The Harassed

Context outside the activity. Activity request: We're hoping you can lead a harassment seminar for us. Status: seminar proposed; no current seminar enacted Response context: I forgot you won a speech. I genuinely keep forgetting that you won a speech. Reviewed full source context: Welcome to Reverse Psychology. The Frasier Rewatch Podcast, where we go backwards for every episode of the show. Tonight, we're covering Season 10, Episode 12, The Harass, which originally aired on January 14, 2003. Is this when we finally find out if Julia is the bad guy? We'll find out. I'm your host, Curtis Schack. Joining me as always, it's our resident upside downer, it's Ryan. You're looking very professional today, Ryan. Thank you. Can you see me? I was excited to be here until I found out you had a camera in my home. Who are we harassing? I'm excited. All with us today is our non-stimulating beverage. It's Bradley Kirkston. You're looking very professional today, Brad. Thank you. I understand how to take a compliment, unlike my co-host, Ryan. I just felt like you were coming on a little strong there, Curt. I would like to point out, somebody like me to call them non-stimulating, that's a real big compliment. Also joining us today is a very special guest. It's Sneha Kogan. Nice high beam, Sneha. Sneha. Thank you. Thank you for having me. I am privileged and honored to be part of the show tonight. First off, we're really honored that you're joining us all the way from the country known as Texas. But it is even more important because we don't actually know what we're doing. We're a season and a half in and we could use some more professionalism. So that's why we brought you in, because when we think professionalism, we think Sneha. We're hoping you can lead a harassment seminar for us. Oh, that's going to be good. With millions and millions of listeners to the show, we have known Sneha for a very, very, very long time. So she has seen us at our best and at our worst. And one of them she's seen more than often. For the record, the distance between our best and our worst is a lot shorter than you'd hope. It's not that much, yeah. It is about a 40-year dash in the NFL, if that. Is as long as the Cowboys presented a game at the playoff the other day. Well, we're going to say that was months ago by the time this episode launches, but yes. People will have forgot the Cowboys existed by that point. People in Dallas haven't. Wow.

Context outside the activity. Question: So how many episodes do you think she's in total? Answer: I want to say they end up together. So probably like two or three seasons. Response: 75 episodes. 50 episodes. 70 episodes. 50. 50, 60. 50, 60. Answer qualification: Unresolved: ['The numerical exchange does not establish one final speaker-owned integer.', [{'rows': [151, 159]}]] Notable events: Was it 20? Reviewed full source context: So Sneha, you have absolutely no history with Frasier, is that correct? Correct. Until tonight. Before you watched the episode, what did you think of, like, you'd heard of the show, I assume. Yeah, yeah, I did. I knew it was a very popular show in the 90s. I knew it was about a psychologist. Excuse me, psychiatrist. Okay, psychiatrist. There you go. Don't be that way. Don't be that way, Curt. Death nickel. Who was uppity, kind of like Kyle Curtis was, you know, just correcting. Yes. I knew Frasier Crane had a reputation of being, you know, always needing to be the smartest person in the room. Oh, so you actually knew a lot about him, I feel like. And I also knew that it was supposed to be a comedy. You used the word supposed to be, really is telling about where this episode's going to go. Were you excited to try it? Were you like, I might get to this show someday anyway? Or you're like, I would have never have watched it if it weren't for this podcast? I would not have watched it if it wasn't for this podcast, because here's why, here's why. If I was watching the show in 1993 or late 90s, whenever the episode aired, I think I would have been into it. But now that I've seen so much over the last, I don't know, 15, 20 years, there's just been really good TV. And I know people are going to hate me. I know you're about to get hate mail saying, how dare she? Why do you have her? I mean, it's just not scratching the itch. You're going to get so much hate mail. Watch out. Don't even open that inbox. Here's the thing, hate mail would be a step up. We'd love to get any mail. You can get it, Sneha, at sneha at gmail.com, I assume. I don't know. I'm