| Cheers | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | |
| Created by | |
| Showrunners | |
| Directed by |
|
| Starring | |
| Theme music composer |
|
| Opening theme | "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" byGary Portnoy |
| Ending theme | "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" (instrumental) |
| Composer | Craig Safan |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 11 |
| No. of episodes | 275 (including three double-length episodes and a triple-length finale)(list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Cinematography |
|
| Camera setup | Film;Multi-camera |
| Running time | 21–25 minutes |
| Production companies |
|
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC[1] |
| Release | September 30, 1982 (1982-09-30) – May 20, 1993 (1993-05-20) |
| Related | |
Cheers is an American televisionsitcom, created byGlen Charles & Les Charles andJames Burrows, aired onNBC for eleven seasons from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association withParamount Television. The show is set in thetitular bar in Boston, where a group of locals meet to drink, relax, socialize, and escape from their day-to-day issues.
At the center of the show is the bar's owner and head bartender,Sam Malone, who is a womanizing former relief pitcher for theBoston Red Sox. The show's ensemble cast introduced in thepilot episode are waitressesDiane Chambers andCarla Tortelli, second bartenderCoach Ernie Pantusso, and regular customersNorm Peterson andCliff Clavin. Later main characters of the show includeFrasier Crane,Woody Boyd,Lilith Sternin, andRebecca Howe.
After premiering in 1982,Cheers was nearly canceled during its first season when it ranked almost last in ratings for its premiere (74th out of 77 shows). However, the show eventually became aNielsen ratingsjuggernaut in the United States, earning a top-10 rating during eight of its 11 seasons, including one season at number one (season 9). The show spent most of its run on NBC's Thursday night "Must See TV" lineup.Widely watched,its series finale in 1993 became the most-watched single TV episode of the 1990s, and the show's 275episodes have been successfullysyndicated worldwide. Nominated forOutstanding Comedy Series for all 11 of its seasons on the air, it earned 28Primetime Emmy Awards from a record of 117 nominations.
During its run,Cheers became one of the most popular series in history and received critical acclaim from its start to its end and is frequently cited as one of thegreatest television shows of all time.[2][3][4][5][6] In 1997, the episodes "Thanksgiving Orphans" and "Home Is the Sailor," aired originally in 1987, were respectively ranked No. 7 and No. 45 onTV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.[7] The show was followed by three spin-offs:The Tortellis,Wings, andFrasier; and aSpanish remake.
Before theCheers pilot "Give Me a Ring Sometime" was completed and aired in 1982, the series consisted of four employees in the first script.[8] Later revisions addedNorm Peterson andCliff Clavin (regular customers of Cheers) as among the regular characters of the series, even though neither was featured.[9]
In later years,Woody Boyd replaced Coach, after the character died off-screen in season three (1984–85), following actorNicholas Colasanto's death.Frasier Crane started as a recurring character and became a permanent one. In season six (1987–88), new characterRebecca Howe was added, having been written into the show after the finale of the previous season (1986–87).Lilith Sternin started as a one-time character in an episode of season four, "Second Time Around" (1985). After her second season five appearance, she became a recurring character and was later featured as a permanent one during season 10 (1991–92).
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AlthoughCheers operated largely around that main ensemble cast and their interactions with various one-off characters, guest stars and recurring characters did occasionally supplement them. Notable repeat guests includedDan Hedaya asNick Tortelli andJean Kasem asLoretta Tortelli (who were the main characters in the first spin-off,The Tortellis),Fred Dryer as Dave Richards,Annie Golden as Margaret O'Keefe,Derek McGrath as Andy Schroeder (also referred to asAndy Andy), interchangeablyJoel Polis andRobert Desiderio as rival bar owner Gary,Jay Thomas asEddie LeBec,Roger Rees asRobin Colcord,Tom Skerritt asEvan Drake,Frances Sternhagen as Esther Clavin,Richard Doyle as Walter Gaines,Keene Curtis as John Allen Hill,Anthony Cistaro as Henri, Michael McGuire as Professor Sumner Sloan, andHarry Anderson as Harry "The Hat" Gittes.Jackie Swanson, who played the recurring role of Woody's girlfriend and eventual wife "Kelly Gaines-Boyd", appeared in 24 episodes from 1989 to 1993. The character is as equally dim and naive—but ultimately as sweet-natured—as Woody.
Paul Willson played the recurring barfly character Paul Krapence. (In one early appearance in the first season he was called "Glen", and was later credited on-screen as "Gregg" and "Tom", but he was playing the same character throughout.)Thomas Babson played "Tom", a law student often mocked byCliff Clavin, for continually failing to pass the Massachusetts bar exam. "Al", played byAl Rosen, appeared in 38 episodes, and was known for his surly quips. Rhea Perlman's fatherPhilip Perlman played the role of "Phil".[20]
Other celebrities guest-starred in single episodes as themselves throughout the series. Sports figures appeared on the show as themselves, with a connection to Boston or Sam's former team, the Red Sox, such asLuis Tiant,Wade Boggs, andKevin McHale andLarry Bird (of theBoston Celtics).[21] Some television stars also made guest appearances as themselves such asAlex Trebek,Arsenio Hall,Dick Cavett,Robert Urich,George McFarland andJohnny Carson. Various political figures even made appearances onCheers such as then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of StaffAdmiralWilliam J. Crowe, formerColoradoSenatorGary Hart, theSpeaker of the HouseTip O'Neill, the SenatorJohn Kerry, theGovernorMichael Dukakis,Ethel Kennedy (widow ofRobert F. Kennedy), and theMayor of BostonRaymond Flynn, the last five of whom all represented Cheers' home state and city.
