Cheers was a long-running American situation comedy produced by Charles-Burrows-Charles Productions in association with Paramount Television for NBC. The show was set in the eponymous Cheers bar in Boston, Massachusetts, where a group of locals met to drink and generally have fun. The show's theme song was written and performed by Gary Portnoy with its famous refrain, "where everybody knows your name" that also became the show's tagline. After premiering on September 30, 1982, it was nearly cancelled during its first season when it ranked dead last in ratings. However, Cheers eventually became one of the most popular television shows in the United States, earning a top-ten rating during seven of its eleven seasons and spending the bulk of its run on NBC's Must See Thursday lineup. Its widely watched series finale was broadcast on May 20, 1993, and the show's 273 episodes have now entered into a long and successful syndication run. The show earned 26 Emmy Awards, out of a total of 117 nominations. The character Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) later starred in his own successful spin-off, Frasier, after Cheers ended.

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1713: Emperor Charles VI issued the Pragmatic Sanction to ensure his daughter Maria Theresa would inherit the Habsburg monarchy. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatic_Sanction_of_1713)

1775: The American Revolutionary War began with the Battles of Lexington and Concord. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_Lexington_and_Concord)

1839: The signing of the Treaty of London formally recognised Belgian independence from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_London%2C_1839)

1971: The first space station, Salyut 1, was launched. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salyut_1)

1995: Oklahoma City bombing: A car bomb was detonated in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, killing 168 people. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_City_bombing)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,Their flag to April's breeze unfurled;Here once the embattled farmers stood;And fired the shot heard round the world. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ralph_Waldo_Emerson)