It doesn't seem like she ever gave a reason. She just had so much hate for her without reason.

I think it's because Diane was so uppity, selfish and snobby and thought too much of herself. I side more with Carla than with Diane. And she was also a nightmare in real life, and on Johnny Carson, lied about leaving peacefully, when we obviously knew all the cast hated her and wanted her out, except for Coach, who died.

I think it's because Diane was so uppity, selfish and snobby and thought too much of herself. I side more with Carla than with Diane. And she was also a nightmare in real life, and on Johnny Carson, lied about leaving peacefully, when we obviously knew all the cast hated her and wanted her out, except for Coach, who died.

Exactly. I heard that except for Coach (and I think she got along with Woody somewhat though by then she was leaving)she was hated in real life. Ironically, the cast got along with Kirstie Alley and her and Rhea Pearlman are still good friends. Before Cheers, Shelley Long hosted a local newsmagazine show and I heard even then thought she was better than thou.

Another factor may have been jealousy because Carla had a crush on Sam and Sam and Diane were romantically involved.

I think it's because Diane was so uppity, selfish and snobby and thought too much of herself. I side more with Carla than with Diane. And she was also a nightmare in real life, and on Johnny Carson, lied about leaving peacefully, when we obviously knew all the cast hated her and wanted her out, except for Coach, who died.

I didn't realize "we all knew" this? :confused:

Let's not forget that Carla had been the unchallenged Cheers Queen Bee before Diane got there and, in addition to disliking Diane's personality in of itself, Carla seemed to view any and all other females as rivals. I can't think of a single female friend Carla had or even a female she was genuinely nice to besides her own daughters (and she barely was able to do that). Considering that the ONLY man in the permanent Cheers bar crowd Carla was attracted to was Sam himself, it was more of a case that she liked being able to dominate the almost-all male crowd via intimidation without any possible rivalry from other females because she had virtually zero control over her own family life.

Still, there was one early episode in which Carla actually was willing to consider having a tiny bit of respect for Diane when Diane initially said she was going to tell of the judges of the Boston barmaid contest but Diane won the prize and it seemed lost the last chance for Carla to have even the tiniest bit of liking for her.

Still, there was one early episode in which Carla actually was willing to consider having a tiny bit of respect for Diane when Diane initially said she was going to tell of the judges of the Boston barmaid contest but Diane won the prize and it seemed lost the last chance for Carla to have even the tiniest bit of liking for her.

Plus the early episode where they reach a truce, and Carla tells Diane in the office "You're alright" and they shake hands. The friendliest they ever were, but it was oh so brief, lol.

Ted Danson, who has a reputation as one of the nicest guys in Hollywood, puts it best. He said Shelley doesn't have a mean bone in her body. But her method of working - to ask questions constantly in order to understand the character's motivations - drove every crazy. He says he understands it now because she had the hardest character to play, but it made for a stressful working situation. He also says that when he actually performed on camera with her, it was "heaven".

One of the Charles brothers said he regretted that they indulged her with her questioning, because it wound up turning the rest of the cast against her.

I remember Carla as a character with a lot of hate inside her, and not a lot of patience. It would have been nice if at some point Carla came to accept Diane. I don't think the character of Diane was ever annoying to the point where she was completely unlikeable. Most of the characters were lost souls with troubles, the exceptions being Woody and the Coach.

I just think Carla and Diane were polar opposites and were so unlike each other there was no way they'd ever be friends. I've thought sometimes when watching reruns of Cheers episodes it doesn't really make a lot of sense that Diane who was very snobbish and highbrow, would want to stay and work in a place where everybody else was basically blue collar working class types and definitely not intellectual. I just don't think in reality it makes any sense Diane would've stayed there as long as she did. She had absolutely nothing in common with anybody there.

Ed.

She hated almost everyone else.
Same for the rest of the characters: noone cared for noone else. That's one of the main reason I didn't like the show.

I just think Carla and Diane were polar opposites and were so unlike each other there was no way they'd ever be friends. I've thought sometimes when watching reruns of Cheers episodes it doesn't really make a lot of sense that Diane who was very snobbish and highbrow, would want to stay and work in a place where everybody else was basically blue collar working class types and definitely not intellectual. I just don't think in reality it makes any sense Diane would've stayed there as long as she did. She had absolutely nothing in common with anybody there.

Ed.


Good point about opposites. However; I always thought it a bit odd that Diane and Cliff didn't really hit it off since they both seemed to think they knew more than everyone else there.

Ted Danson, who has a reputation as one of the nicest guys in Hollywood, puts it best. He said Shelley doesn't have a mean bone in her body. But her method of working - to ask questions constantly in order to understand the character's motivations - drove every crazy. He says he understands it now because she had the hardest character to play, but it made for a stressful working situation. He also says that when he actually performed on camera with her, it was "heaven".

One of the Charles brothers said he regretted that they indulged her with her questioning, because it wound up turning the rest of the cast against her.

I always knew that Ted Danson had respect for Shelley as an actress and acknowledged their on-screen chemistry, but never knew about the machinations of the Charles brothers. Interesting.

If everyone "hated" Shelly, she probably would not have returned for the finale. I can understand how her doing that on the job would become tedious and a nuisance, though.

Carla's antagonistic view toward Diane made for some great comedy moments. :)

If everyone "hated" Shelly, she probably would not have returned for the finale. I can understand how her doing that on the job would become tedious and a nuisance, though.

Carla's antagonistic view toward Diane made for some great comedy moments. :)

True! She also returned for the 200th episode celebration. So they must have gotten along in some way.

And as other people have pointed out Diane definitely was a bit arrogant and seemed to think she was quite superior to everybody else in the bar. And Carla had absolutely no use for people who thought they were better than her. It did make for funny stuff. But I say again that I don't believe somebody with that personality would've stayed working at a bar like Cheers with working class type people in real life.

Ed.

I've thought sometimes when watching reruns of Cheers episodes it doesn't really make a lot of sense that Diane who was very snobbish and highbrow, would want to stay and work in a place where everybody else was basically blue collar working class types and definitely not intellectual. I just don't think in reality it makes any sense Diane would've stayed there as long as she did. She had absolutely nothing in common with anybody there.

True, but sometimes people have to take these jobs to put food on the table.

In the late '80's, I was a teen in high school & did work part-time in a bar/restaurant; this was roughly around the time the Diane episodes were winding down on Cheers. And, what's interesting about Diane is that her educational level (though not her personality) reminded me quite a bit of some of the waitresses that worked in the IRL restaurant where I also worked. Though you would have thought that someone with an advanced degree wouldn't be working that type of job, the reality was that there was a recession at the time - and many of these people couldn't get jobs in their desired field of work. So, I felt that the Diane character somewhat reflected the reality that I myself was seeing at the time.

Exactly. I have two masters now, but years ago I had one masters and couldn't get a "real" job so I ended up waitressing for a few months and several of the others also had degrees.