In a moment of nostalgia, I was remembering when NBC was utterly dominant in the ratings from the mid 90 to the early 00s. Their three biggest sitcoms were Frasier, Friends, and Seinfeld. From 1994-98, all three were on the air at the same time.

In terms of Emmys, Frasier won the most by far. I was surprised to find out that Friends and Seinfeld only won the Outstanding Comedy Emmy once each while Frasier won five (five in a row as well).

In terms of their legacy, I would think that Seinfeld and Friends are remembered more but that could be because I never really watched Frasier. Interested in hearing your thoughts?

Seinfeld still holds up brilliantly. Frasier and Friends do not. The former was pretty unique for its time, whereas the latter were highly conventional. No contest, as far as I'm concerned.

Seinfeld by a mile

Seinfeld > Friends > Frazier

Seinfeld was original and unpredictable. Something truly unique.

Friends soared because of the cast chemistry. It didn't matter who was paired up, everyone gelled with each other. Even if a joke didn't work you could tell the cast was having a frickin' ball.

Frazier was repetitive and was hindered by changing the character I loved on Cheers for 8 years for me.

1. Never saw more than a few episodes of Friends when it was on. Didn't really appeal to me and I've never had much hope of going back and watching it through and through.

2. Seinfeld - didn't watch it that much when it was on, but I have seen the whole run after the fact. Only like bits and pieces, but I find the characters unlikeable and selfish (which was the point but not my thing).

3. Frasier - except for a couple seasons in the middle, I could watch this show over and over again (and I have). The best of the three for me by far.

Michael

Frasier by far. The most intelligent and sophisticated sitcom ever. You needed a modicum of brains to get some of the jokes.

What made me like the show the most, though, was Kelsey and David's willingness to utterly humiliate themselves. Most sitcoms are based on one-liners, zingers and putdowns. Frasier and Niles made complete fools of themselves, and both (especially David) had a knack for physical humor. Some of their best comedy never involved a word.

My favorite episode will always be "The Innkeepers," where Niles and Frasier bought an exclusive restaurant that was set to shut down and proceeded to fuck it all up in one night. Anyone for cherries jubilee?

Then add the awesome supporting roles led by Roz and Bulldog and the great guest callers to Frasier's show (the challenge was to identify them without waiting for the credits) and you had a perfect recipe.

True, the show lost its way, and with Niles and Daphne the chase was way better than the catch, but it got its mojo back in the final season and ended strong.

Friends doesn't even belong in the conversation.

Picking one, I have to choose Seinfeld. But I enjoyed the other 2 as well, even though I haven't seen the entire run of Frasier.

Seinfeld is brilliant.

Seinfeld and its not even close. So much about that show just worked so well and is memorable, whether its the interaction amongst the main cast, the guest stars, the vocabulary, hell even the settings. The show has also held up pretty well despite being off the air for seventeen years already.

I always found Friends to be pretty overrated and its dated pretty badly now. The main reason I ever had for watching it was the fact that I found (and still find) Jennifer Aniston to be hot. Fraiser was good and I like Kelsey Grammer a lot and being a spinoff of Cheers which I loved I enjoyed seeing more of the character but it was never really appointment television for me. Still a good show just not my favorite.

Tough to decide. Frasier was definitely more sophisticated comedy that wouldn't appeal to everyone. I thought it was more consistently funny than Seinfeld but certainly Seinfeld was a juggernaut that spawned its own slang.

I will also say that even though Friends relied so heavily on the chemistry and quirkiness, any of these 3 beats the shit out of the comedies on today. Big Bang is still enjoyable but past its prime. I would rate all 3 higher than anything on today.

Seinfeld was an amazing show and so unlike typical network sitcoms. One unusual thing with the show is most of the laughs in it were due to the situations the characters found themselves in, instead of just one-liners said by the characters, so this show literally was a "situation comedy" unlike most "sitcoms" which don't really match that description as well.

Although I like both of them, Frasier and Friends were typical sitcoms where the comedy was usually one-liners said by the characters. I think both were above average sitcoms, but still just sitcoms that never matched what Seinfeld achieved.

In a battle to the death? Friends would win, because they are younger and there are more of them.

