I'm not sure if this has ever been brought up here before, but I've seen mentions over the years that by the time Shelley left the show and Diane left Sam, as far as Sam & Diane were concerned there was "nothing more they could do with them" as a couple.

But, what if Diane had gotten pregnant? Then there could have been a season 6 with Diane (& Sam's) pregnancy throughout most of the season, and then season 7 could have been Sam & Diane raising an infant and eventually even a toddler had Diane stayed around a couple more seasons after that.

I think character-wise it was definitely a good time for Diane to leave and someone new (Rebecca) to come in, but I just wondered if anyone else had ever thought of the baby angle before.

And also, considering the enormous amount of countless women Sam bedded, I can't believe that in all 11 seasons of Cheers not one of the 270 episodes ever had a woman come into the bar claiming Sam fathered her baby, lol! And also, never an appearance of his rarely-mentioned ex-wife!

Often the baby storyline kills the show, the only way to keep Diane around longer is if Shelley long got along with the cast. Off camera Shelley and the cast had nothing in common and didn't hang out together. When her contract was up she wanted out.

Often the baby storyline kills the show

Often on a conventional "family" sitcom, I agree. But Cheers was such an ensemble show that I think they could have had a season of Diane's pregnancy and at least one season of the baby that the show would still be fine.

I liked all seasons, but I liked the Rebecca era better.