The Boys in the Bar

"The Boys in the Bar" is the sixteenth episode of the first season of the American situation comedy television series Cheers.

Tom Kenderson (Alan Autry), an old friend and baseball teammate of bartender Sam Malone (Ted Danson), announces in his forthcoming autobiography that he is homosexual.

At a press conference held at the bar, Sam, having not read the book in advance, is shocked by Tom's revelation.

[1] The coming out story of former Los Angeles Dodgers baseball player Glenn Burke was the inspiration for the plot.

[2][5] Nevertheless, the production of this episode went ahead for five days; rehearsals were problem-free and some minor tweaks that did not have major effects on the script were made.

However, according to Levine, the live studio audience remained silent during filming; the ending was reshot with Norm given an extra line, "better than Vera", referring to the character's wife's kissing.

[2][5]Background actors portraying bar customers are John Furey, Michael Kearns, Kenneth Tigar, Lee Ryan, Jack Knight, and Tom Babson.

[13] Cory Barker of the website TV Surveillance disdained Norm's comments about homosexuals but called them "honest for the time and circumstances".

[4] Nevertheless, Tropiano said that the fictional baseball player Tom Kenderson is typical of gay characters related to a series regular, appear just once, are exploited for delivering a message about homosexuality to the audience, and are then discarded, never to be "seen, heard, or mentioned again".

Phil Nugent found it unfunny and intended as a message to tolerate homosexuals by making Norm and other regulars appear "ridiculous".

Noel Murray said that the episode's "bifurcated structure" prevented more development for Sam's old baseball teammate, and he found the "stereotypes" of gay men dated.

[18] However, White also wrote: As progressive as this episode is for 1983, it still falls short in the same ways that most sitcoms of the 20th century did when handling LGBT issues.

There are no regular LGBT characters in the cast, so Cliff, Norm and Carla aren't challenged to grow after this episode.

In the absence of any actual dynamic gay characters, it's Diane that takes on the ally role and acts as the voice of gay rights.Screen Rant critic Simone Torn wrote in 2019 that the characters' homophobic remarks would "[make] this episode uncomfortable to modern audiences" and is one of "ten things from Cheers that have not aged well.