Cheers (1982–1993) User Reviews (161)

When it was good it was very good

[studioAT · 7/10 · 4 July 2014]

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

consistently great

[mcfly-31 · 8/10 · 15 July 1999]

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.

Raise your glasses!

[Lejink · 9/10 · 17 July 2012]

I adored "Cheers" on its original release in the early 80's and have lately been revisiting my adoration in catching re-runs right back to the first series. Like the best series, it makes you stay with it, through series after series, cast changes or not, like other American favourites of mine "The Mary Tyler-Moore Show", "Rhoda" "M.A.S.H." "Taxi" "Newhart" and more recently "Friends". Indeed it's easy to see "Cheers" influence on the latter, both fixing much of the action on a popular drinking hole. This was back in the days when writers wrote laugh-out-loud jokes and characters you could empathise with unlike today's post modern ironic shows where the odd line might make you smile at best. "Cheers" always kept you watching for the next line, which more often than not brought forth a laugh. Set-bound as it was, like, say, the bridge on the Starship Enterprise, familiarity bred content as you got to know the characters and their surroundings. The characters were great from the start, Sam "Mayday" Malone, pseudo-intellectual barmaid Diane, the feral barmaid Carla, permanent bar-stool residents Cliff and Norm and best of all the dotty bar manager Coach, with a heart of pure gold. Newer characters entered as the series progressed, especially oddballs Frazier and Lilith Crane, Carla's combative husband Nick and later, the dim young barman Woody Harrelson's "Woody"(a great replacement for Coach) and Kirsty Alley's "Backseat Becky" (ditto for Diane). Great as the smart direction and comedic delivery were, it was all about the writing. Great writers like Heidi Perlman, the Charles brothers, David Lloyd and Earl Pomerantz kept the quality high, season after season as I'm sure my end-to-end re-viewing will testify. 7 down, 244 to go!

Binge watching in 2019

[jigp-72200 · 10/10 · 28 September 2019]

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.

A Classic

[vorazqux · 10/10 · 13 August 2010]

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...

NORM!

[mf2812 · 10/10 · 11 May 2019]

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.

What Television Is Meant to Be.

[tfrizzell · 29 July 2003]

A dominant block-buster of a television series that put NBC on top in the ratings race in the 1980s and the network has not looked back since. When "Cheers" first came into homes around the nation in 1982, it was greatly ignored by the viewing public. The Emmy Awards more than anything resurrected a series that had no life after a first season that found the series consistently in the gutter of the Nielsen Ratings. After several big-time awards (including one for Best Comedy Series) "Cheers" sky-rocketed and was almost always a top 5 show and most of the times the number 1 program in America. In modern-day Boston, a small tavern does prove that there are still places where everyone does indeed "know your name". A former baseball player (Ted Danson) owns a bar that caters to many (bar-flies George Wendt and John Ratzenberger, former professional coach Nicholas Colasanto, waitress Rhea Perlman and love interest Shelley Long). Quirky stories, heartwarming moments, heartrending situations and consistent comedy would always follow the key players. As the years passed, the cast changed (Long left the show and was replaced with Kirstie Alley who became the owner and Colasanto passed away in real life and the Woody Harrelson character was created), but the constant was always the show's outstanding group of creative writers and top-notch directors. Psychiatrist Kelsey Grammar (and wife Bebe Neuwirth) would also come along early in the series and just add more color, heart and intelligence to a show that had a surplus of all those elements throughout its 11-year-run. From the emotionally-charged theme song to its smallest of bit players, "Cheers" proved that there could be quality on television and that it could sustain and withstand unfortunate problems with its players in real-life. Monumentally important to the art of television study. A truly outstanding achievement for all involved. 5 stars out of 5.

Cheers - where everybody knows your name!

