It is 40 years ago this week since the first episode of the TV comedy "Cheers" was aired in the US. It is another of those shows that anyone who grew up through the 1980's would remember and would have watched, and surely laughed at. It ran for 11 seasons and a total of 275 episodes and managed to survive a lacklustre start where average rating threatened its existence in the first two seasons. But it eventually established itself as one of the best shows on television, and made stars of several of its actors.

On today's podcast episode, I go back through my own memories of the show, of the characters that became such a huge part of my life through my teenage years. Of how the show managed to survive the loss of some major characters and actually become a stronger and funnier show as a result. Of how it was often the secondary stories of each episode that actually drove the show. And how a show that was often marketed as being about the stars was only as good as it was because of the ensemble cast around them.

All of that reminiscing is the star turn of today's episode of the podcast where everybody knows your name, Thoughts from the Metal Cavern.