Sitcom Face-Off:Cheers vs Friends (re-match)

It’s been a little over eight years since I did one of my favorite articles, a face-off pitting Cheers against Friends. The problem with that article is that I really didn’t know everything about Cheers. I’d seen episodes of course, and like them, but there were tons of episodes I had never seen and story arc’s I had completely miss. Now don’t get me wrong, I still remember what a struggle it was to decide which show was better. But I have to admit my analysis was not as accurate as it should have been. Now that I have watched EVERY episode and am not completely caught up, would my opinion on those categories change? That’s why we’re here my friends as I present a special Sitcom Face-Off rematch :

vs

Cheers premiered in 1982 and was on until 1993. It was a show about a bunch of people who hung around a bar, where they can get away from the stress of the real world and be among friends. A year after Cheers went off the air, Friends premiered in 1994. it lasted until 2004 was about six friends who hung around a coffee shop, stuck at the point in life where you aren’t sure where you’re going in terms of jobs and relationships. These are both good shows which were massive hits, but which is superior?

Category 1:
Sam vs Monica

I always pair up the two main leads but man is that hard here. Talk about two different people! Sam is a womanzier, an alcoholic and a former Red Sox relief pitcher. Monica is a chef, an anal retentivce clean freak who has to have everythibg her way, and a mother hen. If you’ve read my episode guide you know I have issues with Monica and the way the character fit whatever the show wanted her to. One episode she a mother hen. The next she was being all cutsey and silly. The next she was crazt competitive. The character never felt complete to me,right down to Courtney Cox’s constanly altering appearance. Sam was pretty much the same chgaracter. Oh sure he was older and wiser as the series went on, but he still had an eye for the ladies. The thing that set Sam apart from other sitcom womanizers, like Dan Fielding or even Joey, was class. You always felt like he treated these women with respect. Sure maybe it was a show, but it’s still more classy then saying “How you doin?” to every woman. Sam was the center of the show and it showed. He was also allowed to be awae of his flaws unlike Monica who always exoected everyobe else around her to change for her.

WINNER-CHEERS

Category 2:
The Ladies

This isn’t fair since there were only two main female characters. Diane in the first few seasons. I liked watching these episodes and seeing she really was a part of the group. It was somethubg I hadn’t realized, but she was a good friend to the gang. Later it was Rebecca who was a strabfe character, one minute she was a serious businesswoman and the next an emotional mess. Kirstie Alley found a great balance between the two. And of course Carla because you have to have one meanR character. She was a very religious person and even supersutuous at times. Despite all the bad luck she had. As for Friends, the ladies made the show. Rachel was the oppsite of Rebcca in many ways. Watching Rachel grow from rich daddy’s girl to professional business woman not to mention a mother was one of my favorite things about Friends. Phoebe was a lot like Carla with her strange belief and ways of thinkinhg. Heck she even seemed as fertile as Carla having three babies when she only intended one. The difference, of course, is she was really nice. So which is better? Cheers was more about the guys tan the girls so this choice is obvious. As for Lilith, I hated it when they bumped her up to regular becaause appearing in ever episode hurt the character and made her boring

WINNER-FRIENDS

Category 3:
The Guys

So who would win between Ross, Chandler, and Joey vs Norm, Cliff and Woody? When you get right down to it, they’re almost the same characters just on different ends of the spectrum. Cliff is a now at all who annoys everyone with his contant facts, and that’s pretty good descirption of Ross too. Except of course Ross is correct and Cliff isn’t. Joey and Woody are both sweet guys who love their friends, while also being a bit dim. (Just an aside but Coach filled Woody’s role first and after eatching the episode I realized that Coach is little more clueless than Woody. Woody usually seems to realize what he said was wrong where Coach nevr seemed to). And Chandler and Norm are both there with their classic one liners and jojes which make them each the most popukar characters of their respective shows. So which thre are better? I think it comes down to how they were played. As time went Joey got a little to stuoid, Ross got a little to ridiculous and Chandler got more boring. Norm and Cliff and Woody were always consistent from the pilot to the last episode (except Cliff lost that exaggeated New Englabd accent, thank god!). And yes I left Frasier off, I have no one to compare him to but he really did make a giid addition to the cast, being a sound voice of reason in the chaos but nver afrad to be “one of the guys”. And I guess that’s the cincher, which group with you rather hang out with

