WEBVTT

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You know, there is a really specific texture

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to television in the early 1980s. Oh, absolutely.

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If you close your eyes right now and you just

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picture a sitcom from, say, 1980 or 1981, it's

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usually really bright, it's loud, and it honestly

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looks kind of cheap. Yeah, it looks like it was

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shot in the middle of a brightly lit supermarket.

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Exactly. I mean, that's just the era of videotape.

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You get that harsh, almost soap opera look where

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everything feels a little too real, but somehow

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a little too flat at the exact same time. Right,

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right. And then September 1982 rolls around,

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and NBC premieres this show about a dark sort

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of subterranean bar in Boston, and it's brown.

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It's shadowy. It's really quiet compared to everything

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else. Yeah, the contrast was huge. You have this

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washed -up relief pitcher standing behind the

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bar, a graduate student who looks like she just

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literally walked out of a poetry reading, and

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a bunch of guys who are just sitting there. Staring

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at their beers. Yeah, just staring at their beers.

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It felt like a stage play, honestly. It had this

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dusty, lived -in quality that was completely

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out of step with the glitz and the high energy

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of that era. It felt cozy, but also kind of...

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Like these people didn't really have anywhere

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else to go in their lives. Melancholic. That's

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definitely the word I'd use for it. Clearly,

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America hated it. Or I guess more accurately,

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they didn't even know it existed. Yeah, I think

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hated might be way too active a word. Hated implies

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that they actually tuned in, watched it, and

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actively rejected it. The reality, which we see

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in the sources we're unpacking today, is much

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worse. Oh yeah, we have the Nielsen data right

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here in our stack of production notes and casting

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records. And it is absolutely brutal to look

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at. It really is. Premiere season. Fall 1982.

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The show comes in at rank 74. And that's out

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of what? Out of 77 shows on television. Wow.

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74 out of 77. So it wasn't just low rated. No.

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It was statistically irrelevant. It was basically

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in the margin of error for the entire television

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industry. It was completely invisible. I mean,

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if you look at the records, the only things performing

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worse were, I think. Some obscure news magazine

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show and a program that had already been effectively

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canceled by its network. Jeez. So functionally

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speaking, this show was in dead last place. And

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yet we are doing a deep dive on it today for

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all of you listening because it didn't just survive

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that awful first year. Not at all. It became

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the absolute leviathan of the 1990s. We're talking

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about Cheers. And the finale of Cheers had something

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like. Wait, what was the exact number? 90 million

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people. 93 million viewers. 93 million, which

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is a number that simply does not exist in television

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anymore. Never. That is a Super Bowl number.

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That is a moon landing number. It's staggering.

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So our mission for today's deep dive is to figure

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out that delta. To unpack how a show with such

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a simple premise, literally just people hanging

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out in a bar, managed to survive cancellation,

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run for 11 seasons, win 28 Emmys, and fundamentally

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change the landscape of the American sitcom.

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Right. What was the secret sauce? Exactly. How

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to go from 74th place dead on arrival to the

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defining comedy of a generation. And, you know.

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We want to go beyond the basic trivia you can

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find anywhere. I want to know the mechanics,

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what happened in the casting, how did the writing

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tackle real social issues, and why does a song

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about a place where everybody knows your name

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still resonate so deeply today? Well, we really

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have to look at the accident. The accidents.

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Yeah, because when you dig through these production

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notes, the critical reception history, the oral

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histories we've pulled for this deep dive, you

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start to realize that Cheers is a show made entirely

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out of Plan B's. Really? Literally everything.

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The lead actor. Not their first choice. Wow.

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The setting, not the first choice. The iconic

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theme song, that was a backup. Even the know

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-it -all character Cliff Clavin, he wasn't even

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in the original script, right? Not a single word

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of him. He was a total improv, an absolute fluke

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that happened during an audition for a completely

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different role. That is just amazing. So we have

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this show that defied the odds, defied the ratings,

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and frankly defied the logic of what a sitcom

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was supposed to be in the early 80s. Where do

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we even start to break this down? I think we

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have to start with the creators and their original

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concept, because before it was this moody, subterranean

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Boston bar. The show was almost set. In a hotel.

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A hotel. Like Fawlty Towers. Exactly like Fawlty

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Towers. Interesting. The creative team behind

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the show, Glenn and Les Charles and James Burroughs,

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they were huge fans of that British model of

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television. They really wanted that trapped pressure

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cooker environment that a hotel provides. Just

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to give you all listening some context on these

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guys, Glenn and Les Charles and James Burroughs,

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they had this really specific kind of funny way

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of describing their own partnership, didn't they?

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They did, yeah. They famously called themselves

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two Mormons and a Jew. Which honestly sounds

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like the setup to a joke you'd hear sitting at

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the bar in Cheers. It does. But it's actually

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really crucial to understanding the unique voice

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of the show. How so? Well, the Charles brothers

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were from the West. They were raised Mormon,

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very grounded, very salt of the earth guys. And

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then you have Burroughs, who was the son of Abe

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Burroughs, a legendary playwright and director.

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So Burroughs was basically theater royalty. He

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grew up in that world. So you have this collision

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of the outsider perspective of the Charles brothers

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and the insider coastal sophistication of Burroughs.

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So they brought different flavors to the table.

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Exactly. And they wanted to create something

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that felt genuinely smart. They looked at the

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TV landscape at the time shows like The Love

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Boat or Three's Company, which, you know, they

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were fun. They were popular. They were fluff.

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Total fluff. They were very light. This team

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wanted to do something with the energy of a Spencer

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Tracy and Katherine Hepburn movie. So they wanted

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that classic screwball comedy feel. Fast dialogue,

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heavy sexual tension, high emotional stakes between

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the leads. Right. And initially they thought

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a hotel was the perfect place to do it. But they

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ran into a major structural problem almost immediately

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during development. I think I can guess what

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it is. In a hotel, the guests eventually have

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to leave. They check out. Exactly. You cannot

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build a long -term emotional relationship with

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a guest character because by the end of the half

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-hour episode, they are gone. Right. And if you

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just keep bringing the same jests back every

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week, it gets really weird, really fast. The

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audience starts asking, why is this guy staying

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at this random hotel for three straight months?

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Yeah, unless you're going for some sort of full

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surrealism, you need a logical reason for people

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to stay in one room. Exactly. So they realized

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they needed a place where people naturally lingered,

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a place where you could have your core cast trapped

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together, meaning the employees, but where strangers

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could wander in and out and regulars could essentially

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live there without it being weird. And that logic

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led them directly to the idea of a neighborhood

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tavern. It did. And specifically, if we look

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at their production notes, they were heavily

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influenced by an old radio program. Oh, right.

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I saw a note here in our sources about Duffy's

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Tavern. Yes. This is such a great deep cut. Duffy's

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Tavern was this incredibly popular radio show

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from the 1940s, and the premise was functionally

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identical to Cheers. Really? Yeah. It centered

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around a bartender, a colorful cast of regulars,

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and this prevailing philosophy of the average

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man. The creators realized that a bar operates

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as what sociologists call a third place. A third

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place. Meaning it's not your work and it's not

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your home. Right. It's the place you go to actively

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avoid both of those other places. Which makes

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perfect sense and actually explains why the set

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design looks the way it does. We talked earlier

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about it being dark and shadowy. They didn't

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want a bright TV bar. They wanted a hideout.

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Exactly. They actively scouted real physical

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bars to get that specific vibe and their location

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scouting is fascinating. They looked in Barstow,

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California. Like Barstow? Yeah. Out in the desert.

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They also seriously looked at Kansas City, Missouri.

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Why not just set the show in Kansas City? Or

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Barstow for that matter. Why Boston? Well, they

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considered it. But as they developed the characters,

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they realized they needed a city that had a very

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specific demographic mix. They needed a place

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where a blue collar working class factory worker

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or mailman could sit directly next to a Harvard

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professor or a wealthy academic. And the audience

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wouldn't question it. It had to feel organic.

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And Boston is basically the capital of that exact

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dynamic. Boston. It's a massive college town

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filled. with elite institutions. But at its core,

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it's also a very tough working class port city.

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Right. It was the perfect Petri dish for the

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kind of class war they ultimately wanted to write

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about. OK, so they have the concept down. They

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have the city chosen. Now they need the actual

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physical. look of the place and this brings us

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to the famous exterior shot the bull and finch

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pub in beacon hill they found it in a phone book

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didn't they literally just flipping through the

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yellow pages they were looking for something

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that looked english but still authentically american

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they saw the little ad for the bull and finch

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like the typography of the logo and just drove

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over to see it And when they got there, they

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particularly liked the stairs. The fact that

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the entrance required you to go down a flight

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of stairs from the street level. It looked like

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you were descending into a cave, like a literal

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hideout. Exactly. So they approached the owner.

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And the deal they made with this owner, this

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just kills me. Tom Kershaw. Right, Tom Kershaw.

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They go up to this guy and they say, hey, we're

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making a TV show. We want to use the exterior

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shot of your bar. Just the outside. We're going

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to film the inside on a soundstage in L .A. He

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says, sure. How much did they actually pay him

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for those rights? One single dollar. One dollar.

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I cannot get over that. A crisp one dollar bill.

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And to be completely fair to Tom Kershaw, literally

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nobody knew this show was going to be a hit.

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It came in 74th place. Probably just thought,

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hey, free dollar and maybe a little local exposure.

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Right, right. But that $1 rights deal eventually

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turned the Bull and Finch into the third most

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visited tourist attraction in all of Boston.

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Unbelievable. We are talking millions and millions

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of dollars in merchandise. T -shirts, mugs, burgers,

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hats, all from a $1 contract. I really hope he

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framed that dollar bill. I think he probably

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framed the massive bank account statements that

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started rolling in a few years later. Fair enough.

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OK, so we have the physical place. Now we need

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to populate it. We need the people. And this

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is where the whole plan B narrative of this deep

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dive really takes over the story. Oh, heavily.

