Guys, "House of Cards" isn't the best show of the year. I mean, it's a good show, I like it, I've certainly written about it enough. But it doesn't match the caliber of the classic shows of an era before... of other shows that are on Netflix. Fellows, I'm talking about "Frasier," the show that singlehandedly created mass high culture, the show that was won more Emmy Awards than any other comedy show ever ever, the show that has an even better actor than Kevin Spacey (David Hyde Pierce). "Frasier" is the best, man.
Shall I compare thee to a summer's "Frasier"? Okay, "Frasier" and "House of Cards" don't have too much in common, except for both being good and both being on Netflix and both being available right now, but hey, I had to compare "Frasier" to something and there are zero good comedies on television right now.
Here's the thing with "Frasier." It's a different kind of comedy than we get now, and it's a different comedy than the two really famous shows of its era - the timeless "Seinfeld" and the middling "Friends." It's a show about high culture that doesn't necessarily make fun of high culture... at least not as a rule. It's a show about sophistication that embraces being sophisticated, in a very traditional sense of the word.
And that makes "Frasier" stand out from all the other shows of the current era. There are tons of shows about rich, successful people, of course. Most emphasize either how those people are terrible or how they are just like us. "Frasier" emphasizes how the wealth and cultured are different from us in a positive way. Sophistication is a reward in itself. And it does so in a sincere way - the show's writers knew a bit about sophistication, in design and art and, perhaps especially, in wine. I have become addicted to the show's wine jokes in particular (when it's appropriate to drink Beaujolais Nouveau, for instance).
But that's not all there is to "Frasier." Like "Seinfeld," the show's humor comes from two sources: sophisticated high-brow comedy (in "Frasier," high-brow comedy about sophistication; in "Seinfeld," high-brow comedy about nothing) and pure slapstick physical comedy. And that's where "Frasier" balances its high-brow pretensions with its role as a network sitcom. The sheer fussiness of Frasier and Niles Crane and their physical mannerisms are an endless source of humor.
The show has its problems: even though it's tongue-in-cheek about it, the characters slut-shame Roz constantly, and it's quite uncomfortable and the show's biggest flaw. And sometimes its plots really verge on the ridiculous, like late-season "Seinfeld," but more consistently. And sometimes it verges too far into the lowbrow or the unbelievable. But overall, "Frasier," which you can stream on Netflix, is a very solid sitcom - much better and more clever than I would ever have expected. It holds up very well today and is a welcome breath of fresh air from everything else on television. It's unique (and nothing like "Cheers"). Give it a try.
