"Frasier" farewell thread?

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It's on right now. Anyone care?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 14 May 2004 00:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Is that Richard E. Grant playing one of Daphne's brothers??

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 14 May 2004 00:30 (twenty-two years ago)

I've missed too many episodes to follow the plot.

― m.e.a. (m.e.a.), Friday, 14 May 2004 01:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Bahaha...nice John Mayer allusion

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 14 May 2004 01:05 (twenty-two years ago)

what's happening? is frasier dying? was it all a drunken dream when frasier passed out in the back of cheers? is it set 45 years in the future?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 14 May 2004 01:06 (twenty-two years ago)

I was pretty flat. Niles and Daphne had a baby (always the death-knell of a series), Roz got promoted, Marty hooked up with some gal who used to be on "Just Shoot Me" and Frasier takes a television gig in San Francisco. Oh, and Jennifer Beals made a cameo....and that guy from "American Pie". Overall, largely forgettable.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 14 May 2004 01:08 (twenty-two years ago)

I only caught the last 20 or so minutes, which was pretty skimpy on the ha-ha and heavy on the fond farewells -- Frasier goes to S.F. apparently. But what was the deal with him and the woman on the plane to Chicago?

― m.e.a. (m.e.a.), Friday, 14 May 2004 01:09 (twenty-two years ago)

ROZ GOT PROMOTED?!????!!!!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 14 May 2004 01:09 (twenty-two years ago)

He finally figures out what to do with those tossed salads and scrambled eggs.

― Tep (ktepi), Friday, 14 May 2004 01:09 (twenty-two years ago)

i'd only bother if ted danson showed up

― de, Friday, 14 May 2004 01:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Why was his plane landing in Chicago if he got a job in S.F.?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 14 May 2004 01:10 (twenty-two years ago)

you're seriously telling me roz got promoted?!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 14 May 2004 01:11 (twenty-two years ago)

yep

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 14 May 2004 01:15 (twenty-two years ago)

That blond woman went to Chicago, and he was going after her.

― JuliaA (j_bdules), Friday, 14 May 2004 01:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Laura Linney! Drat! Missed her!

― m.e.a. (m.e.a.), Friday, 14 May 2004 01:17 (twenty-two years ago)

what was the last scene? did he turn out the lights à la cheers?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 14 May 2004 01:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Alex are you watching Frasier in a leather jacket? If so, pixx pls ok thx bye.

― deanomgwtf!!!p%3Fmsgid%3D4581997 (deangulberry), Friday, 14 May 2004 01:20 (twenty-two years ago)

so what is an appropriate thing to do on a frasier farewell thread? tell stories, cry, hug?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 14 May 2004 01:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Alex are you watching Frasier in a leather jacket? If so, pixx pls ok thx bye.

Ahh....someone's got a bone to pick I see.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 14 May 2004 01:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Please Frasier DIE

― 57 7th (calstars), Friday, 14 May 2004 01:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Just curious! I'm surprised that you would watch Frasier is all. My parents won't even watch Frasier.

― deanomgwtf!!!p%3Fmsgid%3D4581997 (deangulberry), Friday, 14 May 2004 02:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, I don't swear by it, but y'know....there are worse shows. Or were, I should say. It was certainly better written than fuckin' "Friends," although that's hardly saying anything. I didn't watch it as a going concern, but one could certainly do worse. I'm stuck here at work and was hearing so much claptrap about it on MSNBC and CNN that I figured I'd check out the final episode.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 14 May 2004 02:14 (twenty-two years ago)

What is peoples problems with Frasier? Compared to almost every other US sitcom, it is Shakesperean in its wit. I mean god...

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 14 May 2004 02:17 (twenty-two years ago)

IMO, the show has the stigma of being the sitcom that's watched by people who think they're too good for sitcoms. A lot of it obviously comes from the show's tone and references, which are not always aimed at the typical sitcom viewer, I'd say, despite what the ratings might indicate.

