Frasier

I have been watching “Frasier” reruns lately because they started showing them on one of my favorite rerun sources the Hallmark Channel. I also still watch Cheers when I get home from work on time and its interesting to watch them at the same time (also I recall a lot of plot holes about stuff Frasier said about is family in various “Cheers” episodes). When they first started showing “Frasier on Hallmark there was of course a premier marathon and it had trivia facts, trivia facts about reruns so of course I was excited. The fact they listed that I remember was that every regular “Cheers” character except Coach and Rebecca guest stared of course Coach was dead which lead me to wonder what Kristie Alley’s excuse was. There’s also a statistic that says that Kelsey Grammer as Frasier is the longest time an actor played one character meanwhile Richard Belzar holds the record for playing John Munch on the most different shows currently 12 according to IMDB. Anyway I am going off on a lot of random Frasier tangents when my original point to this post was going to be about him going to a video store. “How retro!” who would have thought that a video rental store would be the thing that makes the episode dated? So I started looking for other things that could date the episode but there really was not anything else specific to the time no cell phones that look gigantic now or unusual hair styles. When I looked closely at Daphne’s outfit I recalled it as a style that was popular in 1996ish but it would not look strange or dated if worn today and since Frasier and Niles always ware suits those don’t change much over the years (unless some of those years are the 70s). Usually I can pinpoint an era or decade pretty well by the fashion because it’s something that interests me but it has to be women’s fashion because men’s clothing does not change as much. With some obvious exceptions for loud 80s sweaters worn by Zack on “Saved by the Bell” or Cliff on “The Cosby Show” and other logo or brand name shirts worn by younger boys. Adult professional clothes change the least over the years or at least they evolve slowly enough that the changes are not obvious in reruns. So the fact remains that the video store was the most dated thing on “Frasier” tonight.

Actors

With the amount of TV I watch it makes sense that there is a lot of actor overlap and I will see the same person star or guest star in multiple shows. I fond it especially amusing when I wind up watching these different shows on the same day. For awhile I was watching reruns of “Doogie Howser M.D.” and “How I Met Your Mother” back to back and it was kind of a head trip especially when I got to the point in the “Doogie Howser” run where Neil Patrick Harris’ voice changes and Doogie starts to sound more like Barney from “How I Met Your Mother”. That is not the only example from “How I Met Your Mother” I can also watch a rerun of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and compare Alyson Hannigan as Willow and Lilly who have more in common personality wise then Barney and Doogie. I recently watched the “Buffy” episode Beer Bad in this episode Willow confronts Parker, who had a one night stand with Buffy the interaction in the scene reminded me of Lilly because Parker was behaving like Barney and Willow was judging him as Lilly would. I also look for “Buffy” references in most episodes of “How I Met Your Mother” they are probably not intentional but I make them fit its especially funny when Alexis Denisof who is married to Alyson in real life and was Wesley on “Buffy” and “Angel” guest stars.
Another thing I noticed was how when you watch something more recent and then an older show the common actor looks young by comparison even if they are a Golden Girl. Last night I watched the season finale of “Hot in Cleveland” and then just an hour later I was watching “The Golden Girls” and thinking Rose looked young. I thought it was ironic to think a Golden Girl looked young but just like my recent observation on Alex Trebek, Betty White is at least 20 years older now then she was when that Golden Girls episode was made so of course Elka looks older then Rose.
These actor commonalities happen with guest stars as well I remember watching and episode of “Star Trek the Next Generation” where Counselor Troi was dating a guy who seemed familiar. I knew I had seen the episode before but thought I knew him from something I had re-watched more recently. By the end of the episode I had placed him as someone who had dated Fran on “The Nanny”. He was the funeral director that decided to become a clown instead. TV fate decided to mess with me that night because I saw that very episode later on.
Its fun to recognize people and compare the different characters the same actors play its also a good idea to have IMDB on standby to figure out who they are when you just cant remember what you know them from.

Bleep My Rerun Says

It always seems strange when some sort of questionable language is bleeped or blanked out of a rerun show. Why is it objectionable now but it was fine when the show first aired? In some instances it makes sense obviously “Sex and The City” reruns shown on basic cable channels are not allowed to use the words that the show got away with on HBO. The part that does not make sense is the shows that originally aired on CBS or NBC are now more censored on Hallmark or A&E. The specific examples I noticed are from “Golden Girls”,” Empty Nest” and “Criminal Minds”. The words that are usually blanked out are “bitch” and “godddamn” the part I don’t understand is why it was ok to say these words on NBC in 1985 but not on Hallmark channel in 2011. Also in the case of “Criminal Minds” the show is still airing on CBS and is allowed to say those words but they are censored on the reruns A&E shows. I find it kind of contrary that the words are objectionable despite the content of the shows when they are not saying those words. The Golden Girls always talk about sex even when they use metaphors and innuendos to make it seem cleaner then it really is. Meanwhile “Criminal Minds” features gory murders and descriptions of serial killers, rapists and pedophiles’, so blanking out a few borderline “bad” words hardly seems worth the effort since the show is still not happy or suitable for children. The only theory I could come up with for the difference in censoring is the time of day I know some networks are allowed to have more adult content late at night so maybe they clean up the dialogue on the reruns so they can show them during the day presumably when children maybe watching. That being said children should not be watching “Criminal Minds” at any time of day. I actually can’t tell what they are trying to blank out of “Empty Nest” it usually seems like the end of an insult but it’s not obvious what the missing word or phrase should be as is often the case when a word is removed. At least it’s better then some reality shows where there’s more bleeping then actual dialogue.

