Logan Airport and the banality of Cheers

adamg — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:04:06 -0400

Joe Keohane got to Logan this morning just in time to see a little old lady in a wheelchair threatened by some TSA goons, but he reports that what really depressed him was an announcement over the PA welcoming visitors to Boston, New England's largest city, "famous for the Boston Tea Party, Harvard, and Cheers!"

The Cheers stuff especially galls me. I can see some town in the middle of some no-count state in flyover country managing for decades to maintain enthusiasm for having been the setting for a long-gone TV show, just like I can understand why having a huge ball of twine is a big deal when you're in a cultural wasteland. You take what you can get.

But there's no explaining our devotion to this show. Did it capture Boston in some indelible way? No. ...