― deanomgwtf!!!p%3Fmsgid%3D4581997 (deangulberry), Friday, 14 May 2004 02:37 (twenty-two years ago)

All well and good, and understandable, but it doesnt render the show itself bad.

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 14 May 2004 02:40 (twenty-two years ago)

(and I know it is a terrible thing to say but I have to admit my immediate reaction was actually "hah the people dissing it probably dont GET it" which is snobbery of the worst order, I know)

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 14 May 2004 02:41 (twenty-two years ago)

I suppose. But I think where a lot of people have a problem with the show is how self-conscious it is and how it isn't nearly as escapist as "Friends," for instance.

(xpost)

― deanomgwtf!!!p%3Fmsgid%3D4581997 (deangulberry), Friday, 14 May 2004 02:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Dean, don't you think that the typical sitcom is shit, though?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 14 May 2004 02:42 (twenty-two years ago)

(and I know it is a terrible thing to say but I have to admit my immediate reaction was actually "hah the people dissing it probably dont GET it" which is snobbery of the worst order, I know)

... which is often very true. It also becomes problematic because you only have 23 minutes or so to get across your story. So, if you're running at the usual three jokes a minute or so and they're causing the viewer to actually have to think about what they're watching, then it's not necessarily doing what a sitcom is supposed to do and that's put the most amount of people in an entertaining trance so they'll watch the commercials.

But still, it does get excellent ratings, so it is not necessarily a bad thing that the typical Everyman can't always enjoy it.

― deanomgwtf!!!p%3Fmsgid%3D4581997 (deangulberry), Friday, 14 May 2004 02:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Alex: Yeah, sitcoms are for the most part, shit. So, I can appreciate the fact that Frasier exists, but I think that it's mostly an aberration in the US.

― deanomgwtf!!!p%3Fmsgid%3D4581997 (deangulberry), Friday, 14 May 2004 02:46 (twenty-two years ago)

For what it's worth, I never really found "Seinfeld" especially funny.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 14 May 2004 02:48 (twenty-two years ago)

frasier was good and 'better than the average sitcom' (which we'll define loosely as 'a sitcom on abc' for now), but not nearly as much better as it thought it was and kelsey grammar's churlishness over nbc's calling friends 'the best sitcom ever' is assfaced - it ain't like frasier was any closer to the title than friends. it weren't no cheers and it sure as hell weren't no seinfeld, which it beat at the emmys year after year after year. plot gimmix got obv., guest star mania at least as bad (worse really) than friends.

― cinniblount (James Blount), Friday, 14 May 2004 02:51 (twenty-two years ago)

I didn't really either but it at least expanded the medium subversively without being as elusive as "Frasier." While "Seinfeld" made the way for things like "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "The Office" and "Arrested Development," I would be really surprised to see the legacy of "Fraiser" produce anything significant.

― deanomgwtf!!!p%3Fmsgid%3D4581997 (deangulberry), Friday, 14 May 2004 02:52 (twenty-two years ago)

plus somehow frasier crane became a LESS interesting character once he became the center of a show, most of the time it was just jack benny retreads.

― cinniblount (James Blount), Friday, 14 May 2004 02:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Do you really believe that "Seinfeld" paved the way for "The Office"?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 14 May 2004 02:54 (twenty-two years ago)

was seinfeld the first live action (key!) sitcom since sgt. bilko to acknowledge and revel in the fact (FACT! tm ainyc) that most people are petty, selfish, worthless fuxx?

― cinniblount (James Blount), Friday, 14 May 2004 02:54 (twenty-two years ago)

alex: definitely. yes.

― cinniblount (James Blount), Friday, 14 May 2004 02:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Alex: Yes, totally. Ricky Gervais goes out of his way to discuss how the show's influences were heavily American.

― deanomgwtf!!!p%3Fmsgid%3D4581997 (deangulberry), Friday, 14 May 2004 02:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh I love Frasier but I loathe Seinfeld. Maybe there's something *I* dont get, but I find it annoying and unfunny. Sixty bajillion repeats may also not help this, though I'll happily watch sixty bajilllion simpsons repeats.

