Ted Danson Recalls Initially Having a 'Horrible' Off-Screen Dynamic with Cheers Costar Shelley Long: 'A Bad, Bad Idea'

Ted Danson is revealing what the early days of his relationship with Cheers costar Shelley Long was really like behind the scenes.

On a recent episode of SmartLess with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett, Danson, 76, opened up about working on the iconic comedy. Attributing his success to Long, Danson discussed the ins and outs of achieving the duo’s dynamic.

“I think I got Cheers because of Shelley Long because she just really nailed that part right out of the gate,” he said. “She was amazing. And we got teamed up together when we auditioned — we auditioned as couples.”

Arnett, 54, then complimented The Good Place star’s genuine likeness for Long, but Danson said it wasn’t always that way.

“You and Shelley had the most incredible sitcom chemistry. Really magic,” he said.  “I mean, Ted, you guys must have felt that. That must be one of those things that was instant.”

“I am always always the worst,” Danson replied. “My first reaction to Shelley while we were auditioning was, ‘Oh, no. No. That's a bad, bad idea.’”

As Bateman, Hayes and Arnett reacted with shock, Danson described his interactions with Long as “horrible” at first.

“I don't know, we were so different,” he continued. “Our styles, our approach, our everything is really different, which is why I think it worked because it was like this fair fight.”

“It was hard for us sometimes to be in the room together,” he added. “But when we started working, it was just fantastic because you'd smack her and she'd smack you back harder. She was just brilliant.”

Danson also admitted he didn’t always want to work in sitcoms. When he was younger, he said he thought his career path would follow his family members’ "scientific" steps, but in college he realized he wanted something different.

“I didn't think about it until Stanford, and then I discovered acting, and life made sense,” he recalled. “I was not an academic. I came from scientific people in my family. My father, my sister are incredibly bright, and I just faked my way through school.”

After Cheers, Danson went on to star alongside Tom Selleck and Steve Guttenberg in Three Men and a Baby and its sequel Three Men and a Little Lady. He also led a host of TV series including Ink, Becker, Bored to Death, CSI, The Good Place, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Mr. Mayor.

Throughout his lifetime, he has earned 18 Emmy nominations, and won twice.

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Long also continued with a successful career, earning five Emmy nominations and one win for Cheers, along with roles in the series Good Advice and Modern Family. She later stepped into the role of Carol Brady in the updated Brady Bunch movies.

When Long left Cheers 1987, rumors swirled about her and Danson not getting along. That year, Long told PEOPLE, "We did our jobs with a caring for each other... That doesn't mean that there weren't days that were harder than others."