In maternal roles,Glynis Johns, in a guest appearance in 1983, played Diane's mother, Helen Chambers.Nancy Marchand played Frasier's mother, Hester Crane, in an episode that aired in 1984. In an episode that aired in 1992,Celeste Holm – who had previously played Ted Danson's mother in "Three Men and a Baby" – appeared as Kelly's jokester of a paternal grandmother.Melendy Britt appeared in the episode "Woody or Won't He" (1990) as Kelly's mother, Roxanne Gaines, a very attractive high-society lady and a sexy, flirtatious upper-class cougar who tries to seduce Woody.
The musicianHarry Connick Jr. appeared in an episode as Woody's cousin and plays a song from his Grammy-winning albumWe Are in Love (c. 1991).John Cleese won aPrimetime Emmy Award for his guest appearance as "Dr. Simon Finch-Royce" in the fifth-season episode "Simon Says".Emma Thompson guest-starred asNanny G/Nannette Guzman, a famous singing nanny and Frasier's ex-wife.Christopher Lloyd guest-starred as a tortured artist who wanted to paint Diane.Marcia Cross portrayed Rebecca's sister Susan in the season 7 episodeSisterly Love.John Mahoney once appeared as an inept jingle writer, which included a brief conversation with Frasier Crane, whose father he later portrayed on the spin-offFrasier.Peri Gilpin, who later playedRoz Doyle onFrasier, also appeared in one episode ofCheers, in its 11th season, as Holly Matheson, a reporter who interviews Woody.The Righteous Brothers,Bobby Hatfield andBill Medley, also guest-starred in different episodes. In "The Guy Can't Help It", Rebecca meets a plumber, played byTom Berenger, who came to fix one of the beer keg taps. They marry in the series finale, triggering her resignation from Cheers.Judith Barsi appears in the episodeRelief Bartender.
Notable guest appearances of actresses portraying Sam's sexual conquests or potential sexual conquests includeKate Mulgrew in the three-episode finale of season four, portraying Boston councilwoman Janet Eldridge;Donna McKechnie as Debra, Sam's ex-wife (with whom he is on good terms), who pretends to be an intellectual in front of Diane;Barbara Babcock as Lana Marshall, a talent agent who specializes in representing male athletes, whom she routinely sleeps with on-demand;Julia Duffy as Rebecca Prout, a depressed intellectual friend of Diane's;Alison La Placa as magazine reporter Paula Nelson;Carol Kane as Amanda, who Sam eventually learns was a fellow patient at the sanitarium with Diane;Barbara Feldon as Lauren Hudson, Sam's annual Valentine's Day fling (in an homage toSame Time, Next Year);Sandahl Bergman as Judy Marlowe, a longtime casual sex partner; Laurie Marlowe (Chelsea Noble), Judy's now-grown-up daughter, who always considered Sam a pseudo-father figure, & whom Sam falls for;Madolyn Smith-Osborne as Dr. Sheila Rydell, a colleague of Frasier and Lilith;Valerie Mahaffey as Valerie Hill, John Allen Hill's daughter whom Sam pursues if only to gain an upper hand in his business relationship with Hill; andAlexis Smith as Alice Anne Volkman, Rebecca's much older ex-professor. In season 9, episode 17, "I'm Getting My Act Together and Sticking It in Your Face", Sam, believing Rebecca wants a more serious relationship, pretends to be gay, his lover being a casual friend named Leon (Jeff McCarthy)—the plan ultimately leads to a kiss between Sam and Leon.
Near the end of production of the third season, the writers ofCheers had to deal with the death of one of the main actors.Nicholas Colasanto's heart condition had been diagnosed in the mid-1970s, but it had worsened. He had lost weight and was having trouble breathing during filming, and he was hospitalized shortly before filming finished for season three due to fluid in his lungs. He recovered but was not cleared to return to work. He was visiting the set in January 1985 to watch the filming of several episodes, and co-starShelley Long commented, "I think we were all in denial. We were all glad he was there, but he had lost a lot of weight." Co-starRhea Perlman added, "He wanted to be there so badly. He didn't want to be sick. He couldn't breathe well. It was hard. He was laboring all the time." Colasanto ultimately died of a heart attack at his home on February 12, 1985.[22]
The third-season episodes ofCheers were filmed out of order, partly to accommodate Shelley Long's pregnancy. As a result, filming of the season finale - which had scenes with Colasanto in it - had already been completed at the time of his death. As the remaining episodes were filmed, Coach's absence was explained by having one of the characters mention that Coach was out of town for various reasons.
