Someone is Wrong on the Internet
By Please note the date, because it’s not often you’ll see me telling me someone that he is is “wrong” about art (if, for all intents and purposes, we’re including sitcoms under the umbrella of “art”).
In my thread about conservative reaction to pop culture, I note that “Frasier” succeeded as a spin-off because
I think the genius of that show lay in making Niles Frasier x 2 rather than his kooky opposite.
To which a commenter responded
No the genius was in making the retired cop father smarter than both his sons put together.
No. Wrong. Super-duper extra triple double-dog WRONG. The reason “Frasier” succeeded is because it spit in the face of convention. Convention would have had Frasier ping-ponging off of his sloppy hippy-dippy or ultra-conservative sibling. That he was always butting heads with an exaggerated doppleganger instead was the show’s strength. The competition between Frasier and Niles was the show’s lifeblood; it was where half the show’s plotlines came from.