This Day in TV History: Cheers and Hill Street Blues win at the 1984 Emmys

40 years ago tonight, the big winners at the Emmys were Cheers and Hill Street Blues.

It's no surprise, in retrospect, those shows won the big Comedy and Drama prizes, but I do find the other nominees in that Comedy category interesting:

Buffalo Bill
Family Ties
Kate and Allie
Newhart

This Day in TV History: Cheers premieres

What a great night of TV it was 40 years ago tonight! I am not talking about the series premiere of Star of the Family nor the second-season premiere of Joanie Loves Chachi. On September 30, 1982, NBC aired the first episode of one of our favorite television shows around here: Cheers!

We talked a lot about the show here and in many other spots on the podcast and here on the website. At some point we will discuss the classic sitcom's "later years," but today let's celebrate the beginning. 

You know, eh, it's a well-known fact, eh, that today indeed happens to be National Trivia Day

Here's to the king of bar trivia, Cliff Clavin, as we mark this joyous occasion:

Happy birthday, Ted Danson!

Today we honor one of our favorite on-screen performers, Batty-winning Ted Danson. Not only was he a star on Cheers, but he has somehow managed to have key roles (lead and otherwise) in multiple other series since then.

Happy birthday to Ted Danson, AKA Mayday Malone! 

Happy National Coaches Day!

Here's to you, Coach! Everyone enjoy this National Coaches Day!

YouTube Spotlight: The Little Rascals

In our YouTube playlist this week, we dig a little deeper into the world of The Little Rascals Christmas Special, including some clips of the series' alumni in their later years. An example is this clip of George Spanky McFarland on Cheers. It's "Woody Gets an Election" from the show's 11th and final season, and it premiered April 22, 1993.

Classic Cliff! McFarland died several months after this episode aired.

We didn't put this in the playlist, but here is the full appearance of McFarland and some other grown-up Rascals on Tomorrow with Tom Snyder on November 12, 1974:

And here is Spanky on The Pat Sajak Show in 1989:

YouTube Spotlight: Sam Malone now pitching...Cheers the TV show

Yesterday we unveiled the video playlist for our new bonus episode, and one of the standout clips is this promo for Cheers on WGN in the 1980s:


I love that it's a promo for a show featuring a character from the show telling us about the show. And what a job he does, too! Someone told Sam Malone to emphasize that "5 times a week" talking point, so he sure gets the message across.

Catching Up

Between an intended break between seasons and the state of the world in 2020, we've taken a longer hiatus than expected. This week, we catch up on the state of the show, the state of the hosts, and the state of the Season 7 BATTYS. We also talk about some of the TV we've watched during lockdown.

Check out this episode!

Happy National Postal Workers Day!

It's a, eh, well-known fact that, eh, today is National Postal Workers Day. So, er, tip your cap to your favorite beloved civil service warrior saving your bacon on the frontlines.

Great Moments in 70s and 80s TV History: Cliff Clavin's anticipation

Remember the joy of receiving the new TV Guide in the mail? Well, think about what a big day it was for the fine members of the U.S. Postal service. In season 7's Please Mr. Postman, Cheers' Cliff Clavin tells a trainee she had better get a good night's sleep because...

YouTube Spotlight: from the "Cheers" playlist, "It's Not Easy"

Welcome to the beginning of our sixth season of Battle of the Network Shows! Each Saturday this season, we are going to pull one video from our YouTube playlist for that week's episode and spotlight it here in case you don't have time to check out the whole list.

This week's list for Cheers is here, and we do recommend you open it and look at all the cool stuff in there, but today let's zero in on this:



As uploader Gilmore Box notes in his comments, this ABC sitcom didn't last long--only 7 episodes, in fact--but it stars Ken Howard AND Bert Convy! Plus Carlene Watkins from BOTNS fave Best of the West, Jayne Meadows, Billy Jacoby (who played a wise-ass in tons of shows of the era), and if that ain't enough, Evan Cohen, the boy next door on The Ropers!

The premise is a little convoluted, to be sure, but did it deserve to crash like it did? There is an episode online if you want to judge for yourself. I'm a known sucker for Bert Convy, Actor, but I find this one kind of funny.

The Cheers playlist is now live!

The YouTube playlist for our season 6 opener devoted to Cheers is now live! Click below to see the cold opens of the two episodes we discuss, Ted Danson talking with Johnny Carson, Shelley Long singing on the Emmys, and many more moments in and out of character from the cast! Plus We've Got It Made, The Tortellis, and Dr. Ruth teaming with George Wendt!



And remember, you can always check out our official YouTube channel for each episode-specific playlist plus our archive of past episodes!

Show Notes: Episode 6-1: Cheers

*As you can tell from listening to the podcast, selecting episodes to talk about was particularly difficult this time out. The ones we went with are:

Season 2, episode 1, Power Play, which premiered Thursday, September 29, 1983, at 9:00 P.M.; and season 3, episode 14, The Heart Is a Lonely Snipe Hunter, which premiered Thursday, January 10, 1985, at 9:00.

*As we mention, this episode focuses on The Diane Chambers era (seasons 1-5), and somewhere down the road, we will look at the Rebecca Howe years (seasons 6-11). overall Cheers ran 11 seasons and 275 episodes.

*The series' low initial ratings in its first season are legendary. It finished 74th in 1982-1983, then climbed significantly the next two years (starting its climb even before The Cosby Show, apparently fueled by critical acclaim and viewers finding it in reruns) and was a reliable top 10 performer the rest of its run.

*Cheers earned 28 Emmys and 117 nominations; perhaps most impressive is its streak of being nominated for Outstanding Comedy for all 11 of its seasons (with 4 wins). Among the cast, the big winner was Rhea Perlman, who won Outstanding Supporting Actress (Comedy) 4 times.

*Gary Portnoy performs theme song Where Everybody Knows Your Name, which he co-wrote with Judy Hart Angelo.

*We Got It Made ran one season on NBC and one later season in first-run syndication. It starred Tom Villard and Matt McCoy (and for a while, Stepfanie Kramer of Hunter) but was built around Teri Copley.

*It's Not Easy only lasted 4 episodes on CBS!

*On the Sunny Side of the Street was written in 1930 by Jimmy McHugh, and you can see it sung in the cold open of The Heart Is a Lonely Snipe Hunter in this week's YT playlist.

*According to Wikipedia, the snipe hunt tradition dates back to the 1840s. I bet Abe Lincoln was involved in one somehow.

*Iconic TV director James Burrowes is still active at 78 and still highly sought after to direct multicamera sitcom pilots. He directed about 240 Cheers episodes, then all of Will & Grace. In recent years, he had stints on Man with a Plan and Superior Donuts.

*For further reading, we recommend this excellent oral history from GQ. Also, go digging in Ken Levine's outstanding blog; he has scores of great posts about the show.

*As always, check out our official YouTube page for a playlist specific to this episode as well as past installments of our podcast!

6-1: Cheers "Power Play" and "The Heart is a Lonely Snipehunter"

We start season six with one of the all-time greats, exploring the Diane years of "Cheers." First, Sam and Diane finally give in to their feelings, only things take a little longer to get going that Sam hoped. Then Diane meddles on behalf of Frasier, getting him invited on a fishing trip that turns into a snipe hunt for the haughty shrink.


Check out this episode!

Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...

Happy birthday, John Ratzenberger

Ehh...it's a little-known fact that John Ratzenberger turns 71 today. Hopefully no Cliff Clavins out there will tell us this PSA is actually from 1990 and therefore just outside our standard time frame: