The writers of Frasier decided to make a sitcom against Seinfeld

There is so much about “Frasier” that captures the comforting aura of the '90s sitcom. The “Frasier” sets that cost a shocking amount of money to makethough designed with a distinct wood-paneled aesthetic that has since become known as “Frasurbane,” still retained the warmth of the era's familiar sitcom sets. The live studio audience and laugh track, the comedy beats, even the grain of the film, all belong to the golden age of sitcoms that any '90s kid who grew up on “Frasier,” “Friends” and “Seinfeld” would be familiar with.

But there's also something distinctly different about “Frasier.” While it had a lot in common with other legendary comedies of the era, it was also clearly trying something new. It wasn't just that Kelsey Grammer's Dr. Crane and his brother Neil (David Hyde Pierce) were the kind of elitist social climbers you didn't see in other sitcoms. Nor was it that the show's humor often dealt with more complex and arcane themes than its contemporaries. From the very first episode of Frasier, the writers subtly subverted many sitcoms that had become well-known by the time of the 1993 series. In fact, co-writer David Lee had one specific comedy in mind. an example of what not to do when making “Frasier.”

“Frasier” ran for 11 seasons from 1993 to 2004, cementing its status as one of the greatest comedies in the process — a legacy. neither the disappointment nor the remarkable “Frasier” revival the show is yet to be experienced. While many '90s kids might consider the show a comfort watch, the series was actually quite subversive in its own way and displayed a sort of anti-sitcom vibe from the get-go. its pilot episode, an episode that, by the way, Niles actor David Hyde Pierce initially thought was “terrible.”

David Lee once spoke to Television Academy Foundation for writing this pilot project, explaining some of his and his writing team's basic principles. Specifically, the show's writers set out to deconstruct and, in some cases, fight against mainstream comedy tropes of the time, with Lee explaining how the rise of “Seinfeld” gave them the perfect formula to subvert. In his own words:

“At the time when 'Seinfeld' was booming and it was the beginning of what I call 'short attention span theater,' where the scenes and the comedy got shorter and shorter until it was basically, 'Here's one from the outside. building, you would come in for two or three jokes and then you would move on to the next scene. Lots of cutscenes, short hits, and they work great, but we decided to try something different.

Lee went on to explain his and his writers' approach to making “Frasier” the anti-“short attention span theater,” like “Seinfeld.” It began with the group writing “the longest scenes possible”, with Lee claiming that the goal was eventually “a whole episode that happens in real time, or an act that's just one scene, in others the words are like a play.” But this kind of anti-sitcom approach to comedy writing extended far beyond the usual scenes.

To be clear, “Frasier” wasn't a complete reinvention of the sitcom format. Not only was it created by three comedy legends David Angell, Peter Casey and David Lee of Cheers fame, but it used the same multi-camera shooting format as every other comedy of the moment. “Frasier” used comedy directing legend James Burroughs, who also went from “Cheers” to “Frasier” and lent his talents to almost every show in the genre, including “Friends.” Couple that with a studio audience and the aforementioned general 90s aura, and you have a comedy that doesn't quite seem like a revolution in the genre.

But if you look closely, “Frasier” really tried some surprisingly unconventional things throughout its run. Take the black title cards that separate the acts. The series' trademarks are another aspect that grew out of Lee and his writers' desire to subvert sitcom standards. As Lee went on to explain in his Television Academy Foundation In an interview, the mindset was best summed up like this: “Do we need exterior shots of buildings? Is the audience smart enough to know that if we're in Frasier's apartment, he's probably in an apartment building and we don't need to see that?” outside?” Indeed, this kind of compelling shot is so deeply embedded in the DNA of sitcoms that we barely notice it when the camera sweeps past the Friends apartment building in New York City, accompanied by a quick musical jab that signals the start of the film. a new scene, or even when the opening shot of Jerry's own building in “Seinfeld” is shot.

However, Lee and his team needed to eliminate this standard feature of sitcoms, which resulted in black title cards between scenes. Even then, “Frasier” took things even further by eschewing any kind of musical accompaniment. “We didn't have to have music,” Lee noted, “and to this day I think it's still the only comedy that doesn't have interlude music cues for what it's worth.” In that sense, while “Frasier” is more than capable of lulling you into the comfort of a '90s sitcom, it also maintains a deceptively subversive approach, giving us all another reason to love the show.