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Let's talk about Sam Malone. Because for me,

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and I think for almost anyone listening, Ted

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Danson just is Sam Malone. They are inseparable

00:10:52.779 --> 00:10:55.440
in pop culture. It is genuinely hard to imagine

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anyone else standing behind that bar. But looking

00:10:58.639 --> 00:11:02.320
at the casting notes we have, wow. It is a completely

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different picture. It's a multiverse of madness,

00:11:04.419 --> 00:11:06.379
honestly. It really is. First off, Sam wasn't

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even a baseball player in the initial pitch.

00:11:08.159 --> 00:11:10.179
No, not at all. In the original pilot script,

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the character of Sam was a former lineman for

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the New England Patriots. A football player.

00:11:14.779 --> 00:11:17.799
A football player. And because of that, the character

00:11:17.799 --> 00:11:21.659
was written as heavier, broader, much more of

00:11:21.659 --> 00:11:23.820
a classic meat and potatoes kind of guy. And

00:11:23.820 --> 00:11:26.779
the network NBC, in their infinite wisdom, they

00:11:26.779 --> 00:11:29.159
had a very specific name in mind for this role.

00:11:29.340 --> 00:11:33.029
They wanted Bill Cosby. Stop. That breaks my

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brain every time I read it. I am completely serious.

00:11:35.490 --> 00:11:38.929
The executives at NBC formally recommended Bill

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Cosby for the role of Sam Malone. That is just

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aside from all the obvious retrospective reasons.

00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:48.059
regarding Cosby's later life and legacy, just

00:11:48.059 --> 00:11:49.840
think about the sheer energy of that choice.

00:11:50.039 --> 00:11:52.720
Bill Cosby in the early 80s was the ultimate

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authority figure. He was rapidly becoming America's

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dad. He was always in control of the room. Exactly.

00:11:58.360 --> 00:12:00.340
And that fundamental trait would have instantly

00:12:00.340 --> 00:12:02.519
killed the premise of the show. Because the whole

00:12:02.519 --> 00:12:04.779
point of Sam Malone is that he cannot be in control.

00:12:04.980 --> 00:12:08.879
Sam Malone is, at his core, a loser. He's a recovering

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alcoholic. He's a womanizer who constantly strikes

00:12:11.820 --> 00:12:15.200
out and makes a fool of himself. He's a guy whose

00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:17.940
absolute best glory days are at least 10 years

00:12:17.940 --> 00:12:21.120
behind him. If you put a natural winner, an authority

00:12:21.120 --> 00:12:23.759
figure like Cosby in that role, all that necessary

00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:27.259
vulnerability just vanishes. The character doesn't

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work. So the creators obviously push back against

00:12:30.039 --> 00:12:32.500
the network on that. Who else do they seriously

00:12:32.500 --> 00:12:35.419
look at? They got really, really close to casting

00:12:35.419 --> 00:12:38.139
Fred Dreyer. Wait, the actual NFL player? Yeah.

00:12:38.259 --> 00:12:40.460
He played defensive end for the Rams. He was

00:12:40.460 --> 00:12:43.240
transitioning into acting at the time. He famously

00:12:43.240 --> 00:12:45.620
went on to do the cop show Hunter a few years

00:12:45.620 --> 00:12:48.500
later. Oh, right. And Dreyer was actually great

00:12:48.500 --> 00:12:50.659
in the auditions. He fit that original football

00:12:50.659 --> 00:12:53.539
player mold perfectly. He was tall. He was imposing.

00:12:54.059 --> 00:12:55.919
He looked like a guy who used to tackle people

00:12:55.919 --> 00:12:58.539
for a living. There's always a but. But he just

00:12:58.539 --> 00:13:01.259
wasn't. Funny. Is that a fair way to put it?

00:13:01.340 --> 00:13:03.139
I mean, he was a tough guy. Right. He was a genuine

00:13:03.139 --> 00:13:06.519
tough guy. He simply didn't possess that frantic,

00:13:06.519 --> 00:13:09.399
slightly pathetic, neurotic energy underneath

00:13:09.399 --> 00:13:12.580
the surface that the comedy required. And then

00:13:12.580 --> 00:13:15.940
in walks Ted Danson. Right. Who was absolutely

00:13:15.940 --> 00:13:18.379
not a football player. Not even a little bit.

00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:21.980
No. He was tall, but he was lanky. He had this

00:13:21.980 --> 00:13:24.580
amazing, thick head of hair, but he didn't look

00:13:24.580 --> 00:13:27.960
like an NFL lineman at all. But Danson had something

00:13:27.960 --> 00:13:30.539
the other actors didn't have. He had incredible

00:13:30.539 --> 00:13:33.379
range. He could play both sides. Exactly. He

00:13:33.379 --> 00:13:36.220
could be the cool, swaggering jock when he needed

00:13:36.220 --> 00:13:39.200
to be, but he was totally willing and able to

00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:41.720
be the complete butt of the joke a second later.

00:13:41.980 --> 00:13:44.820
So once they cast Danson, they realized they

00:13:44.820 --> 00:13:46.779
had to change the sport to fit him. They did.

00:13:46.980 --> 00:13:49.419
They looked at Danson's body type and realized

00:13:49.419 --> 00:13:52.419
football just didn't make visual sense anymore.

00:13:52.840 --> 00:13:56.039
So they made Sam a relief pitcher. Which, if

00:13:56.039 --> 00:13:57.840
you think about it narratively, is actually a

00:13:57.840 --> 00:14:00.179
much better fit for the show. How so is the difference?

00:14:00.600 --> 00:14:03.039
Think about the psychology of the sports. A football

00:14:03.039 --> 00:14:05.580
player is just one piece of a massive team machine.

00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:08.419
But a relief pitcher, that is a deeply lonely

00:14:08.419 --> 00:14:10.539
position. Oh, I see. You sit all by yourself

00:14:10.539 --> 00:14:12.940
out in the bullpen for hours. You come into the

00:14:12.940 --> 00:14:14.679
game at the very end. You either save the game

00:14:14.679 --> 00:14:16.559
and become the hero or you blow it and take all

00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:19.059
the blame. And then you go sit back down alone.

00:14:19.419 --> 00:14:22.559
Mayday Malone. Exactly! It perfectly mirrors

00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:25.000
the psychology of a lonely guy standing behind

00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:27.279
a bar every night. But there was a pretty funny

00:14:27.279 --> 00:14:30.279
catch with Danson, wasn't there? About the baseball

00:14:30.279 --> 00:14:32.740
thing. Oh yeah. Ted Danson knew absolutely nothing

00:14:32.740 --> 00:14:35.200
about the game of baseball. Zero. Less than zero.

00:14:35.299 --> 00:14:37.379
He had never even been to a professional game.

00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:40.000
He didn't know how to properly hold a fielder's

00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:42.059
glove. That's hilarious. He literally had to

00:14:42.059 --> 00:14:44.620
go to a specialized baseball school just to learn

00:14:44.620 --> 00:14:46.919
how to stand and walk like a professional athlete.

00:14:47.360 --> 00:14:49.500
And he had to go to bartending school, too, because

00:14:49.500 --> 00:14:51.860
he had no idea how to pour beer either. See,

00:14:51.919 --> 00:14:54.480
that is the true magic trick of acting, isn't

00:14:54.480 --> 00:14:56.700
it? He played that sort of washed -up athletic

00:14:56.700 --> 00:15:00.889
arrogance so flawlessly that I just always assumed

00:15:00.889 --> 00:15:04.269
he was a jock in real life that's the burrows

00:15:04.269 --> 00:15:06.210
touch shining through which we'll get into later

00:15:06.210 --> 00:15:09.190
but honestly the real casting hurdle wasn't finding

00:15:09.190 --> 00:15:12.649
sam it was finding diane shelly long shelly long

00:15:12.649 --> 00:15:14.950
the casting directors actually wrote a note on

00:15:14.950 --> 00:15:16.830
her file that said she was the easiest choice

00:15:16.830 --> 00:15:18.929
and the hardest get meaning she didn't want to

00:15:18.929 --> 00:15:21.309
do the show well she was a movie actress at the

00:15:21.309 --> 00:15:24.029
time or at least she heavily aspired to be exclusively

00:15:24.029 --> 00:15:27.340
a film actress You have to remember, doing a

00:15:27.340 --> 00:15:30.940
television sitcom in 1982 was widely viewed as

00:15:30.940 --> 00:15:33.580
a massive step down for your career if you had

00:15:33.580 --> 00:15:35.740
any kind of feature film aspirations. Right.

00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:37.519
The landscape was totally different back then.

00:15:37.600 --> 00:15:40.580
TV was the minor leagues. Exactly. So she really

00:15:40.580 --> 00:15:42.940
had to be coaxed and convinced just to show up

00:15:42.940 --> 00:15:45.179
and read for the part. But once she was finally

00:15:45.179 --> 00:15:47.580
in the room, it all came down to the chemistry

00:15:47.580 --> 00:15:50.330
tests. I was reading about this part of the process.

00:15:50.629 --> 00:15:52.490
According to the records, they took the final

00:15:52.490 --> 00:15:55.889
three actors up for Sam and the final three actresses

00:15:55.889 --> 00:15:58.330
up for Diane, and they just systematically mixed

00:15:58.330 --> 00:15:59.929
and matched them to see what happened. Right.

00:16:00.029 --> 00:16:02.509
So you ended up with these incredible what -if

00:16:02.509 --> 00:16:04.549
pairings that could have changed television history.

00:16:04.649 --> 00:16:07.490
Imagine this one. Fred Dreyer and Julia Duffy.