TheCheers writing staff assembled in June 1985 to discuss how to deal with the absence of Coach. They quickly discarded the idea that he had moved away, as they felt that he would never abandon his friends. In addition, most viewers were aware of Colasanto's death, so the writing staff decided to handle the situation more openly. The season four opener, "Birth, Death, Love and Rice", dealt with Coach's death and introducedWoody Harrelson, Colasanto's replacement.[22][23]
| Season | Episodes | Originally released | Rank[24] | Rating[24] | Households (seasons 1-6)/ Viewers (seasons 7–11) (millions) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | ||||||
| 1 | 22 | September 30, 1982 (1982-09-30) | March 31, 1983 (1983-03-31) | 74 | 13.1 | 10.9 | |
| 2 | 22 | September 29, 1983 (1983-09-29) | May 10, 1984 (1984-05-10) | 34 | 16.6[c] | 13.8 | |
| 3 | 25 | September 27, 1984 (1984-09-27) | May 9, 1985 (1985-05-09) | 13 | 19.7 | 16.7 | |
| 4 | 26 | September 26, 1985 (1985-09-26) | May 15, 1986 (1986-05-15) | 5 | 23.7 | 20.4 | |
| 5 | 26 | September 25, 1986 (1986-09-25) | May 7, 1987 (1987-05-07) | 3 | 27.2 | 23.8 | |
| 6 | 25 | September 24, 1987 (1987-09-24) | May 5, 1988 (1988-05-05) | 3 | 23.4 | 20.7 | |
| 7 | 22 | October 27, 1988 (1988-10-27) | May 4, 1989 (1989-05-04) | 4 | 22.3 | 33.9 | |
| 8 | 26 | September 21, 1989 (1989-09-21) | May 3, 1990 (1990-05-03) | 3 | 22.7 | 34.7 | |
| 9 | 26 | September 20, 1990 (1990-09-20) | May 2, 1991 (1991-05-02) | 1 | 21.3 | 32.7 | |
| 10 | 26 | September 19, 1991 (1991-09-19) | May 14, 1992 (1992-05-14) | 4 | 17.6 | 27.3 | |
| 11 | 28 | September 24, 1992 (1992-09-24) | May 20, 1993 (1993-05-20) | 8 | 16.1[d] | 28.2 | |
Nearly all ofCheers takes place in the front room of the bar, but the characters often go into the rear pool room or the bar's office.[25]Cheers does not show any action outside the bar until the first episode of the second season, which takes place in Diane's apartment.
The show's maintheme in its early seasons is the romance between intellectual waitress Diane Chambers and the bar's owner, Sam Malone, a formerMajor League Baseballpitcher for theBoston Red Sox and recovering alcoholic.[26] After Shelley Long (Diane) left the show, the focus shifted to Sam's new relationship withRebecca Howe, a neurotic corporate ladder climber.
ManyCheers scripts centered or touched upon a variety ofsocial issues, albeit humorously. AsToasting Cheers puts it, "The script was further strengthened by the writers' boldness in successfully tackling controversial issues such as alcoholism, homosexuality, and adultery."[27]
Social class was a subtext of the show. The "upper class"—represented by characters like Diane Chambers,Frasier Crane, andLilith Sternin—rub shoulders with middle- and working-class characters Sam Malone, Carla Tortelli, Norm Peterson, and Cliff Clavin. An extreme example of this was the relationship between Woody Boyd and a millionaire's daughter,Kelly Gaines. Many viewers enjoyedCheers in part because of this focus on character development in addition to plot development.[28]
Feminism and the role of women were also recurring themes throughout the show, with some critics seeing each of the major female characters portraying an aspect as a flawed feminist in her own way.[29] Diane is a vocal feminist, and Sam is the epitome of everything she hates:promiscuity andchauvinism (see "Sam and Diane").
Homosexuality was dealt with from the first season, which was rare in the early1980s on American television.[30] In the first-season episode "The Boys in the Bar" (the title being a reference to theplay and subsequent movieThe Boys in the Band), a friend and former teammate of Sam'scomes out in his autobiography. Some of the male regulars pressure Sam to take action to ensure that Cheers does not become agay bar. The episode won aGLAAD Media Award, and the script's writers,Ken Levine and David Isaacs, were nominated for aPrimetime Emmy Award.
Addiction also plays a role onCheers, almost exclusively through Sam. He is a recovering alcoholic who had bought a bar during his drinking days. Frasier has a notable bout of drinking in the fourth-season episode "The Triangle", while Woody develops a gambling problem in the seventh season episode "Call Me Irresponsible". Carla and other characters drink beer while pregnant, but nobody seems to mind.
Sam Malone, Carla Tortelli, and Norm Peterson were the three characters who would appear in every episode ofCheers.[31][32]
Cheers had several owners before Sam, as the bar was opened in 1889. The "Est. 1895" on the bar's sign is a made-up date chosen by Carla fornumerology purposes, revealed in season 8, episode 6, "The Stork Brings a Crane", which also revealed the bar's address as 1121⁄2 Beacon Street and that it originated under the name Mom's. In the series' second episode, "Sam's Women", Coach tells a customer looking for Gus, the owner of Cheers, that Gus is dead. In a later episode, Gus O'Mally comes back from Arizona for one night and helps run the bar.
The biggest storyline surrounding the ownership of Cheers begins in the fifth-season finale, "I Do, Adieu", when Sam and Diane part ways, due to Shelley Long's departure from the series. In addition, Sam leaves on a trip tocircumnavigate the globe. Before he leaves, he sells Cheers to the Lillian Corporation. He returns in the sixth-season premiere, "Home is the Sailor", having sunk his boat, to find the bar under the new management of Rebecca Howe. He begs for his job back and is hired by Rebecca as a bartender. In the seventh-season premiere, "How to Recede in Business", Rebecca is fired and Sam is promoted to manager. Rebecca is allowed to keep a job at Lillian vaguely similar to what she had before, but only after Sam has Rebecca (in absentia) "agree" to a long list of demands that the corporation had for her.
