That time we saw the fourth wall of the "Cheers" set.

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by AKA, Jun 5, 2017.

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  1. OldSoul

    OldSoul Don't you hear the wind blowin'?

    Location:
    NYC
    Hmm...I don't remember that. It had a sort of hexagonal shape of which you only saw 5 sides. The only time I think they maybe showed the 6th wall was an episode where Martin bought a big screen TV.
     
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  2. OldSoul

    OldSoul Don't you hear the wind blowin'?

    Location:
    NYC
    The New Neighbors episode of I Love Lucy played around with showing the apartment from odd angles. There's the appearance of the fourth wall from both the inside and out, then a shot from behind the couch.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
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  3. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    For those who might be interested in what Frasier's apartment looked like, here's the floor plan.

    Click on the pic to get a full-sized view.

    [​IMG]
     
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  4. OldSoul

    OldSoul Don't you hear the wind blowin'?

    Location:
    NYC
    The main reason I dream of living in a condo one day, and not a house. :love:
     
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  5. pdenny

    pdenny 22-Year SHTV Participation Trophy Recipient

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  6. Solace Quixotic

    Solace Quixotic New Member

    Location:
    Wichita, KS
    The fourth wall is depicted much earlier in the series - season 1 in fact, episode 7 (Friends, Romans, and Accountants).

    It could be an illusion, but the two wide shots in that episode seem to reveal an area that looks much larger than the later episode.

    The first wide shot - from the front entrance - is a bit subtle in this regard:
    [​IMG]

    But then look at this one later in the episode, from the point of view of the raised piano platform:
    [​IMG]
    Here the room seems quite a bit larger than the cozy depiction in the Screaming Viking episode, where it looks like there's barely enough room to walk around the bar.

    Upon closer inspection, I notice two oddities in that bottom scene. The first is the TV; it seems way too large in relation to the size of the people under it, almost as if it were one of those old huge 32" console TVs. Much larger than other shots of that TV in this and other episodes. The second though is - look at the posters on the far wall. The same two posters that appear to be on the far wall in the first screenshot. But they're depicting different walls. Unless there's some weird diagonal wall illusion happening there.

    Any guess as to how (or if) this apparent discrepancy in the floor plan can be reconciled? Perhaps the layout of the "unseen" areas of the bar weren't yet nailed down back in the first season..
     
  7. OldSoul

    OldSoul Don't you hear the wind blowin'?

    Location:
    NYC
    I don't know, the back wall still seems pretty closed in, to me. I think the angle is fooling you.
     
  8. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    Or the camera lens chosen for this shot.
     
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  9. MikaelaArsenault

    MikaelaArsenault Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire
    Where's the piano?
     
  10. OldSoul

    OldSoul Don't you hear the wind blowin'?

    Location:
    NYC
    Upstage from the office.
     
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  11. MikaelaArsenault

    MikaelaArsenault Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire
    Thank you.
     
  12. Solace Quixotic

    Solace Quixotic New Member

    Location:
    Wichita, KS
    I suppose that's possible. Still, doesn't quite explain the same posters seeming to appear on two different walls; due to change in perspective between the two shots (almost opposite ends of the bar), you'd expect to see a rather significant difference in angle on the top and bottom edges of the photos in at least one of those shots, rather than very close to horizontal in both.

    Unless of course we're to believe a separate copy of both posters are hanging from both walls; but that would seem to be a decorating faux pas :winkgrin:
     
  13. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    From Ken Levine's blog ; By Ken Levine: The CHEERS set

    "The set was huge. If we wanted to pack the bar we needed 500 people. For our routine customers we used 30-40 extras. Anything else and the bar looked empty."

    So the bar is probably a lot bigger than it looked like on TV.
     
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  14. Solace Quixotic

    Solace Quixotic New Member

    Location:
    Wichita, KS
    Yeah I had read that awhile back. It'd be neat to see an accurate floor plan of the set; I've yet to see one online that looks right from all the shot angles.

