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Frasier is soooo 90's

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Frasier is soooo 90's

Postby JT » Mon May 14, 2007 12:54 pm

Is Frasier fading into the past as have "Leave it to Beaver", "I Love Lucy" etc. have? Is it appearing more and more dated? "Cheers" is an 80's thing and it seems already anachronistic to a degree. Or is it, as Kelsey Grammer said, timeless by design.
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Postby Wezzo » Mon May 14, 2007 1:11 pm

Timeless!
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Postby me123 » Mon May 14, 2007 1:11 pm

I think the forst two seasons are, mainly because of the hairstyles, but the actual show is still fresh and fun to watch. Even I, who was 2 when Season 1 aired, understand all the jokes and still find them funny.

I think it's timeless, but I'm sure a lot of it will seem dated on 20 years time. Will it still be as funny then? We won't know until then, but I hope it will be. I'm sure it will be.
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Postby Bee Gees Fan » Mon May 14, 2007 1:14 pm

I don't think the show seems dated right now. But maybe me123 is right, and it will seem that way in another couple of decades.

It didn't really reflect 90s culture much, though. If I saw the first few episodes now, without knowing when the show began, I don't know if I'd guess that they were made that long ago.
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Postby CatNamedRudy » Mon May 14, 2007 1:39 pm

Timeless.

There are very few time referenced jokes in the show.

There are some of course. I was watching an S10 episode last night (I think it was Analyzed Kiss). It's the one where Niles and Daphne are trying filling out the application for pre-school and they are trying to come up with a name.

One of the names they come up with is Bob which they have picked out of the phone book. Niles writes down "Bob Crane" and then immediately erases it after realizes what name he just wrote down. My first thought was "How many people actually get that joke now?" I'm thinking that people that aren't much younger than me would not have any clue who Bob Crane is. I thought it was funny but a lot of people wouldn't get it!

Certain guest stars like Dr. Phil and Bill Gates might be time capsul type guys but for the most part, I think it's timeless. I feel the same way about Cheers though. Aside from some of the decor and some of the obvious technological differences, Cheers in the 80's is just like any corner bar (or pub as it were) of the 00's!
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Postby me123 » Mon May 14, 2007 1:42 pm

The only time it feels dated, I think, is the old haircuts and when they introduced technology. Daphne's S6 brick of a laptop in one episode was pretty old looking.
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Postby CatNamedRudy » Mon May 14, 2007 1:50 pm

me123 wrote:The only time it feels dated, I think, is the old haircuts and when they introduced technology. Daphne's S6 brick of a laptop in one episode was pretty old looking.


Roz and Daphne's hair in particular. And of course Frasier's! I'm not so sure Kelsey's hair was dated so much as it was just "him" at the time. He was a bit wilder in those early days (Kelsey, not Frasier). He was just coming out of his cocaine days and still drinking a lot!

Then he crashed his sports car and almost died in the process and decided it was time to grow up!

As far as technology goes though, it's always fun to look at the "evolution" of technology in a long running TV show. Look at the cell phones the boys have in the first couple of seasons. They are those big heavy motorola flip phones! By the end, they have nice little slim line phones!

I thought it was interesting though that there are flat panel monitors in the booth at KACL. Fairly early on in fact! But in Analyzed Kiss, the computer in Avery's office is still a big fat monitor.
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Postby Moon-Crane » Mon May 14, 2007 2:00 pm

And the televisions in the houses too. That one that Frasier buys in the Gift Horse :lol: I'm surprised there was no uprade to LCD/Plasma at all. Plenty of shows still seem to use CRT though, to convey an image.
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Postby CatNamedRudy » Mon May 14, 2007 2:10 pm

Moon-Crane wrote:And the televisions in the houses too. That one that Frasier buys in the Gift Horse :lol: I'm surprised there was no uprade to LCD/Plasma at all. Plenty of shows still seem to use CRT though, to convey an image.


Martin probably had an LCD in his room!

Although even in 2004, Plasma's and LCD's were incredibly expensive. They just started to come down in price within about the last 2 years.
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Postby Moon-Crane » Mon May 14, 2007 2:18 pm

Oh certainly they were. but when you think of some of the amounts he shelled out on various items, Ten or twenty thousand dollars for a tv wouldn't have been much to him. Frasier wasn't one lacking extravagance in the spending stakes :lol:
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Postby me123 » Mon May 14, 2007 2:26 pm

Moon-Crane wrote:Oh certainly they were. but when you think of some of the amounts he shelled out on various items, Ten or twenty thousand dollars for a tv wouldn't have been much to him. Frasier wasn't one lacking extravagance in the spending stakes :lol:


Yeah, but he didn't spend much time with television I would imagine.
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Postby CatNamedRudy » Mon May 14, 2007 2:56 pm

me123 wrote:
Moon-Crane wrote:Oh certainly they were. but when you think of some of the amounts he shelled out on various items, Ten or twenty thousand dollars for a tv wouldn't have been much to him. Frasier wasn't one lacking extravagance in the spending stakes :lol:


Yeah, but he didn't spend much time with television I would imagine.


