Woody Harrelson on Landing the Role of Woody Boyd on 'Cheers'

By Billy Ingram

In this interview with Howard Stern, Woody Harrelson remembers how he got the career changing role of Woody on the hit sitcom Cheers (1982-1993) that had been running for three years on NBC before he joined the cast.

The actor who played the beloved but befuddled Coach, Nicholas Colasanto, had passed away in 1985 so the show needed another dimwitted character, for which Harrelson's Woody fit perfectly.

Debuting on September 30, 1982, although critically acclaimed, Cheers was very nearly canceled during its first season when it ranked almost dead last in the ratings (74 out 0f 77 shows). Cheers writer Ken Levine has surmised that, with the network floundering in 1983, "[NBC] had nothing else better to replace it with."

NBC gambled and gave the series what became a prime timeslot, leading to top ten ratings when Harrelson came on board. The actor hadn't even considered television, he was slated to return to New York to star in Neil Simon's Broadway hit Biloxi Blues. A chance audition changed his plans.

"I was in LA finishing that movie [Wildcats]", Harrelson explains. "The opportunity came up to audition for this television show where there's a character called Woody who is from Indiana where I had just gone to college."

An actor friend had auditioned for the part and suggested Harrelson do the same. "I was like, dude, I'm going back to do Broadway because the guys I had been understudying had been fired so I was gonna go do my dream which was Broadway... I wasn't thinking to do television."

Harrelson had never seen Cheers, "I watched one or two episodes and I was like, 'Yes, this is a great show.'" He describes the experience as, "The best. All those guys are so fun."

Cheers earned 28 Primetime Emmy Awards from a record of 117 nominations, ranked No. 18 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time, while GQ magazine's 2013 reader poll ranked Cheers as the best TV comedy show of all time.

Esquire magazine said in 2018, "For all its highs and lows, Cheers represents a pinnacle of American pop culture, culminating in a record-breaking finale that caught the attention of millions of viewers. Twenty-five years after its final episode, Cheers remains one of the great American sitcoms."

Woody Harrelson Reflects on 'Cheers' 35 Years After Its Debut:

THE EIGHTIES: EARLY EIGHTIES NETWORK PROMOS / TV 1986 / WOODY HARRELSON AS WOODY ON CHEERS / FALCON'S GOLD: CABLE TV'S FIRST MOVIE / BILL & TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURES SITCOM / CREATORS & CAST OF IT'S A LIVING THAT HAVE PASSED AWAY / MOST UNEXPECTED MOMENT IN TV HISTORY / NORMAN LLOYD TRIBUTE / ORSON WELLES INTERVIEWS ANDY KAUFMAN / EARLY MTV STARS MISSING PERSONS / FALCON CREST / PEE-WEE HERMAN / THE TWO OF US / MURDER SHE WROTE / 1981 CHARLES GRODIN INTERVIEW / THERE ARE FUNNY EPISODES OF MAMA'S FAMILY - HONEST! / HANGING WITH SEAN PENN 1986 / 1985 GEORGE CLOONEY INTERVIEW! / IT'S A LIVING / EDDIE MURPHY AS JAMES BOND? IT ALMOST HAPPENED! / AUNT BEE'S DYING WORDS TO ANDY GRIFFITH / THE GOLDEN PALACE / MARRIED WITH CHILDREN'S ED O'NEILL & AMANDA BEARSE'S LONGTIME FEUD / PAUL McCARTNEY vs MICHAEL JACKSON / HOW NBC GOT ITS GROOVE BACK / 1980's WCW WRESTLING / ALAN ALDA DISCUSSES THE M*A*S*H FINALE / I WAS ALMOST CUJO IN THE STEPHEN KING MOVIE / 1986-87 TV SEASON / 1988-89 TV SEASON / 1990-91 TV SEASON / 1991-92 TV SEASON / WHY SHELLEY LONG LEFT CHEERS? / JASON ALEXANDER BEFORE SEINFELD / PEOPLE vs JEAN HARRIS / TROUBLED 1980-81 TV SEASON / "KISS MY GRITS" FLO HAD HER OWN SHOW? / CULLY HOLLAND / ONE SEASON WONDERS... THAT GOT RENEWED! / DWIGHT SCHULTZ ON WORKING WITH GEORGE PEPPARD / DEMPSEY & MAKEPEACE / THE BAXTERS / G.L.O.W. / FRIDAYS / GREATEST AMERICAN HERO / Great 1983 Carson Tonight Show / EARLY '80s TV COMMERCIALS / LOST MOVIE POSTERS /RICH HALL / FILTHY RICH / 1980's TV WRESTLING STARS / TV DADS / FOX'S JOAN RIVERS / CHEVY CHASE DEBACLES

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