Ted Danson Says Cast Wanted to Kick Woody Harrelson's 'Ass' On 'Cheers' Set

Woody Harrelson became public enemy number one when he walked onto the "Cheers" set, and everyone wanted to "kick his ass" ... so says the show's star, Ted Danson.

Ted and Woody sat down for an interview on the "Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend Podcast" to discuss "Cheers" ... and, they dove into Woody joining the show during season 4 as the new bartender -- also named Woody.

Ted says no one really had a problem with Woody ... except he happened to be about 10 years younger than the rest of the cast -- and, they decided to try and knock the guy down a few pegs.

TD says they weren't hazing Woody but the whole cast "wanted to kick his ass in anything we could find." Basically, WH had a target on his back as soon as he started polishing glasses on the show.

Danson says the cast first tried to beat him in basketball -- a plan any fan of "White Men Can't Jump" will tell you backfired. They tried arm wrestling and even regular wrestling too. No such luck.

The "Cheers" team even traded in the physical for the mental -- challenging Woody to chess -- but couldn't beat him there either. In the end, they stopped challenging him to games ... and decided to just prank him instead.

Ted says from then on, anyone who had a mean prank idea decided to use it on Woody ... which, again, Danson says wasn't hazing but sounds a lot like it to us.

Clearly, no hard feelings between Woody and Ted at the very least ... 'cause the two are doing a podcast together recounting their experiences on "Cheers" called "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" -- so the two still get along well.