When I was a kid, watching Cheers on Thursday nights at 9:00 p.m. felt like the beginning of the weekend. I hated going to school, never getting enough sleep in the morning and pretending I gave a damn about what was going on during the day while pining for 3:30 p.m. so I could get the hell out of there. When my family gathered around the television to watch Cheers, it was like taking a half-hour sigh of relief. Cheers meant that the awful school week was almost over. Watching Cheers was like coming around a bend and seeing the final straightaway of an exhausting foot race. (more…)