# Which Sitcom was Better? Cheers Or Frasier? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 14, 2015, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-sitcom-was-better-cheers-or-frasier/737555 "2015-11-14T13:53:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-sitcom-was-better-cheers-or-frasier/737555/41 "2015-11-16T03:28:30Z")
I liked both, but I’ll have to give the edge to Frasier. It still makes me laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-sitcom-was-better-cheers-or-frasier/737555/42 "2015-11-16T06:54:59Z")
Frasier. I didn’t really watch either of them when they were airing, but I caught Frasier in reruns and got my son addicted to it, too. Didn’t hate Cheers but didn’t really connect. Maybe most of the humor was for the time, and Frasier’s is evergreen? Or something. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-sitcom-was-better-cheers-or-frasier/737555/43 "2015-11-16T07:28:36Z")
Cheers went through a few phases, with emphases on different characters, a changing cast, and a drift from more dramatic storylines (mostly Sam and Diane’s romance) to broader character humor, whereas Frasier seemed to be fairly consistent for most of its run. I appreciate the variety of Cheers reruns: two favorites are the episode where Cliff competes on Jeopardy and Frasier’s performance as a clown. While I liked Carla (and the actress who plays her), I didn’t like some of the stereotypical humor they used - its really dated now. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-sitcom-was-better-cheers-or-frasier/737555/44 "2015-11-16T10:21:39Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Nitpick: Saavik was half-Vulcan, half-Romulan. And it’s a shame they lost her. (From what I’ve read, Kirstie and Shatner didn’t get along. Robin Curtis was hot on _ **Night Court** _, but made a terrible replacement Saavik, IMHO.) I was going to say that this was only in the books (as the scene was cut), but it seems it was in the script elsewhere, and Memory Alpha politics are keeping her labeled as just a Vulcan. And I say _Frasier_. _Cheers_ had a weird vibe to it. I think it may be just because it was an '80s sitcom, as a lot them seemed to have it. I don’t know how to describe it, other than to say there was some weird undercurrent to the humor. It didn’t make it a bad show, mind you. But Frasier didn’t have it, so I enjoyed it more. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-sitcom-was-better-cheers-or-frasier/737555/45 "2015-11-16T17:57:38Z")
Another **Cheers** vote. I can watch those reruns constantly. But while I watched (and appreciated) _Frasier_ in its original run, I have absolutely no interest in revisiting any episode now. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-sitcom-was-better-cheers-or-frasier/737555/46 "2015-11-16T18:31:50Z")
I guess none of the characters in _Frasier_ really appealed to me. Frasier was sort of the oddball on _Cheers_ but Niles had to out-oddball Frasier to makes Frasier a straight man for his own show. Roz, Daphne and Martin never struck a chord with me (certainly not in the same way as Woody, Cliff and Norm) so while I found the show watchable enough it never wormed its way into my heart. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-sitcom-was-better-cheers-or-frasier/737555/47 "2015-11-16T19:04:22Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I guess none of the characters in _Frasier_ really appealed to me. Frasier was sort of the oddball on _Cheers_ but Niles had to out-oddball Frasier to makes Frasier a straight man for his own show. Roz, Daphne and Martin never struck a chord with me (certainly not in the same way as Woody, Cliff and Norm) so while I found the show watchable enough it never wormed its way into my heart. Good point. Roz, Martin and Daphne were always more plot devices than characters for a long time. If Frasier was going to have scenes at work, he needs someone to play off of. Hence, Roz. Frasier mostly associates with people of his class and taste. So blue collar Martin was a device to (transparently) insert conflict at home. Daphne was a device from the start to give Niles a love interest/tension arc. True, these people all were eventually (inevitably, given how long the series ran) fleshed out, but they never had the resonance or the effortless dynamic of the bar crowd. They were there mostly just to give the main character brothers something to do. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-sitcom-was-better-cheers-or-frasier/737555/48 "2015-11-16T20:27:05Z")
I watched Frasier. I never bothered with Cheers. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-sitcom-was-better-cheers-or-frasier/737555/49 "2015-11-16T20:43:29Z")
I definitely watched more episodes of Cheers than of Frasier. I appreciated Frasier and I like how Kelsey Grammar evoked Jack Benny in his performance but it did bug me that this supposedly brilliant doctor was _always_ wrong. I guess that was the point. In any case, much of it was timing but I liked Cheers much more than Frasier. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-sitcom-was-better-cheers-or-frasier/737555/50 "2015-11-16T22:00:57Z")
Put me in the Cheers \> Frasier camp, too. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-sitcom-was-better-cheers-or-frasier/737555/51 "2015-11-16T22:02:56Z")
Cheers was must watch TV for me. Fraiser was all right. The best Fraisers were the Cheers crossovers. So I vote Cheers. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-sitcom-was-better-cheers-or-frasier/737555/52 "2015-11-16T22:24:24Z")
Frasier relied too heavily on the “misheard conversation” and “sneaky secret plan” comedy tropes. It was basically a repackaged Threes Company. Cheers never had to rely on that and seemed like a more witty package of plots and characters. Cheers for me 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-sitcom-was-better-cheers-or-frasier/737555/53 "2015-11-16T22:51:10Z")
I’ll go against the consensus too. I loved Cheers when it was on. My dad loves Frasier, but I never could get into it. To me, it’s just a generic sitcom, with banal and predictable humor. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-sitcom-was-better-cheers-or-frasier/737555.md?page=2)