10 Insane TV Plots That Almost Happened

10. Sam Malone Came Close To An HIV Scare On Cheers

If you go back and binge-watch all of Cheers, you're going to find a few episodes and story arcs that delve into controversial subjects for the time, but ultimately those episodes didn't dig too deeply into anything that might have enraged the censors at NBC.

There were a few mentions of topics related to abortion, teenage pregnancy and the like, but one topic that didn't make it into the final series was HIV/AIDS. Cheers ran from 1982 to 1993, so it was right smack-dab in the middle of the AIDS crisis as it was developing.

There were plans to touch on the subject at the end of season six, and while it would have been controversial, that wasn't the reason the episode never made it to air. The 1988 Writers Guild of America strike put a damper on the planned story arc, which would have ended season six.

The plan was to have Sam learn that a former girlfriend had tested positive for HIV. The cliffhanger ending would have ended the sixth season, leaving the show's fans the entire summer to worry about Sam's fate. The Writer's Strike made that impossible, and the concept was scrapped.