# Friends vs Cheers - Which is better? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [July 19, 2021, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-vs-cheers-which-is-better/946801 "2021-07-19T07:43:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-vs-cheers-which-is-better/946801/41 "2021-07-20T00:07:00Z")
Cheers and Taxi are my favorite sitcoms, but I liked Friends too. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-vs-cheers-which-is-better/946801/42 "2021-07-20T00:28:50Z")
Of the two I prefer Cheers. But neither compare to my all time favorite sitcom-----NIGHT COURT!!! ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-vs-cheers-which-is-better/946801/43 "2021-07-20T01:28:31Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > [At the risk of enduring a sudden strong breeze blowing out of my monitor] > > How is a romance between one of the actors and her real-life boyfriend (who did in fact once appear on the show) remotely relevant to the discussion in question? Nah, you’re right. That was lame. It was late and my brain froze, thinking back on the episodes, but I wanted to start the thread before that comment in the OP got too old. I also didn’t want to be insulting, but a bar full of curmudgeons, grumbling about pretty much everything is way less appealing to me than a group of young people trying to find their way in the world. Based on the poll results, I’m in the small minority on my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-vs-cheers-which-is-better/946801/44 "2021-07-20T01:56:40Z")
I think I might actually go ahead and say Cheers is the best sitcom of all time. I think it got slightly weak the early Rebecca years but recovered quickly and eventually had some of its best seasons post-Diane, which is unusual that a sitcom so long running would lose a major cast member and actually continue at a high quality. Frasier and Lilith developed into incredibly strong characters. I frankly believe Cheers had a significantly stronger acting core as well. Most of the major cast members of Cheers had somewhat decent careers after the series, with the exception of Wendt / Ratzenberger / Perlman. That being said even though their careers weren’t big after Cheers, those three were anchors in Cheers itself and imo were easily the equal of anyone on the Friends roster. Meanwhile the top end of Cheers acting cast has some real heavy hitters: Danson, Grammer, Harrelson all had sustained, high level careers after Cheers, with significant successes both in movies and other television series. Harrelson still regularly gets roles in good movies to this day, and Danson after the peak of his movie career ended had a long run of success in TV, Becker in the 1990s and then a monster run in the 2010s with multiyear appearances in series like _Damages_ and _The Good Place_ (both critically acclaimed), along with stops at big money making primetime shows like CSI for 4 years. Aniston is about the only Friends cast member to have much of any career after Cheers and even that frankly was fairly limited. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-vs-cheers-which-is-better/946801/45 "2021-07-20T03:31:01Z")
> [@whitetho](#): > > > [@Bullitt](#): > > > > Let’s throw in another comparison: theme song, Cheers vs. Friends > > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q7ExHaKt2M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q7ExHaKt2M) Hey that was fun to watch. Thanks! I still prefer Cheers though. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/JhVRzh4_j50/maxresdefault.jpg ""Cheers" Theme (Full Length Record)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhVRzh4_j50) ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-vs-cheers-which-is-better/946801/46 "2021-07-20T03:36:57Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > Snarky humor can be funny, but I like it better if it’s directed at a situation or oneself, not other people. > [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](#): > > … but a bar full of curmudgeons, grumbling about pretty much everything is way less appealing to me than a group of young people trying to find their way in the world. These are excellent points. Humor at another’s expense, the mainstay of Cheers, is mean. Whereas humor about situations is better. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-vs-cheers-which-is-better/946801/47 "2021-07-20T03:47:52Z")
Hard to say. I remember watching Cheers when I was a kid when I was 10 to 21 years old. So for me, it was mostly being a little kid watching a funny show about grown-ups. In contrast, I was 22 and in collage when Friends premiered. So I identified with it more as a funny show about my Gen-X peer group. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-vs-cheers-which-is-better/946801/48 "2021-07-20T04:50:05Z")
I’ve never noticed the humor on _Cheers_ to be mean. It might be playfully teasing at times, but I can’t remember a single time I’ve felt it was mean. I’ve always thought of it as a very heartfelt and kind show. Now the aforementioned _It’s Always Sunny in Philadephia_, on the other hand … that’s some mean, and _hilarious_, humor. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-vs-cheers-which-is-better/946801/49 "2021-07-20T05:12:47Z")
Cheers, for me. As one who was a regular at a neighbourhood bar when the show was popular, it resonated with me. I could see our regulars in the characters (the know-it-all, the snippy waitress, the guy who always sat on the same barstool, etc.). They did much like we did–the banter, the playful ribbing, and so on. Best of all, nearly everything occurred in the bar itself, or in the bar’s back room. Anything other than those locations were rare. Friends, not so much. Yes, they had a public place they hung out (the cafe), but it got confusing when they weren’t there–whose apartment is this scene in? It was thus difficult to follow at times, while Cheers, with its one location, was very easy to follow. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-vs-cheers-which-is-better/946801/50 "2021-07-20T05:22:54Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > Rebecca _Cheers_ \> _Friends_ \> Diane _Cheers_ Damn right. I can’t stand anything at all about Shelly Long as an actress, yet _Cheers_ was such a great show that I still enjoyed it. Liked the show a lot better after she got replaced, though. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-vs-cheers-which-is-better/946801/51 "2021-07-20T05:27:53Z")
