For the past few weeks, I’ve been watching the first season of the 1980s sitcom Cheers. The cover note said the series debuted in 1982. Since Allen was born in May of ’82 and most of his first year of life is a blur, I can’t figure out why I remember so many of the episodes.
The premier season is as funny as it was in 1982. But how did a sit com set in Cheers, a fictitious Boston bar, weather the test of time? First of all, the writing is excellent, with few words wasted. The dialogue drives the plot forward and adds dimension to the characters. And even though some unexpected event is foreshadowed and expected in almost every episode, the writers cleverly sneak them in and take viewers by surprise.
And the acting, Oh, the acting. Whoever cast Shelly Long as snobby, academic Diane Chambers, the woman we ordinary folk love to hate, was a genius. The same could be said about casting Ted Danson as the owner of Cheers, Sam Malone, the womanizing, dumb jock, former Red Sox pitcher and recovered alcoholic. These two main characters play off one another beautifully and the attraction between them builds as the first season progresses.
The rest of the actors create a nearly flawless supporting cast. Rhea Perlman plays Carla, the feisty and fertile barmaid who is Diane’s exact opposite, to a tee. George Wendt portrays Norm, the beer-guzzling and often out-of-work accountant, who shouldn’t be likable but is. John Ratzenberger’s character, postman Cliff Clavin who has a confabulated fact for every subject, is much less visible in the first season than in succeeding ones and much easier to stomach. By far, the best performance in this outstanding cast comes from Nicholas Colastanto as Ernie “Coach” Pantusso, a former Red Sox pitching coach hit in the head by a few too many baseballs. He tends bar with Sam and delivers his lines with sweetly innocent befuddlement and perfect timing.
The series evolved over the years, as all series do. In my opinion, it lost much of it’s spark after Long left in 1987. I know some people object to a sit com set in a bar and the steamy love affair that develops between Sam and Diane in the final episode of Season One. But it’s such a gem in so many ways, I plan to watch Season Two, also.
Along with all the regulars at Cheers, I want to be where everybody knows my name.
