Cheers Is Getting A Remake, And It Seems Like A Terrible Idea

The news of a Cheers remake comes from Deadline, which is reporting plans by Big Talk Studios to bring the show back to life, though this time in a British pub setting. So far, they’ve gone to CBS Studios for the rights to the remake, with Simon Nye (Men Behaving Badly) adapting the script and possibly show-running it as well.

How the Cheers remake would line up with the original isn’t totally clear, and there are hurdles to jump over before it’s actually a full-go. But the idea that someone would even want to remake Cheers in the first place raises big questions about the state of content in the television and streaming landscape.

After all, a Cheers remake would have to contend with comparisons to some of the most iconic characters ever put on the small screen. Ted Danson’s Sam Malone, Rhea Perlman’s Carla, Woody Harrelson’s Woody, George Wendt’s Norm (NORM!!!), John Ratzenberger’s Cliff Claven, Shelley Long’s Diane Chambers, Kirstie Alley’s Rebecca Howe, and Kelsey Grammar’s Frasier Crane were as strong a comedic cast as we’ve ever seen. 

How a Cheers remake would contend with the original remains to be seen. Though pivoting to an English pub as the place to meet, kibitz, and get laughs does at least feel like a 1:1. But the core piece of what made Cheers work so well was the writing and character interplay.

It was a bottled show of people mostly just sitting around a bar and talking. Understanding, feeling, and loving the main characters (with all their quirks) is what made the show such a massive hit. Recreating that is no easy task. It’s probably impossible. 

Cheers ran for 11 record-setting seasons on NBC, with some of the strongest viewership numbers you’ll ever see. This was a different age of television, so comparing the Cheers stats now is folly.

But don’t forget that when the show signed off with “One for the Road”, 80.4 million people tuned in to see Sam Malone shut the lights off in the bar for the last time. 

Cheers isn’t the only iconic sitcom getting a remake. There is also a reboot for The Office which is really more of a spinoff. Seeing as how the American The Office was a remake of the British version, it isn’t all that weird.

But this one will take place in Australia and has the original documentary crew now finding a new setting for a similar series. It’s hard to imagine it landing in the same way. But we thought that about the American version at first as well.

In all, time will tell on this Cheers remake, though we know it will never reach the heights of the original.

Source: Deadline