Sam Malone

Sam Malone
Cheers character
Sam flirting with a woman in "Behind Every Great Man" (episode 63, 1985)
First appearance	"Give Me a Ring Sometime" (episode 1.01)
Last appearance	"The Show Where Sam Shows Up" (Frasier episode 2.16)
Created by	Glen and Les Charles
Portrayed by	Ted Danson
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Owner/Bartender
Family	Derek Malone (brother)
Spouse(s)	Deborah (divorced)
Significant other(s)	Diane Chambers (ex-fiancée)
Nationality	American

Samuel "Mayday" Malone is a fictional character on the American television show Cheers, portrayed by Ted Danson. The central character of the series, Sam is a former relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox Major League Baseball team. He is the owner of the bar called "Cheers", where he also works as a bartender. He is a recovering alcoholic and a notorious womanizer. Although his celebrity status was short-lived, Sam retains that standing within the confines of Cheers, where he is beloved by the regular patrons. Throughout the show's first five seasons, Sam has an on-again, off-again relationship with bar waitress Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) until she leaves Boston for her writing aspirations at the end of the fifth season.

In two subsequent seasons, Sam tries to seduce her replacement, Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley), but she consistently rejects his advances until they passionately embrace at the end of the eighth season. However, since, Sam and Rebecca constantly turn each other down, especially when, toward the end of the series, she confronts him about his unhealthy lust toward women. In the series finale, while he comes to terms with his sexual addiction, Sam is briefly reunited with Diane, now an award-winning writer, after their six-year separation. They want to start a new relationship until their own paths convince them to end the newer relationship. At the show's last moments, Sam and his friends are happy with his decision to remain in Boston. Sam appears in just one episode of the spin-off Frasier where he ends his engagement to his fiancée Sheila (Téa Leoni), whom he meets at a group therapy meeting of sex addicts, for her affair with other men.