[fluxsoda · 10/10 · 6 March 2004]

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

Everybody Knew Their Names

[DKosty123 · 7/10 · 30 January 2007]

This show was the trademark show of the 1980's for NBC. It actually was two series with changes in the cast causing the first series too end & the second one to start. The bridge between each was sudden & distinct. Sam Mayday Malone (Ted Danson) is the glue that held both together. His character is the reason this series ran so long. You could almost believe he was really a Red Sox reliever in the days before they won World Series. That time was pretty much this shows entire run (and more).

The first Cheers had Sam & Diane from show number one. Their on again off again relationship was the catalyst that got the ratings up & kept viewers coming back for another round at the bar. It also had Coach, & he was a really unique character. Norm, Cliff & some of the bar regulars were there too.

Cheers the first started losing it's edge when Coach died, & then really hit the skids when it got stuck in the Sam & Diane rut. The problem was even though Shelly Long has some talent, her character had no where to grow. While she was a dumb phony intellectual blonde, trying to hide how stupid she was, her in-decision about herself put Cheers into neutral. It was actually a blessing when she left. The feud between Long & Rhea Pearlman became a pillar of this series toward the end of Longs reign as it provided welcome relief from Long on screen.

The second Cheers started when Kirsty Alley's Rebecca came in & created fresh angles for the show to grow in. The second Cheers added more characters around the bar, & tried to not get Rebeca caught in the same way Diane was. This worked well for a while. Adding Woody to replace Coach was a stroke of genius as he worked in perfect, along with additions like Fraiser. Some great comic moments happened in the competitions with another bar & the seafood place upstairs.

Then, Rebecca started getting into a rut & started to irritate people too. For some reason, the writers seemed to think viewers liked irritating women to be Sam's (Ted Danson's) love interest. Now the second distinct Cheers bogged down.

Luckily, they decided to end the series with a finale whose plot twisted irony just enough to make it great. It brought back Diane, still in the same rut she had been in before. Amazingly, it left her there at the end too, but it took Rebecca & made her change her life the last show. The final blackout left Sam alone at the bar, right where he was in episode one- with only Coaches picture on the wall to keep him company. It was a fitting end to a class series.

Since the series ended, Shelly Long's career pretty much ended with it. Kirstie Alley is pretty much doing diet commercials. Only Kelsey Grammar prospered after the show went off. He was kind enough to give a lot of the Cheers alumni guest shots on his show to pay them back for his start on Cheers.

Cheers ending marked the ending of a lot of the drunken-drinking humor in American Comedy. In a way, it sent a message often that drinking all the time really did put you in a rut. It put your life on hold. It wasted away your life, & even though it showed us ways to laugh at funny situations, on the whole, Cheers was a real downer of a message the way it ended, sending one last patron away from the closed bar.

Where everybody knows your name...

[Howlin Wolf · 10/10 · 4 June 2007]

... and the people who populate this little watering-hole become so familiar to you that they start to feel like family after awhile. Everybody has their own personalities and preoccupations, and with Norm it's only ever one thing: Beer. (What else?!) How the writers managed to dream up always funny one-liners connected to his favourite beverage for 11 years, I'll never know, but anyway... There was also his wife Vera, who never was seen but was often the source of some laughs. It's intricate little running gags like that which made it easy to spin off and create another successful comedy institution with "Frasier".

If I had to pick one I'd say my favourite character was Sam, though. He didn't have very many passions in life (probably only two: women and baseball) but he never stopped thinking about them, and there's a funny quality to a guy who's not ashamed to admit he's that single minded. You could mostly predict what Sam was going to try to do each episode, he'd attempt to get each of his head barmaids to sleep with him. The comedy in that comes from the many diverse ways he planned to do this, and that no matter how many times he was rejected or foiled, he kept coming back. You've gotta admire a guy for trying, and Ted Danson is famous for playing most of his material in such an easy and relaxed manner that it's hard at times not to pull for him to succeed.

I for one would like to say "Cheers!" to the creators and cast for blessing us with such a great show.

Not up to the hype.

[johnral321 · 6/10 · 8 February 2022]

I might be overly biased by the latter seasons, but I find this highly over-rated. The first few seasons may have been good, but in short order the plot became extreme formulaic. The viewer could predict half of the jokes. I would give the latter seasons a 2/10, and so a rating of 6 is an average of the good and bad. Perhaps watch the first few seasons and move on...