Barney at the Bar

I was just watching an episode of “Cheers” Frasier and Lilith brought their son to the bar and it looked like he was holding a Barney doll. That’s the children’s show dinosaur not Neil Patrick Harris on “How I Met Your Mother”. This surprised me because I did not think that “Barney” and ”Cheers” overlapped time line wise. I looked it up and “Barney” started in 1992 and “Cheers” ended in 1993. I knew I remembered seeing the last episode of “Cheers” when it originally aired and I would have been about 12 at that time so that makes sense. I would have placed “Barney” as starting a few years later then that but either way I would have been too old to be interested in it. Also the doll featured on the “Cheers” episode was always turned so the green stomach was not showing so there’s no real proof it’s the “Barney” at least as far as the lawyers are concerned, anyone else can tell by the shape of the purple dinosaur that “Barney” was visiting Cheers.

Loving Lucy for 60 Years

This past weekend Hallmark Channel was showing the “I Love Lucy” 60th anniversary marathon. I could not let an opportunity like that pass me by. First it’s cool to know that the show has been around that long it’s like the most classic of all the classic reruns. Also I have not actually seen all the episodes multiple times like some other shows I will see the popular ones on marathons but not all the random episodes that get less press because of this most of the ones that were on this marathon I had never seen before so even if the show is 60 years old the episodes were new to me. Another interesting thing about watching the show or anything that old is the glimpse in to the past that it gives us. I roll my eyes at the twin beds and am slightly annoyed by the 50s style gender roles because they are outdated now. When I was in high school and watching another marathon I remember my dad pointing out that the show was considered progressive at the time because Lucy and Ricky are an interracial couple. A show being around for that long also means it gets referenced a lot by other shows. There’s a specific “Golden Girls” episode where Blanche and Rose are watching a marathon of course that was probably just for the 40th anniversary. The show has staying power due to its quality there are plenty of shows that have come since that don’t stand the test of time and things that are much more recent but try to hard to be current so their references are harder to understand. Older shows did not really make that many references to the pop culture of the time or if they did the things they were referencing became as classic as they are and no one wonders about them. The jokes on the show are mostly based on the situations and not depended on insults and dialog like some modern shows. Also in some instances the crazy situations are more realistic then things that occur in more modern shows. Some of the themes transcend time. Like the husband and wife relationship which has changed in details over the years but the idea of fighting and scheming for each to try to get their own way remains a theme in a lot of shows. Also spending a lot of time with you best friend is a theme the started with Lucy and Ethel and continued to the future in most shows the female lead has a close girlfriend she can have on her side. So even after 60 years everyone still loves Lucy even those of us who have only been around for half that time.

Laugh Track

Whether we like them or not laugh tracks are an important part of TV history. Its something so familiar that sometimes it becomes unnoticeable and of course some shows had real studio audiences laughing (or those were the ones recorded for the laugh track)
I recently saw this segment about a laugh track machine on “Antiques Roadshow”

Watch the full episode. See more Antiques Roadshow.

You can read the transcript on the PBS website if the embedded video does not work
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/archive/201001A13.html
I love how when the appraiser talks about the shows the laughs were recorded from he says 1953 up to “Cheers” its great how he mentions the specific show instead of just giving another date in the 80s or 90s when “Cheers” was on. The other thing about laugh tracks is when they were not used after learning I liked “MASH” someone asked me something about episodes that did not have the laugh track. I said they did not use it during scenes in the operating room and some episodes take place entirely in that room. Other episodes omitted the laugh track because they were dealing with serious subject matter. Of course the lack of canned laughter does not mean there were no jokes it was just up to the people at home to decide how funny they were. I think that’s what people don’t like about the laugh track they don’t want someone else to tell them what they should think is funny. In that sense its not really different from any other aspect of television the writers producers and advertisers all tell us what we should think is entertaining and of course if no one watches it a show will get bad ratings and be canceled but hype can compensate for lack of quality and lead to a show having more success then it deserves or just give it a chance to find itself and earn the laughter for real.


"Antiques Roadshow" side note the show premiered in England in 1977 so how ling before something that was new when the show started is old enough to be considered an antique featured on the show.

Empty Nest

On Friday I was watching “The Golden Girls” on Hallmark Channel this is not an unusual occurrence but on this viewing there were commercials for “The Empty Nest premier marathon all day Saturday!”  I debated with my self whether or not I should watch it I had seen the show in reruns as a kid but not as much as some other shows it may have just been something I watched when I was home sick from school.  I also realized that I had not seen it in at least 15 years so it would be like new.  Also I did not know the family lived next door to the Golden Girls when I had seen the show before. The show was a spin off and Golden Girls guest stared often.  I had seen the show enough as a kid to recognize the characters when they visit Golden Girls episodes.  So I figured it would be interesting to see the other side of their story. So I wound up having the show on most of the day but I did do other things so I did not watch all the episodes in the 6 hour block I had it on.  The show is good though and there was a specific joke about a credit card that I remembered from the last time I watched it so it there is definitely staying power in my rerun loving brain.  I also recognized the outfit Dorothy wore in her guest spot as one I had seen her in before in at least one “Golden Girls” episode.  The premise of “Empty Nest” is an older widower whose 20somthing daughters move back in with him. The show started in 1988 but that premise is something that is relevant again today (if it ever stopped being relevant).  That story creates a different kind of family sitcom with time capsule hair and fashion from the late 80s and early 90s one of the things I find interesting about older shows is the clothes it may make them dated but I like being able to identify a time period that way.  Another cool aspect of the show is the nurse Laverne who runs the fathers pediatric office like Radar runs MASH.  Overall I was glad I watched the marathon and appreciate the slightly more obscure retro shows just as much as the main stream ones.