Deadly Furniture

There are some television shows that I feel like we all, in our lifetimes, must one day watch. For example, I always knew that someday I would sit down and watch the entire series of The X-Files because...well...because it's just one of those shows that all science-fiction/television fans need to watch. Cheers is another one of those shows. It's a show that everyone can sing the theme song of, that most people know at least one character from, and that still gets listed at least once in every websites slideshow of "best comedy."

So I sat down to watch the pilot episode of Cheers. I don't really know what I was expecting from "Give Me A Ring Sometime" but I don't think I expected what the episode was. I remember watching some of Cheers with my dad and siblings but, kinda like The X-Files, I remember absolutely nothing of any plot besides,"Right. That's Sam. And Diane is a waitress. And Norm drinks a lot. And Fraiser shows up at some point." So I guess I thought that it would just be a comedy about a lot of people that hung out in a bar. And that's essential what the pilot of Cheers is, but in the sort of way that M*A*S*H is about a bunch of doctors that work together during the Korean War.

The basic plot of the pilot is that Diane (Shelley Long) shows up with her boss/fiancé at Sam's (Ted Danson) bar, only to have her boss/fiancé abandon her there and fly off into the sunset with his ex-wife. Sam, being the wise/sad bartender that he is, pretty much knows from square one that this marriage ain't happening, and deep down Diane knows it as well. But as she waits, the regulars at Cheers all come in for drinks and the beginnings of friendship occurs as they all witness the end of Diane's hopes and dreams.

Cheers is quite obviously that mixture of happy/sad that I love so much in my television shows. Every character is strikingly messed up. Sam, for example, was on the brink of making it big in baseball before alcoholism pretty much ruined it. Sober for three years, he know owns and operates a bar he bought when he was drunk--every day it acts as a constant reminder of how much he could have had and how much he lost. But all of this drama is delivered with such comedic timing that, despite all the rather depressing stuff that gets said and done in "Give Me A Ring Sometime," you leave the episode feeling uplifted. Every character has their own comedic characteristics, their own smart one liners, and Ted Danson can actually be quite funny (which shocked me after seeing one episode of Becker.)

I thought watching Cheers was going to be like paying my dues to television, a sacrifice so that I could be a more informed television viewer. But, like what happened with The X-Files, I think I'm going to enjoy this show.