A comedy classic

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 24 June 2011]

I do love sitcoms, and Cheers and its spin-off Frasier are two of the best sitcoms there are in my opinion. Cheers is a comedy classic, I have been a fan of it for quite some time now and never got round to reviewing it until now. The production values are of top notch quality, there's nothing cheap or dated about Cheers, not then, not now. The story lines, springing from a simple but good concept, are outstanding in their ideas and in their execution and Cheers has some of the best, funniest and creative writing I have heard and seen in a sitcom. The characters are wonderful, timeless and best of all real, all of them are easy to relate to and one of the main reasons, aside from the writing, why Cheers is such a hit for me. My favourite is the eloquent Frasier Crane, but I love them all equally. The acting is superb as well, not just from Ted Danson and Rhea Perlman but also from Kelsey Grammar, I can't choose who's the best as this is one of the rare sitcoms in my opinion where nobody gives a bad performance. Overall, a comedy classic that has stood the test of time. 10/10 Bethany Cox

4 out of 8 seasons are good.

[theanomaloushost · 6/10 · 25 June 2020]

The first season of this series is top notch with its characters and humor.

The second season maintains this. Not quite as strong as season 1, but season 1 set a very high bar (no pun intended).

The third season is still good, but there's signs of its quality dwindling.

Season 4, a portion of the episodes started to get irritating.

Season 5, this was when the show got more annoying than irritating, and when everyone hated Diane.

Season 6, a very refreshing change of pace, with the introduction of a great new character running the bar.

Season 7+, the show pretty much runs out of steam. Sure there's some episodes here and there, but they did appear on a consistent basis (let alone a regular one). And the new character from season 6 downgrades in quality the longer the show goes on. In fact, everyone degrades in quality. Early in the show, just about everyone was a love-able jerk. Now they're just flat-out jerks.

Thankfully, the very last episode of the series ends on the best high note possible. So at least it had that going for it. Most sitcoms, especially those that run past their prime (which is virtually all of them) usually aren't lucky enough to get that much.

not funny

[angelorwez · 2/10 · 26 February 2024]

Imdb flatters this show alot...it's rated waaay too high...

maybe it came out at a time when all the antics i see were good or expected...but i find it unbearable...

i always say that comedies are the easiest things to review...coz you only have to think about one thing...is it funny or not...and the answer to the question...is Cheers funny or not...the correct answer is a resounding no...

This is show bends too much towards the absurd...it's not funny because it tries too hard...it's unrealistic...everyone walks into the bar and greets everybody...everyone walks in and everybody cheers them...

it's not funny at all...it's the same premise...rinse repeat rinse repeat...Sam and the blonde chic always go through the same old cycle...the will they won't they done so pathetically...

not a good show...it's a waste of your time...

After all these years, still the best

[mrenzella · 11 January 2004]

The difference between Cheers and about 90% of the other sitcoms that have come and gone, is that in Cheers, nothing seems forced. The characters interact with such chemistry, that all you have to do is tune and it's like sitting at a bar listening to you're best friends tell tall tales. The characters, especially Sam Malone and Coach, are so well-rounded that the joy comes simply from watching them interact. As far as I can remember almost every episode of Cheers ended with someone smiling or laughing, and it's that sense of warmth that is so rare in television, that it makes Cheers stand tall amongst any competitor, then OR now. I feel wholly justified in calling Cheers the best program ever made. It's just that good.

PS-I hope in Heaven I can sit at Cheers, and watch Sam hit on girls, listen to Carl tell useles trivia, and see Norm catch curving beer bottles around the corner of the bar.

MIke Renzella

Still one of the best sitcoms, over 20 years later!

[SeriousJest · 8/10 · 10 March 2014]

Not only was this show good enough to run a full eleven seasons, but, over twenty years after the last episode, it still holds up! The topics are still relevant, the dialogue is still funny, and you can still see real-life versions of these scenarios play out in your local favorite watering hole. I've already called out a few Cliff Clavins!

