Watch “Cheers”

Saying that the sitcom is dead is like saying slavery is bad. No one is going to disagree with you, and they were actually able to form that opinion long ago. They are cheesy. They play to the lowest common denominator. They have laugh tracks, for fuck’s sake, just in case you didn’t know when you were supposed to laugh. And in all honesty, if the laugh tracks weren’t there, you would probably just assume it was an oddly lit and shot drama, because it sure as shit ain’t funny. Well, what if I told you that there was a sitcom that had all of the same tropes and style of every other sitcom you’ve ever seen, but good? Do you think you could guess what it is? If you know how to read headers and look at pictures, then you probably did already. I vaguely remember “Cheers” when it was on prime time. I remember the final episode being a big deal. I remember catching a couple of reruns on Nick at Nite, back when it was less Nick, and more Nite. And whether I agreed with it or not, I knew it was regarded pretty highly. When I fired up the pilot episode after it became available on Netflix Watch Instantly, I figured it would make for a decent hour or so of traveling down nostalgia lane, like watching “Garbage Pail Kids: The Movie” (also available on NWI) or jerking off to magazine porn (sadly, not available). What I got instead was a show that seemed, on the surface, like all of the other garbage I watched when I was a kid, and old people continue to watch today, but was actually pretty fucking brilliant. It also holds up incredibly well today. Comedy is such a niche marketplace these days that, if you do your homework, you can find something that makes you, and no one else on the planet, laugh hysterically. But there is something to be said for good old-fashioned setup and punchline comedy that never dips into the absurd, cynical, or R-Rated. You don’t have to get into the Sam/Diane or Norm/Cliff “will they/won’t they” plotlines. You don’t even have to get as turned on as I do when you see a fake-pregnant Rhea Perlman moisten up for her boss Sam Malone, played by Harry, of “Harry and the Hendersons” fame. And you certainly don’t need to start at the beginning and burn through four seasons in two weeks like some psychopaths currently writing this article. Just pick a season or episode at random, hit play, and bank on my guarantee that at some point you will think at least one thing is mildly clever. Which, for most of us comedy elitist assholes, is pretty good. – RH