Average season rating: 8.181818… (not that I needed to run the numbers; I could have guessed it was about 8 :grin:)
Frasier and its predecessor, Cheers, together made up a large portion of my early exposure to television sitcoms, so it's only natural that I would find them nostalgic. Having watched the bulk of both shows in their entirety over the past 6 months or so, I have a much greater appreciation for the writing. Goodness knows that's doubly true for Frasier, which leans heavily on verbal wit—humor that was occasionally hard for me to grasp even at *gasp* almost 30, let alone when I was a lad of 10.
Between the two, though, I much prefer Frasier to Cheers. Despite arriving at superficially identical series ratings due to Trakt's enforced ten-point scale, the underlying numbers reveal the truth. I average episode ratings to get season ratings, then average season ratings to get series ratings—and my season average for Cheers came out about 0.55 points lower (7.63… to Frasier's 8.18…). While both shows are certainly funny, I'm clearly drawn to the more intellectual humor of Frasier. I'd expect nothing else.
Since Frasier also has much less of the tedious "will they or won't they?" type of running plot upon which Cheers loved to rely, that's once again exactly as expected. There were "clunkers" in both shows, yes, but Frasier seemed to have fewer of them.
Overall, this is really just a completely different show, even though it stole a beloved character from a Past Master of Situation Comedy and moved him across the entire North American continent. The "theft" was justified. I hope the recent resurgence of rumors and entertainment news coverage concerning a sequel or reboot develops into a real show. Time will tell.
Review by dgwVIP 10BlockedParent2021-02-03T08:26:45Z
Average season rating: 8.181818… (not that I needed to run the numbers; I could have guessed it was about 8 :grin:)
Frasier and its predecessor, Cheers, together made up a large portion of my early exposure to television sitcoms, so it's only natural that I would find them nostalgic. Having watched the bulk of both shows in their entirety over the past 6 months or so, I have a much greater appreciation for the writing. Goodness knows that's doubly true for Frasier, which leans heavily on verbal wit—humor that was occasionally hard for me to grasp even at *gasp* almost 30, let alone when I was a lad of 10.
Between the two, though, I much prefer Frasier to Cheers. Despite arriving at superficially identical series ratings due to Trakt's enforced ten-point scale, the underlying numbers reveal the truth. I average episode ratings to get season ratings, then average season ratings to get series ratings—and my season average for Cheers came out about 0.55 points lower (7.63… to Frasier's 8.18…). While both shows are certainly funny, I'm clearly drawn to the more intellectual humor of Frasier. I'd expect nothing else.
Since Frasier also has much less of the tedious "will they or won't they?" type of running plot upon which Cheers loved to rely, that's once again exactly as expected. There were "clunkers" in both shows, yes, but Frasier seemed to have fewer of them.
Overall, this is really just a completely different show, even though it stole a beloved character from a Past Master of Situation Comedy and moved him across the entire North American continent. The "theft" was justified. I hope the recent resurgence of rumors and entertainment news coverage concerning a sequel or reboot develops into a real show. Time will tell.