Whereas most shows that start out hot eventually lose their steam and fizzle out, this series changed characters, tweaked plot lines, and kept just enough of its essence true to execute a strong run throughout (I think the show got better when Woody came aboard!). I normally hate sitcoms, but this is one of the best ones I've ever watched. Queue up the complete series on Netflix, and watch every last episode.

For more reviews and a kickass podcast, check out www.livemancave.com

Where Everybody Knows Their Names

[dataconflossmoor · 10/10 · 8 November 2006]

When this series was introduced to television in 1982, NBC was in big trouble, so much trouble that the pathetic plight of their plummeting ratings relegated them to a virtual "Old Man and the Sea" style dilemma!! NBC counted on "Cheers" to be one of their stellar instigators to reeling in the big kahuna, and thus, "Cheers" would become a crucial component to NBC's quest for nationwide television ratings escalation!! After several episodes, popular response and critical acclaim for this series were radically different!!! "Cheers" esoteric demeanor received accolades from T.V. and magazine critics, but, popularity from the television audience was tenuous!! Eventually "Cheers" non-conventionalism titillated the small screen viewer!! Once popularity homogenized the auspicious direction of this show, it became a smash hit!! People took to the unorthodox gist of the series!! Wholehearted chuckles required an academic comprehension of grandiloquent vocabulary words which Shelly Long, Kelsey Grammar, and Bebe Neuwirth uttered out by the nanosecond!! This television show's comically ugly depiction of these spawns of ivy league intellectualism, was one whereby they could easily rattle off Shakesphere, but, the slightest adversity would invoke them into a temper tantrum which was indicative of a seven year old who is forbidden to order dessert at a restaurant!! What would someone with an IQ of 9000 be doing frequenting a local sports bar anyway?...Add insult to injury, they were the ones who wound up being patronized!!"Cheers" put a humorous spin on how book smarts are often times useless, especially on plebeian turf!! This is just one of "Cheers" many attributes!!!

"Cheers" is a fond reminiscence of my days as an urban preppy, I spent more time in sports bars than I did in my apartment!! As a matter a fact, I ran into Woody Harrelson at "SHE-NANNIGANS" in Chicago, a bar I would constantly go to for drinks!! "Cheers" reflected the happy days of the eighties to perfection!! Innocuous sex jokes, (especially by today's standards) evoked a naivety that the eighties unintentionally masqueraded!! The haughty character's cerebral rumination was often times reduced to an isolated quip and/or a ludicrous jeremiad that the majority of Americans could effortlessly ignore!! How true this is in the real world!! Social mediocrity was the prevailing villain on "Cheers" which astutely amused the television audience for 11 seasons... very successfully too!!! (obviously!!) What did people watch on Thursday nights at 9/8central? Three guesses,first two do not count!!! "Cheers"

