‘Cheers’ cast return to the bar for Emmys 2024: ‘This feels nice’

Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name.

And for the cast of “Cheers,” that was especially true at the Emmys 2024.

Ted Danson, Kelsey Grammer, Rhea Perlman, John Ratzenberger and George Wendt reunited Monday night as part of a special tribute at the awards ceremony honoring some of the most beloved shows in TV history.

Host Anthony Anderson introduced the reunion, calling “Cheers” “one of the greatest television shows of all time” before the cast appeared onstage inside a replica of the iconic Boston bar.

“This feels nice to be here in front of you,” Danson said, before Ratzenberger added that the event was a “long overdue class reunion.”

The cast gathered to present the Best Directing of a Comedy Series and Best Writing in a Comedy Series statuettes. Both awards went to Hulu’s “The Bear.”

“Being together brings back some great memories of a show we’re all very proud of,” said Grammer.

In addition to “Cheers,” “The Sopranos,” “All in the Family,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Ally McBeal,” “Game of Thrones,” “Martin,” “The Carol Burnett Show,” “I Love Lucy,” “Friends” and more series received special honors at Monday night’s ceremony, which was broadcast on Fox.

“It was really about, how can we celebrate 75 years of television differently?” the show’s executive producer Jesse Collins told The Associated Press before the ceremony.

“The core of it,” said Dionne Harmon, another executive producer, “is really celebrating television and to honor the shows of yesterday while we honor the shows of today.”

Anderson opened up about the reunions before the telecast kicked off too.

“We are paying tribute to iconic shows that have changed the scope of television and entertainment by being on the air,” Anderson explained to People. “We’re going to be paying homage to them, having a lot of cast members come back as themselves, as these characters, and there’s going to be a little interchange between me and them on the sets of their shows.”

The reunions required Anderson to change costumes over five times “just because of what I’m going to be doing with the show as we are paying homage to iconic shows of the last 75 years.”

In its 11-season run on NBC from 1982-1993, “Cheers” took home a total of 28 Emmys.

The beloved sitcom, set in a Boston bar, followed womanizing bar owner Sam Malone, who was a former relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox.

The series, which aired 275 episodes, spawned the critically acclaimed 11-season spinoff “Frasier,” which starred Grammer and took home 37 Emmys.

“Cheers” also inspired the short-lived spinoff “The Tortellis,” which starred Dan Hedaya as Nick Tortelli, the ex-husband of Perlman’s character Carla.

That show lasted just one season.