Cheers
"Cheers!" is a common phrase used before sharing a drink with someone. In British English, it is also commonly used to express gratitude.
Cheers is also the name of a long-running sitcom made by Charles-Burrows-Charles Productions in association with Paramount Television for NBC. The show premiered on September 30, 1982 and had its widely-watched series finale on May 20, 1993, followed by a long and ongoing run in syndication. In eleven seasons there were 270 episodes.
The show was set in a Boston bar, where a colorful group of locals would come to sit, drink, state daft facts, complain, and play elaborate practical jokes on the devotees and owner of a rival bar in town. The show also spawned the character Frasier Crane, who went on to a TV show of his own (Frasier) after Cheers ended. The show's tagline and refrain is "where everybody knows your name..."
The show's main theme in its early seasons was the stormy romance between upper-class, over-educated server Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) and earthy ex-baseball pitcher and bar owner Sam Malone (Ted Danson). Long's departure from the show in 1986 shifted the emphasis to Sam's relationship with a new character, neurotic corporate executive Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley).
Social class was a strong subtext of the show. Upper-class characters like Diane Chambers, Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer), Lilith Sternin (Bebe Neuwirth) and Rebecca rubbed shoulders with working-class characters like Sam, Norm Peterson (George Wendt), and Clifford Clavin (John Ratzenberger). Strong comedic support came from the bar staff, including sassy waitress Carla Tortelli (Rhea Perlman) and sometimes-befuddled assistant bartender Ernie 'Coach' Pantusso (Nicholas Colasanto). Following Colasanto's death in 1985 the assistant bartender role was filled by an even more naive character, Woodrow 'Woody' Boyd (Woody Harrelson).
The producers were also concerned that the show might be construed as promoting drinking, so they made Sam a recovering alcoholic.
Most of the early episodes took place entirely within the confines of the bar. When the series became a hit, the characters started venturing further afield, first to other sets and eventually to the occasional exterior location.
The exterior location shots of the bar were actually the Bull and Finch bar, north of Boston Common, which has become a tourist attraction because of its association with the series.
The show was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles and Les Charles. It was nearly cancelled during the first season (in which it ranked dead last), but eventually became one of the most popular shows on TV, earning a top-ten rating during seven of its eleven seasons. The show earned 26 Emmy Awards, out of a total of 111 nominations.
