After 43 Years, Diane Chambers' Best Cheers Line Is Still A True Sitcom Classic
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Published Aug 15, 2026, 2:00 PM EDT
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As one of the best sitcoms of all time, Cheers is known for its fast-paced, funny dialogue, including the best line from unsuspecting waitress Diane Chambers (Shelley Long), who's the catalyst for the entire series. Cheers, which ran from 1982 through 1993 on NBC, is an all-time great because it consistently fires on all cylinders. The show's writing, directing, and performances are always on point, and in the early years of the series, a lot of the pressure of that greatness was on the shoulders of Sam Malone (Ted Danson) and Diane as they navigated their new, tense working relationship.
In the pilot of Cheers, Diane walks into the Boston bar in the hopes that she'll be married sooner rather than later, but ultimately finds herself in need of a job. When Sam hires her, albeit somewhat reluctantly, it's clear she's going to need a lot of work to get into shape as a waitress. Over the course of Diane's time on the show, which lasts from Cheers' first season through its fifth before she leaves the series entirely, she learns more about the ways of the titular bar, and her relationship with Sam goes from simmering to boiling over.
Despite Diane being someone who values education and decorum, Sam pushes her buttons in a way that makes it clear there's something magnetic between them early on. Regardless, the banter between the will they/won't they pair makes for great Cheers moments, and leads into Diane's best line, an all-time great.
Diane's Best Line On Cheers Is A Quote That's Still Thrown Around
NBC (via Everett Collection)Although Sam and Diane's relationship always felt somewhat unstable, the couple actually got together fairly quickly on Cheers. By the show's second season, Sam and Diane were attempting a romantic relationship, but their style of communication never would've given outsiders any idea that they were together. With a highly combative, antagonistic way of speaking to one another, Sam and Diane appeared to fight more than they didn't, and their strained communication style left both flinging insults at each other regularly. The pair don't often mean their harsh words, but their connection makes their mutual annoyance a safe bubble.
During Cheers season 2 episode 7, in the heat of an argument, Diane tells Sam she hates him "with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns," and simultaneously makes herself a true sitcom legend. Throughout Cheers' run, Diane had a verbose sense of speech, and often used words that were large and obtuse to seem like she was more intelligent than the people she was talking to. In telling Sam about her "hatred" for him, Diane makes it clear that she's irritated in a larger way than usual. The phrasing, which is still commonplace today, is perfectly in character.
Diane Was The Catalyst For Cheers, And Changed The Face Of Sitcoms
Although Diane could be somewhat of an irritating character because of her arrogance, she was the catalyst for the show's start, which makes her an integral part of Cheers. Without Diane walking into the bar and finding herself in need of a job, Cheers would've continued functioning exactly how it had been, and the chain of events she sets off is rife with sitcom hilarity. As a complete fish-out-of-water, Diane makes Cheers feel like a more lived-in space for the rest of the characters. The entry point for viewers, Diane's character is a necessary piece of the Cheers puzzle.
On top of being an integral part of the show, Diane's consistent verbal sparring with Sam was one of the cornerstones of Cheers as a series. Without the chemistry between Long and Danson building a relationship that viewers rooted for throughout the first five season of the series and beyond, Cheers never would've become what it did over the years. An iconic sitcom couple who, despite having the chance to finally get together by series' end, choose themselves over each other every time, Cheers Diane makes for a fascinating sitcom character that defies every viewer expectation.
Release Date 1982 - 1993-00-00
Showrunner James Burrows, Glen Charles, Les Charles, Ken Estin, Sam Simon, David Angell, Peter Casey, David Lee, Bill Steinkellner, Cheri Steinkellner, Phoef Sutton, Tom Anderson, Dan O'Shannon
Writers David Lloyd, Kathy Ann Stumpe, Jonathan Stark, Tracy Newman, Andy Cowan, Janet Leahy, Sue Herring, Tom Leopold, Chris Cluess, David Pollock, Elias Davis, Elliot Shoenman, Jeff Abugov, Daniel Palladino, Katherine Green, Jeffrey Duteil, Michael J. Weithorn, Joanne Pagliaro, Eugene B. Stein, Kimberly Hill
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Billie Bird
Lillian Miller
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Kirstie Alley
Rebecca Howe
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