--- description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. title: Cheers image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7569c8b5d1fd64d6/69869f19adae444a0254479b/t100_tv_cheers1.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Aug 11, 2014 # _Cheers_ by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Everett Long before _Lost_, there was a series about the connections among a group of unrelated people on an island. This island just happened to have stools around it and an alcoholic ex-pitcher pulling beers in the middle of it. _Cheers_‘ setting—not home, not an office—set it at the margins of its characters’ lives; a bar is where you go to get away from the big events of your life, not live them out. That meant that _Cheers_ was free to find humor in the little things—Cliff’s obsession with trivia, Norm’s greetings, Carla’s insults. And the one big thing driving the show’s early years, Sam and Diane’s bickering romance, was a rare will-they-won’t-they-oh-they-just-did storyline that didn’t disappoint. _Cheers_ was playful, urbane and bracing as a tall cold one. [Get This TV Show](http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00008NV4G/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3101498/cheers/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3101498/cheers/"},"headline":"Cheers","datePublished":"2014-08-11T20:35:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:01:08.947Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3101498/cheers/","keywords":["Comedy","drama","Sitcom"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7569c8b5d1fd64d6/69869f19adae444a0254479b/t100_tv_cheers1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7569c8b5d1fd64d6/69869f19adae444a0254479b/t100_tv_cheers1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3101498/cheers/","name":"Cheers"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Cheers","description":"Long before Lost, there was a series about the connections among a group of unrelated people on an island. This island just happened to have stools around it and an alcoholic ex-pitcher pulling beers in the middle of it.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/rNqL6wss/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2007-09-04T16:33:09.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/rNqL6wss.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3101498/cheers/","duration":"PT34S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3101498/cheers/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```