As a kid growing up in Chicago, Jake Johnson's favorite TV show was the Boston-based "Cheers," so the "New Girl" star couldn't be prouder when fans of his show compare his Nick and Zooey Deschanel's Jess to Sam and Diane.
"The connection between them is that they are perfect opposites," Johnson told us over lunch at Cheers, aka the Bull & Finch Pub on Beacon Hill. "Where Jess is more optimistic, more unicorns-y, more sparkles, Nick is rough around the edges. Where Sam was like the meathead ladies man, Diane was just too wound up. But every time I hear that connection, I get really happy … Someone said the other day, you guys are like Tony and Angela on 'Who's The Boss?' and I said, 'Please! Let's do 'Cheers.' Please, please, please, I'm begging you, stay on 'Cheers.' "
Like Ted Danson and Shelly Long's eventual lovers, Nick and Jess have that will-they-or-won't-they thing going and fans are rooting for them to get busy, Johnson said.
"It's been really neat, not something I expected at all," he said. "The Nick-and-Jess thing was not necessarily something that was built into the show from the start."
Johnson's thrilled about the budding romance angle because he loves working with star Deschanel.
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