The theme song to "Cheers" was entitled "Where everybody knows your name"..Your average barfly embraced a particular camaraderie with this song!! More to the point, however, it is a case of where everybody knows their names!! The cast that is!!! Ted Danson is synonymous with "Cheers" as are all of the other running characters: George Wendt, John Ratzensberger, Kirstie Alley, Woody Harrelson, Rhea Pearlman, Kelsey Grammar, Bebe Neuwrith, and Shelly Long. Evaluating all of the characters in "Cheers" you can attain a thorough knowledge of why this show was noted for it's remarkable acting talent!! Ted Danson, (Sam Malone) the aging rogue who exemplified the term "has been" in every aspect of his life. George Wendt (Norm Petersen); He was very complacent in his precarious plight of non-productivity!! This affliction is common in mainstream America, in reality, however, it is not very funny at all!! John Ratzenberger (Cliff Clavin) the proverbial windbag of verbosity, even the alliteration to his name insinuated the stigmatic label of your "just in general jackass!!" Kirstie Alley, (Rebecca Howe) a character who was predicated on a lot of physical humor,she was not stable at all, as a result, you did not want to touch Rebecca with a 10 foot pole!! Woody Harrelson, (Woody Boyd)he was the ultimate purveyor of the Huckleberry Finn perspective!! Rhea Perlman (Carla Tortelli) though her character was overdone, her flippant disposition with the trials and tribulations of being a single mother perpetuated an identifiable laughter from the television audience!! Kelsey Grammar (Frazier Craine) a shrink who needed to see a shrink because he did not have a normal childhood!! He went on to be a resounding success in his own television series, "Frazier" !! Bebe Neuwrith, (Lilith Craine); her agonizing contemplations became an in-veritable horror story, she would decimate any act of spontaneity by requiring it to be accompanied by a concept analysis report!! Finally, Shelly Long, (Diane Chambers) the perennial A+ student egocentric elitist who was an emotional glass house!! All of these roles accentuated many character discrepancies which are essential to the creation of a terrific situation comedy..Other sitcoms have tried to accomplish this as well, yet, they never achieved the cunning and succinct finesse of compounded character flaw creativity that "Cheers" did!! Each one of these people has gone on to be tremendously successful, and, as a result of being enormously popular on "Cheers", they all left the show multi-millionaires!!

The show "Cheers" was extremely likable, it oozes with talent, and the unconventional genre of "Cheers" became a noteworthy element in establishing NBC's impressive Nielson ratings during that era!! I loved the show "Cheers" back then for comedic entertainment!!! I love it now for nostalgic entertainment!!

The GREATEST television comedy of all time!

[hnt_dnl · 10/10 · 14 April 2009]

CHEERS was the peak of nighttime TV; premiering in 1982 and hilarious to the end in 1993. The weakest episode of CHEERS is still funnier than probably EVERY episode many other TV comedies!

Into an obscure Boston bar one morning walks an uppity, sassy, snobby (yet attractive and even sexy!) recent grad school graduate Diane Chambers (played memorably by Emmy winner Shelley Long). Dumped by her fiancé, Diane meets the owner-bartender, former Red Sox relief pitcher Sam "Mayday" Malone (played during the show's entire run to sublime perfection by the great Emmy-winning Ted Danson). Sam enlists Diane as one of his waitresses. A wannabe writer, Diane decides to work at Cheers until she finds her footing.

Sam Malone, is one of the top TV characters, simultaneously a ladie's man and a guy's guy! Danson brought a personable, EVERYMAN quality to the role that drew the viewer in each week. Danson won a couple of Emmys, but should have won at least 2 or 3 more! Together, Danson and Long's Sam and Diane form the greatest TV pairing of all time. Trading barbs, stares, glances, lustful looks, and quick-witted exchanges every week, these 2 were a joy to watch! Long left after the 5th season, though, but the show went on w/o her!

They brought in Kirstie Alley as Rebecca Howe, the anti-Diane in a lot of ways. While Diane was overqualified, Rebecca was underqualified. Initially, Rebecca was a shakily written character that the show's writers didn't seem to know what to do with, but thankfully the rest of the cast more than made up for the void left by Diane. Then by Season 9, Rebecca came into her own as kind of a daffy, loser-ish character, which worked greatly to her advantage! I think initially, Rebecca was to be a replacement for Diane as Sam's girlfriend, but the show thankfully never really went that route as Sam-Rebecca just didn't have the Sam-Diane romantic chemistry-magic. I like to think of Rebecca as an "accepted outsider" that fit in nicely with the group.

The true gem of CHEERS was the best ensemble in TV history. The supporting cast was pure GOLD! And heeeer'es the lineup!

The leadoff hitter! The late, great Nicolas Colasanto played the dimwitted Coach (Sam's bartender and former pitching coach) initially the first 3 years before sadly passing away. Colasanto was hilarious with brilliant comic timing, maybe the best of all the actors on the show; during the rest of the show's run, they would showcase Colasanto's passing with subtle hints and in the last episode, Sam's adjusting of the picture was a tip o' the hat the Mr. Colasanto.

