Cheers is always on my mind when I watch any TV comedy. Why don’t shows have fun characters like Cheers? Why can’t shows service their ensembles like Cheers? Why aren’t shows lit like Cheers? When it comes to sitcoms, Cheers is objectively the best. It is patient zero for so many modern comedies, from will they/won’t they pairings (Friends) to misfit casts (Community), bar comedy (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), and blatant sincerity (Parks and Recreation). Cheers did it all and I will never find another Cheers!

Except maybe I have? I’ve binged all three seasons of NBC’s Superstore in the last week and, me having a Cheers brain and all, the tally of similarities kept rising like Norm’s bar tab. Superstore’s spirit lines up more with the iconic ’80s show than pretty much every other sitcom I can think of. Superstore has grown into the millennial Cheers.

For starters, both are ensemble comedies on NBC set primarily in one location. The casts are found families of working class misfits (okay, Cheers is mostly working class; Frasier and Lilith are rich AF). The characters aren’t total one-to-ones, but the DNA from Cheers’ well-defined goofballs can be found in the makeup of Superstore’s weirdos. Assistant manager Amy (America Ferrera) exists in-between the confident Diane and the perpetual wreck that is Rebecca. Frasier’s insecurity can be found in leading man Jonah (Ben Feldman), while his persnicketiness lives on in the flashy Mateo (Nico Santos). Teen mom Cheyenne (Nichole Bloom) has all of Woody’s wide-eyed wonder. Assistant store manager Dina (Lauren Ash) is the unholy lovechild of Carla and Cliff, possessing all of the former’s fire and all of the latter’s uptight devotion to rules. The rest of Cliff, the most pathetic parts Cliff, can be found in clueless store manager Glenn (Mark McKinney). Garrett’s (Colton Dunn) snarky nonchalance is spot-on Norm, so maybe he is a one-to-one match.

But it’s not just that the actors feel as at home in their characters as the pros of Cheers, it’s that Superstore is super aware of the fire it’s playing with. Just like Cheers, this show puts its ensemble to work by pairing them up in continually rewarding ways in plots that are oh-so-modern. Whether it’s Dina sacrificing her veganism and to show support for Amy’s microwaved raw chicken, or Jonah agreeing to punch Mateo in the face as a (ridiculous) way to gain temporary citizenship, or Garrett and Glenn teaming up to steal associates from a rival Target (or Targeé), Superstore pulls timeless character comedy from today’s world.

Of course a modern Cheers wouldn’t be complete without a will they/won’t they. Sam and Diane, meet Amy and Jonah, the will they/won’t they-iest not-quite-couple in primetime. Just like Cheers, Superstore’s ensemble cast is led by two characters that can’t quite get on the same page re: themselves. And just like Cheers, Superstore knows it has to give Amy and Jonah more to do than engage in a not-quite-romance. Whereas The Office kept Jim and Pam’s tension in the foreground, Superstore pulls a Cheers by sometimes letting its romantic leads get mixed up in other things (like Jonah’s desperate need to be BFFs with Garrett).

Obviously all of this sounds like all the other great sitcoms of the 21st century, specifically The Office and Parks and Recreation. Glenn is also a saccharine Michael Scott, Amy is a bit of an Ann Perkins, Dina’s got a Dwight Schrute meets Ron Swanson thing going on. And obviously The Office has Jim and Pam and Parks has Leslie and Ben, two of the great sitcom romances that were drawn out for seasons before culminating in nuptials (Sam and Diane were never so resolved). It’s really Superstore’s tone sets it apart from those other great shows and, you guessed it, makes it feel more like Cheers.

Superstore exists in a more heightened reality than The Office, which reveled in the bland mundanity of life. Cheers played loosely with reality (everyone from murderers to spies and supermodels pulled up to the bar). Superstore takes a similarly lax approach to its reality, evidenced by a madcap hunt for a lost thumb in a tub of guacamole. But Cheers and Superstore also aren’t as perky and optimistic as Parks. Remember, Cheers made Sam confront his own mortality and the episode ended with him basically being like, “Yep, I’m gonna die eventually!” Superstore also gets into serious issues that millennials are dealing with, like scrambling to pay for medical costs. Superstore exists in a weird reality where missing employees are found in the walls, but it also knows how to dig into the day-to-day struggles of just trying to get by. That’s what Cheers excelled at.

That speaks to the biggest difference between Superstore and Cheers: one is set in a bar (a place of leisure) and the other is set in a big-box store (a place of work). But that contrast and the way both shows treat their primary location, that’s what makes Superstore feel like the 21st century update of this classic. The casts of both shows are, for the most part, 30-something (seriously, I crunched the numbers and the Superstore cast is on average a few years older than the cast of Cheers was in 1982!). Older millennials like myself are not only the average age of the Superstore cast, we’re also the average age of the original Cheers cast. And look at how times have changed!

Instead of hanging out at a bar, my generation really does hang out at work. Our found families can be found where we punch the clock. And Superstore speaks to the truth that a lot of millennials face: good jobs with raises and decent healthcare are hard to come by. Like how the Cheers gang escaped addiction, career setbacks, and hectic home lives by hanging out at a bar, the Superstore gang distracts themselves from financial and existential woes by goofing off when Glenn isn’t looking.

And just like how Cheers is a bar that you really want to go to, the show kinda makes Cloud 9 look like a store you wouldn’t want to shop at, but you’d maybe want to work for (if, and only if, you could be BFFs with these guys). All of these traits–the lovable characters, the mismatched romance, the balanced tone, and the inviting location–unite to create something that is way more Cheers-y than any other comedy I’ve seen since, well, Cheers. Cloud 9 is the place where everybody knows your name… because your name-tag is pinned to your vest.

Where to stream Superstore

Where to stream Cheers