Explanations of the Theme Pictures

Explanation of the Theme Pictures

Though I don’t know where, the creators (or someone) of Cheers came up with about a dozen drawings and still photographs to complement the opening theme of Cheers. They were all of people in taverns from the early 20^th century/late 19^th century. A list of all of theme are on the ‘Pictures From the Themes’ page, so I won’t list them here, but I’ll show you all the different versions (most of them anyway). All themes used the same font (for all except the Cheers logo…I dunno WHAT font that is), but the other fonts are Cabaret ITC. Also, remember that while some picture changes may coincide with some theme(recording) changes, they do NOT always happen, so don’t think if a picture changes, it means a theme change too. (What I’m really saying is, for sound differences, go to the “Sounds and Explanations” Page.)

First, NBC had their own ‘set’ of these shots. Throughout seasons 1-3, the pictures were varied A LOT. Some have clear, but dark pictures. Others may have been lighter, but not as clear, and may have been shaky. Here are the examples (None of these are from actual NBC broadcasts, but from the Paramount Home Videos, which used essentially the same pictures):

(Season 1):(Seasons 2/3):

(Season 1): (Seasons 2/3):

The fonts used were either clear, or really crude, and some could actually be considered somewhat bolded, or at least big. They were bright yellow and orange, usually more orange (the 2^nd one here is more yellow):

(Season 1):(Seasons 2/3):

This batch of pictures was used for seasons 4 and 5 (None of these are NBC either; the first 2 columns are the P.H.V. and the last column is from original syndication). These seasons still had some variety to them, but not as much as seasons 1-3:

(Season 4):(Season 5):

(Season 4): (Season 5):

These fonts were clearer, being much more detailed, but still not bolded. Season 4’s fonts were more ‘flat’ while season 5’s was more ‘rounded’:

(Season 4 Orig. Synd.):(Season 4 P.H.V.):

(Season 5 Orig. Synd.):(Season 5 P.H.V.):

For seasons 6-11, a whole new batch of pictures was used, redone much nicer and brighter(These actually ARE from NBC; they were used for all of these seasons). NBC’s pictures for these seasons (compared to syndication and the P.H.V.) were really bright for some reason:

These fonts were much more bolded, but not as much as they could be:

When there was a short theme on NBC, which only applied to seasons 4-11, they would open with the car driving, and pause in front of Melvilles, but then immediately cut to the “A lady and 2 other gentlemen” picture and zoom in the Cheers logo, then go on with the theme.

For the original, unremastered syndication package, since there were shorter themes, the pictures from during the verse weren’t used, meaning from “The stairway to Cheers” to “A man with his drink.” Mostly the same, or at least very similar, pictures were used for this syndication, as the NBC pictures. And for seasons 6-11, the words were now VERY bolded:

These themes actually were NOT the same as the short NBC themes. For instance, on seasons 1-4, since there were less cast members, and they needed to “fill time” while keeping the theme smooth ‘flowing,’ instead of going from the car, to in front of Melvilles, and to the Cheers logo-picture, it went from the car, to in front of Melville’s, FADED to the old-fashioned picture, started to zoom in, then FADED to the Cheers logo-picture.

And actually, sometimes certain episodes (only a few in seasons 6-11) couldn’t be cut down correctly to the syndicated time slot, so they cut a little more off the episode, and DID use a regular-length theme, which would be like the NBC theme that would have been used.

For the Paramount Home Videos, the PICTURES (not recordings, like I said in the very first paragraph) were the same as from NBC, however, not as bright as NBC’s. All were the regular-length theme, except for “I Do, Adieu” which DID use an NBC short season 5 theme. I am not sure about the other Home Videos. Here is season 6’s pictures (compare to NBC’s):

For all the remastered episodes (Nick at Nite AND the new remastered syndication package), the pictures have all been redone to look alike, in all seasons. Note, though, that there ARE some distinctive difference between most seasons’ pictures, they are not as noticeable as earlier themes(the pictures here are just some, from random seasons):

(Seasons 2/3):

(Seasons 6-11):

Though the ‘new’ pictures helped the earlier seasons (1-5), they are actually WORSE looking than the later seasons (6-11) original pictures and drawings. Why? Why not make them ALL like the nice drawings (from the original seasons 6-11)?

Another strange thing is when the missed remastering an episode. So far, there are three known of:

1. Birth, Death, Love, and Rice

2. Diane’s Nightmare

3. One Happy Chappy in a Snappy Serape

The pictures in the first one (also the season 4 premiere) are similar to N@N’s regular pictures for season 4, but a little darker, but rich in color. “Diane’s Nightmare” actually is now remastered (the first couple airings of it were unremastered). The unremastered theme’s pictures were similar to the NBC pictures (but brighter, like how NBC’s pics were brighter on NBC compared to orig. synd. and the P.H.V.), but the remastered episode, obviously has a regular, remastered theme. Another strange thing from this unremastered theme is that during the verse, everything is delayed. (Example: The “Cheers” logo usually zooms in when they sing “Where Everybody Knows Your Name…” For this episode, it didn’t zoom in until “…Body Knows Your Name…” making the rest of the theme ‘behind schedule.’) One Happy Chappy in a Snappy Serape actually used the SYNDICATION pictures, with the bolded fonts. Very strange (then again, it’s Nick at Nite…J)

The Cast in Each Season of the Opening Theme:

	Ted Danson	Shelley Long	Kirstie Alley	Nicholas Colasanto	Rhea Perlman	John Ratzenberger	Woody Harrelson	Kelsey Grammer	Bebe Neuwirth	George Wendt
Season 1	X	X		X	X					X
Season 2	X	X		X	X	X				X
Season 3	X	X		X	X	X				X
Season 4	X	X			X	X	X			X
Season 5	X	X			X	X	X	X		X
Season 6	X		X		X	X	X	X		X
Season 7	X		X		X	X	X	X		X
Season 8	X		X		X	X	X	X		X
Season 9	X		X		X	X	X	X		X
Season 10	X		X		X	X	X	X	X	X
Season 11	X		X		X	X	X	X	(X)	X

This table is pretty straight forward, but the reason the () are around the X for Bebe in season 11 is because she wasn’t in every episode, and she was only in the theme for the episodes she was in.

I’ve had questions where someone might ask me, “Hey, Coach’s theme picture was in a season 4 theme…how come?” OK…maybe not exactly like that, but I Have had questions about theme pictures being “out of place”. So here are the picture orders for each season(These are all for regular themes. And look at the Theme Pictures page for the picture numbers; Also, the colors don’t mean anything, they’re just there to help you distinguish the rows):

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4