From there, Sam occasionally attempts to buy the bar back with schemes that usually involve the wealthy executiveRobin Colcord. Sam acquires Cheers again in the eighth-season finale, whenit is sold back to him for 85¢ by the Lillian Corporation after he alerts the company to Colcord'sinsider trading. Fired by the corporation because of her silence on the issue, Rebecca is hired by Sam as a hostess/office manager. For the rest of the episode, to celebrate Sam's reclaiming the bar, a huge banner reading "Under OLD Management!" hangs from the staircase. When it is learned that the Pool Room and bathrooms are actually owned by Melville's (which spawns a war of wits between Sam and Melville's owner John Allen Hill), Rebecca later purchases them from Hill, making Sam and Rebecca partners in the ownership of Cheers (and more or less co-runners of the establishment).
Sam has two main battles. One is with Gary's Olde Towne Tavern, trying to beat them at some activity or another but always failing, except for one episode when Diane helps Cheers win the bowling trophy, and extending to the practical jokes they play on each other. The second is with Melville's owner John Allen Hill, who keeps annoying Sam with his pettiness and ego. Hill had an ongoing relationship with Carla.
Some believe that the show is a rehashing of Boston'sABC affiliateWCVB's locally produced 1979 sitcomPark Street Under featuringSteve Sweeney andAmerican Repertory Theater founder Karen MacDonald.[33] Three men developed and created theCheers television series:Glen and Les Charles ("Glen and Les") andJames Burrows,[34] who identified themselves as "two Mormons and a Jew."[35] They aimed at "creating a show around aSpencer Tracy-Katharine Hepburn-type relationship" between their two main characters,Sam and Diane.[34] Malone represents the average man, while Chambers represents class and sophistication.[34] The show revolves around characters in a bar under "humorous adult themes" and "situations".[34]
The original idea was a group of workers who interacted like a family, the goal being a concept similar toThe Mary Tyler Moore Show. The creators considered making an American version of the BritishFawlty Towers, set in a hotel or an inn. When the creators settled on a bar as their setting, the show began to resemble theradio programDuffy's Tavern, originally written and cocreated by James Burrows' fatherAbe Burrows. They liked the idea of atavern, as it provided a continuous stream of new people, for a variety of characters.[36] An early concept revolved around a woman becoming the new owner of the bar and the animosity created between her and the regulars, an idea that was used later in Season 6 when the character ofRebecca Howe is introduced.[37]
Early discussions about the location of the show centered onBarstow, California, thenKansas City, Missouri. They eventually turned to theEast Coast and finally Boston. TheBull & Finch Pub in Boston, which was the model for Cheers, was chosen from aphone book.[38] When Glen Charles asked the bar's owner, Tom Kershaw, to shoot exterior and interior photos, he agreed, charging $1. Kershaw has since gone on to make millions of dollars, licensing the pub's image and selling a variety ofCheers memorabilia. The Bull & Finch became the 42nd-busiest outlet in the American food and beverage industry in 1997.[36] During initial casting, Shelley Long, who was in Boston at the time filmingA Small Circle of Friends, remarked that the bar in the script resembled a bar she had come upon in the city, which turned out to be the Bull & Finch.[39]
The crew ofCheers numbered in the hundreds. The three creators—James Burrows andGlen and Les Charles—kept offices on Paramount's lot for the duration of theCheers run. The Charles Brothers remained in overall charge throughout the show's run, frequently writing major episodes, though starting with the third season they began delegating the day-to-day running of the writing staff to variousshowrunners.Ken Estin andSam Simon were appointed as showrunners for the third season, and succeeded byDavid Angell,Peter Casey andDavid Lee the following year. Angell, Casey and Lee would remain as showrunners until the end of the seventh season when they left to develop their own sitcom,Wings, and were replaced by Bill and Cheri Steinkellner andPhoef Sutton for the eighth through tenth seasons. For the final season, Tom Anderson andDan O'Shannon acted as the showrunners.
James Burrows is regarded as being a factor in the show's longevity, directing 243 of the 270 episodes and supervising the show's production.[40] Among the show's other directors wereAndy Ackerman, Thomas Lofaro, Tim Berry,Tom Moore, Rick Beren, as well as cast members John Ratzenberger and George Wendt.[28]
Craig Safan provided the series' original music for its entire run except the theme song. His extensive compositions for the show led to his winning numerousASCAP Top TV Series awards for his music.
The character ofSam Malone was originally intended to be a retired football player and was slated to be played byFred Dryer, but Danson was chosen in part because he was younger and had more acting experience than Dryer.[41] After casting Ted Danson, it was decided that a former baseball player (Sam "Mayday" Malone) would be more believable than a retired football player.[42][43] Dryer, however, went on to play sportscaster Dave Richards, an old friend of Sam, in three episodes.Bill Cosby was also considered early in the casting process for the role of Sam, after having been recommended by the network.[44]
Shelley Long was recommended by various sources to the producers for the role ofDiane Chambers, but Long wished to be offered the part straight out and had to be coaxed into giving an audition. When she did read for the part, according to Glen Charles, "that was it, we knew that we wanted her."[44] Before the final decision was made, three pairs of actors were tested in front of the producers and network executives for Sam and Diane: Danson and Long, Fred Dryer andJulia Duffy, andWilliam Devane andLisa Eichhorn.[41] The chemistry was so apparent between Long and Danson that it secured them the roles.[41][44] Ted Danson was sent to bartending school to prepare him for the part and according to Burrows, had to learn "how to pretend that he knew a lot about sports" since Danson was not a sports fan in real life and had never been to a baseball game.[41]
The character ofCliff Clavin was created for John Ratzenberger after he auditioned for the role ofNorm Peterson, which eventually went to George Wendt. While chatting with producers afterward, he asked if they were going to include a "bar know-it-all", the part he eventually played.[45] Alley joined the cast when Shelley Long left, and Woody Harrelson joined when Nicholas Colasanto died. Danson, Perlman and Wendt were the only actors to appear in every episode of the series; Ratzenberger appears in all but two (and his name wasn't part of the opening credit montage during the first season).
