One of the most iconic American sitcoms of all time — inspired by the same “workplace as a secondary family”-style series such as The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Taxi — television’s genius creators James Burrows, Les Charles, and Glen Charles struck comedy gold with Cheers. Although, as the press release notes, it was ranked dead last during its initial season as its parent network NBC felt that the bottle was decidedly half empty in nearly canceling it, the show grew a loyal and steady following as it continued on.
Ultimately the show became part of the quintessential “Must See Thursday” lineup titles that the Peacock network boasted throughout the '80s and ‘90s, with Cheers sandwiched alongside Family Ties and The Cosby Show. Once actor Woody Harrelson became a regular cast-mate as the sweet but dim bartender Woody Boyd, “ratings increased dramatically” as the show picked up momentum throughout the course of eleven seasons.
Perpetually ranked in the Nielsen’s Top Ten for eight consecutive seasons once its final season started in 1992, the show — which had raked in the Emmys and Golden Globes — utilized a cinematic approach to each individual episode involving roughly 100 crew members all working with film in lieu of videotape and an emphasis on motion over static master shots by seasoned director James Burrows. Groundbreaking from the start with plotlines involving addiction, adultery, homosexuality, feminism, and with an underlying emphasis on the blue verses white collar subconscious battle lurking right below the surface during the Reagan and Bush administrations, there’s much more to the folks at Cheers than one may remember, which is immediately evident in its ultimate season.
Deeply respecting its audiences — who much like the characters had essentially become participants in a codependent relationship filled with ups and downs with the characters on the series — Cheers ended on a classy and nostalgic note without wrapping things up too neatly (a la Friends) nor taking a mean-spirited approach at a final goodbye as evidenced in the backhanded finale of Seinfeld or Will and Grace (incidentally all other successful series on NBC).
Article comments
1 - robo1936
Considering the name of the series was Cheers I found the ending was miserable and gloomy and features a bunch of men talking psycho babble about the meaning of life etc. We had just had the absolute pleasure of seeing the great Shelley Long say to Carla "My god you breed like flies" with such an expression on her face and such a tone in her voice that made it an absolutely classical statement. I didn,t buy the series from 6 onwards and I am glad I didn,t because other than Ted and Diane I found Carla as obnoxious as ever and Rebbeca an absolute embarassment. The trouble with Cheers was its writing team thought they were so good that they couldn,t make mistakes but with Diane NOT marrying Sam in the final and last episode of the series I thought was just ludicrous. They should have taken a lesson from Walt Disney who always ended his movies on a happy note and that is why they were so beloved. They should have listened to the viewinmg public a lot more and realised that what made Cheers soo good was the relationship between Diane and Sam and the brilliant acting of the two main stars and not soo much the writing.