Tyrades!

My brother and I rarely saw eye-to-eye about TV viewing choices in our teens and twenties, but we were both among the handful of people who imbibed the hilarity of a sitcom that NBC unleashed upon an unresponsive world on September 30, 1982.

You may remember "Cheers" as the hit show (set in a Boston pub) that ran for 11 seasons, won 28 Emmy awards, drew 93 million viewers for its finale and spawned the equally long-running spin-off "Frasier"; but "last call" almost came early, as the show ranked #74 out of 77 programs in the Nielsen ratings its first season. Belly up to the bar? More like go b...