Whatever Happened To Shelley Long's Frasier & Cheers Character Diane?
The premise of "Cheers" is simple enough: eccentric barflies knock back pints at a bar in Boston, owned by former MLB pitcher Sam Malone (Ted Danson). "Cheers" is an ensemble show, with a lived-in camaraderie best exemplified by the iconic theme song, or perhaps the ringing cries of "Norm!" that occur in every episode. But according to Danson, it was Shelley Long who carried the show in its first few seasons.
As bookish barmaid Diane Chambers, Long was a snooty foil to Danson's down-to-earth Sam, and their on-again-off-again relationship serves as the show's centerpiece for its first five seasons — even when Diane stars dating her psychiatrist, Dr. Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer), ahead of Season 3.
At the end of Season 5, Diane and Sam are on the cusp of matrimony when she gets a publishing offer. Diane decamps to California to work on her manuscript, promising to return in six months. Sam closes out the episode with a bittersweet, "Have a nice life," marking Long's departure from "Cheers." She was replaced by Kirstie Alley's Rebecca Howe.
Long returned to "Cheers" for the series finale, which pokes fun at Sam and Diane's constant waffling. Her book, it turns out, was rejected, and she adapted it into a screenplay, causing her to stay in Los Angeles. In classic Sam and Diane fashion, their reunion leads to a short-lived engagement, until they decide to part ways for good. But that wasn't the last time fans would see Diane, as the character reappeared on "Frasier."
Diane caught up with Frasier in Seattle
"Cheers" ended in 1993, and that same year, "Frasier" rose like a phoenix from the ashes. The spin-off series picks up with Frasier after he moves from Boston to his hometown of Seattle, and he makes the occasional allusion to his years as a barfly. In the Season 2 episode "The Matchmaker," Frasier tells Daphne (Janes Leeves) about the "lovely barmaid" he dated in Boston. "Sophisticated, if a bit loquacious," he continues. "We fell madly in love, we got engaged. Of course, she left me standing at the altar."
Later that season, Long made her "Frasier" debut as a figment of Frasier's imagination. She returned in Season 3's "The Show Where Diane Comes Back" for a proper appearance. In the episode, a desperate Diane drops in on Frasier to ask for help backing her play, which is a thinly-veiled recreation of "Cheers." Minor and major "Cheers" references abound, including the reprisal of Diane's one-time facial tic. Diane ultimately apologizes for leaving Frasier at the altar. Diane's hifalutin taste fits in well at the Crane household, though they sense she isn't doing very well. For her performance, Long earned an Emmy nomination for outstanding guest actress in a comedy series.
Diane gets some well-deserved closure in Season 3 of "Frasier," but she crops up one more time in the Season 9 two-parter "Don Juan in Hell," this time in one of Frasier's visions about his exes. She shares the screen with fellow "Cheers" alum Bebe Neuwirth, who played Lilith.