Social class was a subtext of the show. The "upper class" - represented by characters like Diane Chambers, Frasier Crane, Lilith Sternin and (initially) Rebecca Howe - rubbed shoulders with middle and working class characters - Sam Malone, Carla Tortelli, Norm Peterson and Cliff Clavin. An extreme example of this was the relationship between Woody Boyd and millionaire's daughter Kelly Gaines. Many viewers enjoyed Cheers in part because of this focus on character development in addition to plot development.

Feminism and the role of women were also recurring themes throughout the show, with some seeing each of the major female characters as a flawed feminist in her own way.Dr. Caren Deming. "Talk: Gender Discourse in Cheers!" in Television Criticism: Approaches and Applications edited by Leah R. Vande Berg and Lawrence A Wenner. White Plains, NY: Longman, 1991. 47-57. The essay is co-authored by Mercilee M. Jenkins, who teaches at San Francisco State University. Diane was a very vocal feminist, but Sam was the epitome of everything she hated: a womanizer and a male chauvinist. Their relationship led Diane to several diatribes on Sam's promiscuity, while Carla merely insulted people. Carla was respected because of her power, while Diane was ignored as she commanded little respect. Finally, Rebecca was a stereotypical ambitious and golddigging woman, seeking relationships with her superiors at the Lillian Corporation, most notably, Robin Colcord, to gain promotions or raises. However, she encountered a glass ceiling and ended the show by marrying a plumber rather than one of the rich businessmen she originally flirted with.

Homosexuality was dealt with from the very first season, a rare move for American network television in the early 1980s. In the first season episode "The Boys In The Bar" (after the 1970s film The Boys in the Band) a college friend and teammate of Sam's comes out in his autobiography. Some of the male regulars pressure Sam to take action to ensure that Cheers does not became a gay bar. The episode won a GLAAD Media Award, and the script's writers, Ken Levine & David Isaacs, were nominated for an Emmy Award for their writing. Harvey Fierstein would later appear in the 1990s as "Mark Newberger", Rebecca's old high school sweetheart who is gay. Finally, the finale episode included a gay man who gets into trouble with his boyfriend after agreeing to pose as Diane's husband.

Addiction also plays a role in Cheers, almost exclusively through Sam, although some critics believed the issue was never really developed.The Bemusement Park (May 7th, 2004) (2006). The Situation of Comedy Sam was a recovering alcoholic who ended up buying a bar after his baseball career was ruined by his drinking.IMDb (2006). IMDb Plot Summary of Cheers Frasier also has a notable bout of drinking in the fourth season episode "The Triangle", although Sam is the primary alcoholic figure on the show. Some critics believe Sam was a generally addictive personality who had largely conquered his alcoholism but was still a sexual addict, shown through his womanizing.The National Association for Christian Recovery (2006). On Addiction from: STEPS Volume 2, Issue 1, Winter 1990.

Cheers owners

The biggest storyline surrounding the ownership of Cheers begins in the fifth season finale, "I Do, Adieu", when Sam and Diane part ways, Shelley Long leaves the regular cast, and Sam leaves to attempt circumnavigating the Earth. Before he leaves, Sam sells Cheers to the fictional Lillian Corporation. Sam returns in the sixth season premiere, "Home is the Sailor", having sunk his boat, to find the bar under the new management of Rebecca Howe. He begs for his job back and is hired by Rebecca as a bartender. Throughout the sixth season, Sam tries a variety of schemes to buy back Cheers. This plot largely comes to an end in the seventh season premiere, "How to Recede in Business", when Rebecca is fired and Sam is promoted to manager. Rebecca earns back a waitress/hostess job from Sam. From there Sam would occasionally attempt to buy the bar back with schemes that usually involved wealthy executive Robin Colcord. Cheers did eventually end up back in Sam's hands in the eighth season finale, when it was sold back to him for eighty-seven cents by the Lillian Corporation after he alerted the company of Colcord's embezzlement.

Other recurring themes

Norm Peterson continually searched for gainful employment as an accountant but spent most of the series unemployed, thereby explaining his constant presence in Cheers at the same stool. The face of his wife, Vera, was never fully seen onscreen, despite a few fleeting appearances and a couple of vocal cameos. Cliff Clavin seemed unable to shake the constant presence of his mother, Esther Clavin (Frances Sternhagen). Though she did not appear in every episode, he would refer to her quite often, mostly as both an emotional burden and a smothering parent.

Carla Tortelli carried a reputation of being both extremely fertile and matrimonially inept. The last husband she had on the show, Eddie LeBec, was a washed-up ice hockey goaltender who ended up dying in an ice show accident. Carla later discovered that Eddie had cheated on her, marrying another woman after impregnating her. Carla's sleazy first husband, Nick Tortelli, also made frequent appearances, mostly to torment Carla with a new custody battle or legal scam that grew out of their divorce. Carla's eight kids were also notoriously ill-behaved.