That was what I was thinking. He would spend that much on furniture or maybe even on a nice stereo system but TV wasn't all that important to him. It was Martin who watched the most television. Frasier was more about wine and music and furniture!
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Postby Moon-Crane » Mon May 14, 2007 3:19 pm

CatNamedRudy wrote:
me123 wrote:
Moon-Crane wrote:Oh certainly they were. but when you think of some of the amounts he shelled out on various items, Ten or twenty thousand dollars for a tv wouldn't have been much to him. Frasier wasn't one lacking extravagance in the spending stakes :lol:


Yeah, but he didn't spend much time with television I would imagine.


That was what I was thinking. He would spend that much on furniture or maybe even on a nice stereo system but TV wasn't all that important to him. It was Martin who watched the most television. Frasier was more about wine and music and furniture!


But still it's all about perception to his visitors. And it would have taken a less conspicuous position in the design of his room. Anyway, he was a closet popular drama fan ;)
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Re: Frasier is soooo 90's

Postby Rodge » Mon May 14, 2007 7:03 pm

JT wrote:Is Frasier fading into the past as have "Leave it to Beaver", "I Love Lucy" etc. have? Is it appearing more and more dated? "Cheers" is an 80's thing and it seems already anachronistic to a degree. Or is it, as Kelsey Grammer said, timeless by design.


Nah it's eclectic :lol: , and hence suits all decades, both past & present!!
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Postby CatNamedRudy » Mon May 14, 2007 8:11 pm

Moon-Crane wrote:
CatNamedRudy wrote:
me123 wrote:
Moon-Crane wrote:Oh certainly they were. but when you think of some of the amounts he shelled out on various items, Ten or twenty thousand dollars for a tv wouldn't have been much to him. Frasier wasn't one lacking extravagance in the spending stakes :lol:


Yeah, but he didn't spend much time with television I would imagine.


That was what I was thinking. He would spend that much on furniture or maybe even on a nice stereo system but TV wasn't all that important to him. It was Martin who watched the most television. Frasier was more about wine and music and furniture!


But still it's all about perception to his visitors. And it would have taken a less conspicuous position in the design of his room. Anyway, he was a closet popular drama fan ;)


The "mini series!"

As for the TV in The Gift Horse, when that episode aired, those humungoid TV's were all the rage and worth a 3-4 thousand dollars. That's what Martin wanted and that's what Martin got! Although it disappeared in the next episode! Maybe IT ended up in Martin's room!
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Postby me123 » Mon May 14, 2007 8:16 pm

CatNamedRudy wrote:
Moon-Crane wrote:
CatNamedRudy wrote:
me123 wrote:
Moon-Crane wrote:Oh certainly they were. but when you think of some of the amounts he shelled out on various items, Ten or twenty thousand dollars for a tv wouldn't have been much to him. Frasier wasn't one lacking extravagance in the spending stakes :lol:


Yeah, but he didn't spend much time with television I would imagine.


That was what I was thinking. He would spend that much on furniture or maybe even on a nice stereo system but TV wasn't all that important to him. It was Martin who watched the most television. Frasier was more about wine and music and furniture!


But still it's all about perception to his visitors. And it would have taken a less conspicuous position in the design of his room. Anyway, he was a closet popular drama fan ;)


The "mini series!"

As for the TV in The Gift Horse, when that episode aired, those humungoid TV's were all the rage and worth a 3-4 thousand dollars. That's what Martin wanted and that's what Martin got! Although it disappeared in the next episode! Maybe IT ended up in Martin's room!


Didn't he get rid of it in the cut-scene at the end? Because Niles claimed the horse was from both of them, and insisted Frasier remove it before Marty saw it:

"I do visit from time to time!"
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Postby CatNamedRudy » Mon May 14, 2007 8:19 pm

Yeah, I think he did.

I just get so caught up in the scene where he and Daphne are staring at it that I forget where it ends up!
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Postby me123 » Mon May 14, 2007 8:21 pm

CatNamedRudy wrote:Yeah, I think he did.

I just get so caught up in the scene where he and Daphne are staring at it that I forget where it ends up!


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Postby Leanne » Tue May 15, 2007 2:10 am

me123 wrote:Didn't he get rid of it in the cut-scene at the end? Because Niles claimed the horse was from both of them, and insisted Frasier remove it before Marty saw it:

"I do visit from time to time!"


Yeah, they had to smuggle Martin in, blindfolded, where they had a little party for his birthday whilst they moved out the TV. I always wondered how they got round Sherry spilling the beans to Martin about the TV!

At the beginning of The Ski Lodge, Frasier exchanges a widescreen TV for Roz's ski lodge tickets she won in the raffle, I'd always assumed it was the same one - instead of returning it he put it into storage, maybe.
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Postby Dorset Girl » Tue May 15, 2007 12:41 pm

I think MASH is an example of a sitcom that is now 'getting on a bit' but I can still watch it and appreciate the humour. However, I suppose that is slightly different from Frasier.