"OnCheers, we never did everything twice. OnCheers, we went through the scene and I only reshot jokes that didn't work or I went back and picked up shots I missed."
MostCheers episodes were, as a voiceover stated at the start of each, "filmed before a livestudio audience" on Paramount Stage 25 in Hollywood, generally on Tuesday nights. Scripts for a new episode were issued the Wednesday before for aread-through, Friday wasrehearsal day, and final scripts were issued on Monday. Burrows, who directed most episodes, insisted on usingfilm stock rather thanvideotape. He was also noted for using motion in his directorial style, trying to constantly keep characters moving rather than standing still.[47] Burrows and the Charles brothers emphasized to the cast to "never assume that you're not being watched" because the camera would be focused on the actors at all times, so they had to always be reacting and "always be funny".[37] During the first season when ratings were poor Paramount and NBC asked that the show use videotape to save money, but a poor test taping ended the experiment andCheers continued to use film.[48]
Due to a decision by Glen and Les Charles, thecold open was often not connected to the rest of the episode, with the lowest-ranked writers assigned to create the jokes for them. Some cold opens were taken from episodes that ran too long.[49]
The first year of the show took place entirely within the confines of the bar, the first location outside the bar being Diane's apartment in the second year. When the series became a hit, the characters started venturing further afield, first to other sets and eventually to an occasional exterior location.
The exterior location shots of the bar are of a Boston pub known at the time as theBull & Finch Pub. The pub, whose interior differs from the set of the TV series, but has a similar style, has become atourist attraction because of its association with the series, and draws nearly one million visitors annually.[36][50] It was subsequently renamed Cheers Beacon Hill. In August 2001, a separate bar was opened in theFaneuil Hall Marketplace to capitalize on the popularity of the show. The Cheers Faneuil Hall location was designed to include a replica of the bar from the show, as well as to act as a museum with artifacts from the show. The Faneuil Hall location closed in 2020 due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.
After the show ended, the 1,000-square-foot bar set fromCheers was offered to theSmithsonian, which turned it down because it was too large.[51] It was displayed for a short time at the defunct Hollywood Entertainment Museum, but later returned to storage, where it remained for many years. In 2014, CBS donated the set to the Museum of Television after a years-long campaign by James Burrows and his office on behalf of the museum's founder, James Comisar. At the time of the donation, Comisar initiated a planned $100,000 restoration of the set using former conservators from theLos Angeles County Museum of Art, although a site for the 10,000 item collection of the museum had not been decided upon.[52][51]
The bar itself was sold at auction in 2023 for $675,000. The front door of the bar from the set sold at auction in 2025 for $163,000.
Before "Where Everybody Knows Your Name", written byGary Portnoy and Judy Hart Angelo, became the show's theme song,Cheers' producers rejected two of Portnoy's and Hart Angelo's songs. The songwriters had collaborated to provide music forPreppies, an unsuccessful Broadway musical. When told they could not appropriate "People Like Us",Preppies' opening song, the pair wrote another song, "My Kind of People", which resembles "People Like Us" and was intended to satirize "the lifestyle of old decadent old-moneyWASPs", but to meet producers' demands, they rewrote the lyrics to be about "likeable losers" in a Boston bar. The show's producers rejected this song, as well. After they read the script of the series pilot, they created another song "Another Day". When Portnoy and Hart Angelo heard that NBC had commissioned thirteen episodes, they created an official theme song "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" and rewrote the lyrics.[53] On syndicated airings ofCheers, the theme song was shortened to make room for additional commercials.
