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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think it must have been so humiliating and depressing for Shelley Long

244 replies

Suetully · 19/09/2021 12:47

I caught Cheers reruns flicking through tv last night. Having not seen or thought of it in well over 25 years, I forgot how good Shelley Long was in it as Diane and her brilliant chemistry with Ted Danson.

I did some research after and she'd after 5 years left for a movie career but her career tanked and within 3 years of leaving, she was another jobbing tv actress whilst the show went strong for another 6 years and that was the show she'd deserted as the main star.

Like I can't imagine her anguish and humiliation that Danson went on to become the biggest tv star of that time, the show went to number 1 and her co-stars who were support to her reign like Kelsey Grammar and Woody Harrison became much bigger stars than she did.
She even returned to be a guest star on Frasier and he became the highest tv star in the world whilst at a time he was only brought into Cheers as her love interest.

That and her replacement Kirstie Alley became even bigger than Long was both in her carer and in general fame. It seems her name now is synonymous with a bad career move if you google her. AIBU to think that would be a pretty hard pill to swallow?

OP posts:
MissConductUS · 19/09/2021 17:42

I'm a Yank and had no idea that Cheers was so popular in the UK. I loved the show, other than the fact that everyone was a Red Sox fan.

Meghan and Harry’s popularity is waning even in America.

True. The magic has worn off almost completely.

Original poster
Suetully · 19/09/2021 17:49

I'm a Yank and had no idea that Cheers was so popular in the UK. I loved the show, other than the fact that everyone was a Red Sox fan

it was 1 of the biggest shows in history globally. The Friends of its day.

OP posts:
LukeEvansWife · 19/09/2021 17:54

@Suetully

I'm a Yank and had no idea that Cheers was so popular in the UK. I loved the show, other than the fact that everyone was a Red Sox fan

it was 1 of the biggest shows in history globally. The Friends of its day.

And about as funny Hmm
VladmirsPoutine · 19/09/2021 17:57

@LukeEvansWife Grin

There seems to be a dearth of genuinely laugh out loud series.

MissConductUS · 19/09/2021 18:00

I never cared for Friends. I'm probably the wrong age group. And their depiction of NYC was just weird.

DeegeeDee · 19/09/2021 18:10

Loved Cheers, @MissConductUS was massive here along with The Cosby Show when I was younger.
I made sure to visit the "bar" when in Boston.

Thanks for the link further up, sorry forgotten who posted it. Will read later.

As we were. This is fascinating.

LukeEvansWife · 19/09/2021 18:14

@MissConductUS

I never cared for Friends. I'm probably the wrong age group. And their depiction of NYC was just weird.
Most of the people I know who are similar age to me claim that it’s the funniest thing ever. I have watched a couple of episodes and was Confused
SchadenfreudePersonified · 19/09/2021 18:14

Really struggling with this need to drag her down. I enjoyed her performances in those 80s comedies a lot. A still remember them some 30 years later so they can't have been awful. Most of the Netflix trash I can barely remember after a couple of weeks!

I agree - I loved her in Cheers and her comedy films, too.

Maybe she just felt she'd done as much as she wanted to and moved onto other things, as PPs have suggested.

SchadenfreudePersonified · 19/09/2021 18:36

And the late Lynne Perry (Ivy Tilsley/Brennan if you’re old enough to remember!!) and her screen son Brian (Chris something?!). Both ridiculously egocentric and fell on their arses after huge uk stardom on Corrie

Crikey, yes!

The ones who did do well after leaving Corrie were Suranne Jones, Jean Alexander, Thelma Barlow, Katherine Kelly and Geoffrey Hughes - all cast members who were very versatile and could pretty much pick and choose their roles. They left with only good words about the programme, which I also think might make a difference to whether someone might want to give them another job!

Many of the (long-term) Corrie cast would be unemployable anywhere else.

jay55 · 19/09/2021 18:37

For an actor playing the same role for years and years and years could be quite frustrating.
Especially one that is frequently the butt of misogynistic jokes.
Sure she didn't earn the money of her co stars but she did keep working, yes she's done a lot of straight to video fodder, but it's still being paid to act.
Plenty of actors would kill for her career.

SchadenfreudePersonified · 19/09/2021 18:42

I should say that Jean Alexander, Thelma Barlow, and Geoffrey Hughes all had pretty strong (classical) acting careers before Corrie. It made a lot of them, but it didn't make them.

Trixabellecrowther · 19/09/2021 20:01

I thought cheers was utterly crap helpful

This thread is amusing though. Penis or no penis.

Dozer · 19/09/2021 20:05

We

It’s not ‘humiliating’ to leave a job - for almost any reason other than something like crime or misconduct - whether or not further jobs work out well, especially by others’ subjective opinions on what success or failure is.

PuppyMonkey · 19/09/2021 20:53

On an entirely irrelevant note I find the use of actors surnames in this thread very amusing. Grin

WeAreTheHeroes · 19/09/2021 20:54

Why?

Original poster
Suetully · 19/09/2021 21:04

On an entirely irrelevant note I find the use of actors surnames in this thread very amusing

why? If we were to talk about actors using just 1st names nobody would be certain who they were.

OP posts:
Original poster
Suetully · 19/09/2021 21:07

For an actor playing the same role for years and years and years could be quite frustrating.
Especially one that is frequently the butt of misogynistic jokes

cheers had as many jokes aimed at men as women, just like the golden girls and friends did. So for example Carla often mocked Cliff and his lack of masculinity.

OP posts:
Ashitaka · 19/09/2021 21:09

@Suetully

On an entirely irrelevant note I find the use of actors surnames in this thread very amusing

why? If we were to talk about actors using just 1st names nobody would be certain who they were.

Ted, Shelley, Woody, Rhea, Kirstie .... or Danson, Long, Harrellson, Pearlman, Alley

I dont think it matters?

PuppyMonkey · 19/09/2021 22:06

Yeah, we’d have no idea who you meant if you said Shelley, Ted and Woody.Grin

Harford · 19/09/2021 22:48

People who are saying Shelley worked constantly or they liked her are missing the point. Yes getting work in the industry is good but it's the fact she went from being one of the award-winning biggest tv actresses in the world at the time to be another guest star tv actress in such a short time is what the op is getting at.
It would hurt more when the show was still playing and successful and her ex-costars were making big money and getting fame she wasn't anymore. She was the leading female star of the show too.
Of course, that would be a bitter pill to swallow.

Harford · 19/09/2021 22:53

This thread is amusing though. Penis or no penis

What do you find amusing? I don't mean that in a goady way, I am generally interested. Seems like a standard enough thread with interesting points made.

MotherOfMonkeys0 · 19/09/2021 23:01

The Money Pit is one of my all time favourite films. My children have just discovered it. We've watched it twice this weekend

Harford · 19/09/2021 23:02

The Money Pit is one of my all time favourite films. My children have just discovered it. We've watched it twice this weekend

That was released when she was in Cheers though, the op was pointing out how her career floundered after Cheers in fairness.

ChequerBoard · 19/09/2021 23:04

I think perhaps she thought that she had very few years left to crack the Hollywood movie market and so she took her shot.

In those days roles for women over 40 were really non existent so I think she knew it would be pretty short lived.

Maybe if she had stayed on Cheers for years doing the same old Sam and Diane schtick she would have been bored and really regretted not giving it a go.

It's hardly a tragic life, several well received and remembered movies and a long career as a working actor.

Harford · 19/09/2021 23:25

It's hardly a tragic life, several well received and remembered movies and a long career as a working actor

I think I recall hearing she had a suicide attempt after the breakdown of her marriage.

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