Parting is sweet sorrow for Ted Danson. Again.

After his 11-year run as Sam Malone on the classic sitcom "Cheers," the Emmy-winning actor is bidding farewell to the role of perpetually cranky New York City doctor John Becker. The CBS series "Becker" is ending after six seasons, with its final telecast scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 28. (Repeats of the show will remain in syndication.)

Danson says the cast and crew knew "Becker" was over when filming finished just before Christmas, but the networks official announcement of the show's cancellation last week still is bittersweet for him. (CBS Entertainment president Nancy Tellem told reporters Sunday that she'll "never say never" to the show's return, but the network won't be ordering any more episodes for this season, at least.)

"I miss going to work, I miss my friends there, and I miss that character," Danson says. "Last summer, when we were not picked up to start the season -- and then picked up -- it was clear that we were not the flavor of the month. I think all the 'How dare they?' had gone out of us, and we were just grateful for the opportunity to come back as a group and end the show on a graceful note."

The last two seasons of "Becker" re-teamed Danson with Nancy Travis, who had worked with him previously in the movies "Three Men and a Baby" and "Three Men and a Little Lady." "I thought she was wonderful," Danson says of his co-star. "She really perked up the show; her unfailingly-optimistic-in-the-face-of-Becker attitude was a great change.

"The last 13 episodes, we really played relationship comedy. We just went for it, and it was fun to see Becker truly trying to do the right thing but failing miserably. I loved the writing. Becker was a really complicated, interesting character."

It wont be long before Danson is back on CBS; he and his wife, Oscar winner Mary Steenburgen ("Joan of Arcadia"), play a long-married couple in the movie "It Must Be Love," scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 15. The potential for other new projects is soothing the wound of losing "Becker," Danson concedes: "As an actor, my ears are slightly perking up, wondering whats next."