Cheers

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...

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

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

I am 23 years old so this show ran and ended before I was even born. I never watched the show at all even when re-runs were on tv. I saw the show was ranked as one of the best sitcoms of all time so I decided to give it a chance when i saw it on Netflix. I'm so glad I did and the show really is funny. You start to feel connections to the characters and you look forward to what new journey the crew will face on the next episode. Very easy to binge and I ended up going through a season in 2-3 days because I would constantly want to come back to see how the story progressed. The show is centered around a bar in Boston & after watching this show you really see how it paved the way for future sitcoms. I was a big fan of 'Friends' growing up and after watching cheers it's kinda eerie how many episode ideas in friends came from cheers. Even the opening scenes have very similar themes lol. After watching cheers I looked at other sitcoms differently and truly saw how much of an impact this sitcom had on others. The show is still funny in 2019 & I could easily see myself coming back to rewatch this show over and over again.

The perfect setting for any tv show in my opinion, was this little bar in Boston. After a couple of so so seasons (NBC claims to have left it on because they had nothing else to air) the show really hit its stride in the mid 80s, with the core being the romance between Sam and Diane. But lending a comic hand were Norm, the unemployed accountant, Cliff the know-it-all mailman, Carla the spitfire waitress, Coach the dim-witted bartender (who passed away in the 85 season), Woody the second dim-witted bartender, and in later years Frasier the neurotic shrink. After the 87 season Shelley Long (Diane)left the show to pursue a film career, unsuccessfully. She was replaced, by my personal preference, with Kirstie Alley as Sams love interest and female foil. Too many high points along the years to mention, but top episodes would be the one where Woody and Sam try and kiss Rebecca, any episode dealing with Garys Old Towne Tavern, Rebeccas visiting sister, and maybe the night at the opera episode. ("Get a load of the warheads on that cellist!") Only real downside was the final episode, which didnt really tie up loose ends very well. None of the characters had any real life changes, the bar wasnt sold or destroyed, everyone stayed put, and the overall amount of laughs werent very strong. But there were so many other great moments that a bad send off can easily be overlooked.