Eh apples to oranges. Friends has definitely aged better. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-vs-cheers-which-is-better/946801/52 "2021-07-20T06:03:22Z")
I somewhat disagree that Friends has aged better, frankly I see Cheers as almost timeless. Cheers primarily deals with humor around human interaction. I disagree that it is mean spirited or that Cheers was a bar full of curmudgeons grumbling about “pretty much everything.” That is so alien to the actual personality of characters like coach, Woody, Cliff, Sam. Norm and Frasier tend towards being more melancholy but even they are pretty positive characters over the show’s story arc. I feel like someone who would describe Cheers as just being about a bar of curmudgeons is someone who watched like one episode and judged the whole series on it. A show I actually think is heavily dated is Seinfeld. When Seinfeld went off the air I would have claimed it was the best sitcom of all time, better than Cheers or any earlier shows. As time has passed (and I’ve rewatched it plenty of times), I actually think Seinfeld has fallen off considerably with time. It isn’t that it wasn’t a well made show, but it’s because it’s _hyper_ situational, I think in part because Larry David and Jerry frankly don’t “understand people” that well, their humor is more built around pointing out social conventions that they find tedious and dumb (and it should be noted I think Jerry has said he actually has Asperger’s and it wouldn’t shock me to find out David was on the spectrum.) But part of the “problem” with this type of humor is to find it as funny, you need the shared cultural zeitgeist. Even as someone who lived through the entirety of the 90s obviously, I dunno, times have changed, and some of the cultural conventions that Seinfeld and Larry were making fun of just don’t resonate as much anymore. Meanwhile Cheers, and for that matter Friends, are much more stories about human characters who happen to get into funny situations. Seinfeld is about exasperating and odd situations that happen to somewhat blank-slate humans who all kinda break the rules of what is expected of them. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-vs-cheers-which-is-better/946801/53 "2021-07-20T06:33:20Z")
Both good, but I have to go with _Friends_. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-vs-cheers-which-is-better/946801/54 "2021-07-20T09:09:36Z")
I watched a couple of episodes of _Cheers_ recently and I did not enjoy them at all. The one where Norm pretends to be gay? Naah, it felt quite a bit dated, my 16 y.o. daughter couldn’t even sit through half an episode. Whereas she is bingeing _Friends_ with her Mom and enjoying it immensely (she even has the sweatshirt!), so clearly _it_ still has appeal for the youngs. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-vs-cheers-which-is-better/946801/55 "2021-07-20T09:33:28Z")
It is a popular position to bash **Friends** , but it had some funnies. But **Cheers** was much more my style. IMHO **Frasier** leaves them both in the dust. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-vs-cheers-which-is-better/946801/57 "2021-07-20T11:52:41Z")
I didn’t watch Cheers until last year. Now it’s my second favorite sitcom. I never got into Friends. There is a series on CNN on the history of sitcom. It shows how the sitcoms have changed and goes into current events. Last Sunday the topic was sitcoms based on friends. It started with The Odd Couple and included discussions on Cheers, Seinfield and Friends. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-vs-cheers-which-is-better/946801/58 "2021-07-20T12:18:53Z")
Sorry, obvious answer is WKRP ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-vs-cheers-which-is-better/946801/59 "2021-07-20T13:13:36Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Whereas she is bingeing _Friends_ with her Mom and enjoying it immensely (she even has the sweatshirt!), so clearly _it_ still has appeal for the youngs. _Friends_ is also popular with the geriatric set, at least it is in my experience. It’s very popular among the nursing home crowd. My guess is that about 1/4 (which is the more than any other show) of my patients watch _Friends_ reruns during the day. It’s also what the staff set the TV in the common area to. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-vs-cheers-which-is-better/946801/60 "2021-07-20T13:15:46Z")
I grew up with “Friends”, so I like it better. I think that’s kind of inevitable to be honest. Older generations that grew up with “Cheers” probably like that better. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-vs-cheers-which-is-better/946801/61 "2021-07-20T13:28:49Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I watched a couple of episodes of _Cheers_ recently and I did not enjoy them at all. The one where Norm pretends to be gay? Naah, it felt quite a bit dated, my 16 y.o. daughter couldn’t even sit through half an episode. Cheers started airing in 1982 and it’s been off the air now for about 28 years now so I would agree with you that it’s quite a bit dated at this point. In 1983, there was an episode where one of Sam’s teammates from his baseball days, a guy he roomed with frequently while on the road, comes out of the closet. Sam is reluctant to support him because he doesn’t want people to think he’s gay but he finally does because the guy is his friend. Several of Sam’s regular patrons are worried that Cheers will turn into a gay bar and when they see two guys they’re convinced are gay threaten to leave the bar if Sam serves them. Sam agonizes for a bit before telling them that he doesn’t want the bar to be the type of place he has to throw people out of and he serves them. That episode first aired in 1983 and by the time Cheers went off the air in 1993. But I can see how someone born in 1995 would watch that episode and wonder what the big deal was. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-vs-cheers-which-is-better/946801.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-vs-cheers-which-is-better/946801.md?page=4)