Frasier, Unveiled! 05/04/01
(Note: This is my First Attempt. Be Gentle. It's Also Quite Late.)
America's favorite pasty-faced psychiatrist! And friends!
I'm about to go deep behind the lines of the television wonderland in order to bring you the shocking revelations that lie behind the popularity of one of NBC's top-running "sitcoms," heretofore known as 'Frasier'. Bear with me, folks. This will be quite the ride. And I doubt it will stop with the end of this particular article, either.
Long have I marvelled at the sheer popularity behind what seems to me to be a completely assinine, high-brow, low-comedy Cheers spinoff, as I'm sure many of you have. Now, today, while watching my beloved Conan, I saw one of NBC's usual blurbs about the show. Then all of a sudden, it all came together; the comedy, the popularity, the stupid-ass dog, it all had something to do with a thing called "the illusion of intelligence."
Quickly, I dug deeper into the unsavory underbelly of the 'net to confirm my suspicions, and sure enough, there was a veritable vault of proof, showing the power that Frasier has over the common, sheep-like TV viewing audience.
The one and only Kelsey Grammer. Pretty he ain't.
Now, I don't want this to be a total personal attack on Mr. Grammer. He's a great actor, and he's done a lot of great work (*cough* Cheers, The Simpsons *cough*). Frasier isn't included. As a matter of fact, David Hyde Pierce and all the other "Bob's Hut of Acting Teaching" rejects have more to do with the show's staggering awfulness than anything else. Oh yeah, don't forget the fucking dog. I hate that dog.
But on to the main issue. Why is this show so popular? I mean sure, the high-brow lifestyle of the Seattle elite might appeal to some people... like the High-Brow Elite of Seattle, but why does it win so many awards? And why has it been on for So Damn Long?? My intensely complex thesis and synthesis all really boils down to one thing:
Basically, it's that whole 'Illusion of Intelligence' thing I was talking about.
Poor Robert didn't know he had wandered onto the Frasier set. Here he looks dumbfoundedly at his surroundings, while trying to completely ignore Frasier wearing only his bathrobe.
I'd draw a diagram (you know... a picture??), but I don't have time for that. Let me break it down for you, though. Basically, the general Frasier-watching public aren't the jet-set, high-profile psychologist caliber that Frasier himself is. Now, this would normally be a problem if that was Frasier's only target audience (actually, I think it is, but that doesn't matter right now), but that isn't the case. Frasier in itself (I am told) is full of large, complex vocabulary, vague punchlines, inane concepts, and just plain "sophisticated" humour. The people who watch Frasier definitely don't understand or empathize with these sorts of things. Yet they watch. In effect, watching Frasier allows them to vicariously live out their fantasies of actually being intelligent. Listening to Frasier and Niles argue over which is the better California white wine gives them a sense of importance, a sense of being, a reason to exist because it makes them think that they, yes, they are high above the unwashed masses. The truth of course, is that they aren't.
Oh Joy! The show's been cancelled! Now I can go sell off my .38 that I was planning on ending my life with!
It's a sad state of affairs, really. Frasier purports to be a highly sophisticated, upper-class level of comedy (which, I reiterate, it isn't), while the public eats it up. They absorb it like a sponge. They can then go to work or to family reunions or to Uncle Joe's Family Trap Shooting Jamboree and retell last night's "Zinfandel" bit and seem like a PH.D level psychologist. The very thought of this would make me weep, if I actually gave a flying fat rass's at.
I don't know what the hell is going on here.
And so, Frasier trudges onwards, spewing bad comedy and high-ratings like a month-old boil that decided to spontaneously erupt. Who knows what kind of bullshit new wave sitcoms this might spawn? Jebus only knows...
Well, that wasn't so bad now, was it? Hey, its not like I'll win a Pulitzer... yet. It's all free, and I've got too much time on my hands! More stuff soon! Oh, and if you like interesting methods of torture:
Want to contribute? Got a burning idea for a great article? Send a binary-encoded message to me and we'll see what we can do.
The pictures from 'Fraiser' are copyright NBC, since the dawn of time. Hopefully their anti-Frasier tracking death squad won't hunt me down.