“Where everybody knows your name …”

Posted on April 8, 2008 by sheila

This post about Cheers from the always-insightful and emotionally illuminating Marisa made me cry.

I loved that show, too.

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6 Responses to “Where everybody knows your name …”

  1. Marisa says:
    April 8, 2008 at 4:21 pm

    I guess, logically, some people must not have liked Cheers. On the whole, however, it really seems like it struck a chord with so many people. And for such a long time. I turned on the set in the wee hours Saturday night and heard those first few notes and was struck by how strong the familiarity was, how it just washed over me. Couldn’t stop thinking about it so it ended up getting written down.

    Thanks for linking to the post – sorry about the crying!

  2. red says:
    April 8, 2008 at 4:25 pm

    Every year, the junior class in my high school put on a show – as a team-building thing, whatever – it’s a tradition and it goes on to this day. And each class picks a theme song. We, as a class, picked the Cheers theme song – Cheers was huge that year – it was early on in the series. And I remember so clearly that the administration of the school balked at our choice – because the song was a theme song for a show about a BAR. They thought it would be, whatever, a clarion call for alcoholism or something … But we fought for it, and we won – because to us the lyrics were about us, and school, and what the whole show was about.

  3. Marisa says:
    April 8, 2008 at 4:37 pm

    That song has such a visceral impact on fans of the show and, while it’s a well written song, I really think it’s the strong associations with it. I can completely see it being a perfect choice for your class’ purposes. What the show and the song had to say CLEARLY had nothing to do with it being a bar.

    …Although I do think that some of my life-long positive associations with neighborhood bars and pubs started there.

  4. Brendan says:
    April 8, 2008 at 5:34 pm

    I’d forgotten how much that show actually meant to me. I watched it while it was on religiously and then in reruns caught any that I’d missed.

    The fact that it was a BOSTON bar made it feel like my neighbors were putting it on. They became part of the Boston sports scene at the time.

    It is one of those ‘in the pantheon’ shows that almost gets overlooked because of how hugely popular it was.

    Fantastic.

  5. Rob says:
    April 8, 2008 at 6:28 pm

    Some shows are reliable and timeless. Cheers is recorded on my bedroom TiVo every morning as I’m leaving for work. I watch it at night before I go to sleep. Unfortunately, they use the shortened version of the theme song. Just as well … I’d probably choke up if I heard the whole thing again. :) It is a fave.

  6. Emily says:
    April 8, 2008 at 7:40 pm

    Whenever I’m watching “Jeopardy” and don’t know an answer to one of the questions, I still blurt out “who are three people who have never been in my kitchen?” the way Cliff Claven did when he went on the show and was asked for the answer to what three different actors had in common.

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