Fraiser is no Seinfeld

Well, it's happened. I've finally felt it. This fall on tv, there's nothing to look forward to. "Fraiser" is no Seinfeld. The acting is horrendous, mawkish, and way overboard. The writing is so typical sitcom, mere zingers and barbed one-liners. Too many touch-feely moments. How it won so many Emmys is just testament to how bad everything else is.

Frasier...the best comedy series five years in a row? I think not.

For my taste, it's too "sitcommish" (set-up...punchlne, set-up...punchline).

I suppose we were spoiled by Seinfeld...the anti-sitcom (during its best years).

Frasier is for the uneducated. Those who don´t understand what a comedy really should be like. I agree with the previous poster, bad punchlines and set-ups. Dreadful!

Like virtually all sitcoms other than Seinfeld.

In article , [email] wrote:

Apparently, including Seinfeld.

That is assuming that the Emmy voters are a perfect group, with impeccable comic sensibilities, who never err or allow politics to intervene over better judgment, and don't have personal biases and jealousies that just might, um, prevent clear-sighted, (dare we say) refreshing, nonrepetitious winner selections. alt showbiz gossip

C Casserly wrote:

I love Frasier (the show, not the character 'cos that would be stupid). They both have hilarious moments and episodes. The difference between the two is because Seinfeld is so manical in style whereas Frasier is more relaxed. I still prefer Frasier but I love Seinfeld (once again the show, yada yada yada...). My favourite character is George. My favourite eps are "The Susie" and "The Voice" - I love the phone message (susie), and the bit where Jerry sits on the bench thinking about whether to choose the girl or the voice (The Voice) - CLASSIC!

"Frasier" has won five Emmys in a row because, unlike "Seinfeld", it has been consistently funny since it premiered in 1993, not hilarious (like "The Contest"), not lousy (like "The Finale"), but just plain funny week in and week out, period. "Seinfeld" is a great show, to be sure, but its quality varied wildly from week to week all nine seasons. Though inferior to "Seinfeld" overall, "Frasier" is as good today as it has ever been and will likely remain so for several years, quite a feat for a medium whose sitcoms either start off strong and wilt with age ("Roseanne") or gasp for air for a year or two until they hit their stride ("M*A*S*H").

If any indictments for Emmy-crimes should be handed out, it should be to those voters who never presented a statuette in nine years to Jason Alexander. It is frankly criminal to have overlooked the superb performance of a character who in time may become as much of a television icon as Lucy Ricardo or Mr. Spock.

R

Richard Prolsdorfer wrote:

That's because Frasier takes the cautious, safe, uncreative road. Same characters, same formula, same jokes, same plot lines week after week. There are a lot of experienced people behind the Frasier show who have brought a wealth of old humour and tired gags to the show.

But compare that to Seinfeld where the creative juices flowed. Each week we were never sure what we would be served up. They experimented (sure some failed, but a failed Seinfeld was infinetly better than most other shows), ... they pushed the envelope... in The Contest, The Rye, The Outing,... They got into racial and cultural areas that most shows would not touch and tried to reflect society's unthinking knee-jerk PC reactions to innocent acts. They delved into relationships with the situations that have touched us all. They experimented with the formats of real-time (The Restaurant) backwards time (The Betrayal), beautiful dream and flash back sequences (The Switch). Their use of language and dialogue was brilliant. How many phrases do people use from Frasier? I'm listening? ......Everyone recognizes expressions from Seinfeld, ...

His talent was fantastic! But Jason did not create a loveable or sympathetic character in George. George was selfish, cowardly etc...not a character people want to remember. But Jason did it great!

The News Guy(Mike) wrote:

While I think that Seinfeld is the better show, I don't think you can judge the quality of a show by how many catchphrases it brings to popular culture. I mean, the Brady Bunch gave us "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!", but what does that prove?

Jaclyn

Jaclyn Mussehl wrote:

Well, I have never heard Marcia, Marcia, Marcia - it sounds like a take off on the people that imitated Cary Grant with Judy, Judy, Judy.

... Anyway the catch phrases in Seinfeld were clever and had meaning - My point was the show touched many people from many walks of life and many countries. It has had an impact because it was so well written and it effected many people who found meaning in: 'regifter', 'close talker', 'puffy shirt', 'No soup (or anything) for you', etc. etc. etc...

You got it, Mike.  The real proof will come many years from now, when
words like "spongeworthy" and "regifter" make into the "new entries"
section of mainstream dictionaries, while people will be hard pressed to
even remember the characters names on Frasier.
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Jaclyn wrote: While I think that Seinfeld is the better show, I don't think you can judge the quality of a show by how many catchphrases it brings to popular culture. I mean, the Brady Bunch gave us "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!", but what does that prove?

Jaclyn

You must have missed the REST of Mike's remarks, catch phrases just being one aspect. If you take chances, you can be uneven. But I'd rather see great creativity with some flaws than constant success that doesnt take a chance. I did like Frasier, but I cant watch it now that Seinfeld is gone. Suddenly, with the absence of what I consider GREAT stuff, I find myself bored with Frasier, even tho I like the characters. Seinfeld was just in another ballpark. the people are right who are saying that Frasier is in the SAME old sit com tradition, even if it is probably among the best of those. Seinfeld cut new paths.

As Mike said: "But compare that to Seinfeld where the creative juices flowed. Each week we were never sure what we would be served up. They experimented (sure some failed, but a failed Seinfeld was infinetly better than most other shows), ... they pushed the envelope... in The Contest, The Rye, The Outing,... They got into racial and cultural areas that most shows would not touch and tried to reflect society's unthinking knee-jerk PC reactions to innocent acts. They delved into relationships with the situations that have touched us all. They experimented with the formats of real-time (The Restaurant) backwards time (The Betrayal), beautiful dream and flash back sequences (The Switch). Their use of language and dialogue was brilliant. How many phrases do people use from Frasier? I'm listening? ......Everyone recognizes expressions from Seinfeld, ..."

YES!!!

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I agree too. Frasier is deep down a very basic and un-original sitcom about a few seemingly sophisticated characters in comedic situations that the networks have been recycling for decades. On the other hand Seinfeld was a very sophisticated comedy about a "bunch of idiot friends" that had a very complex structure , a great mix of "on location" and live studio settings, incredible dialogue and acting. The supporting cast has never been as fully exploited as it was on Seinfeld where even total unknowns could steal the show. If I sit down to watch Frasier I know exactly what I'm going to see, on Seinfeld I never knew what to expect . At worst a weird episode that will eventually grow on me and at best another classic to watch over and over again.

All that said I enjoy The Drew Carey show despite it being a rather shameless rip-off because it is'nt afraid of fooling around with the sitcom format . Last Wednesday's rerun of TDC show with Daffy duck trying to get a job at Drew's store was great.

Mo

P.S. Last week I saw "The Mango" for the first time and  in these days of
      comedic fasting i'ts great to have something to look foward to.
      Next week  they'll rerun "The Pledge Drive"  so that makes two
      in less than a week of new Seinfeld goodies for me.

Exactly. With Seinfeld, you didn't know what you would get from week to week. Frasier's strongsuit--"consistency"--has an ugly sister called boredom. alt showbiz gossip

Agreed. Ocassionaly Frasier has it's moments of surprises and great fun like when Niles slept with Lilith and Frasier finding out but more than often, the show is predictable and never goes anywhere. More amusing than laugh-out-loud funny like Seinfeld at it's best.