Review: Cheers Seasons 1 to 3

On September 30th, 1982, NBC under programming chief Brandon Tartikoff debuted a sitcom about a cozy Boston bar "where everybody knows your name" called Cheers (Charles|Burrows|Charles/Paramount Television), it quickly evolved into one of the smartest and most beloved sitcoms of NBC especially airing Thursdays at 9:00pm (where it mostly is) or 9:30pm (It aired at 9:30pm during the beginning of the 1983-84 season). I watched all the first three seasons and want to give my thoughts on these seasons.

Season 1 (1982-83)

The inagural season of Cheers introduced us to Sam Malone (Ted Danson), a baseball player and recovering alcoholic-turned bartender, Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) who is the snobby intellectual waitress, Coach Ernie Pantusso (Nicholas Colasanto), who was Sam Malone's coach, Carla Tortelli (Rhea Perlman) and barflies Norm and Cliff.

Even though Cheers struggled in the ratings at first, Season 1 is impressively well written, and the critics loved it when Season 1 originally aired on NBC during the 1982-83 season. The will-they-won't-they tension between Sam and Diane drives much of the comedy and drama in Cheers, with Ted Danson delivering a great peformance as Sam and Shelley Long bringing naunce and hilarity to Diane's highbrow's persona.

I would say that Season 1 of Cheers is a 8/10 especially the funny scenes, and the romantic scenes with Sam and Diane but it needs more improvement in Season 2, I can see how the writers react after the critics loved it back in 1982-83.

Season 2 (1983-84)

The tensions between Sam and Diane builds during Season 2, and as Season 2 rolled along, the writers lean into searialized storytelling especially with the Sam and Diane love gimmick. The ensemble is fleshed out more with Norm, Cliff, and Coach getting stronger material.

Season 2 also benefits from the increasing comfort of the cast in their roles, making the bar even more lively, while still maintaining comedy.

I would say that Season 2 of Cheers is a 9/10 like Season 1 but more evolved. The chemistry of Sam and Diane is amazing, and the bar is more lively in Season 2 but doesn't have a psychiatrist which we would get in Season 3.

Season 3 (1984-85)

This season may be the strongest of the early seasons, and this season marked the debut of Fraiser Crane who is a neurotic, education psychiatrist who adds a whole new flavor to the Cheers gang, he would become a legendary character in his own right and will get a spinoff by the time Cheers ended in May 1993.

Well speaking of the writing, the writers managed to keep the relationship of Sam and Diane both unpredictable and engaging without becoming repetitive.

This season was the final season for Coach Ernie Pantusso as he continues to be the heart of the show as Nicholas Colasanto gives one of his most heartworming peformances as Coach during his final season before his death, and as we see in Season 4 with Coach's replacement Woody Boyd (Woody Harrelson) he would certainly keep the legacy of Coach alive after Colasanto's death.

In my opinion Season 3 would be a 10/10. Sam and Diane's relationship dynamic which is often imitated (wait until Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley) shows up in 1987 replacing Diane) but rarely matched is the fiery center of Cheers. From the writing to the perfect chemistry of the cast, these first three years of Cheers are why it became an American classic and the start of Must See TV.

If you are new to Cheers, start at it's first episode "Give Me a Ring Sometime", you will be suprised how that little bar in Boston would be like your place or feel like home (like what the 227 theme song says, "There's no Place like Home"), and that's why NBC should have been first place in 1982-83 and 1983-84 instead of third place in 1982-84.

Note: I'm still watching Season 4 of Cheers, after I finished watching it, I would be doing a review of Season 4 and such.