Frasier was set in the current time, MASH was set in the 1950s, so the MASH writers must have had to consider how jokes / cultural relevance would have tied in with that, whilst still being relevant in the 1980s. Therefore, when they referred to actors, political figures, etc., they were usually the 'biggies' like Marylin Monroe.

Some of the references in Frasier are a bit more obscure, so perhaps they won't stand up as well?
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Postby me123 » Tue May 15, 2007 1:21 pm

ryme-intrinseca wrote:Some of the references in Frasier are a bit more obscure, so perhaps they won't stand up as well?


Maybe, but I think most references to our time will be appreciated by future audiences. Undoubtledly, a few will be lost in the years to come, but I think most of it will remain.
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Postby Zedul » Tue May 29, 2007 3:04 am

CatNamedRudy wrote:Timeless.

There are very few time referenced jokes in the show.

There are some of course. I was watching an S10 episode last night (I think it was Analyzed Kiss). It's the one where Niles and Daphne are trying filling out the application for pre-school and they are trying to come up with a name.

One of the names they come up with is Bob which they have picked out of the phone book. Niles writes down "Bob Crane" and then immediately erases it after realizes what name he just wrote down. My first thought was "How many people actually get that joke now?" I'm thinking that people that aren't much younger than me would not have any clue who Bob Crane is. I thought it was funny but a lot of people wouldn't get it!

Certain guest stars like Dr. Phil and Bill Gates might be time capsul type guys but for the most part, I think it's timeless. I feel the same way about Cheers though. Aside from some of the decor and some of the obvious technological differences, Cheers in the 80's is just like any corner bar (or pub as it were) of the 00's!



Interesting, I think the Bob Crane joke actually went over 75% of the audience heads when that episode first aired... I didn't get it until the 3rd time I watched it, and that was only because I had watched some biography channel special on the Hogan's Hero's star.

That's the one thing that Frasier has never backed away from, making obscure references to bits of art/culture/history. Be it wine, sculpture, theatre, cinema, tv, et. there are many jokes that I never even picked up on at the time, but they were still funny. They get even funnier when you finally figure out what the joke is referencing! Absolutely brilliant writing.

I think Dr. Phil will be an obscure figure years from now for sure, but not Bill Gates. I mean, it's the same as if Howard Hughes had ever been in an an episode of "I Love Lucy". People are gonna know who Bill Gates is many many years from now.

Kind of like we all know the name Rockefeller, or even the name "Medici" and equate it with rich italians over five hundred years later....
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Postby Seek_Help_from_an_M.D. » Tue May 29, 2007 3:51 am

Zedul wrote:
CatNamedRudy wrote:Timeless.

There are very few time referenced jokes in the show.

There are some of course. I was watching an S10 episode last night (I think it was Analyzed Kiss). It's the one where Niles and Daphne are trying filling out the application for pre-school and they are trying to come up with a name.

One of the names they come up with is Bob which they have picked out of the phone book. Niles writes down "Bob Crane" and then immediately erases it after realizes what name he just wrote down. My first thought was "How many people actually get that joke now?" I'm thinking that people that aren't much younger than me would not have any clue who Bob Crane is. I thought it was funny but a lot of people wouldn't get it!

Certain guest stars like Dr. Phil and Bill Gates might be time capsul type guys but for the most part, I think it's timeless. I feel the same way about Cheers though. Aside from some of the decor and some of the obvious technological differences, Cheers in the 80's is just like any corner bar (or pub as it were) of the 00's!



Interesting, I think the Bob Crane joke actually went over 75% of the audience heads when that episode first aired... I didn't get it until the 3rd time I watched it, and that was only because I had watched some biography channel special on the Hogan's Hero's star.

That's the one thing that Frasier has never backed away from, making obscure references to bits of art/culture/history. Be it wine, sculpture, theatre, cinema, tv, et. there are many jokes that I never even picked up on at the time, but they were still funny. They get even funnier when you finally figure out what the joke is referencing! Absolutely brilliant writing.

I think Dr. Phil will be an obscure figure years from now for sure, but not Bill Gates. I mean, it's the same as if Howard Hughes had ever been in an an episode of "I Love Lucy". People are gonna know who Bill Gates is many many years from now.

Kind of like we all know the name Rockefeller, or even the name "Medici" and equate it with rich italians over five hundred years later....


Yeah, I don't know who Bob Crane is. So I didn't really get it... at all. I thought it was a Bob joke or something... oh well. :D
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Postby CatNamedRudy » Tue May 29, 2007 4:01 am

Yeah, I don't know who Bob Crane is. So I didn't really get it... at all. I thought it was a Bob joke or something... oh well. Very Happy


Seek_Help, have you ever watched Hogan's Heroes?

Bob Crane played Hogan. He was murdered under some rather bizarre circumstances.

And I would definitely venture a guess that anyone under the age of about 35 or 36 wouldn't have any idea who Bob Crane was.
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Postby crystal_blue0610 » Sun Aug 26, 2007 4:28 am

Daphne's funky wardrobe was definitely 90s
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