Cheers

Cheers - a tv-show you just can't stop watching! Many people dont like the show that much in the beginning, but when you get to know the persons in the bar, you start to understand them and their great humor.

They will become your friends, and you want to go out to Cheers to meet them, and hang out with them. You want to shout "NORM" when he enters the bar. You want to listen to Cliffs theory about why the next president has to be named "Gelnic Mcwava", and you want to listen to Sam telling about his great baseball career. If you need help, you got dr Frasier Crane, if you need someone to cheer you up, you got Diane, if you need a loose, you got Rebecca Howe. IF you want to be yelled at, Carla is there for you, and if you want to listen to funny stories about Indiana, Woody will tell you all about it.

All i can say is that Cheers is the place everybody wanna go, because you are allways welcome the place EVERYBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME

How on Earth can this only be rated 7.9?! I still watch it to this day and it doesn't bore me. I love these characters and feel like I grew up with them. Interestingly I've noticed over the years that "Friends" borrowed such a lot of episode storylines that it's scary they weren't pulled up for it. Long live the King, long live Sam 'Mayday' Malone!

*Small edit. I see the rating has went down since I wrote the original. It's millennials and Sam's quest for sex. Has to be.

Cheers was one of those shows that had all of the ingredients of being a success from its inception, yet it took a while before it really gained the respect it has over the years. In fact, it was in jeopardy of being canceled after its first season due to low ratings. However, thanks to some smart executives, amazing writers, and a stellar cast, Cheers persevered. The sitcom mainly takes place in a bar and focuses on the daily lives of a variety of colorful characters and the comical situations they create. In a way, it's like watching a slice of what it means to be a citizen in this great country. We are a melting pot of different people, circumstances, beliefs, hang–ups, triumphs, misfortunes, etc., yet when push comes to shove in moments of desperation and/or despair, we work it all out. We work as a team to solve problems and get through each day, whether it be a good one or a day wrought with idiosyncrasies. That's what the patrons in Cheers do. Sure, they have their issues and selfish forays that help define them as individuals, but they're basically good people with good hearts. Everybody commits selfish acts sometimes. This show simply magnifies these types of predicaments for the sake of humor that's all in good fun. It's nice to know there is a place where everyone knows your name that is an extended family of sorts. Sometimes we have to get away from those closest to us just to recharge our batteries. Wouldn't it be nice if everyone could go to a place like Cheers to unwind now and then?

The main ensemble included the cocky–but–likable head bartender, Sam Malone (Ted Danson). I believe Danson was perfectly cast here, and his two Emmy wins are well–deserved. Sam had a love interest on the show for the first five seasons named Diane Chambers (Shelly Long). She was brilliant as the stuffy, neurotic bookworm filled with insecurities and dilemmas that would drive anyone nuts. When Long left the show, Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley) took over. She would eventually buy the bar and have her own insecurities to contend with. She had big shoes to fill as Diane was a popular television character. In fact, Long won an Emmy and two Golden Globes for her scene stealing performances. Alley, to her credit, was a terrific replacement because she brought in a distinctive flavor to her character and added a different dimension to the show. She won an Emmy as well. Rhea Perlman played the fiery head waitress, Carla. She could be a bit hard to swallow at times, but she was dead–on in all of her performances and has four Emmy awards to prove it. The rest of the cast included the spacey bartender, Ernie Pantusso (Nicholas Colasanto), naive bartender Woody (Woody Harrelson – who replaced The Coach after his death in real life), couch potato, Norm (George Wendt), goofy mailman, Cliff (John Ratzenberger), quirky Dr. Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammar – who went on to star in his own very successful spin off show aptly titled Frasier), and Frasier's uptight wife, Lilith (Bebe Neuwirth). All of these diverse characters provided plenty of humorous material and the actors/actresses played them to a tee. It was their top notch performances that propelled this show to a higher level than it already was.

In closing, Cheers offers the viewer the opportunity to escape the rat race world of the major cities (and perhaps the humdrum of small towns??) that we live in where we can enjoy some good conversation, a few laughs, and great company. Feeling welcome is never a bad thing...

At it's best Cheers fully deserves it's place as one of the greatest sitcoms of all time. Well cast, sharply written and made all the more impressive when you consider that most of the episodes rarely stray from the bar setting.

Cheers fans though are a divided bunch. Some prefer the Coach years, others prefer the Woody years. The Diane or Rebecca dispute is far more controversial.

For me I enjoyed the Diane years more. The chemistry between Shelly Long and Ted Danson was great and their characters on/off relationship gave viewers something extra to invest in whilst watching the antics of the other patrons.

Upon watching the later seasons the standard is far lower though, with weaker plots and the characters far too exaggerated from their original form. It happens with a lot of long running sitcoms I know, but when a Cheers episode was poor, it really was poor.

I forgive and forget the latter years though and celebrate the first five because that for me was when Cheers was well worth drinking to

There aren't very many shows that I deem almost (or absolutely) perfect. 'Cheers' is, by far, definitely one of them. On the top. 'Seinfeld', 'Roseanne', 'Bewitched', 'Frasier'...(Those are just a few of the others that I think are great.)

'Cheers' is the perfect show because it has something for everyone. There are so many different character personalities to chose from in that one, simple bar that you can't NOT have a favorite. I don't think anyone (anyone that's ever watched the show) could say "I don't like it, I don't like any of them!" ...But how could you not? For the people that want an (at least) semi-intellectual character (instead of everyone being a complete moron) they have Frasier, Diane, Lilith. Everyone loves Norm's witty one-liners as he enters the bar. Coach and Woody are goofily funny in their own stupidity. Carla has her crude, sarcastic zingers. Sam and his "little black book." Cliff with his "know-it-all" attitude when in actuality he doesn't know a thing. Rebecca's a great, all-around character...

It also has the backup of being CONSTANTLY funny, some episodes aren't completely boring, then the next, twenty times funnier than the one before (though, I admit, some are absolutely hilarious!) It gets better and better with each year, not old and drawn out, just more jokes! That's why it lasted so long.

So, if any of you read this, look in you're TV guides to see when it's on. After just a few, you'll know and love the characters, and you'll be completely hooked!