00:16:07.649 --> 00:16:09.230
Julia Duffy. She was the actress from Newhart,

00:16:09.269 --> 00:16:12.330
right? The one who played the really rich, spoiled

00:16:12.330 --> 00:16:14.450
princess character. Yes, exactly. So imagine

00:16:14.450 --> 00:16:19.549
a hulking, legitimate NFL. Tough guy. Opposite

00:16:19.549 --> 00:16:22.509
a tiny, wealthy princess type. I mean, that's

00:16:22.509 --> 00:16:25.230
a funny dynamic for a show, maybe. But it's definitely

00:16:25.230 --> 00:16:27.669
not Cheers. No. Then you had another pairing

00:16:27.669 --> 00:16:31.549
they tested, William Devane and Lisa Eichhorn.

00:16:31.830 --> 00:16:37.250
William Devane. That would have been dark. Or

00:16:37.250 --> 00:16:39.350
at least very dramatic. Probably way too serious.

00:16:39.769 --> 00:16:42.269
Devane brings a very intense, dramatic energy

00:16:42.269 --> 00:16:44.750
to his roles. He wouldn't have had the bounce

00:16:44.750 --> 00:16:47.799
a sitcom needs. And then finally. They pair Ted

00:16:47.799 --> 00:16:50.720
Danson and Shelley Long. And the producers noted

00:16:50.720 --> 00:16:53.539
that the literal air in the room changed. It

00:16:53.539 --> 00:16:55.200
wasn't just that they had romantic chemistry,

00:16:55.360 --> 00:16:57.480
which they absolutely did. It was that they had

00:16:57.480 --> 00:17:01.159
what the team called. Combat chemistry. Combat

00:17:01.159 --> 00:17:03.419
chemistry. I really like that phrase. It's perfect.

00:17:03.860 --> 00:17:06.359
They genuinely seem to annoy the hell out of

00:17:06.359 --> 00:17:08.660
each other, but we're simultaneously incredibly

00:17:08.660 --> 00:17:10.640
attracted to each other, and that contradiction

00:17:10.640 --> 00:17:12.980
is the entire engine of the show. It's not a

00:17:12.980 --> 00:17:15.480
simple I love you story. No, it's I cannot stand

00:17:15.480 --> 00:17:17.559
you, I think you're an idiot, but I also can't

00:17:17.559 --> 00:17:19.660
leave this room. Okay, so you have your two anchors

00:17:19.660 --> 00:17:23.730
locked in. But a bar needs regulars. It needs

00:17:23.730 --> 00:17:26.230
an ecosystem. And this is where that Plan B theme

00:17:26.230 --> 00:17:28.849
we talked about really shines brightly. Let's

00:17:28.849 --> 00:17:31.250
talk about George Wynn. The man, the myth. He

00:17:31.250 --> 00:17:32.910
wasn't even supposed to be a main character at

00:17:32.910 --> 00:17:35.390
all. Not even close. On the original casting

00:17:35.390 --> 00:17:38.430
sheet, his role was just listed as George. With

00:17:38.430 --> 00:17:41.210
a small g, practically. He was essentially just

00:17:41.210 --> 00:17:44.359
a featured extra. Really? The pilot script just

00:17:44.359 --> 00:17:47.599
called for Diane on her very first day as a waitress

00:17:47.599 --> 00:17:50.180
to serve her first customer, this guy George.

00:17:50.519 --> 00:17:54.259
And he had exactly one line of dialogue. Let

00:17:54.259 --> 00:17:57.000
me guess the line. Beer. That's it? Just the

00:17:57.000 --> 00:17:59.500
word beer? That was his entire audition material.

00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:02.299
He had to walk into the room, sit down, look

00:18:02.299 --> 00:18:05.819
generally miserable, and say the word beer. How

00:18:05.819 --> 00:18:07.980
does an actor even crush an audition with only

00:18:07.980 --> 00:18:10.559
one word? By doing exactly what George Wendt

00:18:10.559 --> 00:18:12.359
did, he didn't just speak the word. He cited

00:18:12.359 --> 00:18:14.579
out of his body. He managed to put the weight

00:18:14.579 --> 00:18:17.339
of the entire world into that single syllable.

00:18:17.559 --> 00:18:20.000
Wow. It was the authentic sound of a man who

00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:22.539
has had a terrible day, a terrible week, maybe

00:18:22.539 --> 00:18:24.920
a terrible decade, and he just needs this one

00:18:24.920 --> 00:18:28.799
specific thing to cope. The producers laughed

00:18:28.799 --> 00:18:31.279
so hard at his delivery that they immediately

00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:33.359
turned to each other and realized, okay, this

00:18:33.359 --> 00:18:35.339
guy needs to be sitting on that stool every single

00:18:35.339 --> 00:18:38.910
week. And then there's John Ratzenberger. Honestly,

00:18:39.009 --> 00:18:41.210
this might be my favorite story in this entire

00:18:41.210 --> 00:18:43.849
stack of research. It is absolute Hollywood legend.

00:18:44.069 --> 00:18:46.549
So Ratzenberger actually came in to audition

00:18:46.549 --> 00:18:49.630
for the exact same roles George went. He auditioned

00:18:49.630 --> 00:18:51.710
for Norm. He wanted to be the beer guy. He did.

00:18:51.890 --> 00:18:54.210
But he walked out of the audition room knowing

00:18:54.210 --> 00:18:57.190
in his gut that he didn't get the part. He could

00:18:57.190 --> 00:18:59.230
just tell that Wynn had crushed it and the role

00:18:59.230 --> 00:19:01.410
was gone. But instead of just getting in his

00:19:01.410 --> 00:19:03.509
car and driving home, he stopped at the door,

00:19:03.589 --> 00:19:05.630
turned back around and looked at the creators.

00:19:06.240 --> 00:19:08.819
He just turned around. And he said to them, hey,

00:19:08.920 --> 00:19:11.470
do you guys have a bar? No at all. That is such

00:19:11.470 --> 00:19:14.750
an incredibly bold move for an actor, just inventing

00:19:14.750 --> 00:19:17.390
a brand new role for yourself in the exit interview.

00:19:17.630 --> 00:19:20.329
It takes serious nerve. The producers were kind

00:19:20.329 --> 00:19:22.289
of confused and said, what do you mean by a bar

00:19:22.289 --> 00:19:24.970
know -it -all? And Ratzenberger just launches

00:19:24.970 --> 00:19:27.890
into this improvised pitch. He explains that

00:19:27.890 --> 00:19:29.950
every neighborhood bar in America has this one

00:19:29.950 --> 00:19:32.130
specific guy who thinks he knows everything about

00:19:32.130 --> 00:19:35.130
everything, but actually knows absolutely nothing.

00:19:35.369 --> 00:19:38.309
The guy who aggressively explains how a carburetor

00:19:38.309 --> 00:19:41.009
works. But has never actually owned a car in

00:19:41.009 --> 00:19:43.470
his life. Exactly. And he didn't just explain

00:19:43.470 --> 00:19:45.349
the concept. He just dropped into the character

00:19:45.349 --> 00:19:47.750
right then and there. On the spot. Totally on

00:19:47.750 --> 00:19:49.809
the spot. He started spouting these completely

00:19:49.809 --> 00:19:52.089
nonsense facts about, I think it was biology

00:19:52.089 --> 00:19:54.609
or maybe geography, just complete authoritative

00:19:54.609 --> 00:19:57.609
gibberish delivered with absolute unwavering

00:19:57.609 --> 00:20:00.259
confidence. And it worked. The producers were

00:20:00.259 --> 00:20:02.920
crying laughing. They went home and wrote the

00:20:02.920 --> 00:20:05.160
character of Cliff Clavin into the pilot script

00:20:05.160 --> 00:20:08.579
that very night. It's just genius because Cliff

00:20:08.579 --> 00:20:12.019
and Norm ultimately act as this sort of this

00:20:12.019 --> 00:20:14.500
grounding wire for the whole series. You have

00:20:14.500 --> 00:20:16.759
all this high emotional drama with Sam and Diane

00:20:16.759 --> 00:20:19.339
screaming at each other in the office about French

00:20:19.339 --> 00:20:21.799
literature and sports. And then the camera just

00:20:21.799 --> 00:20:25.380
cuts to Cliff. calmly explaining to Norm how

00:20:25.380 --> 00:20:28.220
buffalo migrate across the plains. They serve

00:20:28.220 --> 00:20:30.380
as the Greek chorus of the show. They are there

00:20:30.380 --> 00:20:32.420
to constantly remind the audience that at the

00:20:32.420 --> 00:20:34.619
end of the day, no matter what's happening, this

00:20:34.619 --> 00:20:36.920
is just a bar. None of the drama happening here

00:20:36.920 --> 00:20:38.740
is actually that important in the grand scheme

00:20:38.740 --> 00:20:40.819
of things. I want to pivot to the writing for

00:20:40.819 --> 00:20:43.230
a second because... You know, we look back at

00:20:43.230 --> 00:20:45.710
Cheers now, and we mostly think about the will

00:20:45.710 --> 00:20:47.450
-they -won't -they dynamic. We think of it as

00:20:47.450 --> 00:20:50.369
a romance. But the source material makes a really

00:20:50.369 --> 00:20:52.829
compelling deeper point. Cheers wasn't actually

00:20:52.829 --> 00:20:56.329
a romantic comedy. It was a... class war oh absolutely

00:20:56.329 --> 00:20:59.509
it was if you strip away the jokes and the sitcom

00:20:59.509 --> 00:21:01.990
structure it is fundamentally a show about the

00:21:01.990 --> 00:21:04.029
collision between the american working class

00:21:04.029 --> 00:21:07.390
and the american intellectual elite with diane

00:21:07.390 --> 00:21:09.970
representing the elite diane is the pure embodiment

00:21:09.970 --> 00:21:12.150
of the elite she is a perpetual graduate student

00:21:12.150 --> 00:21:15.289
she reads proust for fun she casually drops words

00:21:15.289 --> 00:21:19.279
like corporeal and verisimilitude into everyday

00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:22.339
bar conversation. She represents this ideal that

00:21:22.339 --> 00:21:24.940
life should constantly be elevated and analyzed.

