When “Cheers” premiered back in September of 1982, no one predicted that the series about a bar “where everybody knows your name” would eventually rank amongst the longest running sitcoms ever. The incredible ensemble cast, made up of Ted Danson, Shelley Long, Rhea Perlman, John Ratzenberger, George Wendt and the late Nicholas Colasanto came together week after week to deliver comedy, laughter and tears for eleven seasons. The last year or two has marked a wonderful (though costly) trend in the DVD market. Many of the studios are realizing there is money to be made by releasing popular TV shows to the public. Not being an insider, I can’t tell you how successful that has been monetarily for them, but judging by the slew of shows hitting the DVD market, it must be fairly lucrative.

I, for one am glad to see this trend. There’s so many TV series that I would consider myself a fan of, or at least liked enough to make me wish I had recorded them in order to watch later. “Cheers” was one of those shows. Ensemble comedies were always my favorites because they gave the writers more than one direction they could go at any time. The focus wasn’t always on the same character. They offered more variety, and an endless combination of character interplay.

“Cheers” had the added advantage of having a cast of very talented character actors that could be endearing one moment or highly annoying the next. They each had the power to make you laugh or make you cry. And unlike some in many other shows, almost all of these actors have gone on to achieve similar successes elsewhere. Ted Danson with “Becker” or Kelsey Grammer with “Frasier” (for which I’m posting another review today as well) are good examples.

Back in 2003 Paramount released a DVD set for the 1st season of “Cheers” in a long-overdue, 4-disc set with all the episodes of the 1982 – 1983 season. It’s hard to believe that it was twenty years ago, and the show was still as funny as ever. Whether it’s because of Cliff’s ‘encyclopedic knowledge’ or Carla’s sarcastic one-liners, I never failed to laugh at a single episode. This was followed up in January of this year with the release of the 2nd season, and now they’re gearing up to release the 3rd.

“Cheers” was one of the rare shows that hardly ever had a bad episode. By the time it hit its 3rd season (1984 – 1985), it had gone well beyond being a hit and it was pretty sure it would be around for a while. This particular season marked two very important milestones for the series. One a happy addition, the other a tragic loss. On the positive side was the addition of Kelsey Grammer to the cast as Frasier Crane. Little did we know that this hysterically paranoid character would not only go on to his own TV series, but have it be so successful as to run for as many seasons. And then there was the loss of Coach (Nicolas Colasanto). Unfortunately, Colasanto passed away about midway through the season. His last official appearance was in the episode “The Mail Goes to Jail”, but in the season finale we were shown his final recorded scene in an outtake that played just prior to the opening credits.

One other notable milestone in this season was the addition of writers Peter Casey and David Lee. They had already had quite a successful run working on “The Jeffersons”, but made the move to “Cheers” after that show was cancelled. They brought with them story editors Cheri Eichen & Bill Steinkellner, all of whom stayed onboard through the rest of the series’ run. As a matter of fact Casey and Lee even earned an Emmy nomination for the very first episode they wrote, “I Call Your Name.” and of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention they followed up this success by producing “Frasier.”

Paramount is working to catch up with the rest of the series, by releasing the 5th season on DVD this week. It offers up all 26 of the terrific episodes from one of the show’s strongest seasons. Of course, each season comes with its own set of important milestones and in the case of Season 5, it is no different. This was the final season for Shelley Long as her character, Diane, runs off with the Summer Sloane, the man who originally dumped her in the first season. Saying goodbye to Diane wasa poignant moment for fans, most of whom expected she and Sam (Danson) would finally get married. It was a merry-go-round of ‘will they/won’t they’ for the entire season.

While the 5th season offers some of the series’ most classic moments, the DVD set is a bit of a disappointment. The first couple of full-season sets had a fairly good portion of extra features, while here there are none. I never tire of interviews or ‘behind the scenes’ shenanigans and I had hoped there would be some here. No luck though.

I can’t imagine anyone not thinking that “Cheers” was one heck of a funny show. The writers made sure there was enough differing styles humor so as to reach any audience. It had highbrow intellectual humor for those who got, it all the way down to simple sight gags for those who, well… wouldn’t.

Episodes:
The Proposal
The Cape Cad
Money Dearest
Abnormal Psychology
House of Horrors with Formal Dining and Used Brick
Tan ‘n’ Wash
Young Dr. Weinstein
Knights of the Scimitar
Thanksgiving Orphans
Everyone Imitates Art
The Book of Samuel
Dance, Diane, Dance
Chambers vs Malone
Diamond Sam
Spellbound
Never Love a Goalie – Part 1
Never Love a Goalie – Part 2
One Last Fling
Dog Bites Cliff
Dinner at Eight-ish
Simon Says
The Godfather, Part III
Norm’s First Hurrah
Cheers: The Motion Picture
A House is Not a Home
I Do and Adieu

Starring: Ted Danson, Shelley Long, Rhea Perlman, John Ratzenberger, George Wendt, Kelsey Grammer, Woody Harrelson
Extras: None
Specifications: Full Screen
Studio: Paramount
Release Date: 5/17/2005
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website

We'll give Cheers: Season 5 a B.