# Cheers (1982)

> A former sports star turned bar owner and his eccentric staff and regulars trade jokes and romantic jabs in a Boston watering hole.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/128

## Facts

- Seasons: 11
- Episodes: 269
- Episode runtime: 23 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: comedy
- Created by: Les Charles, James Burrows, Glen Charles
- Network: NBC
- Cast: Ted Danson, Kirstie Alley, Shelley Long, Nicholas Colasanto, Rhea Perlman, George Wendt, John Ratzenberger, Woody Harrelson
- TMDB rating: 8.0/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083399/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: none
- Tone: witty, warm, comforting

## What critics say

Widely regarded as a timeless, warmly funny sitcom whose ensemble chemistry and sharp character comedy have kept it a benchmark of the form.

## Synopsis

Cheers (1982-1993) is an American network sitcom created by Les Charles, James Burrows and Glen Charles for NBC. Ted Danson plays Sam Malone, a former sports star who now runs a blue-collar Boston bar, and his sparring partnership with Shelley Long's Diane Chambers, a sharp-tongued intellectual, supplies the show's central romantic tension. Around them orbit Rhea Perlman's waitress Carla Tortelli, George Wendt's perpetual barfly Norm Peterson, John Ratzenberger's know-it-all Cliff Clavin, Woody Harrelson's gullible bartender Woody Boyd, and Kirstie Alley's Rebecca Howe, whose ambitions collide with the bar's easygoing culture. Each episode is a self-contained case of the week built from small indignities, schemes, and misunderstandings played out in one familiar room. The run spans eleven seasons across a long-running multi-camera format, and its tone stays warm, witty and communal. Its sitcom craft and affectionate ensemble rhythms put it in the company of Seinfeld, Friends and Taxi, and fans of those workplace comedies will find the same comfortable, quotable pleasure here. The bar's regulars feel like family, and the jokes land with a cozy, nostalgic ease that rewards repeated viewing.

## Shows like Cheers

- [Welcome Back, Kotter (1975)](https://ember.film/tv/700)
- [Frasier (1993)](https://ember.film/tv/3282)
- [Wings (1990)](https://ember.film/tv/2379)
- [Frasier (2023)](https://ember.film/tv/121515)
- [The Bob Newhart Show (1972)](https://ember.film/tv/1866)
- [Roseanne (1988)](https://ember.film/tv/2571)
- [The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970)](https://ember.film/tv/2816)
- [It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005)](https://ember.film/tv/2575)
- [Barney Miller (1975)](https://ember.film/tv/3095)
- [Perfect Strangers (1986)](https://ember.film/tv/1684)

---

Site overview: https://ember.film/llms.txt