Ted Danson was busy and Rhea Perlman said no, so the task was left to Wendt and Ratzenberger.
A shotgun from a sporting goods store.
And ‘Yeah, like some flowers or something.'"
Wendt riffed, “John and I were never tasked with gifts again.”
The actor remained on the show until its final season in 1993.
Shelley Long, who played leading lady Diane, had just left the show to focus on her family.
Many feared the series wouldn’t survive without the chemistry between Diane and Ted Danson’s Sam.
Luckily, a few tweaks to the writing did the trick.
Burrows described the reception as “abysmal” but blamed himself.
“We had written Rebecca [Howe] as a martinet.
She wouldn’t give Sam Malone the time of day.
It wasn’t working.
The moment we found her frailty and vulnerability, we had it” (viaToday).
