For Your Consideration: The under-appreciated greatness of Cheers

I like the logic there, but I think Cheers actually should get points for (usually) keeping things really simple. Also, Cheers has been off the air for more than 20 years, and nothing has come close to being that good since then.

I think Cheers holds up remarkably well when some of the episodes are 30+ years old.

 

That was hilarious.

 

So Bill Simmons is saying Larry Bird was better than Michael Jordan?

 

Thomas Haden Church was brilliant as Lowell, and Tony Shalhoub was a great find, too. The Fay and Roy characters were hilarious as supporting roles. That ensemble was right up there almost with the Cheers group. And much better than the Friends stuff, for reasons already covered.

 

No, he's saying Larry Bird was more unique than Michael Jordan.

 

Right, but then he picks Seinfeld as the better show. I wish he would occasionally just get to his point without all the cross-culture references. But that's for another thread and another time.

 

I wonder what a Bill Simmons piece would look like if you forbade pop culture references.

 

And the past decade has proved him very wrong; sitcoms have taken to imitating Seinfeld much more than Cheers.

Curb Your Enthusiasm was around when he wrote that, so I don't know what he was thinking.

 

The thing that stood out so much about Cheers is how simple most of the episodes were. Just one basic set and a handful of regulars who have a lot of fun.

It was a pioneer. Now you see sitcoms do the same thing and it is ordinary. Back then, it was new. Ground-breaking.

As I went through the four pages of posts in this thread, I wasn't surprised that I remembered all of the funny moments that were referenced, but I remember so many more.

The Hungry heffer.

Woody running for office

The Kelly Song

The Thanksgiving Dinner episode.

"Grandma's Killer Fudge"

It just seemed like the ensemble had a great time on the series and that it was fun to watch.

The humor was genuine. . .not too off-color. Not a lot of "bathroom humor" as my mom would say.

Just good old fun. . .

and this is coming from somebody who grew up watching Mary Tyler Moore, Newhart and Carol Burnett.

 

About 250 words.