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 14 May 2004 02:57 (twenty-two years ago)

O: What do you think of U.S. sitcoms that have 22 to 26 episodes a season?

RG: Oh, God, I can't imagine it. There are some that manage. The Simpsons. The Larry Sanders Show. Seinfeld. Even Friends. It wasn't exactly my cup of tea, but it had a certain quality all the way through, and a certain standard. All my influences are American, so I can't knock it. Of course, we probably get the best of it. I'm sure there's an awful lot of pap. I know there's an awful lot of English rubbish that's successful. I think it's okay to get 20 million viewers, but I don't think it's right to aim for it. You end up not wanting to offend anyone, and it's never that funny. I'd rather the stuff I do be half a dozen people's favorite thing, as opposed to 10 million people's ninth-favorite thing. [Laughs.] I can't think of anything worse.

O: Most of your comedy influences are American?

RG: Yeah, Laurel and Hardy... Spinal Tap is a direct influence on The Office, obviously. Larry Sanders. Curb Your Enthusiasm is my new favorite show. Not an influence, because I saw it afterwards, but we occupy a similar space in a strange sort of way, picking on the embarrassment and the minutiae of behavior and eking it out to an absolutely excruciating conclusion. That's sort of what we did in The Office. I think Curb Your Enthusiasm goes further. It's different in other ways, as well, because it's sort of media-based and ours is much less glamorous. Also, I understand that it comes predominately out of improv, whereas ours is completely scripted.

― deanomgwtf!!!p%3Fmsgid%3D4581997 (deangulberry), Friday, 14 May 2004 02:58 (twenty-two years ago)

I suppose. "The Office" just seems more rooted in a distinctively British sensibility. I never felt empathy for the characters in "Seinfeld"...they were all pretty loathsome at the end of the day, but the characters on "The Office" are just so tragic and helpless that you can't help but cringe on their behalf.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 14 May 2004 02:58 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.theonionavclub.com/feature/index.php?issue=4016&f=1

― deanomgwtf!!!p%3Fmsgid%3D4581997 (deangulberry), Friday, 14 May 2004 02:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Hmmm. I wouldn't have thought it, but there ya go.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 14 May 2004 02:59 (twenty-two years ago)

oh dear god alex don't tell me you feel you have to empathise with the characters to enjoy the show do you?

― cinniblount (James Blount), Friday, 14 May 2004 03:00 (twenty-two years ago)

ALEX, YOU ESCAPIST DEVIL

― deanomgwtf!!!p%3Fmsgid%3D4581997 (deangulberry), Friday, 14 May 2004 03:01 (twenty-two years ago)

No, not at all, but that's where I feel that the two shows part company. I never felt any affinity for any of "Seinfeld"'s characters, regardless of the situations they found themselves in. I never cared about them enough. They deserved whatever befell them largely because of their self-absorbed behavior. The characters on "the Office", however loathesome in their own way, are so much more pathetic and lead such drabber lives than the Seinfelders that I sympathize with them more, even if they are ulimately just as self-absorbed.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 14 May 2004 03:05 (twenty-two years ago)

i mean i can hate a show cuz of it's unempathetic protagonist, but only when we're clearly supposed to empathise with the asshole (cf. the mind of the married man). although even then i can let it slide sometimes (cf. sex and the city).

― cinniblount (James Blount), Friday, 14 May 2004 03:05 (twenty-two years ago)

then again the only character i empathised with (this is a fancy way of saying 'liked' right?) on frasier was the dad, so maybe i'm the same way.

― cinniblount (James Blount), Friday, 14 May 2004 03:06 (twenty-two years ago)

It also helps that Ricky Gervais comes off as 1,000X more three dimensional than Larry David ever could, even if RG is playing a character and LD often isn't.

