Cheers: Why Woody Harrelson’s New Bartender Replaced Coach In Season 4

Cheers replaced Ernie “Coach” Pantusso (Nicholas Colossanto) with Woody Boyd (Woody Harrelson) in season 4. When the iconic NBC sitcom debuted in 1982, it had a relatively small ensemble cast — most of whom being the pub’s staff, including owner Sam Malone, waitresses Carla Tortellini and Diane Chambers, and barkeep, Coach. Each differs in personal traits, making them a collectively interesting group. So, it was surprising when Coach started barely coming in for work until he was fully replaced by a new bartender.

Previously Sam’s baseball coach while he was still playing as the relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, Pantusso joined Cheers‘ eponymous pub after retiring. Coach was warm and always down for a conversation, making him a good barkeeper. However, unlike how bartenders are typically portrayed in media, he didn’t always have the best of advice; sometimes, he simply let people air out their grievances which usually results in them figuring out their problems on their own.

Coach was barely focused on in Cheers. He did have one episode dedicated to him in the first season when his daughter, Lisa visited him at the bar, but for the most part, he was a supporting character who kept the drinks coming to the pub’s nightly patrons while he and Sam shared old stories in their time with the Red Sox. Colossanto was brilliant in the role and was nominated three times for the Emmys as an Outstanding Supporting Actor in Comedy for his work in Cheers. This is why he was sorely missed when he was replaced in season 4 by a much-younger bartender, Woody. So why did the sitcom replace the beloved character with a brand new barkeeper?

It has to do with Colossanto’s real-life health problems. The actor had been having heart problems even before he joined the sitcom in the mid-1970s, which was exacerbated by his alcoholism. By the time he debuted Coach on the show, he had already overcome his drinking problem for a few years, but his heart issues lingered. This was mostly kept from his Cheers co-stars, although they talked about noticing how his weight would fluctuate while working with them. During season 3’s mid-season break, Colossanto was admitted to a local hospital after his lungs were filled with water, from there his doctors advised him to leave the show altogether. Since Cheers‘ episodes weren’t filmed chronologically, Coach’s final full episode appearance was in “Cheerio Cheers,” which was shot late of November 1984, but they saved his final cold opening for the season 3 season finale titled “Rescue Me.”

After Colossanto’s death, the producers of Cheers refused to simply recast the role, but knew that they needed to find another bartender who would have similar personality traits as him. Instead of going with someone who was around the same age, the sitcom opted to cast a much younger actor for the role so there wouldn’t be as much comparison between him and his predecessor. So, in the season 5 premiere entitled “Birth, Death, Love and Rice,” Cheers introduced Woody — Coach’s pen pal from Hanover, Indiana, who visits Boston in the hopes of finally meeting him. There, Sam revealed that unfortunately, Coach died recently without providing any further information. Due to the open bartender position at the bar, Woody was hired on the spot and became a regular cast member — a role he continued for the rest of the sitcom’s run. In many ways, Woody was similar to Coach: he, too, often misunderstood comments and jokes in Cheers, but was also genuinely nice and pure. Harrelson’s stint in the sitcom made him a household name and was the beginning of his long and successful career in Hollywood.

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