Cheers was critically acclaimed in its first season, though it landed a disappointing 74th out of 96 shows in that year's ratings.[54] This critical support, the early success at thePrimetime Emmy Awards, and the support of the president of NBC's entertainment divisionBrandon Tartikoff, are thought to be the main reasons for the show's survival and eventual success.[55] Tartikoff stated in 1983 thatCheers was a sophisticated adult comedy and that NBC executives "never for a second doubted" that the show would be renewed.[34] Writer Levine believes that the most important reason was that the network recognized that it did not have other hit shows to help promoteCheers; as he later wrote, "[NBC] had nothing else better to replace it with."[56]
Writing in 2016, drama criticChris Jones calledCheers "a hinge sitcom – one foot in classic bits andshtick not far removed fromMel Brooks and another in ambitious,Seinfeld-likeabsurdism."[57] In 2013,GQ magazine held an online competition to find the best TV comedy.Cheers was voted the greatest comedy show of all time.[58] In 2017, James Charisma ofPaste magazine ranked the show's opening sequence No. 5 on a list ofThe 75 Best TV Title Sequences of All Time.[59] In 2022,Rolling Stone rankedCheers as the eighth-greatest TV show of all time.[5] In 2023,Variety rankedCheers #11 on its list of the 100 greatest TV shows of all time.[6]
Ratings improved for the summer reruns after the first season.[58] The cast went on various talk shows to try to further promote the series after its first season. By the second seasonCheers was competitive with CBS's top-rated showSimon & Simon.[34] With the growing popularity ofFamily Ties, which ran in the slot ahead ofCheers from January 1984 untilFamily Ties was moved to Sundays in 1987, and the placement ofThe Cosby Show in front of both at the start of their third season (1984), the line-up became a runaway ratings success that NBC eventually dubbed "Must See Thursday". The next season,Cheers ratings increased dramatically after Woody Boyd became a regular character as well. The fifth season earned the seriesthe highest rating for the year that it would ever achieve. Although ratings mostly declined each year after that, the show retained a competitive advantage androse to rank number one for the year for its first and only time in the ninth season. Althoughratings and ranking both lost ground in the last two seasons, it still performed well, as it was the only show on NBC during those seasons to be in the top 10. By the end of its final season, the show had a run of eight consecutive seasons in the top ten of theNielsen ratings; seven of them were in the top five.[60]
NBC dedicated a whole night to thefinal episode ofCheers, following theone-hour season finale ofSeinfeld (which was its lead-in). The show began with a "pregame" show hosted byBob Costas, followed by the final 98-minute episode itself. NBC affiliates then aired tributes toCheers during their local newscasts, and the night concluded with a specialTonight Show broadcast live from the Bull & Finch Pub. Although the episode fell short of its hyped ratings predictions to become themost-watched television episode, it was the most watched show that year, bringing in 93 million viewers (64 percent of all viewers that night), and ranked 11th all time in entertainment programming. The 1993 final broadcast ofCheers also emerged as the highest rated broadcast of NBC to date, as well as the most watched single episode from any television series throughout the decade 1990s on U.S. television.[61][62][63][e]
The episode originally aired in the usualCheers spot of Thursday night, and was then rebroadcast on Sunday. While the original broadcast did not outperform theM*A*S*H finale, the combined non-repeating audiences for the Thursday and Sunday showings did. Television had greatly changed between the two finales, leavingCheers with a broader array of competition for ratings.[64]
NBC timeslots:
Although not the first sitcom to do it,Cheers employed the use of end-of-season cliffhangers and, starting with the third season, the show's storylines became more serialized. The show's success helped make such multi-episode story arcs popular on sitcoms, which Les Charles regrets.
[W]e may have been partly responsible for what's going on now, where if you miss the first episode or two, you are lost. You have to wait until you can get the whole thing on DVD and catch up with it. If that blood is on our hands, I feel kind of badly about it. It can be very frustrating."[58]
Cheers began with a limited five-character ensemble consisting of Ted Danson, Shelley Long, Rhea Perlman, Nicholas Colasanto and George Wendt.Cheers was able to gradually phase in characters such as Cliff, Frasier, Lilith, Rebecca, and Woody. By the time season 10 began, the show had eight front characters in its roster.
Over its eleven-season run, theCheers cast and crew earned many awards. The show garnered a record 111Primetime Emmy Award nominations, with a total of 28 wins. In addition,Cheers earned 31Golden Globe nominations, with a total of six wins. Danson, Long, Alley, Perlman, Wendt, Ratzenberger, Harrelson, Grammer, Neuwirth, and Colasanto all received Emmy nominations for their roles.Cheers won the Golden Globe Award for "Best TV-Series – Comedy/Musical" in 1991 and thePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1983, 1984, 1989, and 1991. The series was presented with the "Legend Award" at the 2006TV Land Awards, with many of the surviving cast members attending the event.[65]
The following are awards that have been earned by theCheers cast and crew over its 11-season run:
| Winner | Award | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emmy | Year | Golden Globe | Year | |
| Kirstie Alley | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series | 1991 | Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series – Comedy/Musical | 1991 |
| Ted Danson | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series | 1990 1993 | Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series – Comedy/Musical | 1990 1991 |
| Woody Harrelson | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series | 1989 | N/a | |
| Shelley Long | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series | 1983 | Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series – Comedy/Musical | 1985 |
| N/a | Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series, or Motion Picture Made for TV | 1983 | ||
| Bebe Neuwirth | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series | 1990 1991 | N/a | |
| Rhea Perlman | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series | 1984 1985 1986 1989 | ||
| John Cleese | Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series | 1987 | ||
| Production Awards | Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series | 1983 1991 | ||
| Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series | 1983 1984 | |||
| Outstanding Individual Achievement in Graphic Design and Title Sequences | 1983 | |||
| Outstanding Film Editing for a Series | 1984 | |||
| Outstanding Editing for a Series – Multi-Camera Production | 1988 1993 | |||
| Outstanding Live and Tape Sound Mixing and Sound Effects for a Series | 1985 | |||
| Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy Series or Special | 1986 1987 1990 | |||
Cheers grew in popularity as it aired on American television and entered off-network syndication in 1987, initially distributed byParamount Domestic Television. When the show went off the air in 1993,Cheers was syndicated in 38 countries, with 179 American television markets and 83 million viewers.[66] When the quality of some earlier footage ofCheers began to deteriorate, it underwent a careful restoration in 2001.[67] The series aired onNick at Nite from 2001 to 2004 and onTV Land from 2004 to 2008,[50] with Nick at Nite airing week-longCheers "Everybody Knows Your Name" marathons. The show was removed from the lineup in 2004.The series began airing onHallmark Channel in the United States in October 2008, andWGN America in 2009. In January 2011,Reelz Channel began airing the series in hour-long blocks.MeTV began airingCheers weeknights in 2010 until 2018.USA Network has aired the series on Sunday early mornings and weekday mornings to allow it to show extended-length films of2+1⁄2 hours and maintain symmetric schedules. As of October 5, 2020, it airs every weeknight at 11:00 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. ET on Decades (nowCatchy Comedy).[68] In addition to that, it also has occasionally appeared on their weekend binges, with its most recent one on April 6, 2025.