Next up!...Norm!...or as Diane would say, "Norman". With a folksy, sarcastic approach, Norm Peterson, played by the wonderful George Wendt, Norm was the smart-alecky guy at the end of the bar who EVERYONE knew! A permanent fixture on the corner stool of the bar, Norm would amass a bar tab for the ages!

Batting 3rd is Carla! The mean-spirited, lusty baby-machine waitress played with gusto by Rhea Perlman! Carla hated everybody, but especially Diane! No one escaped Cheers without facing the wrath of Carla Tortelli!

Cleanup hitter is one Dr. Frasier Crane! Initially brought on as a short-term character in Season 3 as Diane's fiancé after she and Sam split up at the end of Season 2, Frasier (played hilariously Emmy winner Kelsey Grammar) quickly became a key part of the CHEERS ensemble after Diane dumped him at the end of Season 3. Frasier was the resident psychiatrist, spouting off Freudian epithets and trying to analyze the nutty occupants of Cheers! Of course, he went on to star on the CHEERS spin off FRASIER, which ran almost as long as CHEERS itself.

Frasier's wife (and comic foil!) and fellow psychiatrist Dr. Lilith Sternin Crane (brilliantly played by Emmy-winner Bebe Neuwirth), the Yin to Frasier's Yang! Lilith was the ultimate ice queen and, if you ask her, a better analyst than Frasier!

Our next batter is Woody Boyd! After Coach died, Woody (played hilariously by Woody Harrelson) was brought in as a young bartender that Coach trained. Woody was Coach's replacement in the dimwit department. Not as perfect as Coach (but close!), Woody was an important part of the CHEERS lineup!

Now, for the unsung, under-appreciated Most Valuable Player!...Cliff Claven! Played to perfection by the unique John Ratzenberger, ole Cliffy was an uber-annoying Mama's boy who got on everyone's nerve spouting off useless facts and inciting riots from time to time! Cliff was the character that made the absolute most comedy out of the absolute least material!

Also there were a host of memorable recurring characters: Nick Tortelli (Carla's sleazy ex-husband played by great film character actor Dan Hedaya), billionaire Robin Colcord (Rebecca's beau for a couple seasons played with panache and aplomb by British actor Roger Rees), the wacky heiress Kelly (Woody's equally wacky girlfriend and eventual wife played by Jackie Swanson), Paul Krapence (Norm and Cliff's lackey played wonderfully by Paul Wilson), Phil (played by Rhea Perlman's dad Philip Perlman), codger Al who sat diametrically opposite to Norm's side of the bar(played by the late Al Rosen), lovable Ma Claven (perfectly portrayed by the great Frances Sternhagen), scheming grifter Harry the Hat (played by the wacky Harry Anderson, who starred on the wonderful TV show NIGHT COURT during most of CHEERS run).

The CHEERS characters were all so well-defined and realized that they still to this day seem like real people that you knew. I mean, you can literally watch the series premiere in 1982 and the series finale in 1993 (for which Shelley Long returned to resume her role of Diane) and see that this show never lost it's charm, humor, or appeal. Oh, yeah, and EVERYTHING in between was great, too!...Cheers!

Good Lord, what a GREAT show this was

[RomaVictorrrr · 10/10 · 20 January 2022]

Just binge-watched this decades-old series for the first time and couldn't stop watching. It's like everything I love about "Frasier" and "Seinfeld" is all here in this one delicious show with loveable, incorrigible characters, amusing plotlines, hilarious punchlines. It's like they took the best aspects of romantic screwball comedies, balanced it with warmth and mean-spirited humor, and stretched it out through 11 wonderful seasons.

Good but don't love it

[kclambeth · 6/10 · 5 May 2007]

I didn't hate this sitcom, it's good but i just don't love it. Maybe it's because i was firmly a 'Frasier' fan first and wasn't even born when Cheers began. I probably first watched Cheers about five years ago when they started playing the episodes on Paramount.

