Real life sometimes gets in the way of television production - as if any proof was needed, just look at Ashton's Kutcher's new new gig as the star of Two and a Half Men after Charlie Sheen's...whatever.
Sometimes, this happens in an even more sad manner. The 80s mainstay Cheers is a great example of this, when one character died after the actor that portrayed him past away. So, off of Pocket Trivia: 80s Trivia - What was the nickname of the character who died on Cheers? Was it Norm, Geronimo, Huff or Coach?
The answer to this one is Coach. Ernie "Coach" Pantusso was played by actor Nicholas Colasanto. Calasanto died in the third season of the show. Show air dates were rearranged to so that Coach's apperances lasted until the end of the season. In the fourth season, Woody Harrelson was brought on to replace Coach as the new bartender - in the beginning of the episode in which Harrelson appeared, it was explained that Coach had died some months before.
A picture of Geronimo was hung on the set of the bar in tribute to Calasanto - the picture had previously hung in his dressing room. In the final scene of the series ever aired, Ted Danson adjusts the picture.
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