00:21:25.319 --> 00:21:28.000
And crucially, she firmly believes she is better

00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:30.680
than the bar and everyone in it. And Sam is the

00:21:30.680 --> 00:21:33.519
opposite. Sam is the ultimate populist. He values

00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:36.279
street smarts. He values physical ability and

00:21:36.279 --> 00:21:38.759
charm. He genuinely thinks sitting around reading

00:21:38.759 --> 00:21:40.900
heavy books is a waste of time for people who

00:21:40.900 --> 00:21:43.680
can't actually do things in the real world. So

00:21:43.680 --> 00:21:46.029
when these two are fighting, And they fight constantly.

00:21:46.230 --> 00:21:49.009
They aren't really arguing about who forgot to

00:21:49.009 --> 00:21:51.150
do the dishes or who looked at who. They are

00:21:51.150 --> 00:21:53.789
fighting about what actually has value in American

00:21:53.789 --> 00:21:56.690
society. Precisely. There's this brilliantly

00:21:56.690 --> 00:21:58.769
written episode early on where they try to go

00:21:58.769 --> 00:22:00.890
out to the opera together and Sam falls asleep

00:22:00.890 --> 00:22:03.970
in the theater. Right. And Diane is just horrified.

00:22:04.109 --> 00:22:07.349
But she's not mad because he's tired. She's furious

00:22:07.349 --> 00:22:10.069
because his boredom is a direct insult to her

00:22:10.069 --> 00:22:13.660
entire high culture worldview. And on the flip

00:22:13.660 --> 00:22:16.519
side, Sam is annoyed because he's convinced she's

00:22:16.519 --> 00:22:18.660
just faking her enjoyment of the opera just to

00:22:18.660 --> 00:22:20.960
look smarter than everyone else. And the truly

00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:22.720
brilliant thing about the writing here is that

00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:25.680
the show never actually takes a side. That is

00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:28.599
the magic key to Cheers. Think about it. Most

00:22:28.599 --> 00:22:31.099
sitcoms would lazily make Diane the designated

00:22:31.099 --> 00:22:34.460
smart one and Sam the designated dumb one. Or,

00:22:34.579 --> 00:22:36.960
alternatively, they'd make Sam the cool, relatable

00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:39.759
guy and Diane the stuck -up villain. But Cheers

00:22:39.759 --> 00:22:43.000
did both. Yes. Diane was terribly stuck up and

00:22:43.000 --> 00:22:45.759
pretentious. But she was also factually right

00:22:45.759 --> 00:22:48.700
a lot of the time. Sam was uneducated and superficial,

00:22:49.079 --> 00:22:52.279
but he possessed a deep emotional intelligence

00:22:52.279 --> 00:22:56.299
and loyalty that Diane completely lacked. They

00:22:56.299 --> 00:22:58.779
constantly exposed each other's deepest hypocrisy.

00:22:58.859 --> 00:23:01.140
Which is exactly why their relationship was able

00:23:01.140 --> 00:23:03.460
to drive the narrative for five solid seasons.

00:23:03.559 --> 00:23:06.279
If the plot was just he thinks she's pretty and

00:23:06.279 --> 00:23:08.279
she thinks he's handsome, the audience gets bored

00:23:08.279 --> 00:23:11.019
in six episodes. But because the dynamic was

00:23:11.019 --> 00:23:13.900
he fundamentally challenges her reason for existing.

00:23:14.799 --> 00:23:17.420
It can last forever. And surrounding this massive

00:23:17.420 --> 00:23:20.400
ideological clash, you have the rest of the bar,

00:23:20.500 --> 00:23:22.759
the quote unquote family. Right. We mentioned

00:23:22.759 --> 00:23:24.500
Norman Cliff, but we really have to talk about

00:23:24.500 --> 00:23:27.160
Coach and Carla. Right. Nicholas Colasanto, who

00:23:27.160 --> 00:23:29.819
played Coach, he was the absolute heart of the

00:23:29.819 --> 00:23:32.779
bar. The character was, frankly, borderline senile

00:23:32.779 --> 00:23:35.000
due to taking way too many baseballs to the head

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:36.859
without a batting helmet over the years. But

00:23:36.859 --> 00:23:39.380
he was the sweet, trusting, emotional center

00:23:39.380 --> 00:23:41.960
that grounded the cynicism of everyone else.

00:23:42.160 --> 00:23:43.559
And then on the other end of the spectrum, you

00:23:43.559 --> 00:23:46.519
have Rhea Perlman playing Carla Tortelli. The

00:23:46.519 --> 00:23:50.000
ultimate cynic. If Coach was the warm heart of

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:53.960
the bar, Carla was the sharp teeth. She despised

00:23:53.960 --> 00:23:57.319
Diane from day one. And that was a vital dynamic

00:23:57.319 --> 00:23:59.680
for the writers because, honestly, the audience

00:23:59.680 --> 00:24:02.480
sometimes hated Diane, too. Carla was the pressure

00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:05.359
valve. Exactly. She was the audience surrogate,

00:24:05.359 --> 00:24:07.980
constantly rolling her eyes at Diane's endless

00:24:07.980 --> 00:24:10.460
pretension so the viewers didn't have to. And

00:24:10.460 --> 00:24:11.940
looking at her character notes, there was this

00:24:11.940 --> 00:24:15.200
constant running gag about her fertility and

00:24:15.200 --> 00:24:18.319
having a million kids. That was out of pure necessity.

00:24:18.970 --> 00:24:21.190
Rhea Perlman just kept getting pregnant in real

00:24:21.190 --> 00:24:23.430
life during production, so rather than hiding

00:24:23.430 --> 00:24:25.910
her behind a counter with a giant purse, the

00:24:25.910 --> 00:24:28.809
writers just wrote it into the script. Carla

00:24:28.809 --> 00:24:31.109
was seemingly always pregnant, which perfectly

00:24:31.109 --> 00:24:33.630
added to her constant stress, her anger, and

00:24:33.630 --> 00:24:36.269
her deep cynicism about life. We do have to touch

00:24:36.269 --> 00:24:38.710
on a really sad, pivotal moment in the show's

00:24:38.710 --> 00:24:41.069
history, though. Moving into the middle seasons,

00:24:41.250 --> 00:24:44.009
the death of Nicholas Colasanto. Yeah, this is

00:24:44.009 --> 00:24:46.779
a very heavy part of the show's legacy. Colasanto

00:24:46.779 --> 00:24:48.940
had a severe heart condition, and if you watch

00:24:48.940 --> 00:24:50.799
season three closely, you can actually see it

00:24:50.799 --> 00:24:53.140
happening on screen. Yeah, he's losing a lot

00:24:53.140 --> 00:24:55.720
of weight. He's visibly struggling to catch his

00:24:55.720 --> 00:24:59.099
breath during longer scenes. It was tough. He

00:24:59.099 --> 00:25:00.779
eventually passed away from a heart attack in

00:25:00.779 --> 00:25:04.539
1985. Now, in a standard television sitcom, Usually

00:25:04.539 --> 00:25:06.940
when an actor leaves a show or tragically passes

00:25:06.940 --> 00:25:09.740
away, the writers take the easy way out. They

00:25:09.740 --> 00:25:12.099
just have a character say, oh, he moved to Florida

00:25:12.099 --> 00:25:14.920
to live with his sister or he got a new job in

00:25:14.920 --> 00:25:16.880
another state. Right. They just sweep it under

00:25:16.880 --> 00:25:19.359
the rug. But the writers on Cheers felt that

00:25:19.359 --> 00:25:21.920
doing that would be a profound insult to the

00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:24.400
character of Coach. Because Coach loved those

00:25:24.400 --> 00:25:27.599
people. Exactly. Coach would never, ever voluntarily

00:25:27.599 --> 00:25:29.519
pack up and leave his friends. They were his

00:25:29.519 --> 00:25:32.720
whole life. So the creators made the incredibly

00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:35.819
difficult decision. to just address the death.

00:25:36.220 --> 00:25:38.880
This was the season four opener. The season four

00:25:38.880 --> 00:25:40.759
opener. They come right out and acknowledge that

00:25:40.759 --> 00:25:43.079
Coach has passed away. It was an incredibly brave,

00:25:43.160 --> 00:25:46.200
creative choice for a light hominy in the mid

00:25:46.200 --> 00:25:48.960
80s to just grind to a halt and say to the audience,

00:25:49.099 --> 00:25:52.039
our friend died and we are grieving. It really

00:25:52.039 --> 00:25:55.019
grounded the show. It firmly reminded everyone

00:25:55.019 --> 00:25:57.059
that this wasn't just a live action cartoon.

00:25:57.339 --> 00:26:00.359
These were supposed to be real people. And structurally,

00:26:00.440 --> 00:26:02.700
it led directly to the introduction of Woody

00:26:02.700 --> 00:26:05.440
Harrelson. Woody Boyd. The pen pal from Ham.

00:26:05.519 --> 00:26:07.579
Hanover, Indiana. Wait, didn't the show make

00:26:07.579 --> 00:26:09.819
a joke that they didn't actually exchange letters?

00:26:09.920 --> 00:26:12.859
They literally just mailed physical pins back

00:26:12.859 --> 00:26:15.799
and forth. Yes, that is exactly the level of

00:26:15.799 --> 00:26:17.500
intellect we are dealing with here. Classic.

00:26:17.539 --> 00:26:20.440
So Woody Harrelson comes in to take over the

00:26:20.440 --> 00:26:23.819
required dumb guy slot behind the bar, but he

00:26:23.819 --> 00:26:26.019
played it with a completely different energy.