WINNER-CHEERS

Category 4:
Romance

This is the biggest change from last timne, since before I had only partial awareness of Sam and Diane’s relationship. And now that I’ve watched the episodes, I kinda wonder why America was so invested in these two. It was fine at first when it was a “will theyt or wont they” story but after they got together you wondered how they didn’t kill each other. Sam and Diana weere a complete mismatch and yet the writers kept pushing them together for some reason. In her last season Diane was just plain infuriating with her nonsense. Ross & Rachel felt more natural. The relationship was a slow one and you felt they had more chenistry. The two couples did each have major blow up’s which were really ugly and tore them apart. But with Sam and Diane you never felt they really had that love back, unlike Ross and Rachel where you did feel as time passed that love was still there. I will say that Ted Danon and Shelly Long were a great duo, but more as antagonists than lovers. Last time I gave it to Friends because Ross & Rachel ended up together. This time, I honestly think they were just the better couple.

WINNER-FRIENDS

Category 5:
Theme Song

This is a real tough one. “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” is a great song, but so is “I’ll Be There for You”. Back in the mid-90’s this song was all over the place. Unfortunately, it was on so much it got annoying. So, I will give the award to the show with more loved theme.

WINNER-CHEERS

Category 6:
Premise

Of course there are over 200 episodes for both of these series. These shows were both huge staples for NBC; they were consistent programs which the network had no doubt about. Cheers was basically about a bunch of friends in a bar, while Friends was about a group of friends who sat around a coffee shop. Both these shows were smartly written and very funny, with great jokes and gags. The thing that makes Friends stand out is the way the stories were created. Every episode had three stories, so there was never an episode where a character was short changed. Also, for the most part the stories were pretty separate and it was the case that if you didn’t like one story, you might want to tune in for the other. Not to mention what I mentioned the other day, how one episode usally led into the next. Cheers had more of a standard sitcom premise, there was an A story and a B story, which was just a filler story to get some laughs and screen time with the other characters. Sure sometimes the two storuies would converge at times. I said before that the supporting cast were often overshadowed on Cheers in the early days. And when watching the episodes I didn’t see that as being as bad as I thought. These were both good ensanble shows where the characters always had something to do. Deciding the winner here is very difficult, but I still admire the way the episodes of Friends basically all connect. Cheers had this here and there during a story arc, but not for the entire series.

WINNER-FRIENDS

Category 7:
Jumping the Shark

To be honest, I was a little easy on Friends last time. I said that Friends final year was really solid, and yeah that isn’t really true at least compared to Cheers final season. It wasn’t awful, but it was clear that the show was on its way out unlike Cheers which you know could have had one more season. In Friends the whole season is setting up for the final episode. Cheers didn’t do that, in fact what they did do was bring back old characters who hadn’t been around for awhile for one last hurrah. That’s an awesome way to do a final season. My reasoning last time for giving it to Friends was because on Friends the characters grew and evolved but on Cheers they did not. That wasn’t accurate either, since the charatcers on Cheers did evolve just maybe in a different way than Friends. I was wrong when I stated Cheers was one of thise shows where events in one episode are totally forgotten in the next. While it is almost impossible to decide which final episode was superior, the ending of Friends didn’t have nearly the excitement Cheers had. The reason for that is simple, while Friends was aimed on a certain age group, everyone loved Cheers. Cheers won more awards than I can count and is still considered one of THE greatest sitcoms of all time. I love Friends, but Cheers is deffinitely the better show.

OVERALL WINNER-

Where woul you prefer to hang out, Central Perk or Cheers?

LOL

Join us next time on “Wow was he wrong last time!”. Just kidding, but it is funny how your mind can change on things