    For a quick laugh here's the grossly simplified/distorted depiction from the "official" board game:
    [​IMG]
     
  15. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    Here's a crazy story told by Sarah Silverman on Norm MacDonald's podcast.

    Bill Wiley, who is a character actor, was about to be hired as Coach for Cheers but turned it down. Why? Because Cheers was merely a pilot whereas he already had a concrete job lined up... playing the villain in Porky's II.

    Now, things get interesting when she reminds us that the only reason we know Woody Harrelson is because Nicholas Colasanto who played Coach died and was replaced. And since Bill Wiley is still alive, Woody would never have been the 2nd bartender.

    Bill Wiley does appear in an episode of Cheers playing the tipsy tour guide who stops by Cheers and proclaims it as being a historical landmark during his tour for the sole purpose of having a drink. The episode is titled "Coach Returns To Action," the 9th episode of the 1st season.

    And ironically, he did play a part in an episode of the sitcom called Coach. :D
     
  16. AKA

    AKA Senior Member Thread Starter

    That's hilarious! I've been a Cheers nut for 30 years, but I had no idea this existed. This looks like it was designed by someone who only watched one episode and drew the floor plan from memory.
     
  17. Chip TRG

    Chip TRG Senior Member

    Funny that this popped up, because I saw this clip for the very first time only two days ago. Want some OTHER alternate angles to the Cheers set? Watch:

     
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  18. Squealy

    Squealy Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Vancouver
    As I was watching Woody in the latest Planet of the Apes movie I thought, would anyone watching him on Cheers in the 80s ever have predicted this guy would have the career he's had? He's never been at the top of the heap, but he's carried on being a movie star and playing all kinds of comedic and dramatic roles, in successful and/or critically acclaimed movies, for 25 years. He may have the perfect level of success.

    And he owes it all to Bill Wiley... or maybe his longevity suggests he would have made it one way or another.
     
    Last edited: Aug 16, 2017
  19. Steve...O

    Steve...O Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Woody Harrelson would have had a career with or without Cheers. To say we only know him because of that show's success is ludicrous but considering the source...

    (To be clear I'm talking about Norm's guest not the poster above who relayed it. It's an interesting thought, but I don't buy it. )
     
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  20. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

    While I suspect you are correct, we will, of course, never know for sure. That said, he had exactly zero credited TV or film acting roles prior to 1985, when he started on Cheers. In 1985, he was employed as a standby in the cast of Biloxi Blues on Broadway. Clearly, the Cheers opportunity was his big break, and it came at (essentially) the very beginning of his tv/film career. Most people would kill to be that lucky and, it's fair to say, a lot of actors would kill to be as talented/capable as Woody has proven himself to be.

    True story: I did not watch Cheers in its first couple of seasons, and the first time I ever saw Woody Harrelson was when he made an appearance (guest host?) on NBC's Friday Night Videos (1986??), and I thought he was a total schmuck and loser, but my opinion of him improved a lot over the years, and began to do so fairly quickly.
     
  21. Squealy

    Squealy Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Vancouver
    You never know. There's an infinite number of talented actors who never go anywhere without that one lucky break that makes them famous, and which then gives them the launchpad to do more.

    On the other hand, lots of actors break out on a sitcom but never do anything much after that.... Woody obviously had an advantage over say, George Wendt by being young and good-looking, but he still could easily have been stuck being "Woody from Cheers" forever.
     
  22. AKA

    AKA Senior Member Thread Starter

    I believe he filmed Wildcats before he was cast in Cheers, though.
     
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  23. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

    Possibly....maybe....not that it matters, and I realize that theatrical films and TV comedies have different timelines from contract to production to release.

    Woody's first Cheers episode aired September 26, 1985. Wildcats premiered February 14, 1986.
     
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  24. MikaelaArsenault

    MikaelaArsenault Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire
    Can somebody help me find a Cheers picture?
     
  25. MikaelaArsenault

    MikaelaArsenault Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire
    Never mind, it was on the first page.
     
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