Television series

Frasier

Name: Frasier
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1993
Cast: Kelsey Grammer, David Hyde Pierce, John Mahoney, Peri Gilpin, Jane Leeves

A fussy, exquisitely engineered sitcom about a Seattle radio psychiatrist whose vanity and love for his family are exactly the same size. Two brothers compete over wine, real estate and each other's approval while their retired-cop father just wants the game on. It's farce played with the timing of a symphony — literate, warm, and endlessly rewatchable.

TVMaze rating

8.0

If you liked this

Cheers1982

This is where Frasier began — same wit, same ensemble instincts, and the pleasure of watching the character before he became insufferable and lovable in equal measure.

But Looser, boozier, and less structurally perfect than its spinoff; some of the earliest seasons feel genuinely dated now.

Fawlty Towers1975

The British ancestor of the same joke: a man of taste and control undone by his own ego, episode after perfectly engineered episode of humiliation.

But Only twelve episodes were ever made, and Basil Fawlty's meltdowns are shriller and more anxious than Frasier's composed disasters.

Arrested Development2003

Another wealthy, ridiculous family who talk beautifully and behave terribly, with a joke density and callback structure that rewards rewatching almost as much as Frasier does.

But Faster, meaner, and considerably more cynical — nobody here loves each other the way the Cranes plainly do.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

My Man Godfrey1936

Frasier's whole comic engine — self-important people undone by their own vanity, with servants and outsiders wiser than their employers — was essentially invented by 1930s screwball comedy, and this is one of its sharpest, funniest examples.

A dazzlingly written screwball comedy about a wealthy, absurd family and the composed outsider who sees straight through their nonsense — sharp, fast, and effortlessly charming.

But Black-and-white with decades-old pacing, built on a scavenger-hunt plot some modern viewers might find quaint.

Everybody Loves Raymond1996

Sibling rivalry, a nosy parent, and the low comedy of grown men still fighting for approval — same bones as Frasier, played broader and closer to the floor.

But Multi-camera and laugh-tracked, with none of Frasier's verbal elegance or apartment-set sophistication.

30 Rock2006

A workplace farce built on absurd erudition and rapid-fire wit, for anyone who loved how fast and dense the jokes got in Frasier's best seasons.

But Surreal and self-aware in a way that's sillier and less emotionally grounded than the Cranes' world ever gets.

Schitt's Creek2015

A family stripped of status and forced to actually live with each other, mining the same vein of pretension meeting real feeling that Frasier does so well.

But Slower to find its footing, and its warmth arrives later than Frasier's does, which asks for some patience.

The Good Place2016

Philosophical arguments played as comedy, moral one-upmanship between people who think they're smarter than they are — very Niles-and-Frasier at heart, dressed as fantasy.

But Serialised with twists and a season-length plan, so it demands a different, less episodic kind of watching.

Seinfeld1989

Contemporaneous and similarly obsessed with the comedy of manners and minor social humiliation, for those who like their sitcoms observational rather than sentimental.

But Colder and more cynical about its characters; nobody here has Frasier's underlying tenderness for family.

Veep2012

If you loved watching brilliant people talk themselves into corners, this gives you the same rhythm with profanity and political stakes instead of psychiatry and opera tickets.

But Vicious in a way Frasier never is — there's no love underneath the cruelty here at all.

BoJack Horseman2014

Same core joke as Frasier — an articulate, over-educated man who can talk his way through anything except actual intimacy — but pushed into animation and played for real consequence instead of a laugh track.

An animated tragicomedy about a witty, self-regarding man who talks brilliantly and connects with almost no one, told with real formal invention and heartbreak.

But Genuinely sad and sometimes bleak; this is Frasier's charm curdled into something closer to despair.

Grey Gardens1976

This is what Frasier's world of pedigree, wit and self-regard looks like with the script and the safety net removed — real people trapped in their own performance of class, and nobody there to write them a happy ending.

A documentary about a real mother and daughter, once aristocratic, now eccentric and broke, still performing sophistication for an audience that stopped watching long ago.

But There's no laugh track and no forgiveness here; it's melancholy where Frasier is fond, and nothing resolves.