20 TV Shows That Are Practically Flawless

The key to the brilliance of Cheers comes almost entirely from its consistency. This was a sitcom set in a bar and was effectively just about people talking, suffering and growing together, but it aired for eleven seasons and almost three-hundred episodes, and never had a single dud amongst them.

Primary focus falls on Ted Danson's bar owner, womaniser and former baseball player Sam Malone, an on-and-off alcoholic who struggles in love and finds his life both exponentially improved and tore apart by his business. It was small-scale in setting, but the scope it created for Sam's life was enormous.

He was joined by a whole host of memorable faces in his troubles, including Woody Harrelson's bartender Woody Boyd, Kelsey Grammar's psychiatrist Frasier Crane (soon to get his own spin-off), and of course Sam's love interests, Shelley Long's Diane, and Kirstie Alley's Rebecca.

Though ultimately a powerhouse character study of Sam, Cheers' true genius lay in its sweeping snapshot of life. It touched on love, change, various social issues and death, and through its comforting characters made an artform out of making you want to find a place where everybody knows your name.