Ken Levine (writer for Cheers) has a post on his blog shedding light that Cheers almost switched to videotape instead of film during the first season when the ratings were in the crapper and they were looking to cut costs.

http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2012/03/another-thing-about-cheers-you-didnt.html

All I can say is THANK GOD they didn't switch to videotape. Watching almost any taped production in this day and age looks like crap. To me, it dates a show even faster than any contemporary clothing styles or references. Film is part of what makes some sitcoms so timeless decades after they were produced.

Agreed! I just finished watching Night Court on the DVD's - and, while it was a great show, the Picture Quality (PQ) looked sub-par - obviously because of the taped aspect; it basically had the quality of a TV show that was taped onto VHS back in the day. The PQ was "soft", fuzzy, and detail was hard to make out because of this.

Conversely, the Cheers DVD's look great in comparison. Overall crisp & clear picture; in fact, IIRC the DVD's have better PQ than what was seen when the show originally aired.

Conversely, if Cheers had been taped, the PQ would look poor as well - even if the episodes had been remastered.