The Recurring Cheers Moment That Kept The Writers On Their Toes

"Cheers" is, by several measures, one of the most successful shows in the history of television. It ran for 11 seasons and 275 episodes — a number that is downright unthinkable in the modern age. It also remains beloved to this day, which is not something that can be said of many shows from that same era. So much of it can be boiled down to the lovable characters, and few were more lovable than Norm.

Played by George Wendt, Norm appeared on nearly every episode of the show and was always greeted with a warm welcome. Not just from the audience, but from the other patrons at the bar as well who would, in a running gag, yell "Norm!" in celebration every time he would enter, followed by a joke. It turns out that implementing this running gag all of the time ended up giving the writers a bit of a headache because it went on for a very long time, and the bar kept getting raised.

"The trick to writing a good Norm entrance was making a clean joke that didn't come out of the situation," writer/producer David Isaacs explained to The Hollywood Reporter in a 2018 retrospective about crafting these so-called Normisms. "You have a blind set-up and write a good Norm response to that. That was always a challenge." Writer/producer Peter Casey further explained why it became increasingly hard to pull off:

"They became more difficult because the bar kept getting set higher and higher."

Writer Cheri Steinkellner shared one of the writers' favorites from the series recounting: "One of my favorites of ours was, 'How's the world treating you?' and Norm says, 'Like a baby treats a diaper.' I was pregnant at the time with our second child." A perfect Normism.

Making a good episode of TV is no small feat — particularly in the age of network TV schedules when shows had 20 or more episodes per season. And these Norm gags were just one small piece of the puzzle every week. It's particularly interesting given that Norm wasn't originally intended to be a series regular character. But once he was there, and once these gags were in place, the writers had to craft these jokes week in, week out. Writer/producer Rob Long shared a plot device they wanted to use at one point, only to realize it would result in Norm entering the bar a handful of times in the same episode.

"Ken and Dave wrote a B-story once where Norm's furious with the city for installing a parking meter in front of the bar where he used to park for free. They discovered as they were writing that Norm had to leave and come back four or five times."

"And it was our idea. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot," writer/producer Ken Levine added regarding that particular gag. Eventually, living up to the task of pulling off these Norm gags caught up with the team. "If you look at later scripts, it would say, 'Woody's behind the bar and Norm's there,'" writer Rob Long explained. "He's already come in. You missed it."

"Cheers" is currently streaming on Hulu and Paramount+.