While there have certainly been plenty of TV shows over the decades that were quite popular during their original run, it’s rarer to find shows that continue to endure in popularity long after they’ve finished. There’s no question, though, that Cheers falls into that select group, with the sitcom that originally ran from 1982 to 1993 still being enjoyed by many three decades later. Case in point, earlier this year in the Ted Lasso Season 3 finale, an A+ Cheers reference was snuck into the episode’s final minutes, and director Declan Lowney explained to CinemaBlend how it got in there.
Our own Riley Utley recently had the chance to speak with Lowney, who’s helmed seven of Ted Lasso’s 34 episodes accessible to Apple TV+ subscribers. There were a lot of Easter eggs to keep track of in the finale, but unless you’re a diehard Cheers fan, you may not have noticed the nod to the sitcom in the pub run by Annette Badland’s Mae Green: a picture of Apache leader and medicine man Geronimo. Here’s what Lowney had to say about this reference:
So in the bar in Cheers, there is a portrait on the wall. I think it might be Geronimo. I don't know, but it's on the wall in the back, it's always been there in Cheers for all of their 13 seasons or whatever. And on the very last episode when Ted Danson is leaving, he walks around the bar and looks over the picture and sees it looks a bit crooked, and he just straightens it, and walks out. And in our bar in Richmond, the same picture has been on the wall. But it was it was just a tiny detail in the back. I don't think we've ever seen it. So I moved it to put it closer. So it would be in shot. And when Mae is in the bar, and the guys get there share certificate, and she puts down her chunk of share certificates. And we see she's got like that 1000s. And the cut to a wide shot, and there's the picture on the wall, and it's slightly skewed. And she just reaches up to straighten it as one of the guys tries to grab a share. So it's happening at the same time as something else... So that was a tiny, tiny, tiny call back to something that I knew was special to Jason. And also, I know Jason's uncle was George Wendt and I worked with George 25 years ago on a movie in Ireland. And so it was also a little homage to all that stuff.
So as Declan Lowney explained, Ted Lasso didn’t just put up the Geronimo picture in the Season 3 finale solely to reference the Cheers series finale. Just like how it was always on display in the bar run by Ted Danson’s Sam Malone for all of that show’s 11 seasons, the picture’s been in The Crown and Anchor the entire time, it was simply moved to a more visible location for “So Long, Farewell.” And like Sam did with his Geronimo picture in Cheers’ “One for the Road,” Mae took some time to straighten her copy, although that action is quickly overshadowed by her slapping Bay’s hand away when he tried to pick up one of her newly-acquired shares for AFC Richmond.
Giving the Geronimo picture a more noticeable spot in Mae’s pub came straight from Lowney, and he had another idea of how Ted Lasso could tie back to Cheers. However, in that instance, lead actor Jason Sudeikis, who co-developed the show with Bill Lawrence, Brendan Hunt and Joe Kelly, shot down the suggestion, with the director recalling:
I brought it up in the run up to the shooting? Is there a way of giving this picture of space somewhere in the bar? You know, at the very end do we see Mae walk out the door switching off lights and she straightens the picture? And Jason thought that was too on the nose was too like Cheers. So he said, ‘Why don’t you just include it in something else that's happening some other bit of action.’
Unlike Cheers, which threw out its Geronimo moment in what was unquestionably the show’s final episode, it’s unclear if Ted Lasso did the same in a series finale or a just a season finale. Although “So Long, Farewell” wrapped up a lot of plot threads and certainly felt like a clear-cut ending, as of this writing, it hasn’t been officially clarified if the Apple TV+ show will return for another season or spawn a spinoff, or if this is definitely the end for Ted and the gang. Either way, with Cheers still being beloved all this time later, it was cool of Lowney, Sudeikis and the rest of the Ted Lasso team to reference, yet keep it subtle enough that it detract from what was happening in the episode’s final minutes.
Keep visiting CinemaBlend for more Ted Lasso coverage, including when we finally get clarification on the show’s status. You’re also welcome to check out the other best Apple TV+ shows or see what’s coming to the small screen soon with our 2023 TV schedule.
