Let me start by saying that once I had reached my late teenage, my interest in watching TV had diminished. In fact, I would be found sitting in front of the TV only while having my meals. Otherwise, when the rest of the family was watching TV, I would be in my room in front of my computer. Over the years, I lost all interest in watching TV. I rarely found anything on TV that could pique my interest, or even remotely entertain me. In spite of being in the company of friends who were fans of shows like "Friends", I was hardly convinced to try and watch anything on TV.
Then, it was year 2009, and it had almost been a year since I moved to Chicago. Being a student, I was in the company of my laptop computer most of the time (and so were almost all my friends around). It had become a multi-purpose tool - used for studying, projects, communication and of course, entertainment. (No, it never became a cooking aid by assuming the role of a kitchen board!). Now, entertainment for me those days usually comprised of movies or YouTube music videos. I wasn't watching any TV shows as I never thought they would be entertaining. But then, one day I was so out of ideas on what to watch that I just went to YouTube and started watching an Indian sitcom, Sarabhai vs Sarabhai (SVS). It surprised me with its humor - satire, subtle wit, smart lines, and good acting. Although now I do feel that they could have made it better, I still consider it to be above anything I've ever seen on Indian television. (Incidentally, the same production house that created SVS also created Khichdi which I attempted to watch, hoping to see the same level of humor but was more than disappointed and never went back to it. But for some reason, Khichdi seems to have received more accolades, was made into a second season and even a damn movie!)
Anyway, since SVS had only one season, there were just about 60-70 episodes in total and I had very soon finished watching all of them. It had set the bar high for me and I couldn't find anything else that could even walk under the bar, leave alone jump over it. So, over the next 2 years, whenever I was bored and was in the mood for some comedy, I would just watch a random SVS episode and it would never fail me, even if it were the millionth time that I was watching it.
But, how much juice could I squeeze out of a single lemon? It was year 2011, I had moved to Dublin and was living alone (again with my computer as a source of entertainment). I had to find something new to watch, but since I didn't know what, I continued watching random SVS episodes. Then one fine day, while reading comments on the SVS episode I was watching, I saw a guy mention "Frasier". Apparently, the contrast between the high-class and middle-class, the hypocrisy of the high-class socialites and other elements depicted in SVS reminded him of similar depictions in a bygone NBC sitcom called "Frasier". This comment stayed in my head and very soon I tried an episode of Frasier and it was, for lack of a better word, brilliant! Now this was a random episode of a sitcom featuring characters I had no familiarity with and I also had no idea about any inter-character relationships. This meant I wouldn't have understood any running gags and my chances of liking the episode were bleak. Yet, I loved it and decided that I had to start watching from the pilot. And so I did, and in a couple of months, I had watched 11 seasons of the finest sitcom I have ever watched in my life. I say finest, because this was a show which prided itself on smart humor, without resorting to cheap gags.
After this, I also watched "How I Met Your Mother" (HIMYM) and "The Big Bang Theory" (TBBT). I liked TBBT, and although HIMYM had its moments in the earlier seasons I realized that the storywriters were trying to retain the audience by creating a suspense around the identity of the mother, instead of focusing on the humor. For crying out loud, it's a sitcom and not a drama. Sorry, kids, but I never wanna meet your mother! Of course, I did try "Friends" too but I don't think I managed to watch even two episodes - Pish! I then moved to "Seinfeld" and watched a few seasons. I have to admit that the stand-up parts of the show were hilarious, and are the only reason I have a soft corner for the show. But apart from that, at least for me, this show about nothing really had nothing in it.
Now, I knew that Frasier was a spin-off of "Cheers" and so I started watching Cheers hoping to find the same kind of humor. While Cheers was funny at times, it wasn't in the same class as Frasier. And to this day, I can't find another sitcom which comes even close to Frasier. I even introduced my wife to it after I got married, who (to my surprise) loved it and ended up watching all the seasons. We still watch random episodes every now and then and it makes us laugh every single time. Such is the quality of the humor - no lowbrow content and no dumbing-down of the audience. The wit, the sarcasm, the pop-culture references, the double entendres, all so brilliantly written that I simply wonder how one could even come up with those. And to make it all work was a perfect cast who nailed their respective roles.
I would recommend Frasier to everyone, and especially to those who are not easily amused!
