chemistry" with the other actors in the sense of getting along with them as friends, but the character she created had tremendous chemistry with all the other characters. And in the early years of the show, before the writers made Diane increasingly arch and annoying, Long was phenomenal at slipping naturally and affectingly between comedy and pathos. A particular scene that comes to mind is in S1's "Let Me Count the Ways," in which Diane's family cat had died and no one in the bar understood her emotional reaction. It's a scene at the end, in Sam's office, where Sam has started to be more emotionally supportive, hugs Diane, and then tries to capitalize on the moment sexually. A fight ensues, they yell at each other, and as Diane is about to storm out, Sam calls her back and virtually shouts: "Diane, I'm sorry about your cat." She makes the transition from stormy anger to grateful tears in an astonishingly smooth, believable and nuanced way. Damn, she was good.
George Wendt acknowledges this in the S1 DVD extras I believe he said that no other woman in TV at the time had the comedic acting abilities of Shelley Long. -
hodie — 16 years ago(January 02, 2010 10:56 AM)
I remember back when she left and there were all sorts of stories about her and the rest of the cast not getting along.
Too bad. Her Diane never got old for me. One of my favorite Cheers episodes was when Diane sent in an audition tape for Boston Ballet.
They were a great ensemble on Cheers, but they lost something when Diane left.
Honour thy parents. They were hip to the groove too once you know.