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(More customer reviews)"Cheers" is an atypical classic television situation comedy in that its first season (1982-83) is arguably its best. The show won the Emmys for Outstanding Comedy Series, Lead Actress in a Comedy Series: Shelley Long, Directing in a Comedy Series: James Burrows, "Showdown (Part 2)," Writing in a Comedy Series: Glen Charles, Les Charles, "Give Me a Ring Sometime," and even Outstanding Individual Achievement/Graphic Design and Title Sequences: James Castle, Bruce Bryant. This would explain why the series, which finished 75th in the Nielsens with a 13.1 rating, survived on NBC's Thursday night lineup.
Looking back on the series as a whole it becomes clear that one inherent advantage for "Cheers" was that no matter what joke the writers came up with there was the perfect character to tell it. If you had a sarcastic barb then that went to Carla (Rhea Perlman), a dumb comment would come out of the mouth of Coach (Nick Colasanto), the arcane bar trivia belonged to Cliff (John Ratzenberger), the caustic non-sequiters and marriage humor was the province of Norm (George Wendt), the intellectual bon mots went to Diane (Shelley Long), and Sam (Ted Danson) played the Lord of the Come Ons. Equally as important, the bar where everybody knows your name was an appropriate place for all of these types of humor. As Diane says in the first episode: "Where better than here to study life in all its facets? People meet in bars, they part, they rejoice, they suffer, they come here to be with their own kind."
But the most important thing was that "Cheers" made the opposite attract concept work. Televison has a hard time handling romantic comedy. Making it work, like on "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" is the exception; the rule is Dave and Maddie imploding on "Moonlighting." But Cheers managed to make the story of Sam and Diane with its on again, off again, really off, back on, never going to happen, then again who knows for several seasons. On the eve of her elopement Diane Chambers comes to Cheers and while sitting on a barstool sees her entire life crumble before her eyes. By the end of the night she is a barmaid and although Diane and Sam have nothing in common, they are doomed. At the end of the season when Sam's brother shows up to sweep Diane off her feet with an invitation to Paris, we know that Sam will finally confess his feelings ("Showdown, Part 2"), although Diane has to threaten to run her fingernails on the chalkboard to get him to stay. Then comes one of the great final clinches of all time.
I always say that I liked "Cheers" before Sam left the show, which confuses people since it was Shelley Long's Diane who left the show (but managed to return a few times). But my point is that the Sam of these early years, and the first season in particular, was a much different character from the show's second half. There was a pathos to Sam, which disappeared when the mental image of him dancing with Diane when they were old and grey from her final episode faded away. Sam the womanizer was a joke during those final seasons: but in this first year you can see how charming he can be: the point is amply proven when Sam tells Diane where he remembers seeing the same color as he sees in her eyes. There is also an edge to Sam as an ex-baseball player ("Sam at Eleven" and "Endless Slump") that disappears later on as it becomes one giant joke.
When you watch the complete first season again on DVD you will see that there is a serious side to "Cheers." Watch Coach's daughter (Allyce Beasley) try to explain to her father that she is not beautiful in "The Coach's Daughter" without crying. Of course that was the episode they showed to honor Nick Colasanto when he passed away. But there is also the choice episodes that feature quick appearances ("Sam at Eleven") and complete episodes ("Pick a Con...Any Con") focusing on Harry the Hat (Harry Anderson). Another thing that helps take the pressure off the Sam-Diane potential romance is the bumbling antagonism between Diane and Carla. This is a constant note that can pop up at any time during an episode, but sometimes Carla goes out of her way to play with Diane's mind ("Truth or Consequences," "Father Knows Last").
This is my favorite season of "Cheers" and I am willing to take on any and all comers who want to offer rebuttal to my claim that this is the greatest first season for any situation comedy in television history. "I Love Lucy," "The Honeymooners," "The Dick Van Dyke Show," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "All in the Family," "M*A*S*H," "Seinfeld," "Friends," all got a lot better after their inaugural season. None of them started as great as "Cheers" did, and if you want to discuss this over a drink I will have a cola with a couple of cherries in it, please.
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Cheers: The Complete First Season (1982)CHEERS takes viewers back to the Boston bar where everybody knows your name.As former baseball star Sam Malone (Danson) and his colleague Diane Chambers (Long) fight their mutual attractions, they cater to their regulars including Norm Petersen (Wendt) and Cliff Claven (Ratzenberger).Talking about their problems, laughing at each other's flaws and trying to be there when someone needs them, the gang are joined by naïve farm boy Woody (Harrelson, The Thin Red Line), bitter waitress Carla (Perlman), troubled psychiatrist Frasier (Grammer) and his wife.
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