<P> Sam Malone and Diane Chambers, collectively known as Sam and Diane, are fictional characters in the American situation comedy television series Cheers . Sam Malone is a working - class, retired baseball player - turned - bartender played by Ted Danson; Diane Chambers is a college - graduate cocktail waitress played by Shelley Long . Danson appeared on Cheers for its entire run of the series; Long was part of the regular cast from the 1982 series premiere ("Give Me a Ring Sometime") until the fifth - season finale, "I Do, Adieu" (1987). Long returned for a special appearance in the 1993 series finale, "One for the Road ." </P> <P> During the first five seasons Sam and Diane both flirt with and condemn each other as social opposites, repeatedly consummating their relationship and breaking up . When they are not together, Sam has affairs with many women; Diane has relationships with men fitting her upper - class aspirations, such as Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer), long - running character who initially debuts in the third season as Diane's love interest in the romantic pair's dynamic . Each of the first four - season finales ends with a cliffhanger involving the story arc . In "I Do, Adieu" (1987) Sam and Diane are due to marry, but they cancel the wedding when Diane leaves Sam and the bar to begin a career as a writer . In the series finale Sam and Diane are reunited, become engaged and break up again, realizing that they are never meant to be together . </P> <P> The pairing of Sam and Diane has evoked mixed reactions . Some critics disliked the relationship, either for alienating viewers by dominating the show (and removing its original premise) or because they saw Sam and Diane as a mismatch . Others praised the pair, seeing them as strengthening the show . Some writers compared them to couples in later shows, such as Moonlighting, with their sexual tension and intermittent relationships . </P>

Cheers episode where sam and diane get together
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