ON THURSDAY, May 20, Cheers will have broadcast its final episode. It may or not be the most highly rated television event in history (as of this writing, that honor belongs to M*A*S*H ), but if the broadcast fails to lure every living creature to sit and watch, it won’t have been for lack of publicity.
Retrospectives of the series appeared in over fifty daily newspapers. TV Guide and Life have run gushing cover stories. Not to mention Time, Newsweek, and People. NBC has hyped the final episode on Today, Dateline NBC, and an entire episode of The Tonight Show. The last show is preceded by a half-hour documentary, and followed in some areas by live local news broadcasts from local bars, where patrons sipped beer and discussed the series.
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