‘Cheers’ Leaving Netflix in June

As Netflix is dealing with the loss of Friends and the upcoming removal of both The Office and Parks and Recreation, the beloved sitcom Cheers is leaving the streaming service at the end of June. While the news broke back in September, the reality is just now sinking in for fans of the place where everybody knows your name.

The issue comes down to who controls the show’s rights, according to What’s On Netflix. Though the show ran on NBC for 11 seasons, from 1982 through 1993, CBS owns it. It’s also currently available to stream on both CBS All-Access as well as Hulu, though it’s unclear where its future lies, exactly. There has been some speculation that it could end up on Peacock, the upcoming platform from NBCUniversal. It’s a reasonably safe bet, given how it’s being loaded up with some of the network’s best-known content, though it could still end up elsewhere — including back on Netflix.

Set in a Boston blue-collar bar of the same name, Cheers was nearly canceled after its first season over its astoundingly low ratings, coming in at number 74 out of 77 shows that year. However, the network gave it a chance, and it went on to spend eight of its 11 seasons in the top 10. Initially, the show starred Ted Danson as Sam Malone, a retired ballplayer-turned-bartender and Shelley Long as Diane Chambers, a newly-single grad student who ended up waiting tables. While Long left the show after the Season 5 finale, the romantic tension between Sam and Diane serves as a blueprint for sitcom relationships to this day.

Following Long’s departure, producers brought Kirstie Alley in to play Rebecca Howe, a wealthy businesswoman who ended up being Sam’s boss. That is until Sam managed to repurchase the bar (for only 85 cents, no less), which prompted her to ask if she could stay on staff as a cocktail waitress. Long did end up returning for the finale, “One for the Road,” which was watched by almost 85 million people when it aired back in May of 1993.

Like many beloved sitcoms, fans wondered about the chance of a possible revival, which has given new life to shows like Will and Grace and The Conners. However, when asked by TMZ about it, creator James R. Burrows said simply, “the cast is too old.”