about to get so many people slide into my DM and tell me to go kill myself. You're in good company, though. When I first watched Frasier, I was like, what are we doing here? This is not what I signed up for. Can we talk about what got you guys into Frasier? Easy. This podcast is the only reason I've watched Frasier. Me and Curtis have always been fans. And almost about a year ago now, I rewatched the whole entire series. This was on Brad's quest to finish all of the 2000 shows. And Curtis watched this with his mom all the time. Yeah, this is Curtis's mom's favorite show. So there's nostalgia. Yes. I can appreciate that. Curtis's mom made all of her sons watch the show with her. You make it sound darker than it is. She just put it on. Then she locks the door. And then she said, you guys aren't eating until you've watched your Frasier. I love that. I'm going to do that with my daughter and another TV show. What's the show, though? What is the show that you hope to be? I force watch my kid. Yeah. Yeah. I think it would be The Office when she's, you know, able to grasp our comedy. When she's like seven. I was worried you were going to say like Dance Moms or something horrible. The Office isn't bad. I mean, I don't put it past myself, honestly. There's dates. But no. Yeah. I love it. Love it. Thank you for sharing your origin stories. I got some questions about this episode in particular. Julia. She's a central person of this episode, right? Do you know how far into Frasier we are? Like, do you have a good sense season-wise, episode-wise? I'm told season 10, episode 12, I believe. Do you know how long Frasier went? Like, do you know how many seasons it went? Was it 20? 20. Well, close. The Frasier. That's a good answer. No one. No one clarify. So how many episodes do you think Julia is in? Since I think you probably worked out that this is her first episode. Oh, is this her first one? Okay. She meets Frasier in this episode. I thought there was a backstory with somebody else in prior episodes. Fine. Great. So how many episodes do you think she's in total? Oh my gosh. I mean, where does her trajectory go is my question. I'm not answering that. I want to, I guess, I want to hear what you think based on what you saw with this episode. I want to say they end up together. So probably like two or three seasons. Okay. And these are 24 episodes. So you think she's in like, you think she's in like. 75 episodes. 50 episodes. 70 episodes. 50. 50, 60. 50, 60. That's a fair guess. Great. It feels like it. I don't think we should touch the end. No. Yeah. I think we should start talking about the show. Yeah.

Context outside the activity. Segment context: episode discussion, quoted scenes, impressions and speculative character interpretation Reviewed full source context: We open with radio waves beaming out of the space needle. Julia finally arrives at KACL to take over 10 minutes of Frasier's show with her finance reporting. She instantly offends Rizzo by asking for coffee. What a character who's going to have 49 more episodes. We finally get to meet her. This is it, Curt. No more Julia. We should just get rid of her. Yeah. This is what you love. They're starting the episode at work at the radio station. From like an admin standpoint, this was great. We're at work. We're meeting Julia. We know we're not going to see her ever again, even though Seha thinks we're going to see her one to two more times. I thought the first scene with Julia itself was pretty clear indicator of the fact that, okay, she's going to have a strong personality. She's going to be somebody that is going to butt heads with Frasier. And it's just going to be that antithesis to what Frasier is. Like even that, the Julia part, like, were you surprised that we were in a radio station? Like, did you have any idea what was going on? Or did you feel comfortable right away? That's right. You don't know anything. I don't know. So I felt comfortable right away because then I kind of put two and two together and figured, oh, he's a psychologist or sorry, psychiatrist. Nice. Yeah. Advising people on mental health at a radio station out of Seattle. I really appreciate that because sometimes I think we forget how clearly obvious the show is. So getting your perspective is super helpful to know that this show is incredibly obvious. No idea what that means. Maybe that's why the jokes don't land so well on me. That's exactly what's going to happen. Yeah. Did you guys notice that when Frasier was like introducing Julia, he said Julia very