I got to like some of the characters, Carla and Cliff being two of my favourites. I never warmed to Sam (although i love Ted Danson) i thought Diane was quite funny, Norm was pretty boring and i hated Woody and Rebecca. I still think the best two in the programme were Frasier and Lilith; it was so nice to see such different characters hanging out in a bar, instead of your Sam and Norm types. I've always been drawn to eccentric and unusual characters, so some of the characters in 'Cheers' just seemed too 'normal.' It's worth watching because some of the story lines are good and there a few laughs with Carla being horrible to Cliff and Norm's unseen wife Vera being talked about, but i think 'Frasier' and other U.S sitcoms like Spin City and Third rock from the sun are funnier.

Historically interesting and great fun

[richard-dugan2011 · 10/10 · 8 January 2015]

This excellent series is now available on Netflix. all episodes are available but I recommend watching the first four or so and then skipping to the 1985 season when Woody Harrelson joined the cast. The writing and performances seemed to become much better year after year until the series ended. All of the main characters received numerous awards for their performances between 1985 and 1992. This series introduced many actors to the viewing public for the first time. Te Danson, Shelley Long, Woody Harrelson, Rhea Perlman, Kelsey Grammar, Christy Alley (this was her first really successful venture) and many others. It is unfortunate that George Wendt and John Ratzenberger, never received Emmys for their outstanding work here.

great show

[banjolac · 7/10 · 4 July 2020]

One of the best shows ever, it would be even better without Carla.

Excellent show, my favorite.

[Aaron1375 · 10/10 · 5 April 2007]

Not that I have many shows I even like, as it stands other than stuff on adult swim the only shows I watch a lot of are this one, Wings and Fraiser and I think they are all made basically by the same people. I don't know the humor in these shows just work for me. This one is about a bar and its owner and his regular customers. The first few years focused more on the relationship of Sam (the owner) and his love/hate relationship with Diane. The last years was more on just about everyone in the bar, Sam still standing tall among them. The humor is great, very few downer episodes to be found. As for characters I love em all, Sam the womanizing bartender, Norm and Cliff two regular buddies, Fraiser the guy who completely stands out like a sore thumb. All of them are great. It is hard though to say who I like more as far as replacements, I liked Diane and Rebecca, I do tend to lean a bit more to Rebecca cause there is something about the way everything would always go wrong with her life, Coach and Woody are probably tied...I can't really say who I prefer out of both of them. So for a good time in a nice little bar, try Cheers.

Belongs in the past

[JH2089 · 7/10 · 24 January 2019]

Watching in 2019, this nearly 30 year old show does NOT age well. Every episode is riddled with sexism and ignorance, insulting any woman viewer. It's tough to watch as the only two "strong" female characters (one woman just replacing the other in the series) fall prey to every prejudice and stereotype about women, despite acknowledging them prior. It has great qualities of an amazing sitcom, and it truly was one in it's prime, however it does not translate to modern times and is perhaps one of the more offense older sitcoms.

Very overrated show.

[joe_lvn · 2/10 · 2 August 2007]

While I wouldn't call this show trash or "T.V. poison" like a couple of other reviews did here, I would never consider this one of the great T.V. sitcoms either. It doesn't even approach that level. While I will admit that at times (even many times), the writing was quite good, there was always something about this show that rubbed me the wrong way. I often found the humor to be a kind of cruel humor. And many of the characters were, in fact, despicable. I could never stand Carla, one of the most horrible characters in television history. And the show seemed to glorify her behavior all the time. And Sam, the "protagonist" and star of the entire show, had his disgusting, misogynistic, and womanizing ways held up as if this was something to admire. In fact, most of the people on this show,not just the main characters, were really very mean to others. Basically, Diane, Coach, and then Woody, were the nicest characters. And to some extent Cliff, too. And except for Coach, these three took nothing but a bunch of f***ing s**t from everyone else. They were whipping boys and scapegoats on this show and I always found this extremely offensive. The entire show was offensive and even to some extent reactionary.