Television: Archive 1: Cheers - Where Everybody Knew Your Name
I love my vintage TV shows so much so that I decided it would be fun to start a new category here called 'TV Archives'. This is simply a trip down TV memory lane to all those shows, characters and scenes that made us smile back in the day. I have had a great preoccupation with television, movies and music all my life and outside the fact I will probably be showing my age here(!) justifiably and probably like yourself, I've been watching TV re-runs with my family since I was in pampers! TV Addict Alert!!
I "recall" television shows and actors from these shows I probably chronologically shouldn't! But I would like to take a sentimental journey and remind everyone just how amazing these shows were in their own right, especially if you were too young to really remember them. Or if you haven't heard of them or watched them up to this point, maybe you'll open your mind to them now and buy or borrow the boxsets! 
I'm beginning with Cheers, the show based around a Boston bar where everybody knew your name, or so the theme song goes.. Aww.. I have just finished watching all 11 series of Cheers, yes, 11! Granted I didn't watch them all in one go (I do have some remnants of a life!), it's been a gradual process over the past few months but what a gem it is. Cheers ran for 11 seasons from 1982-1993 and I know many viewers felt like bar-flies themselves and really didn't want the series to end. I think part of the attraction is it's quick wit that never stooped to patronise the viewer and its honest and diverse characters that I reckon we can all relate to.
Early on, Cheers was hailed for the hilarious dialogue traded between bar owner 'Sam Malone' (Ted Danson), a former Red Sox relief pitcher and recovering alcoholic with an eye for the ladies; snobby intellectual waitress 'Diane Chambers' (Shelley Long), who took a job at the pub after being ditched there by her still-married fiance and Danny De Vito's other half Rhea Perlman, played 'Carla Tortelli' a spit-firing, hockey-player loving, promiscuous single mother and waitress with attitude who revelled in riling Diane at every opportunity! A dense but loveable barman 'Ernie Coach Pantusso' was played by Nicholas Colasanto who
sadly died after a long illness during the show's fourth season and
with that his Coach character died aswell. The producers turned to a
then unknown Woody Harrelson,
who entered as Coach's long lost pen-pal 'Woody Boyd', a naive young
farm boy from Indiana who ended up replacing him behind the bar and
became part of the Cheers family, eventually marrying the extremely
wealthy and equally dizzy 'Kelly Gaines' (Jackie Swanson).
As for the patrons, everyone knows a lazy bar hog like 'Norm Petersen' (George Wendt), a former accountant who always entered the bar to a chorus of "Norm" from the other bar patrons. John Ratzenberger played Norm's best buddy 'Cliff Clavin', a know-it-all mailman and overgrown "mama's boy" who insisted on having the answers to all trivia questions, which were usually incorrect or just plain obscure!
The legendary character of 'Dr. Frasier Crane' (Kelsey Grammar) became a regular in season three where he became part of a love triangle and on-going love story between Sam and Diane. This went on for five seasons until flakey character 'Rebecca Howe' (Kirstie Alley) replaced Shelley Long's 'Diane' in the Cheers female lead - Rebecca became the new manager of Cheers and Sam's new female foil in season five when the bar was turned over to a new corporate owner. Notable supporting cast members included Frasier's flinty, uptight wife, 'Lilith Sternin-Crane' and 'Nick Tortelli', Carla's sleazy, deadbeat ex-husband.
At the time, Cheers followed a comic tradition of other U.S. comedy shows where the differences between a bunch of idiosyncratic characters were played for laughs each week. Predecessors of this comedy gene include The Mary Tyler Moore Show, M*A*S*H and Taxi - hardly unexpected then that the show was conceived and produced by the same trio that produced Taxi and The Mary Tyler Moore Show (Glen Charles, James Burrows and Les Charles).
Cheers was critically acclaimed when it premiered on Sept. 30, 1982, but was almost canned in its first season due to abysmally low ratings. Viewers soon came around, thanks to the clever storylines and the flawless performance of the stellar cast. In 1984 Cheers joined ratings giants The Cosby Show and Family Ties on NBC's powerhouse Thursday night line-up at the time.. I'm not sure a concept for a comedy set around a bar would work as well in 2011 - I think we are more politically correct now and a show setting such as this would probably get criticised for alcohol promotion today - think about it.. sitcoms have gone coffee shop mad, Friends anyone? Nonetheless, Cheers definitely earned its place in sitcom history and is timeless for its' legendary characters, excellent situational writing, acting and comic timing.