[2] Norm appeared in all 275 episodes of Cheers from 1982 to 1993 and was initially the only customer featured in the show's main cast, later joined by best friend Cliff Clavin, Frasier Crane, and Lilith Sternin.

[3][4] George was Diane Chambers's first customer, appeared at the end of this episode, could not bear her long explanation of becoming a waitress, and had only one line consisting of one word: "Beer!

"[3] The writers expanded Wendt's role, and the character evolved into Norm Peterson, the first onscreen customer to enter the bar and who "badgered Diane rather than the other way around.

"[5] Show co-creator Les Charles stated that the character was based on a frequent customer he met while working as a bartender during college.

Norm was also revealed to be an accomplished interior decorator and beer taster, capable of spotting a bad vat in a factory by drinking a single bottle.

A running gag throughout the series are the numerous jokes made about the enormous size of Norm's tab at Cheers: several large binders are shown as being just a portion of it.

The only time he was seen to pay off any of his tab was when new manager Rebecca Howe temporarily cut him off after discovering he owed almost $850, but she agreed to payment in kind by him painting her office and apartment.

When she is finally shown, her face is covered in pie thrown by Diane (season 5, episode 9 "Thanksgiving Orphans,") and the actress is uncredited.

He also refused to cheat on her in the episode "Norm's Big Audit" where a female IRS agent was prepared to overlook his tax evasion if he did.

When not sipping beer at Cheers, Norm satisfies his hunger at an eatery called The Hungry Heifer, whose emblem is a young cow smacking her chops.

Corrine (played by Doris Grau), who worked at Cheers occasionally as a temp waitress, was a server at The Hungry Heifer and said the waitstaff knew Norm as "the guy who comes back."

Elsewhere, Cheers’ first spinoff The Tortellis, Wings, and The Simpsons episode "Fear of Flying", which also guest starred Ted Danson, Rhea Perlman, Woody Harrelson, and John Ratzenberger as their respective characters.

Years after Cheers ended, Wendt played Norm in a 2002 episode of its spinoff Frasier, where he got along famously with Martin Crane.

The company operated airport lounges styled similarly to Cheers which included two robots, one heavyset and the other a postal worker, which the actors claimed resembled Norm Peterson and Cliff Clavin.

At the first, the judge ruled that the defendant did not violate copyright because Paramount Pictures had already granted it a license to produce Cheers-based bars.