00:26:26.259 --> 00:26:30.099
How so? Well. Coach was old and befuddled. Woody

00:26:30.099 --> 00:26:33.640
was young, incredibly optimistic, and just dangerously

00:26:33.640 --> 00:26:37.039
naive. And that subtle shift changed the entire

00:26:37.039 --> 00:26:39.680
dynamic for Sam. Instead of Sam interacting with

00:26:39.680 --> 00:26:42.680
an older father figure or a peer, Sam suddenly

00:26:42.680 --> 00:26:45.380
became Woody's protective big brother. It freshened

00:26:45.380 --> 00:26:47.460
up the chemistry. It did. But the biggest, most

00:26:47.460 --> 00:26:49.740
dangerous shakeup the show would ever face was

00:26:49.740 --> 00:26:53.000
still coming. Season 5 ends, and Shelley Long

00:26:53.000 --> 00:26:55.609
announces she is leaving the show. This is the

00:26:55.609 --> 00:26:58.589
moment where, historically, 99 % of television

00:26:58.589 --> 00:27:01.349
shows just die. Instantly. You lose your female

00:27:01.349 --> 00:27:04.569
lead. You lose literally 50 % of the Sam and

00:27:04.569 --> 00:27:06.650
Diane dynamic that made the show a hit in the

00:27:06.650 --> 00:27:10.309
first place. By all conventional logic, Cheers

00:27:10.309 --> 00:27:12.390
should have been over. So how did they survive

00:27:12.390 --> 00:27:15.269
it? They completely reinvented the genre of the

00:27:15.269 --> 00:27:17.190
show. They brought in Kirstie Alley to play Rebecca

00:27:17.190 --> 00:27:20.369
Howe. And the sheer brilliance of this move was

00:27:20.369 --> 00:27:22.740
that they did not... try to find another Diane.

00:27:22.980 --> 00:27:25.680
Right. They didn't cast another blonde, poetry

00:27:25.680 --> 00:27:28.339
-reading academic. No. Rebecca was the total

00:27:28.339 --> 00:27:30.759
opposite. She was a ruthless corporate climber.

00:27:30.819 --> 00:27:33.700
The corporation she works for buys the bar, so

00:27:33.700 --> 00:27:37.440
she comes in as Sam's direct superior. She is

00:27:37.440 --> 00:27:40.599
his boss. The power dynamic flipped. Entirely.

00:27:40.680 --> 00:27:43.160
And initially, for the first few episodes, she

00:27:43.160 --> 00:27:45.500
was presented as this icy, hyper -competent,

00:27:45.500 --> 00:27:48.670
untouchable businesswoman. But then... Then the

00:27:48.670 --> 00:27:50.730
writers broke her. They absolutely destroyed

00:27:50.730 --> 00:27:52.930
her. Over the course of that season, they slowly

00:27:52.930 --> 00:27:54.990
peeled back the layers and revealed that underneath

00:27:54.990 --> 00:27:57.549
the shoulder pads, she was a complete neurotic

00:27:57.549 --> 00:28:00.230
mess. She was a total disaster in her personal

00:28:00.230 --> 00:28:03.049
life. She was deeply insecure. She was essentially

00:28:03.049 --> 00:28:05.829
a gold digger, but she was spectacularly bad

00:28:05.829 --> 00:28:08.789
at digging for gold. Every rich man she went

00:28:08.789 --> 00:28:10.950
after turned out to be a creep or rejected her.

00:28:11.109 --> 00:28:14.210
Which made her character incredibly funny, but

00:28:14.210 --> 00:28:16.599
in a totally different way than Diane. Exactly.

00:28:16.680 --> 00:28:19.980
And that shift fundamentally changed the DNA

00:28:19.980 --> 00:28:22.660
of the series. It shifted from being a tense

00:28:22.660 --> 00:28:26.559
romantic comedy into a sprawling ensemble farce.

00:28:26.740 --> 00:28:29.500
The burden wasn't solely on Sam anymore. Right.

00:28:29.579 --> 00:28:31.559
It wasn't just about will they or won't they

00:28:31.559 --> 00:28:33.299
sleep together anymore. It was about this group

00:28:33.299 --> 00:28:36.299
of lovable lunatics trying to desperately run

00:28:36.299 --> 00:28:38.559
a business and survive their own bad decisions.

00:28:39.000 --> 00:28:42.240
And that pivot gave the show another six solid

00:28:42.240 --> 00:28:44.890
years of life on the network. Let's shift gears

00:28:44.890 --> 00:28:46.690
and talk about the actual production style, because

00:28:46.690 --> 00:28:48.410
we touched on the visual look of the show earlier

00:28:48.410 --> 00:28:50.869
in the intro, but there is a very specific technical

00:28:50.869 --> 00:28:53.950
reason why Cheers feels so different when you

00:28:53.950 --> 00:28:56.329
watch it today compared to its peers. It's the

00:28:56.329 --> 00:28:59.349
great film versus tape war of the 1980s. Break

00:28:59.349 --> 00:29:01.089
that down for me like I'm a five -year -old.

00:29:01.089 --> 00:29:04.170
What does that actually mean? Okay. In the 80s,

00:29:04.170 --> 00:29:06.829
network sitcoms were almost universally shot

00:29:06.829 --> 00:29:09.380
on videotape. Think of the visual look of All

00:29:09.380 --> 00:29:12.680
in the Family or the Golden Girls or Family Ties.

00:29:12.779 --> 00:29:14.539
Okay, I can picture that. It's very bright. Right.

00:29:15.039 --> 00:29:17.380
Videotape is incredibly cheap to use. It's very

00:29:17.380 --> 00:29:20.500
easy to edit on a quick weekly turnaround. But

00:29:20.500 --> 00:29:23.640
it has a very distinct, flat, harsh aesthetic.

00:29:23.880 --> 00:29:26.279
It looks like the local evening news. It looks

00:29:26.279 --> 00:29:28.160
very immediate, like it's happening right now.

00:29:28.299 --> 00:29:31.650
And film. What does film do? Film has actual

00:29:31.650 --> 00:29:34.230
physical texture. It has grain. It captures and

00:29:34.230 --> 00:29:36.009
handles shadows beautifully. It looks like a

00:29:36.009 --> 00:29:38.690
proper movie. And subconsciously, it feels timeless

00:29:38.690 --> 00:29:41.569
to the viewer. The creators, and especially the

00:29:41.569 --> 00:29:44.069
director James Burroughs, aggressively insisted

00:29:44.069 --> 00:29:47.609
on shooting Cheers on actual film. NBC hated

00:29:47.609 --> 00:29:49.930
the idea because film costs significantly more

00:29:49.930 --> 00:29:52.130
money to process. But Burroughs dug his heels

00:29:52.130 --> 00:29:54.509
in and fought for it. And we are so lucky he

00:29:54.509 --> 00:29:56.430
did because of that choice. You can queue up

00:29:56.430 --> 00:29:58.950
an episode of Cheers today on a modern streaming

00:29:58.950 --> 00:30:01.539
service in high... definition. And it looks rich

00:30:01.539 --> 00:30:04.099
and beautiful. It doesn't look like some degraded

00:30:04.099 --> 00:30:07.359
historical artifact. Exactly. The film stock

00:30:07.359 --> 00:30:10.619
gave the Wooden Bar set this incredible inviting

00:30:10.619 --> 00:30:14.119
warmth. And beyond just the camera format, you

00:30:14.119 --> 00:30:16.500
have what the industry calls the Burroughs touch

00:30:16.500 --> 00:30:18.880
in the actual directing. He was famously obsessed

00:30:18.880 --> 00:30:21.240
with motion on the set, right? He was fanatic

00:30:21.240 --> 00:30:24.599
about it. He had a strict, unbreakable rule for

00:30:24.599 --> 00:30:28.200
his actors. Nobody plays a scene without a prop.

00:30:28.589 --> 00:30:30.630
Meaning you can't just stand on your mark and

00:30:30.630 --> 00:30:33.089
deliver your dialogue. Right. You can't just

00:30:33.089 --> 00:30:35.329
stand still like you're in a school play. You

00:30:35.329 --> 00:30:37.150
have to be doing something physical while you

00:30:37.150 --> 00:30:40.150
speak. Wiping down the mahogany counter, carrying

00:30:40.150 --> 00:30:42.589
a heavy crate of liquor from the back room, pouring

00:30:42.589 --> 00:30:45.849
a draft beer, fixing a broken bar stool. It adds

00:30:45.849 --> 00:30:48.089
kinetic energy to the frame. Burroughs deeply

00:30:48.089 --> 00:30:51.150
believed that comedy lives inside the body. If

00:30:51.150 --> 00:30:53.430
Sam Malone is feeling nervous in a scene, he

00:30:53.430 --> 00:30:55.309
shouldn't just deliver a line saying, I'm nervous.

00:30:55.549 --> 00:30:58.089
He should be aggressively, frantically drying

00:30:58.089 --> 00:31:00.089
a beer mug with a towel until it practically

00:31:00.089 --> 00:31:02.450
squeaks. It basically makes the bar feel like

00:31:02.450 --> 00:31:05.250
a legitimate, functioning workplace rather than

00:31:05.250 --> 00:31:08.809
just a stage set. It does. Yeah. And he cultivated

00:31:08.809 --> 00:31:11.450
this environment where the background actors,

00:31:11.630 --> 00:31:13.609
the extras sitting at the tables, were treated

00:31:13.609 --> 00:31:17.009
as absolutely essential to the illusion. He would

00:31:17.009 --> 00:31:19.309
tell his camera operators, the camera is a spy.

00:31:19.680 --> 00:31:21.960
A spy. Meaning the camera is always watching

00:31:21.960 --> 00:31:24.359
everything. So even if Norm isn't the one speaking

00:31:24.359 --> 00:31:26.960
in a scene, if he happens to be visible in the

00:31:26.960 --> 00:31:29.660
background out of focus, he still needs to be

00:31:29.660 --> 00:31:32.319
actively reacting and performing. It creates

00:31:32.319 --> 00:31:35.200
a living, breathing ecosystem. It does. It was

00:31:35.200 --> 00:31:38.460
revolutionary for Sick Hums. And we cannot possibly

00:31:38.460 --> 00:31:40.539
talk about the production of this show without

00:31:40.539 --> 00:31:42.920
talking about the music. Yeah. I guarantee everyone

00:31:42.920 --> 00:31:44.980
listening right now just heard those first three

00:31:44.980 --> 00:31:46.940
piano notes playing in their head the second

00:31:46.940 --> 00:31:48.779
I mentioned it. Oh, it's completely Pavlovian.