― deanomgwtf!!!p%3Fmsgid%3D4581997 (deangulberry), Friday, 14 May 2004 03:07 (twenty-two years ago)

I think it's that same quality that prevented me from enjoying "Ab Fab" (which my wife adores) as much as seemingly the rest of the world. I just found Eddie and Patsy (more the former than the latter) so pathetic and annoying that I didn't give a damn about them.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 14 May 2004 03:07 (twenty-two years ago)

I sympathized with the Rauschenberg painting that they had hanging up. Poor guy had to just sit there amidst all these jerks.

(xposts)

― deanomgwtf!!!p%3Fmsgid%3D4581997 (deangulberry), Friday, 14 May 2004 03:08 (twenty-two years ago)

"Empathize" means more than "Like", though. By saying I empathize with the character implies that I can connect and identify with him/her and the situations he/she is experiencing. It's the familiarity of the person, their sensibility and their handling of their situation, not just their charm, etc.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 14 May 2004 03:09 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah i loved abfab

haha - alex i think maybe you got a bigger, softer heart than me

― cinniblount (James Blount), Friday, 14 May 2004 03:10 (twenty-two years ago)

TEH BIG SOFTEY INN NYC

― deanomgwtf!!!p%3Fmsgid%3D4581997 (deangulberry), Friday, 14 May 2004 03:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Also, I understand that it comes predominately out of improv, whereas ours is completely scripted.

!!!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 14 May 2004 04:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Seinfeld was awful, just not funny in any way. It wanted to be too smart/smarmy/wacky/cynical for its own good, and forgot to bring laughs.

Compared to Seinfeld, Frasier was brilliant (for the first few seasons I saw), but it was never exactly a work of art.

Sitcoms should stop after five years, tops.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Friday, 14 May 2004 05:56 (twenty-two years ago)

I am increasingly liking yr taste Alex - you like and dislike the same shows I do, heh.

I dont empathise with Frasier at all - god, I wouldnt want to be like Frasier or Niles - but I find it clever, whereas Seinfeld annoys. I dont know why, its puzzling.

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 14 May 2004 06:41 (twenty-two years ago)

I always felt for Niles, though, probably because he was often trying so hard to mask his feelings and never succeeded.

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:53 (twenty-two years ago)

eight years pass...

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/366364/Screenshots/437y.png

― Author ~ Coach ~ Goddess (s1ocki), Tuesday, 20 November 2012 17:19 (thirteen years ago)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/366364/Screenshots/qprg.png

― Author ~ Coach ~ Goddess (s1ocki), Tuesday, 20 November 2012 20:19 (thirteen years ago)

I have to confess that I too did not realise Frasier was a spin-off until recent years, having never watched Cheers when it first came out on account of being very young and hence not giving a shit.

― aonghus, Wednesday, 21 November 2012 14:46 (thirteen years ago)

how punk

― Author ~ Coach ~ Goddess (s1ocki), Wednesday, 21 November 2012 14:49 (thirteen years ago)

how much of the cast do you think truly hated kelsey grammer?

― mh, Wednesday, 21 November 2012 15:27 (thirteen years ago)

How much of the cast do you think were truly terrified by Kelsey Grammer?

― bizarro gazzara, Wednesday, 21 November 2012 15:31 (thirteen years ago)

for sure

― mh, Wednesday, 21 November 2012 15:32 (thirteen years ago)

love Alex in NYC starting a thread about the Frasier finale so much

― some dude, Wednesday, 21 November 2012 16:35 (thirteen years ago)

honor the frayj

― Author ~ Coach ~ Goddess (s1ocki), Wednesday, 21 November 2012 16:38 (thirteen years ago)

i was a precocious child but the one instance i remember of me being obnoxiously smartarsey is when, around age 9 i guess, i suggested that my aunt didn't like frasier because she didn't get its plethora of smart references. i still like frasier! but hopefully i'm less of a jerk now.

― Shane Richie Junior (Merdeyeux), Wednesday, 21 November 2012 17:13 (thirteen years ago)

really crossing my fingers for sadyoutube spin off dedicated to Very Special Episode emotional anecdotes

― absurdly pro-D (schlump), Wednesday, 21 November 2012 17:24 (thirteen years ago)

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