Entertainment
Topping Online View Rankings, The Solution To Unfunny Television Is The Rise Of Slow Media
By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Once the most popular genre on television, sitcoms have fallen so far that CBS’s DMV is the only new series debuting in the 2025 Fall Season. Thankfully, there are decades’ worth of shows for fans, both old and new alike, to continually binge, including one of the least likely to become a favorite of kids today: Cheers.
The most-watched show of the ’80s, the Boston-based sitcom launched careers, won awards, broke records, and became a hit on social media 32 years after 93 million people watched its series finale.
Where Everyone Knows Your Name
A large part of the modern appeal of Cheers is in its simple premise: It’s a bar where everyone knows your name. Today, it’s not the will–they–won’t–they of Sam (Ted Danson) and Diane (Shelly Long) that’s finding an audience, but the dry wit of Cliff (John Ratzenberger), the mailman with an encyclopedic knowledge of every topic, and Norm (George Wendt), the sometimes-employed barfly. The two play perfectly off every other character, from rookie bartender Woody (Woody Harrelson) to the uptight psychiatrist Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer), and even the guest stars who popped into the bar as the show skyrocketed in popularity.
Case in point, Night Courts’ Harry Anderson’s recurring appearances as Harry “The Hat,” a charming swindler who makes a bet with Cliff that he can drink a shot without moving the hat covering it. Cliff takes him up on the bet, and promptly loses when Harry pretends to drink it from under the bar, so Cliff removes the hat himself, and Harry downs the shot.
When Cliff tries the same trick, Harry downs the shot while Cliff is under the bar. George Wendt doesn’t bother to hide his laughter and cracks up on screen, in character as Norm, who had greeted Harry by saying, “Here’s the $10 bucks I’m gonna owe you in about 5 minutes.”
Another popular clip that’s more subtle involves a man returning to Cheers after 20 years away in Alaska, marveling at how the place has changed, and commenting on the differences, from the stairs to the floor tiles, and the paneling “over there behind Norm.” The Big Bang Theory never even attempted a joke that subtle and smooth.
Cheers And The Rise Of Slow Media
Although the cold opens and bar gags are racking up views on social media, Cheers is part of a new trend that has been gaining popularity over the last year, dubbed “slow media.” It’s not a derogatory term; rather, it refers to the slow pacing and low stakes of a series.
When Cheers’ most significant conflicts come from Sam’s romantic relationships, it definitely qualifies as low-stakes. Carla (Rhea Perlman) worrying she might accidentally kill her fiancé after learning about his heart problem is the closest the show gets to life-or-death stakes.
Characters do grow and evolve over time, but not to the point where they become unrecognizable, which allows new fans to put on any episode of Cheers, depending on whether they see Diane (Kirstie Alley), Rebecca, Coach (Nicholas Colasanto), or Woody. Every episode maintains the same pacing and rhythms, with a few exceptions, such as when Cliff goes on Jeopardy! or when the gang goes bowling, and oddly, Norm is also greeted at the bowling alley bar. In a world without sitcoms, everything Cheers does right stands out, even to those who didn’t grow up with the instantly recognizable theme song.
If there’s a downside to Cheers, it’s that the topical humor is rooted in ’80s politics and pop culture. This includes appearances by Senator John Kelly and then-Mayor of Boston Raymond Flynn, that are lost on audiences forty years later.
Cheers is one of the last shows you’d think would play well in a world of 60-second vertical videos, and yet, thanks to the timeless characters, tight joke writing, and perfect comedic timing from the all-star cast, it’s found a new lease on life. There’s both an undeniable appeal to “slow media” in a world where every show tries to create viral moments and a complete lack of new sitcoms, even Abbott Elementary is five seasons in at this point, making the old classics stand out as a lasting legacy to how good television used to be.
It also helps that Cheers is streaming for free on Pluto TV and is available on both Disney+ and Paramount+.
