{"id":5273,"date":"2021-05-24T20:23:34","date_gmt":"2021-05-24T18:23:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/?p=5273"},"modified":"2022-11-01T06:30:29","modified_gmt":"2022-11-01T05:30:29","slug":"one-for-the-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/?p=5273","title":{"rendered":"One for the Road"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We knew it was going to be big. For at least two weeks before, there had been commercials and teasers. It was the same sort of disruption in the TV world that tipped us off to very special episodes and presidential addresses. The network was devoting three half-hour slots to one episode. It was going to be big<\/em>. But unlike very special episodes and presidential addresses, we actually cared about seeing this one. Cheers<\/em> was ending after an eleven-year run. We buckled our seatbelts and we waited until Thursday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s hard to explain the all-encompassing phenomenon of network TV to someone who didn\u2019t live through it. If you were born before 1990, doing just that will be your World War II or your Great Depression. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, in the days before a trillion shows existed on one website, we TV-watchers were forced to watch something called \u201ca television.\u201d Television networks organized their TV programming into schedules, and if we wanted to watch one of those programs, we had to be in front of our TV at the allotted time. Once in front of that TV, there were more agonies yet to navigate. These TV programs were riddled with commercials which viewers had no ability to pause or fast forward. Instead, they were forced to time their bladder evacuations and snack creations into those 2.2-minute slots. This is why people over 40 have very good bladder control and can make a ham and cheddar sandwich on rye (with two condiments) in under 50 seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

It had its good parts. Though a schedule forced you to watch something in real time, people all over the country watched the same thing. This meant that in school or work, you all talked about what had happened on TV the night before. It was part of our weekly conversation. And since we were forced to wait a week to see how things would pan out for our favorite TV characters, it made the time with them more enjoyable. Perhaps it was that limited time and delayed gratification that made us all the more invested. When a series ended, it was, for all intents and purposes, gone. It wasn\u2019t on a file in our hard drive or in a stack of DVDs on the floor of our Hyundai. We simply had to say goodbye to our favorite characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A big part of what made Cheers<\/em> so enjoyable was that it took place in a corner bar. Only two or three of the characters (at most) were working and they were working near good friends. The others were often in their peak leisure hours. And who wouldn\u2019t want to spend all of their time at their corner bar? Or, rather, who wouldn\u2019t want to spend all of their time at Cheers<\/em>? Because while Cheers<\/em> had all the comforts of a perfect corner bar \u2013 sports on TV, friendly faces, a warm atmosphere, a bathroom that always seems free \u2013 it had none of the real problems that arise in an actual corner bar. For eleven years Cheers<\/em> characters guzzled beer after beer and yet we never really saw anyone get ugly drunk. There were no slurred shouting matches across the bar. No bitter, aggressive, un-take-back-able comments. No regret-filled day after call of contrition. More than that, in Cheers<\/em> alcohol was treated more responsibly than in other shows. Sam was a recovered alcoholic. Cabs were called for those who\u2019d had too much. Belligerent drunks were shown the door before they overstayed their welcome. It was as ideal as a corner bar can get. After all, Cheers was the place \u201cwhere everybody knows your name\u201d not \u201cwhere everybody knows your name because you got hammered and grabbed your friend\u2019s wife\u2019s ass.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we could come to grips with Cheers<\/em> ending, but not the idyllic Cheers<\/em> bar universe. We wanted to believe that though they weren\u2019t going to be on TV anymore, they\u2019d still prank battle with Gary\u2019s Olde Town Tavern. We might not see them on Thursday nights, but Carla would spend many more years torturing Cliff Clavin, who would spend an eternity regaling everyone about the crocodile alphabet. In the last moments of the last episode of Cheers<\/em>, \u201cOne for the Road,\u201d owner of Cheers<\/em> Sam Malone realizes that the bar is the love of his life. And we know we will get our wish. He straightens out the picture of Geronimo, grabs a box of cocktail napkins, and walks off down the hallway towards the pool room. It\u2019s a perfect ending \u2013 a nonending. We are left with a warm and fuzzy feeling, comforted that the gang at Cheers<\/em> will continue their responsible brand of drinking and conversing for many years to come. And who doesn\u2019t want that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So to squeeze in one last drink for last call, let\u2019s keep it Corner Bar Simple – Beer. No particular brand, flavor, or accompanying fruit. The only requirement is that you drink it in a place where you feel at home, where you\u2019re surrounded by friends, and where everybody knows your name.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We knew it was going to be big. For at least two weeks before, there had been commercials and teasers. It was the same sort of disruption in the TV world that tipped us off to very special episodes and presidential addresses. The network was devoting three half-hour slots to one episode. It was going […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5274,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/damiengaleone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Cheers_intro_logo.jpg?fit=302%2C227&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EvEu-1n3","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5273"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5275,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5273\/revisions\/5275"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}