{"id":4258,"date":"2013-02-06T12:48:55","date_gmt":"2013-02-06T17:48:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/?p=4258"},"modified":"2021-10-06T06:10:07","modified_gmt":"2021-10-06T10:10:07","slug":"did-jay-thomas-get-fired-from-cheers-because-of-insulting-his-co-star-rhea-perlman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2013\/02\/06\/did-jay-thomas-get-fired-from-cheers-because-of-insulting-his-co-star-rhea-perlman\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Jay Thomas Get Fired From Cheers Because He Insulted His Co-Star Rhea Perlman?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about TV and whether they are true or false. Click here<\/a> to view an archive of the TV urban legends featured so far.<\/p>\n

TV URBAN LEGEND<\/span><\/u>: Jay Thomas’s character on Cheers was killed off because he called Rhea Perlman ugly.<\/p>\n

While obviously one of the most amazing things that can happen to an actor working in television is to be part of a show that turns out to be a major hit (look at the ways that, say, the cast of Friends<\/i> went from an assortment of mostly no-names and “Hey, that’s the girl from the Bruce Springsteeen video!” to global superstars), there is something that is almost more<\/b> amazing, which is to join one of these shows after<\/b> it has become a hit and become accepted as part of the show’s DNA. It is very difficult to work your way into a hit TV show after it has become a hit. All the leads from Friends<\/i> in its final season were the same as in their first season. Same with Seinfeld<\/i>. A very notable exception to this rule was Cheers<\/i>. The show, about a bar in Boston, lost one of its main characters after the third season when Nicholas Colasanto (who played the beloved old bartender “Coach”) passed away. He was replaced by a young hayseed bartender named Woody Boys, played by Woody Harrelson (amazingly enough, the character was named Woody before<\/b> they cast Harrelson!), who improbably became even more<\/b> popular than Coach! Even before Coach’s departure, the show had introduced a wrench into the show’s main romantic relationship between bar owner Sam Malone and uptight bar waitress Diane Chambers. Originally intended for just a short story arc as Diane’s new boyfriend, Kelsey Grammer’s Frasier Crane ended up sticking with the show for the rest of its run (plus eleven more seasons in his own spin-off series). Later, Bebe Neuwirth joined the cast as Frasier’s wife, Lilith. Finally, and most importantly, Kirstie Alley successfully replaced the female lead, Shelley Long (who played Diane) after season five. The show actually aired longer without<\/b> its first female lead than it did with her, a remarkable achievement for any television show. So Cheers<\/i> had clearly established itself as a series where notable characters could be added to the ensemble. That is exactly what it looked like what was going to happen with Jay Thomas’ character, Eddie LeBec, who joined the show in Season 5 as the boyfriend to Rhea Perlman’s character, the perpetually pregnant bar waitress Carla. In Season 6, they got married and it seemed like Thomas would be sticking around. <\/p>\n

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