EEvery month we like to remember shows that made us smile, laugh and even cry. Glasses up for our TV show of the month for March 09 and cheers to the Bull & Finch pub in Boston for giving us many laughs throughout the 80s! Startinig in 1982, Cheers ran for 11 seasons. It was about a former Boston Redsox pitcher and an unrelenting womanizer named Sam Malone (Ted Danson) who runs a bar filled with loveable alcoholics who don't seem to have anywhere else to go. Sam served up beers and traded one liners with regular customers Cliff (John Ratzenberger) and Norm (George Wendt). Carla (Rhea Perlman), a feisty waitress with a weakness for hockey players, kept the men in check with her sharp cutting comments. Bartender "Coach" (Nicholas Colasanto) was the slow-witted and ironically funny straight man of the show. When Colasanto passed away in 1985, Woody Harrelson joined the cast as Woody, a young bartender who took slow-wittedness to new heights.
Sam's on-again, off-again romance with cocktail waitress Diane (Shelly Long) exemplified the show's serial-comedy mix. In the first season, Diane despised Sam and constantly rejected his come-ons. In the second season, she started a torrid affair with him. They broke it off in the third season, and Diane took up with a neurotic psychiatrist, Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer), who featured in his own successful spin-off, Frasier, which included guest appearances by most of the major Cheers characters. Diane almost went back to Sam after the fourth season, but then rejected his marriage proposal. Rebecca (Kirstie Alley), who replaced Diane when actress Shelly Long left the show in 1987, pursued a futile romance with Robin, a corporate raider who briefly owned the bar. Woody dated Kelly (Jackie Swanson), a wealthy socialite who matched him in naiveté. Frasier married Lillith (Bebe Neuwirth), an ice-cold psychiatrist who matched him in neurosis. Only Cliff and Norm remained essentially static, holding down the bar with their mutual put-downs.
The show narrowly escaped cancellation during its first season and took several years to develop a strong following. By 1985, however, Cheers was one of television's most popular shows. People loved Cheers as it wasn't politically correct: the main character was a womanizer; Rebecca pretended to be a career woman but really just wanted a rich husband; and the whole thing centered around drinking. 16 years on, where are Norm, Cliff, Diane, sam and Frasier?...probably at some other bar! |
