From the primary episode of Cheers to the final, a decade later, George Wendt’s teddy bear barfly Norm Peterson was a totally shaped sitcom dream. Like Howard Borden earlier than him and Cosmo Kramer after him, his entrance alone was a spotlight in each episode – and Wendt, who has died aged 76, appeared in all 275 episodes of Cheers, a feat matched by solely Ted Danson and Rhea Perlman.
Each single time he opened the door, perpetually sweaty and tie all the time askew, the bar gave an enormous cheer – “NOOOORM!” – as he trudged to his favorite stool for that first beer. Each weary stroll to his seat got here with a zinger. (The very first: “Norm! Whattya know?” “Not sufficient.”)
Although Norm was in each episode of Cheers, it’s laborious to establish a singular second that made him an excellent sitcom character. As a substitute, the love we felt was accumulative: for his world-weariness, his insistence on terrible meals, the loathing and love he felt for his unseen spouse Vera – and naturally, the straightforward pleasure he took in having a chilly one with pals. (Which led to a bar tab so large by the ultimate episode that Sam threatened to ship it to Nasa to calculate.)
Whereas we bought to see solely just a little of Norm past the bar, so lots of his finest strains conveyed the nice and atypical tragedy that was his life: the unseen dangerous days at work, the unseen dangerous nights at house. “How’s life treating you Norm?” can be greeted with: “Prefer it caught me in mattress with its spouse”, “Like I simply ran over its canine” or “Like a child treats a diaper.” As soon as, when requested how he’s feeling, he responded: “I’m on prime of the world … it’s a dismal spot in Greenland someplace.”
“I’ve a tough time speaking about Norm,” Wendt stated in a 1989 interview. “It’s like he’s too near me, however I don’t assume he’s modified through the years. They moved him from being an accountant to [a] painter and decorator, however that was mainly for some storylines. He’s nonetheless the identical Norm. I believe he’s the hardest to jot down for as a result of he’s probably not something. He’s simply humorous.” However no man ever walked right into a bar fairly like Wendt.
5 of the most effective Norm one-liners:
Snow Job (season two, episode 18)
Coach: “What’s shakin’, Norm?”
Norm: “All 4 cheeks and a few chins.”
The Belles of St Cletes (season three, episode 24)
Sam: “Norm! What brings you in at the moment of day?”
Norm: “Similar factor that all the time does.”
Sam: “A bit early for a beer, isn’t it?
Norm: “So, float a cornflake in it.”
The Peterson Precept (season 4, episode 18)
Sam: “What’s occurring, Norm?”
Norm: “It’s a dog-eat-dog world, Sammy, and I’m sporting Milk-Bone underwear.”
Norm’s First Hurrah (season 5, episode 23)
Woody: “Hey Mr Peterson, what do you say to a chilly one?”
Norm: “‘So long Vera, I’ll be at Cheers.’”
Bar Wars III: The Return of Tecumseh (season eight, episode 21)
Sam: “What are you as much as, Norm?”
Norm: “My best weight if I had been 11 toes tall.
