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50 free Cheers trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
42 free Cheers trivia questions with answers. Cheers trivia questions and answers, for anyone who has ever shouted 'Norm!' at a bar door. These 50 questions cover all eleven seasons of the NBC sitcom, from the pilot that landed 74th in the ratings to the 1993 finale that stopped the country: Sam Malone's Red Sox past, Diane's abandoned fiancé, Coach's death and Woody's pen-pal arrival, Rebecca and the Lillian Corporation, Frasier and Lilith, Carla's eight children, Cliff's postal wisdom and Norm's unseen wife Vera. There is plenty from behind the bar too: the Boston pub found in a phone book whose owner charged $1 for photos, the record Emmy haul, the actor who invented Cliff at his audition, the picture of Geronimo hung on the set, the theme song's writers, the two spin-offs and the finale broadcast that ended with a live Tonight Show from the real bar. Difficulty runs from easy to expert and every answer is checked against a documented source. Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows the answers.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Cheers ran on NBC for how many seasons?
Eleven
From September 30, 1982 to May 20, 1993, spending most of its run in the Thursday 'Must See TV' line-up.
Q 02Cheers was created by James Burrows and which pair of brothers?
Glen and Les Charles
Burrows directed most episodes and insisted on shooting on film rather than videotape.
Q 03How did the Cheers premiere rank in the ratings, nearly getting the show cancelled?
74th out of 77 shows
NBC president Brandon Tartikoff and early Emmy wins kept it alive; it later spent one season at number one.
Q 04Which season of Cheers, beginning in autumn 1990, was its only year as America's number one show?
Ninth
It made the top ten in eight of its eleven seasons.
Q 05Before owning the bar, Sam Malone was a relief pitcher for which team?
The Red Sox
He wore number 16 and was on the 1975 pennant-winning side; his nickname was 'Mayday'.
Q 06What was Sam Malone's baseball nickname?
Mayday
He is a recovering alcoholic who bought the bar in 1977 after his career ended.
Q 07In the pilot, Diane Chambers is abandoned at the bar by her fiancé, a professor named what?
Sumner Sloane
She was a graduate student and teaching assistant; stranded, she took a job as a waitress.
Q 08What was the title of the Cheers pilot episode?
Give Me a Ring Sometime
It aired September 30, 1982, and introduced Sam, Diane, Coach, Carla, Norm and Cliff.
Q 09Which one-line character, whose only word was 'Beer!', did the actors behind Norm and Cliff first audition for?
George
The character was Diane's first customer, whose entire dialogue was 'Beer!'; Ratzenberger pitched a know-it-all instead and Cliff was born.
Q 10What is Cliff Clavin's job?
Postal worker
John Ratzenberger created the know-it-all character himself at his audition; he later voiced Hamm in Toy Story.
Q 11What is the name of Norm Peterson's never-seen wife?
Vera
Norm's full name is Hilary Norman Peterson; the couple married in 1972.
Q 12What is Norm Peterson's occasional profession?
Accountant
He also does spells as a painter-decorator and a brewery beer taster; George Wendt appeared in all 275 episodes.
Q 13How many children did Carla Tortelli have by the end of the series?
Eight
She started with five by ex-husband Nick and finished with eight by three different men.
Q 14How many Emmy Awards did Rhea Perlman win for playing Carla?
Q 21Kelsey Grammer earned Emmy nominations for the same character on which three shows?
Cheers, Frasier and Wings
He also directed more than 30 episodes of Frasier and sang its closing theme.
Q 22Frasier's wife Lilith Sternin was played by which actress?
Bebe Neuwirth
Like her husband she is a psychiatrist; she first appeared in season four's 'Second Time Around' and returned in the 2023 Frasier revival.
Q 23How many Emmy Awards did Ted Danson win for playing Sam Malone?
Two
He also won two Golden Globes for the role and received the Carol Burnett Award in 2025.
Four
She was nominated ten times, and holds the record of six Golden Globe nominations for supporting actress in a TV series.
Q 15What was the last major film role of Nicholas Colasanto, who played Coach Ernie Pantusso?
Mob boss Tommy Como in Raging Bull
He was better known as a TV director before Cheers; the show wrote Coach's death into the season-four premiere.
Q 16Whose picture from Colasanto's dressing room was hung on the bar set in his memory?
Geronimo
Sam straightens the picture in the closing moments of the final episode, eight years later.
Q 17Woody Boyd arrives at Cheers expecting to meet Coach, his 'pen pal'. What had the two actually exchanged?
Pens
He was hired to fill Coach's job and eventually married the wealthy Kelly Gaines and won a city council seat.
Q 18Which company buys Cheers from Sam at the end of season five and installs Rebecca Howe as manager?
Lillian
Sam sold up to sail around the world, sank his boat, and came back to beg for a job; he bought the bar back for 85 cents in season eight.
Q 19For how much was Cheers sold back to Sam in the eighth-season finale?
85 cents
His reward for alerting the company to Robin Colcord's insider trading; Rebecca was fired for staying quiet, and Sam hired her.
Q 20Frasier Crane first appeared in season three as the love interest of which character?
Diane
She jilted him at the altar in Europe; he then became a bar regular, married Lilith and eventually got his own show.
Q 24Shelley Long won her Emmy for playing Diane Chambers in which year?
1983
She was nominated five times and left the show in 1987 after five seasons.
Q 25Kirstie Alley finally won an Emmy for Rebecca Howe in 1991. Whom did she memorably thank in her speech?
Her husband Parker, for 'the big one'
She had been nominated in 1988 and 1990; the same year she was starring in the Look Who's Talking films.
Q 26The actor who played Norm received how many consecutive Emmy nominations for the role?
Six
He never won; after Cheers he had his own short-lived CBS sitcom in 1995.
Q 27Judy Hart Angelo co-wrote the Cheers theme "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" with which singer, who performed it?
Gary Portnoy
It was recorded on August 13, 1982, and released as a single the following year.
Q 28The real Boston pub used for the exterior shots was originally called what?
The Bull & Finch
Founded in 1969, it renamed itself Cheers in 2002 after a deal with the studio; owner Tom Kershaw charged the producers $1 for photos.
Q 29How did the producers find the Boston pub that became the model for the bar?
From a phone book
Earlier ideas had placed the show in Barstow, California, and Kansas City before Boston won out.
Q 30What is the name of the fancy restaurant upstairs from Cheers, whose owner feuds with Sam?
Melville's
Owner John Allen Hill needled Sam constantly and had an ongoing relationship with Carla.