Set in a Boston bar called Cheers, the comedy revolved around a group of locals who went to relax and socialise while enjoying a bit of banter with the bar staff. Written and played by Gary Portnoy the theme song, Where Everybody Knows Your Name, became a hit in its own right - the title was made the motto for the Cheers bar.
First broadcast on NBC in September 1982, Cheers was created by Glen Charles, James Burrows and Les Charles. During its 11-year run, 275 half-hour episodes were broadcast before the famous Cheers bar finally called time in May 1993.
Produced in association with Paramount Network Television, Cheers was actually almost cancelled during its first season! Its premier, on 30 September 1982, suffered low ratings and the series was almost dropped. However, it went on to become one of America's top TV series of all time, with eight of its 11 series ranking in the top 10 shows across the nation.
For most of its lifetime, Cheers was broadcast during the NBC 'Must See TV' slot every Thursday night. All of the episodes have been syndicated across the world and are still shown today on some of the cable channels, with re-runs on the UK Gold channel being broadcast on a regular basis. It never seems tired or dated, even almost a quarter of a century after its final episode was completed.
The cast was headed by Ted Danson who played Sam Malone, the owner of Cheers bar. A former baseball player nicknamed 'Mayday Malone', his sporting career had come to an end because he became an alcoholic - so he opened a bar!
He fancied himself as a ladies' man and was continually pursuing glamorous women, although his on-off relationship with cocktail waitress Diane Chambers (played by Shelley Long) was an ongoing plot. She was an upper-class graduate student, who found herself working at Cheers by chance after being abandoned there by her fiancée.
When Long left the series in 1987 it marked the end of their relationship, as she jilted Sam. Later, he tried his luck with Rebecca Howe (played by Kirstie Alley), the new bar manager, although without success.
Other main characters included Coach Ernie Pantusso, retired baseball coach and bartender, whose character was written out in 1985 after the actor playing him, Nicholas Colasanto, died of a heart attack. Cynical, wisecracking cocktail waitress Carla Tortelli was played by Rhea Perlman. The plot incorporated her four real-life pregnancies so she could continue her role.
The regular customers included Norm Peterson (played by George Wendt) who was an accountant who was often 'between employment'. Norm was such a constant fixture at the bar that every time he walked in everyone would shout, "Norm!" and ask how he was.
Fellow customer Cliff Clavin (played by John Ratzenberger) was a typical know-all who had an opinion on everything, continually spouting nonsense and irritating trivia. The character Frasier Crane (played by Kelsey Grammer) earned his own spin-off show, Frasier, in which the psychiatrist had his own radio show. Many of the Cheers characters made guest appearances in Frasier until it ended in 2004.
In addition to its massive tally of awards, individual episodes gained their own critical acclaim, with the episodes 'Thanksgiving Orphans' and 'Home is the Sailor' being ranked seventh and 45th respectively in TV Guide's 1997 list of the top 100 individual episodes of shows of all time. The Writers' Guild of America ranked Cheers as the eighth best-written television series of all time in 2013 - and TV Guide also placed it at number 11 on a list of the greatest ever television shows.
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