Back before television they had sitcoms on radio. Jack Benny, Burns & Allen, Amos & Andy, etc. Those shows had to rely on the listener's imagination to get laughs. Cheers was a show that with a few tweaks to the script could have been a radio show. There weren't a lot of sight gags on that show. The comedy was in the dialogue. Sam & Diane's repartee, Carla's insults, Norm's entrance, Cliff's blathering, Coach's "confusion" all didn't need props or the viewer being able to see what was going on to get a laugh. However I think Seinfeld was a slightly better show. We've all experienced the nuances of every day life that they built episodes around like who's a "close talker", wondering if a well endowed girl is "real", seeing the movie instead of reading the book, being less than honest with women in order for them to go out with you, crazy friends like Kramer, forgetting a date's name. Most of the plots on Cheers were standard sitcom plots but the writing made the show stand out. Seinfeld wouldn't hold up as good if it were a radio show since it would lose most of Kramer's appeal among other things. But I think Seinfeld was a better show because we could relate to it better.