00:31:48.970 --> 00:31:50.990
this point where everybody knows your name the

00:31:50.990 --> 00:31:53.630
ultimate tv theme song but again going back to

00:31:53.630 --> 00:31:56.869
our theme for today this was a plan b actually

00:31:56.869 --> 00:32:00.309
it was plan c really yeah the songwriters they

00:32:00.309 --> 00:32:03.490
hired gary portnoy and judy hart angelo they

00:32:03.490 --> 00:32:05.849
initially wrote and submitted a song called my

00:32:05.849 --> 00:32:08.890
kind of people and the producers rejected it

00:32:08.890 --> 00:32:11.579
outright So they went back to the drawing board

00:32:11.579 --> 00:32:15.019
and wrote a second song called Another Day. Also

00:32:15.019 --> 00:32:17.559
rejected. Rejected again. The producers clearly

00:32:17.559 --> 00:32:19.799
knew exactly what they wanted, didn't they? They

00:32:19.799 --> 00:32:22.319
did. They kept kicking the songs back and telling

00:32:22.319 --> 00:32:24.480
the writers, look, this show isn't about drinking

00:32:24.480 --> 00:32:27.559
beer. It's about the feeling of belonging someone.

00:32:27.740 --> 00:32:30.319
The concept of the likable losers. Right. They

00:32:30.319 --> 00:32:32.220
told the songwriters they wanted a song that

00:32:32.220 --> 00:32:34.559
sounded like it was being sung by a lonely guy

00:32:34.559 --> 00:32:37.539
at 11 o 'clock at night who just really doesn't

00:32:37.539 --> 00:32:40.420
want to go home to his empty apartment. So finally

00:32:40.420 --> 00:32:43.180
they wrote, where everybody knows your name,

00:32:43.299 --> 00:32:45.359
and if you actually pay close attention to the

00:32:45.359 --> 00:32:48.680
lyrics in the verses, they are quite dark. Making

00:32:48.680 --> 00:32:50.579
your way in the world today takes everything

00:32:50.579 --> 00:32:53.259
you've got. Exactly. Taking a break from all

00:32:53.259 --> 00:32:55.960
your worries sure would help a lot. It's fundamentally

00:32:55.960 --> 00:32:58.980
a song about exhaustion. It's about the daily

00:32:58.980 --> 00:33:01.980
grind of the world just beating you down. And

00:33:01.980 --> 00:33:04.579
then the soaring chorus offers the only antidote.

00:33:04.910 --> 00:33:07.650
Go to the place where you are known. It's essentially

00:33:07.650 --> 00:33:10.670
a promise to the viewer. You are safe here. And

00:33:10.670 --> 00:33:13.910
that is exactly why the show resonated. Because

00:33:13.910 --> 00:33:17.329
1982 was a pretty scary, stressful time in America.

00:33:17.470 --> 00:33:20.049
You had a recession. You had intense Cold War

00:33:20.049 --> 00:33:23.549
anxiety. People wanted a bunker to hide in. Cheers

00:33:23.549 --> 00:33:26.230
was the ultimate television bunker. And before

00:33:26.230 --> 00:33:28.829
that comforting song even played, you had the

00:33:28.829 --> 00:33:31.569
cold opens, the teasers. Oh, the cold opens were

00:33:31.569 --> 00:33:35.269
so unique for the time. Often, that little two

00:33:35.269 --> 00:33:37.630
-minute scene before the opening credits rolled

00:33:37.630 --> 00:33:40.089
had absolutely nothing to do with the main plot

00:33:40.089 --> 00:33:42.130
of the episode. It was almost like a sketch comedy

00:33:42.130 --> 00:33:45.289
bit. Exactly. It was a clever way for the writers

00:33:45.289 --> 00:33:48.309
to burn off extra standalone jokes or physical

00:33:48.309 --> 00:33:51.230
gags that were too good to throw away, but didn't

00:33:51.230 --> 00:33:53.869
naturally fit into the narrative. But strategically...

00:33:54.109 --> 00:33:56.230
It trained the audience. It taught the audience

00:33:56.230 --> 00:33:58.789
that they had to pay attention the absolute second

00:33:58.789 --> 00:34:01.130
the show started because they were guaranteed

00:34:01.130 --> 00:34:03.730
a solid laugh in the first 30 seconds. Now, we've

00:34:03.730 --> 00:34:05.569
talked a lot about the fun stuff, the mechanics

00:34:05.569 --> 00:34:07.609
of the comedy. Yeah. But looking at our source

00:34:07.609 --> 00:34:10.170
notes, Cheers was actually not afraid to get

00:34:10.170 --> 00:34:13.309
remarkably real. It tackled several social issues

00:34:13.309 --> 00:34:15.949
that were considered highly taboo for a comedy

00:34:15.949 --> 00:34:19.949
in 1982. First and foremost on that list, alcoholism.

00:34:20.349 --> 00:34:22.849
Which is such a bold, almost counterintuitive

00:34:22.849 --> 00:34:26.070
choice for a show set entirely inside a bar.

00:34:26.250 --> 00:34:29.289
Sam Malone is a recovering alcoholic. That isn't

00:34:29.289 --> 00:34:31.429
just a quirky character trait. It is his defining

00:34:31.429 --> 00:34:34.090
psychological struggle. He owns and operates

00:34:34.090 --> 00:34:36.530
a bar. He pours drinks for eight hours a day,

00:34:36.570 --> 00:34:39.869
but he cannot take a single sip. That is literally

00:34:39.869 --> 00:34:43.059
a Greek tragedy set up. It's the myth of Tantalus.

00:34:43.099 --> 00:34:45.619
Right. The guy standing in a pool of water that

00:34:45.619 --> 00:34:47.960
recedes every time he tries to drink. And the

00:34:47.960 --> 00:34:50.000
show treated his addiction with deep respect.

00:34:50.280 --> 00:34:52.900
It wasn't a punchline. There were several dramatic

00:34:52.900 --> 00:34:55.159
moments where Sam almost fell off the wagon due

00:34:55.159 --> 00:34:57.599
to stress. And didn't he actually relapse later

00:34:57.599 --> 00:35:00.460
on? He did in the final season. And the writers

00:35:00.460 --> 00:35:02.460
didn't treat it as a joke. They treated it as

00:35:02.460 --> 00:35:05.760
a profound, serious struggle for his soul. And

00:35:05.760 --> 00:35:07.619
then there's the episode from season one titled

00:35:07.619 --> 00:35:09.860
The Boys in the Bar. Keep in mind, everyone,

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:13.539
this aired in 1982. This is a massive landmark

00:35:13.539 --> 00:35:16.420
moment in television history. In the episode,

00:35:16.699 --> 00:35:18.739
an old friend of Sam's comes into the bar and

00:35:18.739 --> 00:35:21.840
eventually comes out to him as gay. Now, in 1982,

00:35:22.260 --> 00:35:25.059
the standard sitcom playbook. would be to make

00:35:25.059 --> 00:35:28.519
the gay character an exaggerated stereotype or

00:35:28.519 --> 00:35:31.960
to have the main cast react with a sort of moral

00:35:31.960 --> 00:35:35.480
disgust that the audience at home is implicitly

00:35:35.480 --> 00:35:37.579
supposed to agree with. Right. It would usually

00:35:37.579 --> 00:35:40.099
end in some sort of panic in the bar scenario.

00:35:40.300 --> 00:35:42.340
And there was panic in the bar in this episode,

00:35:42.440 --> 00:35:45.639
right? There was, but the show flips the script

00:35:45.639 --> 00:35:48.809
entirely. Norm and Cliff and the other regulars

00:35:48.809 --> 00:35:51.329
start freaking out. They get paranoid that Cheers

00:35:51.329 --> 00:35:53.489
is going to become known as a gay bar and their

00:35:53.489 --> 00:35:56.130
sanctuary will be ruined. But the brilliance

00:35:56.130 --> 00:35:58.610
is that the joke isn't on the gay character.

00:35:58.889 --> 00:36:02.210
The joke is on the regulars. Exactly. The script

00:36:02.210 --> 00:36:05.130
is openly mocking Norm and Clark's homophobia

00:36:05.130 --> 00:36:08.289
and their fragile masculinity. That is a huge,

00:36:08.309 --> 00:36:10.849
important distinction. It actually won a GLA

00:36:10.849 --> 00:36:13.489
Media Award. It was incredibly progressive for

00:36:13.489 --> 00:36:16.230
the time to look at middle America and say, hey,

00:36:16.269 --> 00:36:18.570
the people panicking about gay people existing,

00:36:18.829 --> 00:36:21.610
they are the idiots in this scenario. It's fascinating

00:36:21.610 --> 00:36:23.949
how the show handled feminism during its run,

00:36:23.969 --> 00:36:26.630
too. We talked about Diane earlier, but she wasn't

00:36:26.630 --> 00:36:28.989
the only lens they used. No, they had a whole

00:36:28.989 --> 00:36:31.690
spectrum of feminist perspective. Diane was the

00:36:31.690 --> 00:36:34.269
highly educated academic feminist who quoted

00:36:34.269 --> 00:36:36.630
feminist literature. But then you had Carla,

00:36:36.730 --> 00:36:39.630
who was the gritty, working -class pragmatist.

00:36:39.750 --> 00:36:41.989
She didn't have time for theory. She just knew

00:36:41.989 --> 00:36:44.230
she didn't need a man to validate her. She just

00:36:44.230 --> 00:36:46.710
needed a paycheck to feed her kids. And then

00:36:46.710 --> 00:36:49.730
Fraser's wife, Lilith. Lilith was the ultimate

00:36:49.730 --> 00:36:52.929
professional equal. She operated in male -dominated

00:36:52.929 --> 00:36:55.969
academic spaces and dominated them. And Sam was

00:36:55.969 --> 00:36:58.159
the foil bouncing off all of them. Sam was the

00:36:58.159 --> 00:37:00.820
aging chauvinist. He was the dinosaur trying

00:37:00.820 --> 00:37:03.019
to survive the meteor of the feminist movement.

