The Story:
Welcome to Boston, home of Cheers, the bar where everybody knows your name. The owner is Sam Malone (Ted Danson) ex-ballplayer, former alcoholic and noted womanizer. The rest of his staff includes Carla (Rhea Perlman) and Coach (Nicholas Colasanto). Norm (George Wendt) is the bar regular that everyone calls out to when he comes through the door. There's also a know-it-all mailman (John Ratzenberger) lurking around as well.
In the first episode, Diane (Shelley Long) comes to the bar about to be married, but her man needs to obtain the ring from his ex wife.
You can imagine that it doesn't end well for her.
And there you have the set up that would last for almost 5 years.
Starting in 1982, this 30+ year old NBC comedy series is still hilarious.
Created and written by the trio of James Burrows, Glen and Les Charles, whoever thought a show about a bar would be one of the better sitcoms in television history?
Having not seen the original episode since it probably aired in '82, it was a crazy trip on the way-back machine when I was surfing for something to watch.
It still holds up, it's still funny and doesn't appear to have suffered with age.
All good things, especially when dealing with sitcoms.
I have said before that I preferred the seasons after Diane left the show, but Cheers made the most out of the on-again/off-again romantic tension between Sam and Diane. Unlike Moonlighting, the show didn't lose its steam by pairing up the two in later years.
The sweet reminder was just how funny Coach was. It was sad when he passed away, but Cheers did great by casting Woody Harrelson to step in as the dimwit of the bar.
The show is still great, and if it's been some time since you've watched, now is a great time to revisit some old friends.
And if you've never seen it before, you're in for a treat!
Available to stream instantly on Netflix as of this writing.
Final Grade: A
Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I doubt I'll ever buy the 11 seasons, but it's nice to know that I can stream it at any point if I have time but don't want to go for a movie to have a pretty good sitcom on standby at a moment's notice.
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