The Boys in the Bar

Plot

Tom Kenderson (Alan Autry), an old friend and baseball teammate of bartender Sam Malone (Ted Danson), announces in his forthcoming autobiography that he is homosexual. At a press conference held at the bar, Sam is shocked about Tom's revelation. Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) helps Sam to calm down, and they discuss Tom. Moments later, Sam publicly accepts and supports Tom and his sexuality, which local newspapers report on their front pages. The next day, as they read the newspaper, the bar's regular patrons—including Norm (George Wendt)—express their disdain toward homosexuals and their worries that Sam's support for his old friend will turn Cheers into a gay bar. Diane criticizes their homophobia and says that there are actually two gay men in the bar.

The regulars conclude that three male newcomers are homosexual and try to persuade Sam to escort them from the bar. Sam becomes concerned about dividing his loyalties between his regular customers and potential gay customers. Employees and regulars—pulled in by Diane—argue over the three newcomers in the billiard room. When three newcomers congratulate Sam for his support of Tom, Sam decides to not eject them and to avoid discriminating between his customers. Norm and the other regulars trick the three men into assuming that 7:00 pm is the last call for drinks at and escort them from the bar. Diane tells the regulars that the men they escorted out are not homosexual and that the two gay men are still present. The two men in question kiss Norm on his cheeks.

Production

"The Boys in the Bar" was co-written by Ken Levine and David Isaacs, and was directed by James Burrows. It was inspired by the coming out story of former Los Angeles Dodgers baseball player Glenn Burke. Levine wanted to explore homophobia in a sports bar in this episode. However, NBC deemed the story "too risky" for Cheers, whose Nielsen ratings were low during its first season in 1982–83. Nevertheless, the production of this episode went ahead for five days; rehearsals were problem-free and some minor tweaks that did not have major effects on the script were made. The cast rehearsed for the first three days of production, the camera crew rehearsed on the fourth day and a live studio audience were present on the fifth. The cast—including Ted Danson, who advised Levine not to change a word—loved this episode, and the crew found it—especially the cheek-kissing scene at the end—hilarious. However, according to Levine, the live studio audience remained silent during filming; the ending was reshot with Norm given an extra line, "better than Vera", referring to the character's wife's kissing.

Silence. Dead silence. You could hear crickets. It wasn't like some people got it and others didn't. Nobody laughed. Not a single person ... No one had an explanation.

Background actors portraying bar customers are John Furey, Michael Kearns, Kenneth Tigar, Lee Ryan, Jack Knight, and Tom Babson. Shannon Sullivan and John Bluto portray reporters at the press conference. Harry Anderson reprises his role of Harry "the Hat" Gittes in the cold open.

Broadcast

"The Boys in the Bar" aired at 9:30 pm on NBC on January 27, 1983, competing against CBS's Simon & Simon and ABC's It Takes Two, It ranked 41st out of 67 nationally-broadcast programs and garnered a Nielsen rating of 14.9. In Alaska, it aired on February 10, 1983 at 8:00 pm AKT. The episode was broadcast again on July 28, 1983 at 9:30pm against a rerun of Simon & Simon and ABC's television film Shooting Stars, and ranked 25th with a Nielsen rating of 12.8 and 23 share. It aired again on January 17, 1985 at 9:00 pm against Simon & Simon and a rerun of ABC's television film Who Will Love My Children?, and ranked 13th with a Nielsen rating of 20.4—equivalent to 17.5 million homes.

Critical reaction

Cory Barker from the website TV Surveillance disdained Norm's comments about homosexuals but called them "honest for the time and circumstances".

According to the book, What's Good on TV, Sam's concerns about losing regular, anti-homosexual bar customers if Cheers were to become a gay bar is depicted as sympathetic towards regulars and "a practical argument" instead of a "strong moral argument". Stephen Tropiano called this episode "the definite highlight of Season One" in PopMatters and, in the 2002 book The Prime Time Closet, Tropiano called it a moral lesson about judging a person based on appearances. Nevertheless, Tropiano said that the fictional baseball player Tom Kenderson is typical of gay characters who are related to a series regular, appear just once, are exploited for delivering a message about homosexuality to the audience, and are then discarded, never to be "seen, heard, or mentioned again".

The A.V. Club critics discussed this episode in 2012. Phil Nugent found this episode unfunny and intended as a message to tolerate homosexuals by making Norm and other regulars appear "ridiculous". Noel Murray said that the episode's "bifurcated structure" prevented more development for Sam's old baseball team mate, and Murray found "stereotypes" of gay men dated. Nevertheless, Murray and Donna Bowman considered it to be more about men securing their own machismo than their tolerating homosexuality. Ryan McGee found the studio audience's reactions for this episode ambiguous, especially years after this episode aired.

Accolades

This episode was nominated for the "Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series" at the 1983 Primetime Emmy Awards, but lost to "Give Me a Ring Sometime"—the pilot episode of Cheers. In 1984, it won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Screenplay - Episodic Comedy award, along with "Give Me a Ring Sometime". The Alliance for Gay and Lesbian Artists in the Entertainment Industry (AGLA) awarded this episode in 1983 for a "realistic [depiction] of homosexuals" and for Sam's support for homosexuals in the bar.