Alright! Today I'm reviewing the hit classic TV show from the 80s: Cheers.
For those of you unfamiliar with the shows, Cheers is about a bar in Boston owned by ex-relief pitcher for the Sox Sam Malone (Ted Danson), a womanizer and recovering alcoholic. One day, Diane Chambers (Shelley Long), a high-class snoob type, is left in his bar and she becomes a waitress.
Seasons 1-5 focus on the relationship between Sam and Diane, but she leaves Boston in the season 5 finale, and seasons 6-11 are just about the daily life of the characters.
Truly, by the end of season 5, you understand the anger that is directed at her character. Afraid of commitment, not being good at anything and yet believing she is better than everyone else, it just makes her character...awful.
I hate Diane Chambers.
Her interactions with the Cheers cast is actually the best thing about the character. Most of what her character is makes the show the same boring formula for seasons 4 and 5; a character has a chance to make big money or a good decision, but it is not morally correct, or she just thinks it is wrong, and then she talks to them about it and they make weird decisions.
Shelley Long left the show after season 5, so Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley) came along. She manages the bar and frequently chases after extremely rich men.
However, the best character, without a doubt, is Woody. Woody Boyd's simplistic way of thinking is really funny, and a young Woody Harrelson is so cool to see.
I think that overall, Cheers is a classic. Some of the episodes are not the funniest, but the set and cast are so good I don't really care.
Opinion: "Cheers is awesome. Go watch it and enhance your knowledge of pop culture tenfold."
For those of you unfamiliar with the shows, Cheers is about a bar in Boston owned by ex-relief pitcher for the Sox Sam Malone (Ted Danson), a womanizer and recovering alcoholic. One day, Diane Chambers (Shelley Long), a high-class snoob type, is left in his bar and she becomes a waitress.
Seasons 1-5 focus on the relationship between Sam and Diane, but she leaves Boston in the season 5 finale, and seasons 6-11 are just about the daily life of the characters.
Additional characters include Carla Tortelli (Rhea Perlman), a mean waitress who is always pregnant, Norm Peterson (George Wendt) and Cliff Clavin (John Ratzenberger, recurring season 1, main 2-11), an accountant/interior decorator/painter and a postman, respectively, who spend all their time at the bar, Coach (Nicholas Colasanto), a slow-witted baseball coach of Sam's who appears in seasons 1-3, because of his untimely death in 1985.
Later seasons introduce Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer, recurring seasons 3 and 4, main 5-11), a psychiatrist who would go on to star in his own spin-off series, Woody (Woody Harrelson, seasons 4-11), a new slow-witted co-bartender, Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley, seasons 6-11), the manager of Cheers from seasons 6-8, and then employed by the bar seasons 9-11, and Lilith Sternin (Guest seasons 3 and 4, recurring 5-9, main 10 and 11).
The show ran for 11 critically acclaimed seasons, from 1982 to 1993, and is one of the most influential TV shows ever, introducing concepts such as "Continuing story-arcs throughout several episodes/seasons," better known as serialized storylines. So, if you miss an episode and don't know what the crap is going on, that's Cheers fault.
Les Charles, one of the creators even apologized for it, "[W]e may have been partly responsible for what's going on now, where if you miss the first episode or two, you are lost. You have to wait until you can get the whole thing on DVD and catch up with it. If that blood is on our hands, I feel kind of badly about it. It can be very frustrating."
Anyway, enough with the Wikipedia stuff. Let's talk review.
Cheers was awesome. The classic set, the amazing cast, and introducing people like John Ratzenberger (The guy from every Pixar movie) and Woody Harrelson (White Men Can't Jump, Hunger Games, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Zombieland, Venom, Now You See Me) to the media world will be an eternal thank you.
But anyway, I want to talk about one thing:
Diana Chambers is literally the most annoying character I've ever seen.
Later seasons introduce Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer, recurring seasons 3 and 4, main 5-11), a psychiatrist who would go on to star in his own spin-off series, Woody (Woody Harrelson, seasons 4-11), a new slow-witted co-bartender, Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley, seasons 6-11), the manager of Cheers from seasons 6-8, and then employed by the bar seasons 9-11, and Lilith Sternin (Guest seasons 3 and 4, recurring 5-9, main 10 and 11).The show ran for 11 critically acclaimed seasons, from 1982 to 1993, and is one of the most influential TV shows ever, introducing concepts such as "Continuing story-arcs throughout several episodes/seasons," better known as serialized storylines. So, if you miss an episode and don't know what the crap is going on, that's Cheers fault.
Les Charles, one of the creators even apologized for it, "[W]e may have been partly responsible for what's going on now, where if you miss the first episode or two, you are lost. You have to wait until you can get the whole thing on DVD and catch up with it. If that blood is on our hands, I feel kind of badly about it. It can be very frustrating."
Anyway, enough with the Wikipedia stuff. Let's talk review.
Cheers was awesome. The classic set, the amazing cast, and introducing people like John Ratzenberger (The guy from every Pixar movie) and Woody Harrelson (White Men Can't Jump, Hunger Games, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Zombieland, Venom, Now You See Me) to the media world will be an eternal thank you.
But anyway, I want to talk about one thing:
Diana Chambers is literally the most annoying character I've ever seen. Kudos to Shelley Long for being able to create such a hateable character. The way she thinks she is better than everyone is snobby, and the constant references to stupid classic poems and Russian literature make her even more annoying.
Truly, by the end of season 5, you understand the anger that is directed at her character. Afraid of commitment, not being good at anything and yet believing she is better than everyone else, it just makes her character...awful.
I hate Diane Chambers.
Her interactions with the Cheers cast is actually the best thing about the character. Most of what her character is makes the show the same boring formula for seasons 4 and 5; a character has a chance to make big money or a good decision, but it is not morally correct, or she just thinks it is wrong, and then she talks to them about it and they make weird decisions.
Shelley Long left the show after season 5, so Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley) came along. She manages the bar and frequently chases after extremely rich men.
However, the best character, without a doubt, is Woody. Woody Boyd's simplistic way of thinking is really funny, and a young Woody Harrelson is so cool to see.
I think that overall, Cheers is a classic. Some of the episodes are not the funniest, but the set and cast are so good I don't really care.
Opinion: "Cheers is awesome. Go watch it and enhance your knowledge of pop culture tenfold."
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