In 2011,Cheers was made available on theNetflix andAmazon Prime Video streaming services.[69]
In Canada,Cheers was first aired on theCTV Television Network. Reruns of the show continued on CTV right after its original run. The show later reran onPrime andOmni Television. InAustralia,Cheers was first aired onNetwork Ten. Reruns of the show began airing onEleven (a digital channel of Network Ten) on January 11, 2011.NCRV in theNetherlands aired all 275 episodes in sequence, once per night, repeating the series a total of three times. InItaly, its original run aired on bothItalia 1 andCanale 5 asCin Cin from 1985 until 1995, withLa7 airing reruns afterward. InGermany,ZDF began airing the show on January 15, 1985 asProst Helmut. Unlike most countries despite having moderate success, Germany's original run didn't last long and ZDF pulled the program after just 13 episodes. It wasn't until 10 years later in 1995 whenRTL began running all 275 episodes with German dubbing byMunich-based Plaza Synchron. InSweden, the show first aired onTV2 on June 12, 1984, withTV12,TV4 Komedi, and TV4 Gold carrying reruns after its original run.RTP1 began airing the series inPortugal on May 11, 1985, withSIC TV carrying reruns after its original run. InDenmark, the show first aired onDR1 asSam's Bar, withTVDanmark1 and6'eren carrying reruns afterward. Other countries that aired reruns of the show includeFrance andJapan.
Cheers was first screened in the United Kingdom onChannel 4 and was one of the then-fledgling network's first imports. As of 2012,Cheers has been repeated on British satellite channelCBS Drama. It has also been shown on the British free-to-air channelITV4, with two episodes every weeknight. On March 16, 2015, the series began airing on British subscription channelGold on weekdays at 9:30 a.m. and 10:00 a.m.Cheers aired again daily in 2019 onChannel 4, but later moved to weekends only.[citation needed]
A high-definition transfer ofCheers began running on HDNet (nowAXS TV) in the United States in August 2010. The program was originally shot on film (but transferred to and edited on videotape) and broadcast in a 4:3aspect ratio.
Paramount Home Entertainment and (from 2006 onward)CBS Home Entertainment have released all 11 seasons ofCheers onDVD in Region 1, Region 2, and Region 4. In the United States, some episodes from the final three seasons appear on the DVDs with music substitutions. For example, in the episode "Grease", "I Fought the Law" was replaced even though its removal affects the comedic value of the scenes in which it was originally heard. The finale episode (73 minutes long without commercials) is presented in its three-part syndicated cut.[citation needed] The series is also available in high-definitionBlu-ray.[70][71]
On March 6, 2012, CBS releasedFan Favorites: The Best of Cheers. Based on the 2012 Facebook poll, the selected episodes are:[72]
On May 5, 2015, CBS DVD releasedCheers – The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1.[73]
The complete 11 seasons ofCheers are available through theiTunes Store,Amazon Prime Video,Paramount+,Peacock andHulu in high definition. In Canada, all seasons are available on streaming serviceCrave.[74]
The entire series was available in the UK onAll 4.
The series lent itself naturally to the development ofCheers bar-related merchandise, culminating in the development of a chain ofCheers themed pubs. Paramount's licensing group, led byTom McGrath, developed theCheers pub concept initially in partnership with Host Marriott, which placedCheers themed pubs in over 15 airports around the world.[75] The originalCheers bar is in Boston, historically known as the Bull and Finch; a Cheers restaurant in the Faneuil Hall marketplace; and Sam's Place, a spin-off sports bar concept also located in Faneuil Hall. In 1997, Europe's first officially licensedCheers bar opened in London's Regent's Street W1. Like Cheers Faneuil Hall, Cheers London is a replica of the set. The gala opening was attended by James Burrows and cast members George Wendt and John Ratzenberger.[76] TheCheers bar in London closed on December 31, 2008. The actual bar set had been on display at the Hollywood Entertainment Museum until the museum's closing in early 2006.[77]
The theme song to the show was eventually licensed to a Canadian restaurant,Kelsey's Neighbourhood Bar & Grill.[78]
CBS currently holds the rights to theCheers franchise as a result of the 2005Viacom split which saw Paramount transfer its entire television studio to CBS (both CBS and Viacom wouldreunite in 2019).
Some of the actors and actresses fromCheers brought their characters onto other television shows, either in a guest appearance or on a new spin-off series. The most successfulCheers spin-off wasFrasier, which featured Frasier Crane following his relocation back toSeattle, Washington. Sam, Diane, and Woody all individually appeared inFrasier episodes, with Lilith appearing as a guest on multiple episodes. In theseason nine episode "Cheerful Goodbyes", Frasier returns to Boston and meets up with the Cheers gang, later attending Cliff's retirement party.[79]Frasier wasrevived in 2023, moving back to Boston likeCheers.
AlthoughFrasier was more successful,The Tortellis was the first series to spin off fromCheers, premiering in 1987. The show featured Carla's ex-husbandNick Tortelli and his wife Loretta, but was canceled after 13 episodes and drew protests for its stereotypical depictions of Italian Americans.[80]
In addition to direct spin-offs, severalCheers characters had guest appearance crossovers with other shows, includingWings andSt. Elsewhere (episode "Cheers").Cheers has also been spoofed or referenced in other media, includingThe Simpsons (spoofing the title sequence and theme song in "Flaming Moe's"; actually visiting the place with vocal role reprises of the majority of the principal cast in "Fear of Flying"),Scrubs (episode "My Life in Four Cameras"), and the 2012 comedy filmTed.
