Although there are plenty of iconic opening lines dotted throughout the history of the television comedy genre, only one sitcom’s first line could truly be called the greatest of all time. It’s hard to pick the most influential, important, or even just straight-up best American sitcoms ever. From I Love Lucy to Community, from the deadpan wit of Frasier to the heartwarming antics of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air’s best episodes, there are simply too many to choose from.

Even harder is trying to pick the best line from these entertainment juggernauts. MASH’s best line is arguably a pithy quote that summarizes the horrors of war, but one could just as easily argue that a particularly hilarious gag from Hawkeye is a more fitting encapsulation of the show’s appeal. Similarly, while I’d argue that Homer Simpson’s best quote is one that mocks the saccharine conventions of TV sitcoms themselves, plenty of other fans of the long-running animated family comedy have dozens of other lines that stand out as all-time great quotes from The Simpsons.

That said, one sitcom record that is easier to discern is the question of which show had the best opening line. Not for any given episode, mind. Rather, the question here is which sitcom has the best opening line for its pilot, i.e., the opening line that set the scene for the show in its entirety. While The Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon began to dominate the spotlight as far back as the opening scene of the show’s pilot, it is the legendary workplace sitcom Cheers that grabs the title of the best sitcom opening line.

The first scene of Cheers season 1, episode 1, “Give Me A Ring Sometime,” sees a patron at Sam Malone’s titular bar ask, “How about a beer, chief?” While this simple line may not sound so noteworthy, what makes the scene amusing is the fact that the patron is blatantly too young to purchase alcohol, something Ted Danson’s sardonic antihero quickly notes. When he asks for I.D., the kid pushes his luck a little further, saying the request is “very flattering.”

Sam then flatly demands military I.D. and sends the kid on his way, before Diane’s arrival sets up the story of the sitcom as a whole. Like many sitcoms of the era, Cheers has to get through a lot of plot set up in its pilot, establishing Diane’s reasons for working at Sam’s bar, so the rest of the show’s run can center on their romantic and professional tensions.

However, Ted Danson’s entire sitcom persona is perfectly set up in the opening scene alone, before the iconic theme song plays and before Diane is even introduced to the viewer. His funny back-and-forth with the kid is charming, and his firm refusal to serve the minor proves he is ultimately a responsible guy despite his foibles. Viewers later learn that Sam’s alcoholism derailed a promising baseball career, which makes his ambivalent view of the bar business understandable.

Sam loves the bar and its patrons, but he is no great fan of alcohol’s impact on his life. The pilot continues as Diane arrives with her fiancée, Michael McGuire’s Professor Sumner Sloane, right before the pair head to Barbados to get hitched. The professor leaves to retrieve a wedding ring that was a family heirloom from his first wife, and Diane waits at the bar, chatting to Sam and the regulars, until an uncomfortable truth becomes obvious.

Cheers Influenced An Entire Generation of Sitcoms That Followed

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Sumner never returns, leaving Diane with no fiancé and no job, since hse was working as a teaching assistant for the Professor, and he has now reunited with his first wife and jetted off to Barbados with her. Sam offers a devastated Diane a job as a waitress, thus setting up the entire story of Cheers as a series in the process.

While a lot of later sitcoms dropped viewers into a pre-existing story, Cheers set up its entire plot in the first episode. By establishing Sam as a funny and easygoing, but taciturn and ultimately responsible business owner in the opening scene, the show could then spend the rest of the pilot setting up the bar’s quirky regulars and integrating Diane into the eponymous setting.

It is tough to overstate just how influential Cheers was on the sitcom landscape, as the show’s workplace comedy setup and its hang-out sitcom premise were both incredibly popular throughout the ensuing decades. The hang-out sitcom, wherein viewers followed a group of friends hanging out and sharing their personal and professional lives, soon spawned the ‘90s classics Friends and Seinfeld, which in turn influenced How I Met Your Mother, New Girl, Happy Endings, and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

If that sounds like a long list, it pales in comparison to just how many workplace sitcoms Cheers influenced. Even if viewers only include shows where two co-workers share a contentious relationship that eventually gives way to a romantic connection, Cheers influenced The Office US, Parks and Recreation, Abbott Elementary, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Superstore, St Denis Medical, Scrubs, NewsRadio, and Animal Control.

Many Great Sitcoms Set Up Their Entire Stories With Their Opening Lines

While Cheers is the sitcom with the greatest opening line solely because the quote does

so much to set up both the show’s familiar setting and its lovable antihero, it isn’t the only show to set up its plot perfectly with its first line. The first line of the iconic meta comedy 30 Rock sees Liz Lemon complain about getting cut in line, a perfect encapsulation of the bitter, petty, but relatable complaints that will define her character going forward.

Meanwhile, the opening line of Parks and Recreation sees Amy Poehler’s Leslie Knope awkwardly introduce herself, immediately dropping viewers into the uncomfortably close quarters of the show’s mockumentary format. Although later seasons took on a warmer tone, the first season’s brutally cringe-inducing comedy is perfectly set up with this stiff introduction. Thus, Cheers isn’t the only sitcom with a truly fitting opening line, even if the show does boast the strongest first quote in the genre’s long history.

Release Date

1982 – 1993-00-00

Showrunner

James Burrows, Glen Charles, Les Charles, Ken Estin, Sam Simon, David Angell, Peter Casey, David Lee, Bill Steinkellner, Cheri Steinkellner, Phoef Sutton, Tom Anderson, Dan O’Shannon

Directors

James Burrows, Andy Ackerman

Writers

James Burrows, Glen Charles, Les Charles