00:37:03.239 --> 00:37:06.159
But importantly, the writers almost always framed

00:37:06.159 --> 00:37:09.559
Sam's chauvinist behavior as a character flaw,

00:37:09.760 --> 00:37:12.460
not a virtue. Right. He was frequently the butt

00:37:12.460 --> 00:37:15.219
of the joke because of his relentless womanizing.

00:37:15.340 --> 00:37:17.420
He was a Lothario, sure, and he scored a lot

00:37:17.420 --> 00:37:19.440
of dates, but it rarely brought him any actual

00:37:19.440 --> 00:37:22.119
happiness. By the end of the series, he basically

00:37:22.119 --> 00:37:23.800
has a moment where he admits he's essentially

00:37:23.800 --> 00:37:26.630
a sex addict. The show didn't necessarily endorse

00:37:26.630 --> 00:37:29.110
his lifestyle. It displayed it as the exact thing

00:37:29.110 --> 00:37:31.230
keeping him from being a complete happy human

00:37:31.230 --> 00:37:33.670
being. It's a really delicate tightrope to walk,

00:37:33.849 --> 00:37:36.909
making a notorious womanizer the likable hero

00:37:36.909 --> 00:37:39.730
of your show while simultaneously critiquing

00:37:39.730 --> 00:37:42.730
his entire worldview. It really only worked because

00:37:42.730 --> 00:37:45.409
Ted Danson played him with such intense vulnerability.

00:37:46.050 --> 00:37:49.630
You always, always knew that Sam was compensating

00:37:49.630 --> 00:37:52.889
for a deep inner sadness. All right, let's fast

00:37:52.889 --> 00:37:55.039
forward a bit in the timeline. We started this

00:37:55.039 --> 00:37:56.780
deep dive talking about the show being dead last,

00:37:56.920 --> 00:38:00.980
74th place, complete failure. How on earth did

00:38:00.980 --> 00:38:04.960
we get from that point to the massive 90s juggernaut

00:38:04.960 --> 00:38:07.739
it became? The turning point, surprisingly, was

00:38:07.739 --> 00:38:10.079
the summer off season. Reruns. Specifically,

00:38:10.119 --> 00:38:12.719
Thursday night reruns. The head of programming

00:38:12.719 --> 00:38:15.380
at NBC at the time was a guy named Brandon Tartikoff,

00:38:15.480 --> 00:38:17.619
and he passionately believed in the creative

00:38:17.619 --> 00:38:20.679
quality of Cheers. He absolutely refused to cancel

00:38:20.679 --> 00:38:22.559
it, despite the horrible ratings. Never him.

00:38:23.019 --> 00:38:25.400
So in the summer of 1983, when all the other

00:38:25.400 --> 00:38:26.920
networks were airing garbage and there was no

00:38:26.920 --> 00:38:30.420
new competition, NBC just stubbornly kept airing

00:38:30.420 --> 00:38:33.179
Cheers reruns. It's basically a strategy of attrition.

00:38:33.400 --> 00:38:35.460
We're going to keep broadcasting this show into

00:38:35.460 --> 00:38:37.199
your living room until you sit down and like

00:38:37.199 --> 00:38:40.199
it. And it worked. People were home. They were

00:38:40.199 --> 00:38:42.179
flipping channels out of summer boredom. And

00:38:42.179 --> 00:38:44.059
they finally stopped and listened to the dialogue.

00:38:44.360 --> 00:38:46.800
They got completely hooked on the underlying

00:38:46.800 --> 00:38:49.559
tension of the Sam and Diane storyline. When

00:38:49.559 --> 00:38:52.179
season two premiered that fall, the ratings massively

00:38:52.179 --> 00:38:54.460
jumped. Right. And they just kept climbing. By

00:38:54.460 --> 00:38:57.159
season nine, it was the undisputed number one

00:38:57.159 --> 00:38:59.780
show in America. And that leads us to the finale,

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:02.860
which, I mean, those numbers are just staggering

00:39:02.860 --> 00:39:07.250
to look at today. May 20th, 1993. The series

00:39:07.250 --> 00:39:10.949
finale drew 93 million viewers. I just want to

00:39:10.949 --> 00:39:12.769
pause and put that in context for everyone listening.

00:39:12.929 --> 00:39:15.909
That is nearly one third of the entire United

00:39:15.909 --> 00:39:18.730
States population at that time, all sitting down

00:39:18.730 --> 00:39:21.170
at the exact same hour to watch the exact same

00:39:21.170 --> 00:39:23.210
thing. It aired right after the season finale

00:39:23.210 --> 00:39:25.630
of Seinfeld, too. It was essentially a national

00:39:25.630 --> 00:39:28.369
holiday. Bars across the country hosted viewing

00:39:28.369 --> 00:39:30.909
parties. And the awards shelf for the creators

00:39:30.909 --> 00:39:33.449
must have been literally buckling under the weight.

00:39:34.539 --> 00:39:39.480
117 Emmy nominations over its run. 28 wins. But

00:39:39.480 --> 00:39:42.019
this is the most impressive stat. It was officially

00:39:42.019 --> 00:39:44.719
nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series for all

00:39:44.719 --> 00:39:47.420
11 seasons it was on the air. That kind of sustained

00:39:47.420 --> 00:39:50.000
critical consistency over a decade is almost

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:52.280
unheard of in television. It's incredibly rare.

00:39:52.500 --> 00:39:54.539
But the reality is, the show didn't really end

00:39:54.539 --> 00:39:58.550
in 1993, did it? Because the Cheers -iverse immediately

00:39:58.550 --> 00:40:01.070
expanded. The cultural footprint, the Cheers

00:40:01.070 --> 00:40:04.030
effect, was massive. First, obviously, of the

00:40:04.030 --> 00:40:06.409
direct spinoffs, Everyone Knows Frasier. Which

00:40:06.409 --> 00:40:08.309
was arguably just as critically and commercially

00:40:08.309 --> 00:40:10.849
successful as The Parent Show. They moved Kelsey

00:40:10.849 --> 00:40:13.570
Grammer's character to Seattle, completely changed

00:40:13.570 --> 00:40:15.769
his surrounding cast, and it ran for another

00:40:15.769 --> 00:40:18.679
11 seasons. Which is just insane when you think

00:40:18.679 --> 00:40:21.400
about his origins. Frasier Crane was initially

00:40:21.400 --> 00:40:24.780
written to be a minor, temporary roadblock character.

00:40:25.019 --> 00:40:28.139
He was just Diane's rebound guy to keep her and

00:40:28.139 --> 00:40:31.139
Sam apart for a few episodes. And he ended up

00:40:31.139 --> 00:40:34.139
being continuously on television for 20 consecutive

00:40:34.139 --> 00:40:37.159
years. But before the massive success of Frasier,

00:40:37.179 --> 00:40:41.139
there was. A pretty big failure, wasn't there?

00:40:41.260 --> 00:40:44.900
Ah, yes. The Tortellas. Right. Carla's sleazy

00:40:44.900 --> 00:40:47.699
ex -husband, Nick Tortelli, got his own spinoff

00:40:47.699 --> 00:40:50.559
show. He did. And it, well, it did not go well.

00:40:50.699 --> 00:40:53.860
No. It was swiftly canceled after just 13 episodes.

00:40:54.590 --> 00:40:56.889
Critics hated it. It was heavily criticized for

00:40:56.889 --> 00:40:59.429
leaning into cheap Italian -American stereotypes.

00:40:59.610 --> 00:41:02.030
And honestly, the characters were just fundamentally

00:41:02.030 --> 00:41:04.489
unpleasant to spend 30 minutes with without the

00:41:04.489 --> 00:41:06.670
grounding presence of the Cheers bar to balance

00:41:06.670 --> 00:41:08.690
them out. A rare swing and a miss for that creative

00:41:08.690 --> 00:41:11.250
team. Then later you had Wings, which technically

00:41:11.250 --> 00:41:13.610
existed in the exact same television universe.

00:41:14.130 --> 00:41:16.590
Characters from Cheers like Cliff and Norm would

00:41:16.590 --> 00:41:18.170
occasionally pop up at the Nantucket airport

00:41:18.170 --> 00:41:20.570
on that show. But the pop culture legacy goes

00:41:20.570 --> 00:41:24.010
way beyond just official network spinoffs. I'm

00:41:24.010 --> 00:41:26.050
a bit of a video gamer in my spare time, and

00:41:26.050 --> 00:41:28.630
I was absolutely delighted to find this little

00:41:28.630 --> 00:41:31.489
detail buried in our source notes. Fallout 4.

00:41:31.809 --> 00:41:35.409
Yes, the massive post -apocalyptic video game.

00:41:35.570 --> 00:41:38.369
The game is set in the irradiated ruins of Boston.

00:41:38.849 --> 00:41:41.449
And if you explore the wasteland, you can actually

00:41:41.449 --> 00:41:44.380
find a ruined pub called the Prost Bar. And Prost,

00:41:44.420 --> 00:41:46.179
of course, is a German word used for cheers.

00:41:46.440 --> 00:41:49.139
Right. And if you walk inside this ruined building

00:41:49.139 --> 00:41:52.719
in the game, it is an exact, loving, physical

00:41:52.719 --> 00:41:56.440
replica of the cheers set layout. But the developers

00:41:56.440 --> 00:41:59.059
added a really dark, brilliant little detail.

00:41:59.400 --> 00:42:02.639
There are two posed skeletons permanently sitting

00:42:02.639 --> 00:42:04.619
at the corner of the bar right where Norm and

00:42:04.619 --> 00:42:07.559
Cliff sat for 11 years. And one of the skeletons

00:42:07.559 --> 00:42:10.380
is still wearing a tattered U .S. mailman uniform.

