User reviews

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

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.

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

First season 7,2/10

Second season 7,3/10

Third season 7,7/10

Fourth season 7,6/10

Fifth season 7,9/10

Sixth season 7,3/10

Seventh season 7,2/10

Eighth season 7,2/10

Ninth season 7,1/10

Tenth season 7/10

Eleventh season 7,9/10

I had watched almost all famous sit-coms, except from CHEERS, FRASIER and a few more. Seinfeld, Friends, Taxi, The office, Scrubs, It's always sunny in Philadelphia, Fawlty Towers etc. So, i decided to watch one of the most famous ones. CHEERS is inferior to all of them. I am not saying this because it's old, for instance TAXI is a great tv show and among the best sit-coms ever. CHEERS is not as funny, interesting and exciting as the aforementioned tv shows. I was never convinced that these characters like each other, and i don't have a problem with this, many great tv shows had characters who hate each other. But in this show, they SUPPOSEDLY like each other, they are friends, even though some times this co-dependency is not portrayed in a positive way.

Furthermore, i didn't like Carla's character. She was annoying, with almost zero redeeming qualities.

In any case, there are many positives. Danson and Long had great chemistry. Their "will-they-won't-they" was by far the most interesting trope of this show. It took some time to evolve, but when it did, show peaked (3rd, 4th and 5th season). When Dianne left, this declined. Of course, Nicholas Colasanto's presence was also a big factor for those seasons' success.

Show declined, but not that much. In some aspects, there were even some merits after the 6th season. Show became funnnier and Kirstie Alley brought some positives. Her character was insane and vivid, i liked "Rebecca". However, after some intial revitalization, show grew tired, or i am the one who grew tired with them. The ninth and the tenth season were the worst seasons of CHEERS. Thankfully, it went out with a bang. The 11th season recaptured the former glory of this show, it was as good as the former seasons where it peaked.

The ending was sort of brilliant even though i was not much satisfied. I preferred a different outcome. But, objectively, it was great.

I am glad i watched this show. There were many mediocre episodes but even more good or great ones. Same as its characters. I liked a lot, except from Coach, Sam and Dianne, Norm and Frazier, even Lilith. Cliff, Woody and Rebecca's characters were uneven. Most of the time, i liked them, but occasionally they were almost unbearable to watch.

In any case, it was a good show. Just not among the greats.

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.

Rhea Perlman, you're a genius! After a couple of sub-par seasons, this show really hit its stride in the mid 1980s. Ted Danson, you so funny! There are too many high points across 11 seasons to mention, but my favourite is the one where Sam gets lost. George Wendt, you make me giggle! The only downside of Cheers was the last episode, which did not really tie up loose ends from the previous 11 years. John Ratzenberger, you look as silly as you are! I own all seasons on VHS. I hope to own all seasons on DVD in the future. With all of that said, I give it 7 out of 10. I wish it was still on the air because I would still be watching.