Ted Danson reveals he was dead wrong in thinking Shelley Long would be terrible for Cheers

Ted Danson’s predictions weren’t in a good place.The actor, 77, got candid on having a history of being wrong while starring on the NBC sitcom “Cheers” from 1982 to 1993.“I  had the reputation on ‘Cheers’ where if I said, suggested something, pretty much—this is not self-deprecating humor or false humility—I was dead wrong,” Danson said while on the Wednesday episode of his SiriusXM podcast with Woody Harrelson, “Where Everybody Knows Your Name,” adding, “And if they did the opposite, it would work brilliantly.”His guest, Andy Richter, asked the comedian if things ever changed over the course of 11 seasons.“No, I know,” Danson continued.

“I will tell Mary [Steenburgen], I’ll say, ‘Turn right here,’ and she’ll say, ‘Thank you, but I know it’s left.’ Yeah.I’m sorry.

You were right.It was right.

I love being able to have an opinion, and I don’t really have that much at stake because it’s wrong.I’m okay to be wrong.”“The Good Place” alum’s history of being wrong dates all the way back to “Cheers,” the show set in a Boston bar, which also starred Harrelson, Shelley Long, Rhea Perlman, John Ratzenberger, Kelsey Grammer, and late stars George Wendt and Kirstie Alley.“One of my first obvious ones was ‘Cheers’ casting Shelley Long.

And I’m going, ‘Oh, no, not Shelley Long.That’d be, that’s all wrong.

She’d be terrible for that,'” Danson recalled.“And she, right out of the shoot, she became this instant, brilliant character actor doing a brilliant job.

Serving the entire thing perfectly.It sounds like I’m discounting all the other actors, but that first year she put us on the map.

Yeah, she really did.”Long, 75, portrayed Diane Chambers in the sitcom and earned five Emmy nominations.She took home the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 1983.

Long also won two Golden Globe Awards for her role.This isn’t the first time Danson, who played bar owner Sam Ma...