Popular Culture Review Vol. 3, No. 2, August 1992 | Page 80
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The Popular Culture Review
"Where Everybody
Knows Your Name":
Types and Rituals in Cheers
The NBC sitcom Cheers, which has been on the air since 1982,
has established itself as one of the most popular American television
serials.^ While the show's premiere ranked 77th out of a possible 77,
its 200th episode, aired in November 1990, was seen by an estinuited
52 million viewers. Cheers has received 22 Emmy Awards and
finished the 1990/91 season as the most-watched serial on American
television. I believe that one reason for this popularity is that
Cheers invites us into an uncomplicated environment, an apparently
typical American bar, which makes us feel at ease and at home. As
the opening lyrics point out, "Cheers" is supposed to be a place
"where everybody knows your name." This theme song also
characterizes the bar as a safe haven of escape:
Wouldn't you like to get away?
Sometimes you waima go where everybody knows your
name and they're always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see our troubles are all
the same.
You wanna be where everybody knows your name.
You wanna go where people know people are all the
same.
You wanna go where everybody knows your nanae.
Harsh realities are suspended in this bar of insiders, of
people who find security in each other's company and in their
ritualistic interaction. Although they have different ambitions and
represent a variety of personalities and social strata, these
characters are in a way "all the same" and need each other to enjoy
the safety of this sameness. Symbolically, the bar is located in a
cellar, suggesting that this locale is down-to-earth and therefore
clear-cut and in everybody's reach.