Bloodless Coup

What kind of lesson? That with relatively little interference you get a show about irritating upper class white people?

I was thinking more you get a show that has and keeps its own voice, its own internal logic, style and assumptions, and a show that isn't merely a mirror image of 3-5 shows already on the air.

But then it's apparently the case that I found it much funnier and smarter (in terms of the ways it riffed on a variety of traditions of comedy) than you did. And of course Niles is one of my favorite tv characters, ever, and they regularly made room for some great guest star/recurring characters - Bebe, Kate, etc.

i'm with you, armand. i really don't think i can name a more consistently intelligent and intelligible three-camera sitcom that sustained that level of wit, emotional depth, and character development. and DHP is pretty phenomenal at what he does. i loved his occasional old-school physical comedy pieces (the one toward the end involving scissors, an iron, and a bleeding finger, consuming about six pre-credits minutes without a single word, was absolutely perfect).

anyway, i guess i've got a thing for irritating upper class white people. but in my defense, i think cosby was pretty consistently brilliant in a very different way, so i suppose irritating upper class black people also work just fine for me.