"Nice Guys"--in fiction.

[konstantya]

(If you aren't familiar with the Nice Guy phenomenon, here are some articles to remedy that.)

I've recently been plowing my way through Frasier.  Frasier was one of those shows that, as an early teenager, if it happened to be on, I would watch it and enjoy it, but I never really went out of my way to catch it.  But lately I've grown tired of listening to music while I work, so I've instead started putting TV shows on as background noise--M*A*S*H, 3rd Rock From the Sun, and yes, Frasier (I'm hoping to work my way back to The Golden Girls, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and maybe even Designing Women--if only for the retrolicious fashion and '80s entrepreneurialism).

Anyway, Frasier is one of those sitcoms I've grown to heartily enjoy.  It's smart, sarcastic, funny (the rare bits of physical comedy are some of the most hilarious I've ever seen), surprisingly (or perhaps unsurprisingly, as it's focused on a psychiatrist) intellectual, and at times, incredibly poignant.  No doubt this has to do with the relationships in the series (you know me and relationships), and just how very real and complex they are.  Truly, this show had some fantastic writers.  Last night, I actually stopped what I was doing to fully focus on one particular episode (8x19), because it was so wonderfully, tactfully, and realistically handled.

If you aren't familiar with the show, Niles Crane is the younger brother of the titular Frasier, and he is a fantastically adorkable beta male.  He's also a beautifully crafted Nice Guy--who, though he's been called out on it before when his behavior dipped into selfish and manipulative, really gets called out on it in this episode, where he simply doesn't understand how loving someone to the point of worshipping the ground she walks on could be a bad thing.  It made me squeal in delight, because this is a very real problem that is so rarely addressed, and for it to be addressed on a popular sitcom (even if it originally aired ten years ago) was even more delightful, and something I felt would be worth sharing:

Now, the whole reason Daphne had to gain weight in the first place was because Jane Leeves, her actress, got pregnant in real life.  The whole "Daphne gets fat" thing struck me as a bit random and a cop-out in the beginning (but hey, she was pregnant--there's really no good work-around for that, admittedly), but I was really impressed with how the writers managed to turn it into something more important and character-developing than just "Daphne suddenly got fat--but now she's better, so carry on!"  Have I mentioned the character development on this series is fantastic?

(I also feel the need to mention just how much I love the character of Roz Doyle.  She's strong, capable, and unapologetically sexual--even after she gets pregnant from one of her flings.  Actually, as much as I love Niles/Daphne, I buzz at the idea of Niles/Roz.  Sort of like how I like to imagine Cloud/Tifa in my head, but prefer to write Reno/Tifa.  There's more conflict and uncharted territory or something.)

Comments

[trekqueen.livejournal.com]

true that on the sitcom meaning hehe. A lot of folks have been trying to get me to watch The Big Bang Theory because of the geekery and Trek references but because of the typical sitcom-ness, I can't sit and watch it for long. I, too, have to pay more attention to it if I'm unfamiliar with the current episode. I still get people going WAH! when I say I don't watch it, as if it is some sort of blasphemy.

I've been meaning to get into M*A*S*H, I have a friend who loved the show and he's amused I work just around the corner from where the mountains are that the helicopter flies over in the beginning title sequence. I think of Scrubs in a way is like a dramady - it takes on serious subjects but has pithy dialogue that makes you laugh out loud without the need of the laughtrack to tell you it is an ok point to laugh (though, they do at times have the snappy music cue it if they cut scenes). Another good one is the musical episode (Part 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBZx1NRaqmM) and Part 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weqod8h5SWI) of the songs).

[konstantya.livejournal.com]

Ah, The Big Bang Theory. Similar to your situation, I feel it's one of those things I should be into, but somehow can't make myself actually sit down and watch. (Luckily, I'm not met with disbelief over this fact--though I still get the KILL THE INFIDEL reaction when I tell people I never saw what was so great about Friends.)

M*A*S*H is one of those series that, while hardly perfect, is really worth seeing, in my opinion. I'd hazard to say seasons 3-8 are probably the strongest. The first few seasons put more of an emphasis on wacky hijinks (season one in particular is all over the place, as you can tell the show is really trying to find its footing), and the later seasons take on a moralistic tone that is often considered overwrought and anvilicious, but overall, there's an awful lot of good to be found in the show--particularly if you keep in mind the time it was made in. I think, watching it in this day and age, it's really easy to overlook just how revolutionary and daring it was in a lot of ways. (Like, originally the producers wanted to forgo the laugh track altogether, but the American networks did their "but we NEED laugh tracks" schtick until they finally caved and said, "Okay, fine--but not in the OR scenes." Some of the more dramatic episodes managed to omit it completely.)[/sales pitch]

On that note, I seem to remember that Scrubs itself was pretty revolutionary in its decision to not have a laugh track. Which is kind of funny and pathetic at the same time, as this was almost 30 years after M*A*S*H tried the same thing. 2001 and the networks were still worried that viewers might not know when something is funny. *eye roll* And yes, I think you're right--Scrubs always struck me as a definitive dramedy, the way it was written and set up. (And LOL. The musical episode. I'll admit that ever since you mentioned the series, I've had "Guy Love" in my head. XD)

[trekqueen.livejournal.com]

I hardly watched Friends, if at all. About as much as I know is something of a song to do with Smelly Cat and Phoebe carrying her brother's baby. So I get that look too as I don't care much about it. :D

Heh, good to know they actually didn't want the laughing at all in M*A*S*H, that's a plus in my book. I guess the networks just don't know how to do witty. *shrug* I noticed that with some British shows, they lay on the sarcasm or wit thick so you have to be quick to pick up on it sometimes.

Guy Love IS TEH BESTEST! I had an icon for a while with Turk and JD looking at each other lovingly with the tag "Guy Love" on it. :D

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