The eighth-anniversary special ofLate Night with David Letterman, airing in 1990, begins with a scene at Cheers in which the bar's TV gets stuck on NBC and all the bar patrons decide to go home instead of staying to watchDavid Letterman. The scene was re-used to open Letterman's final episode in 1993.[81] A similar scene aired in theSuper Bowl XVII Pregame Show on NBC, in which the characters briefly discuss the upcoming game.[citation needed]
In 2019, members of theCheers cast, Rhea Perlman, George Wendt, John Ratzenberger and Kirstie Alley reprised their characters in an episode ofThe Goldbergs where they play customers of Geoff's short-lived food delivery business.[82]
In the 2010 showAdventure Time, the showCheers is referenced a few times, usually byIce King/Simon because it was his favorite show back when he was a human living in the 20th century. This is explored in greater detail in the 2023 spin-off seriesFionna and Cake, which is partially set within the mind of Simon. All televisions in that world simply play an animated rendition ofCheers reruns on every channel, and the characters sometimes sing the theme song in difficult moments.[83][84] The season finale of the show is simply entitled "Cheers".[85]
InAustralia,Cheers is remembered for its role inthe infamous cancellation of the 1992Nine Network specialAustralia's Naughtiest Home Videos. Due to the then-owner of Nine NetworkKerry Packer's objections to its content,Australia's Naughtiest Home Videos was pulled off the air during its first and only broadcast; viewers saw the network abruptly begin airing a rerun ofCheers midway through the special, either after a scheduled commercial break or a Nine Networkbumper claiming a technical problem. Nine Network's affiliate inPerth did not air the special at all and filled its timeslot with two episodes ofCheers. When the program was re-aired in its entirety in 2008, it abruptly cut away to the opening ofCheers midway through in a reenactment of the incident before resuming the second half that was not broadcast.[citation needed]
In theCheers episode "Woody For Hire, Norman Meets the Apes", Woody shows and tells everyone how he was an extra on Boston-based dramaSpenser: For Hire. In the season 4 episode ofSeinfeld titled "The Pitch", Jerry and George are presenting their idea for a sitcom to NBC executives. George is unhappy with their offer and feels that he deserves the same salary as Ted Danson which he claims was $800,000 per episode, being thatCheers is also an NBC show. Danson's reported salary was actually $250,000 per episode. At this pointCheers was in its 10th season and Ted Danson had won an Emmy and a Golden Globe the year before.[86] In anotherSeinfeld episode, "The Trip", George runs into George Wendt (portraying himself) while backstage on the set ofThe Tonight Show and annoys him by suggesting that the series change its setting from a bar to a rec room or community center.[87]
In the seventh episode of the second season ofHow I Met Your Mother, a coffee shop barista mistakenly hears Barney's name as "Swarley" and writes it on his cup. This leads to a running gag in which everyone mercilessly refers to Barney as "Swarley" despite his protests, which culminates in everyone in McClaren's bar shouting "Swarley" when he enters and playing the Cheers theme song. The credits are then shown in the "Cheers" style.[88] In the season seven episode, In Tailgate, Ted and Barney are outraged with the price to get into MacLaren's on New Year's Eve, so they offer for everyone to come upstairs. In the apartment, there is a puzzles sign that is designed to parody Cheers. Ted and Barney employ Kevin as their bartender, and they invent a theme song which also parodies theCheers theme song.[89]
In the 2015 video gameFallout 4, which is set in Boston, there is a bar named Prost Bar near Boston Common that, when entered, is an almost exact replica of the bar featured on the series. It includes two dead bodies sitting at the end of the bar, with one of them wearing a mail carrier's uniform, a direct reference to regular barflyCliff Clavin.[90]
In theseason 2 finale of the NBC sitcomThe Good Place, Ted Danson's character Michael appears as a bartender while wearing a blue plaid button-down, in a clear homage to Danson's character inCheers.[91]
In September 2011, Plural Entertainment debuted a remake of the series on Spanish television, also titledCheers. Set at an Irish pub, it starredAlberto San Juan as Nicolás "Nico" Arnedo, the equivalent of Sam Malone on the original series. It also used the original theme song, rerecorded in Spanish byDani Martín, under the title "Donde la gente se divierte."
In December 2012, The Irish Film and Television Network announced that casting was underway on anIrish-language version ofCheers produced by production company Sideline. The new show, tentatively titledTeach Seán, would air on Ireland's TG4 and features a main character who, like Sam Malone, is a bar owner, a retired athlete, and a recovering alcoholic. However, because of being set in Ireland, the barman is a "formerhurling star" rather than an ex-baseball player.[92] As of August 2019, the Irish remake has not occurred.
On September 9, 2016, a stage adaptation calledCheers: Live on Stage opened at theShubert Theatre in Boston. Comprising pieces of the original TV series, the play was adapted by Erik Forrest Jackson. It was produced by Troika/Stageworks. The director was Matt Lenz. It starred Grayson Powell as Sam Malone, Jillian Louis as Diane Chambers,Barry Pearl as Ernie "Coach" Pantusso, Sarah Sirotta as Carla Tortelli,Paul C. Vogt as Norm Peterson, and Buzz Roddy as Cliff Clavin. The production was scheduled to tour through 2017, but was canceled in 2016.[93][94][57]
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