During an extensive interview with the far-left Variety, Kelsey Grammer, who’s played Frasier Crane for some 20 seasons now, explained why his iconic show has always avoided political humor:
[I]n this polarized era, Grammer (who, yes, we know, has some controversial political viewpoints, which we won’t get into here) believes Frasier works because it’s not political.
Allow me to stop the tape here and point out that in the fascist Variety, you can be all in favor of mutilating children to appease your demonic trans godzzz and not be labeled “controversial,” but if you’re even a little to the right of the Castro brothers, you get a “controversial” and “we won’t get into here.”
But here’s where Grammer explains the secret sauce to Frasier Crane’s longevity and artistic immortality, especially in the super lucrative syndication market:
“We avoid political jokes, because honestly, they are so locked in a time warp,” he notes. “Contemporary culture does not fuel any comedy that lasts. It’s only funny in that moment. And usually not so funny for half the people that are listening. I think it’s good advice to steer clear of that. ‘Frasier’ has always been able to last because it’s about the things that are important: Relationships, love, brothers, fathers, wives, sisters. Some things are universally funny, and it’s usually character-situation-relationship. They’re the tent poles of all of our storytelling.”
No one watches reruns of Murphy Brown, Designing Women, Will & Grace, and the like. Why? Because they were timely, whereas Frasier is timeless.
Look at the sitcoms that that still top the streaming charts decades after they left the air: The Office, Seinfeld, and Friends. Look at this list. Why was Frasier able to return after 20 years and win enough viewers to earn a second season?
These shows are timeless. People still watch and discover The Honeymooners. Barney Miller, The Golden Girls, The Dick Van Dyke Show, WKRP in Cincinnati, The Bob Newhart Show, etc. because they never age. And some shows are both timely and timeless, like Roseanne, Sanford & Son, and, especially, All in the Family, which is so brilliantly written and acted that the topical stuff doesn’t make you groan. When Archie and Meathead go at it, they are both right, they are both wrong, and it’s not about the punchline or the lesson… It’s about the characters. All in the Family never broke the spell. The show was premised on those conflicts, so you never felt the jokes were aiming for smug applause, which is not the case with Murphy Brown, etc.
Kelsey Grammer enhances his look and style at the 75th Emmy Awards on Monday, Jan. 15, 2024 at the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live in Los Angeles. ( Colin Young-Wolff/Invision for the Television Academy/AP Images)
Something I’ve been saying for years now about this anti-art Woke Revolution is how those movies and TV shows immediately become stale. Billions and billions of dollars are being puked out on Woke Propaganda no one will ever watch again, and most people don’t watch to begin with.
There’s a reason why Stalin-era Soviet films—and hundreds of them were produced—have no value today, even among those who embrace foreign movies. Stalin-era movies say nothing universal or timeless. Like today’s woke crap, they are nothing more than deodorant ads—a long-form commercial with no staying power.
If you want pop culture immortality, you must aim for what’s universal and timeless: our shared humanity.
File/Television actor Kelsey Grammer smiles as he signs copies of his new autobiographical book titled “So Far…,” Saturday, Nov.18, 1995, at a bookstore in downtown Glendale, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
The greatest TV shows, including those “silly” sitcoms, accomplish that, which is why they still speak to us.
Woke yells at us, scolds us, lies about what makes us human, and no one other than angry, fat, rainbow-haired freaks ever return for a second helping of that.
John Nolte’s first and last novel, Borrowed Time, is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here. Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook.