Here's a scene from an episode of Frasier. This scene, according to me is the finest example of situation comedy. To provide a little context, the scene takes place in a radio station's studio from where a play called "Nightmare Inn" is being broadcast live, but just as it begins rolling it starts going downhill.
Then, it was year 2009, and it had almost been a year since I moved to Chicago. Being a student, I was in the company of my laptop computer most of the time (and so were almost all my friends around). It had become a multi-purpose tool - used for studying, projects, communication and of course, entertainment. (No, it never became a cooking aid by assuming the role of a kitchen board!). Now, entertainment for me those days usually comprised of movies or YouTube music videos. I wasn't watching any TV shows as I never thought they would be entertaining. But then, one day I was so out of ideas on what to watch that I just went to YouTube and started watching an Indian sitcom, Sarabhai vs Sarabhai (SVS). It surprised me with its humor - satire, subtle wit, smart lines, and good acting. Although now I do feel that they could have made it better, I still consider it to be above anything I've ever seen on Indian television. (Incidentally, the same production house that created SVS also created Khichdi which I attempted to watch, hoping to see the same level of humor but was more than disappointed and never went back to it. But for some reason, Khichdi seems to have received more accolades, was made into a second season and even a damn movie!)
Anyway, since SVS had only one season, there were just about 60-70 episodes in total and I had very soon finished watching all of them. It had set the bar high for me and I couldn't find anything else that could even walk under the bar, leave alone jump over it. So, over the next 2 years, whenever I was bored and was in the mood for some comedy, I would just watch a random SVS episode and it would never fail me, even if it were the millionth time that I was watching it.
But, how much juice could I squeeze out of a single lemon? It was year 2011, I had moved to Dublin and was living alone (again with my computer as a source of entertainment). I had to find something new to watch, but since I didn't know what, I continued watching random SVS episodes. Then one fine day, while reading comments on the SVS episode I was watching, I saw a guy mention "Frasier". Apparently, the contrast between the high-class and middle-class, the hypocrisy of the high-class socialites and other elements depicted in SVS reminded him of similar depictions in a bygone NBC sitcom called "Frasier". This comment stayed in my head and very soon I tried an episode of Frasier and it was, for lack of a better word, brilliant! Now this was a random episode of a sitcom featuring characters I had no familiarity with and I also had no idea about any inter-character relationships. This meant I wouldn't have understood any running gags and my chances of liking the episode were bleak. Yet, I loved it and decided that I had to start watching from the pilot. And so I did, and in a couple of months, I had watched 11 seasons of the finest sitcom I have ever watched in my life. I say finest, because this was a show which prided itself on smart humor, without resorting to cheap gags.
After this, I also watched "How I Met Your Mother" (HIMYM) and "The Big Bang Theory" (TBBT). I liked TBBT, and although HIMYM had its moments in the earlier seasons I realized that the storywriters were trying to retain the audience by creating a suspense around the identity of the mother, instead of focusing on the humor. For crying out loud, it's a sitcom and not a drama. Sorry, kids, but I never wanna meet your mother! Of course, I did try "Friends" too but I don't think I managed to watch even two episodes - Pish! I then moved to "Seinfeld" and watched a few seasons. I have to admit that the stand-up parts of the show were hilarious, and are the only reason I have a soft corner for the show. But apart from that, at least for me, this show about nothing really had nothing in it.
Now, I knew that Frasier was a spin-off of "Cheers" and so I started watching Cheers hoping to find the same kind of humor. While Cheers was funny at times, it wasn't in the same class as Frasier. And to this day, I can't find another sitcom which comes even close to Frasier. I even introduced my wife to it after I got married, who (to my surprise) loved it and ended up watching all the seasons. We still watch random episodes every now and then and it makes us laugh every single time. Such is the quality of the humor - no lowbrow content and no dumbing-down of the audience. The wit, the sarcasm, the pop-culture references, the double entendres, all so brilliantly written that I simply wonder how one could even come up with those. And to make it all work was a perfect cast who nailed their respective roles.
I would recommend Frasier to everyone, and especially to those who are not easily amused!
Here's a scene from an episode of Frasier. This scene, according to me is the finest example of situation comedy. To provide a little context, the scene takes place in a radio station's studio from where a play called "Nightmare Inn" is being broadcast live, but just as it begins rolling it starts going downhill.
