Written by Glen and Les Charles and directed by James Burrows, the episode first aired September 30, 1982, on NBC in the contiguous United States and on October 14, 1982 in Alaska.
The pilot episode introduces the characters at the Cheers bar in Boston: employees Sam Malone, Diane Chambers, Coach Ernie Pantusso, and Carla Tortelli; and regular customers Norm Peterson and Cliff Clavin.
Despite being highly educated, Diane reluctantly accepts the offer when she remembers a number of orders (including special requests) from a table.
The pilot introduces employees of the bar, Cheers, in Boston, Massachusetts in order of appearance: The creators rejected the idea of casting a star such as Mary Tyler Moore, and sought actors who were previously unknown to the public.
They interviewed almost 1,000 people for the four principal roles: Sam Malone, Diane Chambers, Carla Tortelli, and "Coach" Ernie Pantusso.
[10] Three pairs were tested: William Devane and Lisa Eichhorn, Fred Dryer and Julia Duffy, and Ted Danson and Shelley Long.
[14] Sam Malone was originally "a former wide receiver for the New England Patriots",[11] and Fred Dryer was considered for the role because he was a football player.
[15] However, NBC executives liked test scenes with Danson and Long so the creators chose them instead,[16] making Sam a former relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox.
"[18] After Wendt was cast, the writers revised the script; his role evolved into Norm Peterson, the first onscreen customer to enter the bar and "[badgering] Diane rather than the other way around".
[22] The producers ultimately decided to eliminate Mrs. Littlefield completely from the show from that point forward, necessitating changes to some yet-to-be-filmed scripts for the first few episodes.
[23][24] Three other bar patrons have speaking roles in the completed episode: John P. Navin, Jr. portrays a teenage boy in the cold open, Erik Holland has a brief bit as Diane's first customer, and Ron Frazier appears as a barfly who stands at the bar near Cliff (and who offers "Ben Hur" as his choice for the sweatiest movie ever made.
)[25] The creators of Cheers (and the crew of Taxi), co-writers Glen and Les Charles and director James Burrows, created a sitcom project in 1981.
[30] The NBC premiere lineup on September 30, 1982 consisted of (beginning at 8:00 pm Eastern and Pacific Time) Fame, Cheers, Taxi and Hill Street Blues.
[36] When the episode originally aired in 1982, Fred Rothenberg of the Associated Press called it an introduction to a "new wise-cracking comedy", "a warm and wacky companion of a television show, a delightful place to spend idle time, [and] a five-star watering hole" known as Cheers.
He found it "amusing"; some jokes, funny; many others, forced; and the number of "weird characters" in the show greater than their real-life bar counterparts.
[42] Joseph J. and Kate Darowski in their 2019 book Cheers: A Cultural History rated the episode all four stars.
[46] The episode earned production designer Richard Sylbert and set decorator George Gaines an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Art Direction for a Series[45] (won by Tales of the Gold Monkey).
[47] "Give Me A Ring Sometime" was Shelley Long's winning submission for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.