TV News Briefs: Cheers, MacGyver, the Muppets, and Veronica Mars

Cheers — Series co-creator James Burrows believes the sitcom’s popularity is waning. “I can tell from the residuals checks,” he tells The Boston Globe. “Almost 26 years after we debuted, the show, I’d say, is winding down. It’s a long time to be on the air — 21 years on reruns.” Still, the two Cheers bars in Boston show no signs of slowing down. They attract over 750,000 visitors each year, more than the USS Constitution and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum combined. The owner of the bars estimates he’s sold more than $100 million in souvenir T-shirts alone.

MacGyver — Series creator Lee David Zlotoff has announced that a big budget movie version of the Richard Dean Anderson series is in the works. He hasn’t announced any specifics about the project but Zlotoff reportedly owns the movie rights for the character. While there’s no word if Anderson would return to the role, it’s a good sign that the guy who created the character is in charge. Aside from being a writer, director, producer and owner his own production company, Zlotoff frequently challenges readers of Make Magazine to come up with MacGyver-like solutions to difficult problems.

The Muppet Show — While talking with MTV, Jason Segal dropped a great tidbit about his upcoming Muppet movie. He’s apparently written a great cameo part for a former castmate of Kermit and the gang. Segal says, “I have a cameo for Charles Grodin in it. It’s a really brilliant cameo, I must say. I’m really proud of it.” Longtime fans will remember that Grodin played the human villain in 1981’s The Great Muppet Caper movie. There’s no word if the actor has been approached to appear but Grodin has appeared with the characters several times over the years. In terms of who else may pop up from Henson history, Segal would only say that “at one point they need all the Muppets they can get.”

Veronica Mars — Organizers of the 2007 Firefly cruise are putting together a trip for fans of the cancelled girl detective series. The cruise takes off from San Diego on November 29th and returns on December 4th. Scheduled activities include Q&A panels with castmembers, autograph sessions, Mars Bars scavenger hunts, trivia contests, episode screenings, parties, and tours of locations from the show. The names of the celebrity guests have yet to be announced. Stay tuned!