Cheers: Long vs. Grammar
In the third season, Long’s character Diane had a boyfriend that matched her in personality and intellect, Dr. Frasier Crane, played by Kelsey Grammar. Frasier and Diane fell in love, but the love fizzled when Diane left him at the altar, leaving Frasier despondent. He found solace in the one place he could, as a regular at Cheers. Frasier Crane was only supposed to appear for a few episodes. He became a series regular. Grammar suspects he was promoted specifically to irritate Long, but Cheers writer and producer Ken Levine says they just liked Grammar and how he played the character. Long felt supplanted. But that feeling must not have been too strong, as she appeared as Diane Chambers in the series finale of Cheers. She also appeared as Diane in Grammar’s spinoff series Frasier.