Cheers (1982–1993)
10/10
Where Everybody Knows Their Names
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!!
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