It’s been 20 years since Kirstie Alley and Rhea Perlman starred on TV together in “Cheers,” but the two are set for a Wednesday-night reunion with the premiere of “Kirstie” on TV Land.
The sitcom, which debuts with two back-to-back episodes at 10 p.m., stars Alley as Broadway star Maddie Banks, whose life is turned upside-down when the son she gave up for adoption suddenly shows up hoping to reconnect.
Perlman and Alley have been close friends since their “Cheers” days and always wanted to do another TV show together. So after a pilot they shot for ABC in 2012 didn’t get picked up, Alley asked the writer, Marco Pennette, to pen a new script for her and TV Land with a part for Perlman as her personal assistant/best friend Thelma Katz.
While Perlman’s “Cheers” character — cranky waitress Carla Tortelli — didn’t much care about anyone, including Alley’s Rebecca Howe — on “Kirstie,” her character more closely mirrors her real-life friendship with Alley.
“On this show . . . I care a lot about her but I’m also the one who can call her on things because I know her the best,” Perlman says.
“Kirstie” is the first regular TV role for Perlman in decades. She’s done pilots and guest work but hasn’t had a starring role since 1996’s “Pearl,” which lasted for one season on CBS.
“It wasn’t like I never wanted to do another sitcom . . . there just was never one that worked out,” she says, noting her love of the multi-camera format.
“We did a lot of physical stuff this year, we got a little bit of the Lucy-Ethel thing going on as well, which is very wacky — that’s quite different from ‘Cheers’ and a lot of fun to play.”
She describes the set of “Kirstie” as a fun place — the cast also includes Michael Richards and newcomer Eric Petersen, best known for playing Shrek in the musical’s national tour.
“Kirstie” will also feature a number of big-name guest stars in its 12-episode first season, including Jason Alexander reuniting with his “Seinfeld” co-star Richards and John Travolta making a rare TV appearance alongside Alley, with whom he starred in the “Look Who’s Talking” movie franchise.
Another “Cheers” alum — George Wendt — will stop by the Feb. 5 episode, playing Thelma’s ex-husband.
Though Perlman can’t give away much about that plotline, she will say the dynamic is much different than Wendt’s “Cheers” character Norm.
“It was fun working with him and having one-on-one scenes with him, it was really cool,” Perlman says.
“It wasn’t anything like George as Norm — we had real conversations a couple of times.”