May 7th, 1987 - Shelly Long, as Diane Chambers, made her last appearance as a regular on the TV show "Cheers."

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Than came the Rebecca years.

I think they had run out of ideas for her character, and the Sam/Diane storyline had run it' course. The relationship between her and Sam worked for a couple seasons but it had in the end, gotten really tired and redundant. The only place to go would have had them as a bickering married couple... Shelly Long leaving was perhaps the best thing to happen to Cheers at that point. It forced them to re-examine the show and made it more of an ensemble. Before that, so much of the show centers around everyone accommodating Diane and she was always meddling in everyone's business.

I think they had run out of ideas for her character, and the Sam/Diane storyline had run it's course. The relationship between her and Sam worked for a couple seasons but it's gotten really tired and redundant. The only place to go would have had them as a bickering married couple... Shelly Long leaving was perhaps the best thing to happen to Cheers at that point. It forced them to re-examine the show and made it more of an ensemble. Before that, so much of the show centers around everyone accommodating Diane and she was always meddling in everyone's business.

These are the reasons why I'm glad that Shelly left. That plus I just felt like Rebecca was a much more entertaining character than Diane.

It was perfect. They had really worn out the Sam and Diane 'will they or won't they' thing. If she had stayed on the show, it would have gotten real old and Cheers wouldn't have lasted much longer. Bringing in the Rebecca character gave the show new life IMO.

These are the reasons why I'm glad that Shelly left. That plus I just felt like Rebecca was a much more entertaining character than Diane.

For the first few seasons yes but, I think she became too flaky towards the end.


Also... I think season 1 and 2 Shelly Long was perfect. I've watched quite a bit of TV and I do not think anybody has ever nailed a character like she did those first two seasons.

If she had stayed on thru the entire run, I'd turn it off.

And if she didn't leave we wouldn't have gotten Troop Beverly Hills.

OMG!! I hated that movie!!