00:42:10.739 --> 00:42:13.179
It is a very glim but very touching tribute.

00:42:13.719 --> 00:42:15.460
And references to the show are just everywhere.

00:42:15.659 --> 00:42:18.000
The Simpsons famously spoofed the premise with

00:42:18.000 --> 00:42:20.420
the Flaming Mose episode, and they had an episode

00:42:20.420 --> 00:42:22.920
where almost the entire original cast came in

00:42:22.920 --> 00:42:25.320
to voice their animated characters. How I Met

00:42:25.320 --> 00:42:28.179
Your Mother had that running, swirly gag that

00:42:28.179 --> 00:42:31.420
ended with the theme song. Even in modern cartoons,

00:42:31.639 --> 00:42:34.039
like Adventure Time the Ice King character, whose

00:42:34.039 --> 00:42:37.019
mind has been destroyed by magic, routinely sings

00:42:37.019 --> 00:42:39.619
the Cheers theme song to himself as a coping

00:42:39.619 --> 00:42:42.139
mechanism because it's the only comforting thing

00:42:42.139 --> 00:42:44.280
he remembers from the world before the apocalypse.

00:42:44.679 --> 00:42:47.699
That is actually profoundly sad. The idea that

00:42:47.699 --> 00:42:50.840
where everybody knows your name is the very last

00:42:50.840 --> 00:42:53.039
scrap of humanity you cling to when the world

00:42:53.039 --> 00:42:55.739
ends. It speaks perfectly to the ultimate comfort

00:42:55.739 --> 00:42:58.260
level of the show. And meanwhile, in the real

00:42:58.260 --> 00:43:01.239
world, The actual physical bar in Boston is still

00:43:01.239 --> 00:43:03.750
there, operating every day. It is. It eventually

00:43:03.750 --> 00:43:06.010
officially rebranded itself as Cheers Beacon

00:43:06.010 --> 00:43:08.889
Hill to capitalize on the tourism. But the show

00:43:08.889 --> 00:43:11.409
became such a massive cultural force during its

00:43:11.409 --> 00:43:14.809
run that actual real life political figures wanted

00:43:14.809 --> 00:43:16.750
to be seen there. Real politicians. Oh, yeah.

00:43:16.829 --> 00:43:19.309
John Kerry, Michael Dukakis, even Tip O 'Neill,

00:43:19.449 --> 00:43:21.130
who was the sitting speaker of the House at the

00:43:21.130 --> 00:43:23.909
time. They all made cameo appearances on the

00:43:23.909 --> 00:43:26.510
show playing themselves. It was a definitive

00:43:26.510 --> 00:43:29.750
signal that Cheers had become a true Boston institution.

00:43:30.210 --> 00:43:32.449
It was seen as being just as cultural. truly

00:43:32.449 --> 00:43:34.869
important to the city as the Red Sox or the Boston

00:43:34.869 --> 00:43:38.469
Tea Party. That is wild. So let's try to bring

00:43:38.469 --> 00:43:40.909
this all home. We've unpacked the bumpy history,

00:43:41.090 --> 00:43:43.510
the crazy casting what -ifs, the visual style,

00:43:43.769 --> 00:43:46.670
the deep social themes. But at the end of the

00:43:46.670 --> 00:43:49.510
day, why does it endure? Why are we sitting here

00:43:49.510 --> 00:43:52.389
deeply analyzing a sitcom that went off the air

00:43:52.389 --> 00:43:55.380
over 30 years ago? I think it really comes down

00:43:55.380 --> 00:43:57.659
to its pioneering concept of the found family.

00:43:57.840 --> 00:43:59.599
Cheers wasn't actually a show about drinking

00:43:59.599 --> 00:44:02.400
beer. No. It was a show about a random group

00:44:02.400 --> 00:44:04.519
of people from completely different, isolated

00:44:04.519 --> 00:44:07.280
walks of life. A mailman who lives with his mother,

00:44:07.460 --> 00:44:10.119
a snooty psychiatrist, a bitter waitress, an

00:44:10.119 --> 00:44:13.219
aging ex -athlete who inexplicably found each

00:44:13.219 --> 00:44:15.300
other and accepted each other. Even though they

00:44:15.300 --> 00:44:16.920
didn't always actually like each other. They

00:44:16.920 --> 00:44:18.619
almost never liked each other. They insulted

00:44:18.619 --> 00:44:21.219
each other constantly, but they accepted each

00:44:21.219 --> 00:44:23.320
other's flaws, and most importantly, they always

00:44:23.320 --> 00:44:27.119
showed up. Every single day. That famous line

00:44:27.119 --> 00:44:29.480
from the song, where everybody knows your name,

00:44:29.659 --> 00:44:32.239
it's not just a lyric, it's a powerful emotional

00:44:32.239 --> 00:44:35.340
promise. It is, and there is a really profound,

00:44:35.519 --> 00:44:37.820
somewhat beautiful irony in the final scene of

00:44:37.820 --> 00:44:40.940
the finale. Think about Sam Malone's entire arc.

00:44:41.400 --> 00:44:44.340
He spends 11 seasons desperately chasing women,

00:44:44.500 --> 00:44:47.539
chasing social status, constantly trying to find

00:44:47.539 --> 00:44:50.360
the one to make his life complete. And in the

00:44:50.360 --> 00:44:52.380
very final moments of the series, after everyone

00:44:52.380 --> 00:44:55.059
else has gone home, he realizes that his true

00:44:55.059 --> 00:44:58.400
love isn't Diane. It isn't Rebecca. It isn't

00:44:58.400 --> 00:45:00.699
any woman. It's the bar itself. It's the physical

00:45:00.699 --> 00:45:03.699
bar and the community of people inside it. The

00:45:03.699 --> 00:45:05.639
last scene is someone knocking on the door from

00:45:05.639 --> 00:45:07.760
the street after hours, and Sam just looks up

00:45:07.760 --> 00:45:09.949
and says, sorry, we're closed. He straightens

00:45:09.949 --> 00:45:12.590
a picture, walks to the back room, and chooses

00:45:12.590 --> 00:45:15.210
the sanctuary of the place over the chaos of

00:45:15.210 --> 00:45:17.429
the world outside. Which is actually a really

00:45:17.429 --> 00:45:19.750
beautiful, slightly melancholic, but incredibly

00:45:19.750 --> 00:45:22.949
honest ending. It is. It's the absolute perfect

00:45:22.949 --> 00:45:26.349
resolution for that specific character. Well,

00:45:26.369 --> 00:45:28.469
before we wrap up today's deep dive, I have a

00:45:28.469 --> 00:45:31.070
final... Slightly provocative thought for all

00:45:31.070 --> 00:45:33.849
of you listening to Chuan. Earlier, we talked

00:45:33.849 --> 00:45:37.289
about how Cheers basically popularized the serialized

00:45:37.289 --> 00:45:40.369
storyline in comedy, that long will -they -won't

00:45:40.369 --> 00:45:42.969
-they narrative arc that spanned across multiple

00:45:42.969 --> 00:45:44.989
seasons. Right. Now, according to the notes,

00:45:45.150 --> 00:45:47.829
the creator Les Charles actually deeply regretted

00:45:47.829 --> 00:45:50.739
starting that trend later in his life. He feared

00:45:50.739 --> 00:45:54.320
that those long serialized stories actively alienated

00:45:54.320 --> 00:45:56.460
casual viewers who might just be tuning in for

00:45:56.460 --> 00:45:58.059
the first time. He really thought it made the

00:45:58.059 --> 00:46:00.079
barrier to entry too high. He wanted the episodes

00:46:00.079 --> 00:46:02.139
to be purely episodic. You watch one, you get

00:46:02.139 --> 00:46:04.860
a complete story, you go to bed. Exactly. But

00:46:04.860 --> 00:46:06.940
if you look at how we consume television today

00:46:06.940 --> 00:46:09.739
in the modern age of Netflix and Hulu and obsessive

00:46:09.739 --> 00:46:13.539
binge watching, was Cheers accidentally the grandfather?

00:46:14.159 --> 00:46:16.320
of the modern streaming model. Oh, that is a

00:46:16.320 --> 00:46:18.760
fascinating connection to make. Right. Did they

00:46:18.760 --> 00:46:21.980
inadvertently train audiences in the 80s to expect

00:46:21.980 --> 00:46:24.860
and demand long -form, complex character storytelling

00:46:24.860 --> 00:46:27.519
in their half -hour comedies? I mean, you really

00:46:27.519 --> 00:46:30.460
can't watch a show like The Office or Parks and

00:46:30.460 --> 00:46:32.840
Recreation today without intimately understanding

00:46:32.840 --> 00:46:37.340
the long, multi -season relationship arcs. Cheers

00:46:37.340 --> 00:46:39.440
basically proved to the nervous network executives

00:46:39.440 --> 00:46:41.679
that audiences were actually smart enough to

00:46:41.679 --> 00:46:44.019
stick around for the long haul. They were executing

00:46:44.019 --> 00:46:47.380
complex, bingeable narrative arcs decades before

00:46:47.380 --> 00:46:49.800
the technology even existed to actually binge

00:46:49.800 --> 00:46:51.880
them. Maybe that is exactly why the show still

00:46:51.880 --> 00:46:54.400
works so seamlessly today. It was accidentally

00:46:54.400 --> 00:46:57.039
built for the future of television. It's definitely

00:46:57.039 --> 00:46:58.639
something to think about the next time you finish

00:46:58.639 --> 00:47:01.219
a season of a comedy and immediately hit that

00:47:01.219 --> 00:47:05.179
next episode button. And with that, that is all

00:47:05.179 --> 00:47:07.659
for our deep dive into the fascinating, shadowy

00:47:07.659 --> 00:47:09.659
world of Cheers. Thanks so much for listening,

00:47:09.739 --> 00:47:10.420
everyone. Cheers.