During its run, Cheers became one of the most popular series in history and received critical acclaim from its start to its end. In 1997, the episodes "Thanksgiving Orphans" and "Home Is the Sailor", aired originally in 1987, were respectively ranked No. 7 and No. 45 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.[2] Its series finale was watched by an estimated 93 million viewers, almost 40% of the US population at the time.[3] In 2002, Cheers was ranked No. 18 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.[4] In 2013, the Writers Guild of America ranked it as the eighth-best-written TV series[5] and TV Guide ranked it No. 11 on their list of the 60 greatest shows.[6]