• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Better sitcom: Friends or Frasier?

Status
Not open for further replies.
D

demon

I don't mean to alarm you but you have dogs on your face
But I don't know what to do with these tossed salad an scrambled eeeeeeggs
 
C

cacildo

Member
Friends is a lot better. If only because the largest cast can make it more diverse in its themes.

When i was watching frasier everyday... the episodes felt kinda samey.

But its great! Martin Crane is probable the most likable sitcom character ever.
 
SJRB

SJRB

Gold Member
They're both fundamentally different so making this an "either/or" thing is pretty silly.
 
K

Krowley

Member
Friends is better because of the constant emphasis on serialized storytelling which was a rare thing in sitcoms from that era.

Any given episode of Frasier can be amazing, but try watching about 20 in a row and see how you feel about it.

Friends, on the other hand, becomes more addictive with each passing episode, at least up to a point. The last few seasons get a little annoying at times, but overall it was a great show and it might still be my favorite sitcom ever.
 
W

Wiseblade

Member
The first half of Friends is pure gold. It's consistently great up until the Vegas trip, when things really start to fall apart. After that, The show is a shell of its former self, getting by with running gags and references to a better time. Occasionally you get a glimpse of what drew you made it so enjoyable in the first place, but they only serve to make the surrounding mediocrity sting harder.

Fraiser is definitely more consistent, never coming close to the same lows. I'd argue it doesn't reach the same highs, either though. The characters are more human, but don't have the Everyman element of the Central Perk gang. Frasier don't quite have as wide an appeal either.

Random episode on TV: Frasier

Cherry-picked marathon: Friends

Full series binge: Frasier

Top 10 episode of Friends > Top 10 episodes of Frasier.
 
E

Enilced2

Member
IQ14UcJ.jpg


Frasier
 
I

ImpalingNarwhal

Member
Haven't seen enough of Friends, and Frasier is one of my favorite shows, so I'd go with it for these two choices. But honestly, I'd take Seinfeld or Wings over both.

Why does Wings seem to get left behind so much?
 
A

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
It got weird when the storylines started to center around Niles rather than Frasier.
 
R

Randdalf

Member
Frasier is by far and away the better show in my opinion, they're both funny, but Frasier takes farcical comedy to another level.
 
K

Kunan

Member
Man Frasier is so damned good. I find that the over arcing plots of friends make it a lot easier to marathon though.
 
T

terrene

Banned
They're both vaguely insufferable, but Frasier, just on the grounds of being a much smarter and more literate show. Friends was for people too dumb to appreciate why Seinfeld was better.
 
J

jb1234

Member
I enjoy both shows quite a bit but they're so different in tone that I'm not sure they're directly comparable. Both had major downswings in quality (Friends, the last two seasons, although some will argue it started earlier than that, Frasier, Seasons 8-10 before recovering with a strong final season).
 
T

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
I'm going to go with Frasier on this one, a show I didn't really appreciate until I was an adult

The show really is a very specific product of the 90s in a way that Friends wasn't quite either. In that the history of TV sitcoms since then has basically been trying to re-create Friends, while Frasier still stands as its own kind of thing.
 
M

MacH1nation

Member
There's no way I could go through all the ups and downs of the different relationships in friends again. Once you take that away, I don't find many friends episodes very funny, amusing with some laughs, but it's not something I'd put on to make me laugh. Fraiser on the other hand is a show you go into not expecting to laugh that much, and you wind cracking up till tears. Fraiser is one of the GOAT network sitcoms, Friends...you had to be there I guess.
 
Y

You Are Viewtiful

Member
Am I going to be the only one here who says Friends? I was a teenager when these two were airing. Fraisier was way too serious for me, I would probably appreciate it more if I watched it now. But for now Friends is still winner in my mind.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Across the Cheersverse
31
2K
TheAtomicPile replied
  • Locked
Best sitcoms for actual gender equality?
1
679
Heimdall_Xtreme replied
  • Locked
Can we get some clarification on what counts as "political" threads?
5
741
EviLore replied
'The Office' Is Reportedly Set to be Rebooted With Original Showrunner Attached
News 2
57
3K
Mr Reasonable replied
"Hello, GAF, I am looking for that specific thing on the internet, can you help me find it?" thread.
38
2K
Husky replied
Top Bottom