Seinfeld > Frasier > Friends
It's true what people already stated, there's still things in Seinfeld that's very relevant and stills holds up amazingly well.
Frasier was not for everybody but the acting and writing was phenomenal and it wasn't a fluke that it lasted 11 seasons. It made you hate how pompous and snobbish both Frasier and Niles were, and that was the beauty of the show.
When you compare the acting and writing of Friends with the other two shows, I don't think there isn't any comparison but it wasn't a slouch either. The chemistry among its cast deserves praise and there were some memorable episodes in its 10 season run.

Try Brooklyn Nine Nine. My current favourite comedy right now. The first season was great. I believe that after the 3rd episode, it's hits its stride.

This current season has been uneven but the last few episodes before the break has been great.

You can't really put Seinfeld and Fraiser against each other and then recommend Brooklyn Nine Nine. While I really like B99 it's a totally different kind of show and comedy than the other two.

I find the chemistry on Always Sunny is still fantastic. And You're the Worst is the first sitcom in a while that felt completely uh fresh.

Bob's Burgers is still the best written comedy currently airing on TV though, imo at least.

Never said that B99 was comparable to Seinfeld or Frasier. Just want it to tell Jim that there are still some good shows running currently and that B99 was one of them.

Good point, Louie comes to mind too though that's more of a dramedy. I hear good things about the post-first season of Veep as well.

Louie is the best comedy currently in my opinion even though its not always full on comedy. Curb Your Enthusiasm is very good too, I just wish we'd get some new episodes.

I find It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia to be one of the stupidest, most overrated comedies currently airing. Talented cast but talk about a show that tries way too hard to go to extremes for laughs.

Pure serendipity that I just read this description of Broad City in a just posted DVD Talk review: As is the increasing norm for modern sitcoms, "Broad City" exists in a nearly cartoon version of reality where the characters' crazy adventures have no repercussions and the comedy is free to drift from extreme to extreme.

Though I suspect that most of the comic minds responsible for this modern trend would cite their inspiration in growing up in the Simpsons School of Comedy, Seinfeld was probably the first popular, live-action sitcom to feature this form of comedy.

Yes, there was a lot of continuity on Seinfeld regarding the characters lives, but there was also a reliance on consequence-free wackiness wherein "the gang" would wreak havoc and then walk away with shrugs and no cares.

I recently watched the episode "The Red Dot" and was struck by how odd it was that the coda showed that the Dr Pepper Guy was now sober again. Sort of a miscalculation on the show's part to think that the viewers cared whether Jerry cared about some stranger's sobriety.

Voters in every Academy are notoriously conservative.

Even when Seinfeld was at its peak of popularity, I don't think the Emmy establishment quite understood the show. They respected its success and power, but it wasn't their show.

Frasier was classic farce. Comic misunderstandings and erudite dialogue of entendres and put-downs. Frasier was like Moliere on TV every week for Emmy voters who wanted to reflect their high-brow aspirations and love of theatre in what they gave the stamp of approval.

Seinfeld, with its undercurrent of cruel apathy and narcissism, was a fore-runner of what so much "outlier" is today.

Oh yeah, Broad City. Just watched all 10 episodes of that, the last half of the season really figured out what it was trying to be and was pretty great (the first half is a bit of a mess but still moderately enjoyable). It also did remind me of Seinfeld a bit in spots.

Interesting. Maybe I'll give Frasier a second shot. I think the reason why I never watched it was because I was never a fan of Cheers, which I did watch. To this day, I don't understand how that show became such a phenomenon.

Seinfeld and Frasier are my two favorite shows. They both offer truly unique experiences, hold up exceptionally well & have endless replay value.

Is this poll a joke? It's not so much that Frasier and Friends are bad, it's just that Seinfeld shits all over them so thoroughly, as to make this poll seem like nonsense.

Agree with slop. Friends is good and Frasier was pretty great, but Seinfeld is in a different stratosphere. It's probably (make that almost definitely) the greatest TV comedy of all time.

It blows my mind that while Michael Richards won three Emmys and David Hyde Pierce won another four in the Supporting Actor (Comedy) category, Jason Alexander never won once. Has there ever been a better supporting character in the history of TV comedy? Maybe Danny DeVito as Louie on Taxi and Art Carney on The Honeymooners, but after that there really isn't much debate.