Cheers!

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Seeing that 41 years ago... September 30, 1982: "Cheers" premiered on NBC to dismal ratings—77th place out of 100 shows that week, according to Nielsen.

Cheers was located under and adjacent to a restaurant called Melville's. The Bull and Finch Bar, which served as Cheers model and inspiration, under a restaurant called The Hampshire House.

According to the sign outside the bar, Cheers was established in 1895. But in the episode where Rebecca wants to have a 100th Anniversary party for Cheers, Sam says that when he bought the bar, he made up the date.

Film scenes on-location were done in Boston at the actual Cheers bar.
The actual address for the exterior establishment shots is 84 Beacon Street, in the Beacon Hill district of Boston. "Cheers" was formerly known as Bull & Finch Pub, established in 1969 prior to the series being aired.

‘Cheers’: Why NBC Wanted to Change the Title of the Show

Cheers writer Ken Levine revealed the early development story on an episode of his Hollywood & Levine podcast. Levine wasn’t one of the original creators. Those were brothers Glen and Les Charles and James Burrows. They hired Levine and his partner David Isaacs in the show’s first season though, so he was there for the great title debate of 1982.

NBC wasn’t sure viewers would know ‘Cheers’ was about a bar

Levine also revealed that as the Charles brothers created Cheers, a bar was only their third idea for a setting. The real-life Bull & Finch bar in Massachusetts inspired Cheers, and ultimately they took on the name the show invented. But, in 1982, NBC was worried Cheers suggested something else.

“There was some confusion early on about the title of the show being Cheers,” Levine said on Hollywood & Levine. “Because a lot of people thought just hearing the word that it was a show about cheerleaders and high school or college.”

How the creators convinced NBC to keep the title ‘Cheers’

It seems silly now that Cheers is a world famous bar, but NBC wasn’t completely off base. Cheers has several meanings and cheerleading is one of them. Ultimately, the creators convinced NBC it was a win-win either way. Levine did not mention any alternate titles so they may have nipped it in the bud before it got that far.

“And we all had to say, ‘Look, when they see the show they’ll get it. And if they’re tuning in expecting a show about college cheerleaders, well, they’ll be disappointed and maybe they’ll like this instead but at least they’re watching,’” Levine said. “So the title Cheers came under some scrutiny.”

Talk about life imitating art. After it was decided that the series would be set in a bar instead of a hotel, co-creators Glen and Les Charles decided the locale should be moved to New England. “Boston was chosen partially because only five short-lived television shows claimed the city and the East Coast pubs were real neighborhood hangouts,” wrote Dennis A. Bjorklund in his book, Toasting Cheers.

As the show’s popularity rose, it didn’t take long for word to spread that the Beacon Hill tavern was the “real” Cheers (though only the exterior shots were filmed there), turning the neighborhood hangout into a tourist attraction. To satisfy the masses, a second location—this one actually called "Cheers" and featuring a replica of the bar viewers were used to—was opened in nearby Faneuil Hall in 2001. One year later, the Bull & Finch officially changed its name to Cheers.

Early in Cheers’ run, its creators were contracted by the U.S. Treasury to create a special mini-episode to promote the purchase of U.S. savings bonds. Titled “Uncle Sam Malone,” the episode never aired on television nor is it included on any of the DVDs; it was intended to be screened for promotional purposes at savings bond drives only.

30 Things You Might Not Know About Cheers

Cheers in Boston by The National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The Boston pub that inspired the fictional bar in the NBC sitcom, Cheers, is actually a real neighborhood institution that has been serving its Beacon Hill environs for over 45 years.

Established in 1969 by Thomas A. Kershaw, the bar where everybody knows your name was originally the Bull & Finch Pub, named after Boston-born architect Charles Bulfinch, who designed the U.S. Capitol as well as the Massachusetts State House (along with many other buildings).

Cheers is located in the basement of the brick and granite Hampshire House, built in 1910 by society architect Ogden Codman. (Also owned by Kershaw, the Georgian Revival townhouse currently functions as a high-end event hall.) Located directly across from Boston Public Garden, the pub served as the establishing shot throughout the show’s eleven seasons on air (from 1982-1993).

In 1981, two writers and a director for the TV show “Taxi” left the series and began discussions for another workplace sitcom in a “more appetizing” environment, according to Dennis Bjorklund in his reference tome, “Toasting Cheers.” Glen and Les Charles (the writers) and James Burrows (the director) opted for a lively bar setting for their new series, and set about finding a suitable locale.

“Boston was chosen partially because only five short-lived television shows claimed the city and the East Coast pubs were real neighborhood hangouts,” says Bjorklund.

After seeing an ad Kershaw put in the Yellow Pages advertising the Bull & Finch Pub, the co-creators sent their set designer to take pictures of the basement haunt. The trio later visited the pub and met bartender Eddie Doyle and Kershaw, inquiring if they could use its exterior for the establishing shots. Kershaw agreed and the deal was sealed for $1, according to Bjorklund. The deal did not include any interior shots however, and patrons visiting the Beacon Hill establishment will be disappointed if they are looking for a replica of the spacious bar where the show is set.

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On May 20, 1993, the night of the show’s series finale, the cast watched from inside the bar, and a special live episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno was filmed there, with Leno interviewing the cast.

Once the series ended, the bar more than retained its popularity, prompting Kershaw to open a second outpost of the bar nearby at Faneuil Hall in 2001; this time, however, he named the bar “Cheers,” after agreeing to give 2.5 percent of the food and beverage sales to CBS.

Cheerio, Cheers!