Confessions of a Frasier Junkie

     My name is Leticia and I'm a Frasier-holic.
     I guess it all started last summer when I found myself watching DVDs of The Mary Tyler Moore Show over and over again, until I reached the point where I needed another fix, something new to satisfy my craving for well-written, intelligent comedy delivered by an ensemble of actors of the highest calibre.

(a scene from The Mary Tyler Moore Show Season 5, "Ted Baxter's Famous Broadcasting School")

     I stopped watching primetime network TV when I moved to Houston to work for the Houston Grand Opera. My erratic schedule, which of course involved a lot of nights, plus the fact that the recording function on my VCR wasn't working, for years rendered me virtually unable to watch primetime shows. I suppose I could have bought a new VCR, but I was too busy throwing away my money on frivolous things like food and rent. Consequently, I missed out on the whole Frasier phenomenon the first time around. By the time it ended its run on NBC, I was inside the monastery walls in Lufkin. Suffice to say, I really wasn't aware of Frasier, not even after I left the monastery and the show went into syndication. My first awareness of it was a few years ago, when one of my sisters and her husband referred to another sister and me as "the female Frasier and Niles." Of course, I had no idea what was implied by that comparison, and I didn't bother to ask at the time. When I finally did find out, I was frankly flattered to be likened to one of the greatest characters ever created for television, Niles Crane.
     Several months ago, at one of our Sunday family lunches, the subject of Frasier somehow came up.    
     "I've never seen it," I confessed.
     "What?!" exclaimed one of my sisters. "Oh, Let, you would love it. It's so consistently well-written, and there are lots of references to opera and classical music."
     Later that day, I posted on Facebook: "Can you believe, I've never seen Frasier." I received an onslaught of comments from my former opera colleagues: "OMG, you really need to watch it!" "They talk about opera all the time!" "I just LOVE that show," and so on.
     Okay. True to my nature, instead of tuning in to whatever channel airs Frasier reruns, I bought the first season DVD through Amazon. I wanted to watch it from the beginning and in order, because, like Niles, I'm an obsessive-compulsive. After watching the first few shows, I was hooked -- big time. At long last, a show I could really sink my teeth into, one with sophisticated writing, literate yet laugh-out-loud humor, superlative acting, and the most amusing pooch ever to grace the small screen. Of course, the love story of Niles and Daphne has become a television legend all its own, being by turns hilarious, heartbreaking, sweet, titillating, and downright frustrating -- and oh, sooooo gratifying when the two of them finally declare themselves to each other.
     For whatever reasons, I still don't watch primetime network TV. I'd rather spend those hours before bedtime watching a movie or reading a book. And frankly, Frasier has spoiled me for any other sitcom. I don't see myself ever tiring of its brilliance. But this is the kind of addiction I'm not ashamed to admit. I am a Frasier junkie -- and justifiably proud of it.

(a scene from Frasier Season 6, "I. Q.")