Cheers - Series Overview

Series Overview

Nearly all of Cheers took place in the front room of the bar, but the characters often went into the rear pool room or the bar's office. Cheers did not show any action outside the bar until the first episode of the second season, which took place in Diane's apartment.

Cheers had several running gags, such as Norm arriving in the bar and being greeted by a loud "Norm!" Early episodes generally followed Sam's antics with his various women, following a variety of romantic comedy clichés to get out of whatever relationship troubles he was in during each episode. As the show progressed and Sam got into more serious relationships, the general tone switched to a comedic take on Sam settling into a monogamous lifestyle. Throughout the series, larger story arcs began to develop that spanned multiple episodes or seasons, interspersed with smaller themes and one-off episodes.

The show's main theme in its early seasons was the romance between the intellectual waitress Diane Chambers and the bar owner Sam Malone, a former major league baseball pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and a recovering alcoholic. After Shelley Long (Diane) left the show, the focus shifted to Sam's new relationship with Rebecca, a neurotic corporate ladder climber. Both relationships featured sexual tension that spanned many episodes.

Many Cheers scripts centered or touched upon a variety of social issues, albeit humorously. As Toasting Cheers puts it, "The script was further strengthened by the writers' boldness in successfully tackling controversial issues such as alcoholism, homosexuality, and adultery."

Social class was a subtext of the show. The "upper class" – represented by characters like Diane Chambers, Frasier Crane, Lilith Sternin and (initially) Rebecca Howe – rubbed shoulders with middle and working-class characters — Sam Malone, Carla Tortelli, Norm Peterson and Cliff Clavin. An extreme example of this was the relationship between Woody Boyd and a millionaire's daughter Kelly Gaines. Many viewers enjoyed Cheers in part because of this focus on character development in addition to plot development.

Feminism and the role of women were also recurring themes throughout the show, with some critics seeing each of the major female characters portraying an aspect as a flawed feminist in her own way. Diane was a vocal feminist, and Sam was the epitome of everything she hated: a womanizer and a male chauvinist. Their relationship led Diane to several diatribes on Sam's promiscuity. Carla insulted people, but was respected because of her tough attitude, wit, and power, while Diane was often ignored as she commanded little respect in any successful way. Rebecca was an ambitious businesswoman and gold-digger, seeking relationships with her superiors at the Lillian Corporation, most notably Evan Drake, to gain promotions or raises. She encountered a glass ceiling, and ended the show by marrying a plumber rather than a rich businessman. It was later revealed on Frasier that her husband struck it rich and left her, after which Rebecca returned to Cheers as a patron. Lilith was a high-profile psychiatrist with many degrees and awards, and commanded respect with her strong and rather stern demeanor. Like Rebecca, she was an executive woman of the 1980s who put much emphasis on her professional life. She was often shown to have the upper hand in her and Frasier's relationship.

Homosexuality was dealt with from the very first season, which was rare in the early 1980s for American network television. In the first season episode, "The Boys In The Bar", a friend and former teammate of Sam's comes out in his autobiography. Some of the male regulars pressure Sam to take action to ensure that Cheers does not become a gay bar. The episode won a GLAAD Media Award, and the script's writers, Ken Levine and David Isaacs, were nominated for an Emmy Award. Harvey Fierstein later appeared in the 1990s as "Mark Newberger", Rebecca's old high school sweetheart who is gay. The final episode included a gay man who gets into trouble with his boyfriend, played by Anthony Heald.

Addiction also plays a role in Cheers, almost exclusively through Sam. He is a recovering alcoholic who had bought a bar during his drinking days. After he achieved sobriety, Sam decided to continue to own and operate the bar for "sentimental reasons." Frasier has a notable bout of drinking in the fourth season episode, "The Triangle", while Woody develops a gambling problem in the seventh season's, "Call Me Irresponsible". Some critics believe Sam was portrayed as a generally addictive personality.

In addition to extended story lines, Cheers had recurring themes. A heated rivalry between Cheers and a rival bar, Gary's Olde Towne Tavern, was portrayed starting with the fourth season episode, "From Beer to Eternity". Beginning in the sixth season, one episode of each season depicted some wager between Sam and Gary, which resulted in either a sports competition or a battle of wits that devolved into complex practical jokes. Aside from the very first and very last "Bar Wars" episodes, the Cheers gang almost always lost to Gary's superior ingenuity. They tricked him into missing the annual Bloody Mary contest in one episode. Another had Sam collaborating with Gary's crew to get revenge on his co-workers for a prior practical joke. Another episode involved a pickup basketball game, in which Gary tricked the people of Cheers into believing that a minor injury sustained by basketball great Kevin McHale was a season-ending injury.

Sam had a long-running feud with the upscale restaurant above the bar, Melville's Fine Sea Food. The restaurant's management disliked the bar's patrons, while Sam regarded the restaurant as snobbish (though customers often moved between the two businesses via a prominent staircase). This conflict escalated after Melville's came under the ownership of John Allen Hill (Keene Curtis), as Sam did not technically own the bar's poolroom and bathrooms. Subsequently forced to pay rent for them, Sam was often at the mercy of Hill's tyranny. Rebecca eventually helped Sam buy the back section from Hill.