Critical reactions

Cheers was critically acclaimed even in its first season, though it landed a disappointing 74th in the ratings that year.TVParty (2006). How NBC got its Groove back This critical support, coupled with early success at the Emmys and the support of the president of NBC's entertainment division Brandon Tartikoff, is thought to be the main reason for the show's survival and eventual success.Variety (May 20th, 2003) (2006). Review - CheersBBC (July 4th, 2003) (2006). Cheers - the TV Series The cast themselves went across the country on various talk shows to try and further promote the series after its first season. When NBC discovered Family Ties and The Cosby Show and placed them both on Thursday night with Cheers' second season, the show's audience expanded (starting what NBC would go on to call "Must See Thursday"). By its final season Cheers had had a run of eight consecutive seasons in the Top Ten of the Nielsen ratings. Critics have a variety of opinions on addiction in Cheers (see above). Some critics now use Frasier and Cheers as a model of a successful spin-off for a character from an already successful series to compare to modern spin-offs, such as Joey from Friends.Zap2It (July 24th, 2003) (2006). A Fine How-You-Doin': NBC Orders Friends Spinoff JoeyBusinessWeek Online (August 18th, 2004) (2006). Filling the Shoes of Missing Friends

NBC dedicated a whole night to the final episode of Cheers. The show began with a "pregame" show hosted by Bob Costas, followed by the final 98-minute episode itself. Local news then aired tributes to Cheers, and the night concluded with a special Tonight Show broadcast live from the Bull & Finch Pub. Some critics disliked the finale for the sudden reentry of Shelley Long which they felt was flawed, the odd length of the episode, Leno's monologue, and a seemingly uninterested (and, as they would later sheepishly admit, drunk) Cheers cast that resorted to spitball fights much to Leno's dismay. FiveHole (May 10th-16th, 2004) (2006). Five NBC Finales Although the episode fell short of its hyped ratings predictions to become the most-watched television episode, it was the most watched show that year and ranked 11th all time in entertainment programming. The episode originally aired in the usual Cheers spot of Thursday night and was then rebroadcast on Sunday. Some estimate that while the original broadcast did not outperform the M*A*S*H finale, the combined non-repeating audiences for the Thursday and Sunday showings did. Toasting Cheers also notes that television had greatly changed between the M*A*S*H and Cheers finales, leaving Cheers with a broader array of competition for ratings.

Spin-offs and crossovers

Some of the actors and actresses from Cheers brought their characters into other television shows, either in a guest appearance or in a new spin-off. The most successful Cheers spin-off was the show Frasier which directly followed Frasier Crane after moving back to Seattle, Washington, where he lived with his family and hosted a call-in radio show. Ironically, Frasier was originally supposed to be a small disliked character who only existed to further Diane and Sam's relationship, but Grammer's acting turned what were supposed to be unfunny lines into comedy the audience enjoyed.Poobala (2006). Notes on Cheers / Frasier crossovers Sam, Diane, and Woody all had individual crossover appearances on Frasier where they came to visit Frasier, and his ex-wife Lilith remained a constant supporting character throughout Frasier. Cliff, Norm, Carla, and two of Cheers' regular background barflies Paul and Phil had a crossover together in the Frasier episode "Cheerful Goodbyes". In the episode Frasier, on a trip to Boston, meets the Cheers gang and Cliff thinks Frasier has flown out for his (Cliff's) retirement party, which Frasier ends up attending. Frasier was on the air as long as Cheers, going off the air in 2004 after an eleven-season run. Although Frasier was the most successful spin-off, The Tortellis was the first series to spin-off from Cheers, premiering in 1987. The show featured Carla's husband Nick Tortelli and his wife Loretta, but was cancelled after 13 episodes and drew protests for its stereotypical depictions of Italian Americans.

In addition to direct spin-offs, several Cheers characters had guest appearance crossovers with other shows. In The Simpsons episode "Fear of Flying", Homer stumbles into a Cheers-like bar after being kicked out of Moe's. Most of the central cast appears in the episode, including Frasier, but he is the only character to remain silent despite Grammer being the only common guest star on The Simpsons (he voices the recurring character Sideshow Bob). The tagline for Moe's Tavern "Where nobody knows your name" is also a reference to Cheers. Characters also had crossovers with Wings—which was created by Cheers producers/writers—and St. Elsewhere in a somewhat rare comedy-drama crossover.Poobala (2006). Notes on Cheers / St. Elsewhere crossover The Star Trek character Deep Space Nine characters#Morn, who can always be spotted at Quark's Bar, is named for Norm Peterson.TV Acres (January 24th, ????) (2006). Nor-r-rm!

The Scrubs episode "My Life in Four Cameras" makes numerous jokes about Cheers and multicamera setup laugh track sitcoms. Scrubs is notable for using a single camera setup, no laugh track, and not being filmed before a live audience. Cheers had all three and a dream sequence in "My Life in Four Cameras" was shot with all three also. In addition, the main patient treated was fictional Cheers writer "Charles James", a mixture of Cheers three creators James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles. The episode makes repeated comments about these "traditional" sitcoms and ends with the opening bars of Cheers theme playing with the quote "Unfortunately, around here things don't always end as neat and tidy as they do in sitcoms."(2006) Scrubs - My Own Personal 'Net Thing. Script from the episode(February 16, 2005)(2006) TV Guide. Rough Dispatches(March 10, 2005)(2006) Chicago Tribune. Cheers to "Scrubs"

Syndication and home video