weirdly. It was like, Julia, Julia. He was Bernie Sanders? Julia. That's how I said it is. That is a good Bernie Sanders. Oh. That's a good one. It's not Bernie Sanders. In fact, I think 30 years from now when Brad gets older, I for sure believe that he'll sound like Bernie Sanders without the Northeastern accent. When I edit this episode, I'm just going to, whatever Brad says, I'm just going to replace all of his words with Bernie Sanders talking. I reject the idea. I really do. I am very good at impersonations. So we'll see how, we'll see if I do it later. Feel the burn with Bernie Kirksten. You should be Brady Sanders. Wow. Brady Sanders. Brady Sanders. Although I do think you've lost the voice immediately. Yeah. He's back to Bernie. Okay. So questionable credibility for Julia. This is the most exciting thing we've heard about her in a long time. I didn't see that coming at all. No information we learned about her. Do they talk about in any other episode? I did appreciate that. Never comes up again. Never comes up again. Kenny, throughout the episode, he'll talk about how litigious she is and how much he's afraid of her suing mom and how we have to treat her with kid gloves. Why did he hire her? He's so afraid of her. After he, she sued, but MSNBC? MSNBC, yeah. No, CNBC. Sorry. Big difference. I mean, why not? Like a difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist. Almost the same. Why did he hire her? There's a lot of reasons you could tackle there. He doesn't know what he's doing. He's incompetent. Yeah. Yeah. She's attractive. She's been on a real show. Like. Attraction doesn't matter on the radio. It does for Kenny. I suppose. Well, and you're right. It is true that while she is disgraced at CNBC for this tiny little station in Seattle, she probably is a bit of a guest. Do you realize if we, if we could get somebody disgraced from CNBC, we would drop Brad in a heartbeat. We sure would. You got to talk about that. So replace me with Don Lemon. That works. I'm going to just go on a limb here. I assume he's listening to this. Don Lemon. Open invitation. I would replace Brad with any Lemon. Can you imagine we got Liz Lemon? It'd be the best. Oh my God. Oh my God. It's game over. All right. Cheesy Blasters. You take a hot dog, stuff it with some Jack cheese, fold it in a pizza. You got cheesy blasters. And then all the kids say, thanks Meat Cat. And then Meat Cat flies away on his skateboard. How about a Meyer? Let's game over. How do you feel about Meyer lemons? Is that just a physical lemon? It's a type of lemon. I would definitely replace you with a fruit. Ah, Brad. I am once again asking you to not make these jokes. Was that your Bernie Sanders? That's pretty good. That's one of the things that bothers me. That's much better than Brad's. Than Braddy. I think that was almost on point. It was pretty good. We sounded a little too warm though. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. You won't understand any of this because you didn't see any of the other episodes. But every episode that Julia's been in, Roz has been anti-Julia. She's been kind of instigating fighting with Julia throughout this season. So this was the episode. We are waiting to see what does Julia do that so offends Roz that Roz is like vitriolic to her from here on out. Do you think you could get me some coffee, Rizzo? It's Roz. Super. Two creams. Thanks. I want to know, do you think this warranted all we saw? I want to say how to answer first. I don't even know how to answer that. Seeing this scene and the way she treats Roz, do you think that is enough for Roz to treat her as a mortal enemy that she will take every opportunity to attack? I think so. I would say yes. I mean, can we get to the tail end? Can I talk about the tail end of the episode? We'll jump around. That's fine. Let's jump around a little bit. We're jumping around. Here's my psychology on what's going on there. Ooh. Women, as much as we want to support other women in the workplace, when we find ourselves not as the only woman in a core group, there's a sense of somebody's here to replace me. The insecurities just ramp up, right? Which, okay, now I'm eating my words about what an obvious comedy this is, right? It's not sticking with me. But I guess here's the genius of the show. I think the director's probably trying to show that the insecurity is coming off as attack from Roz because she tends to be more blunt and direct and she's not feeling it. Or, or, or. You've already nailed it. Really? I got another one. I got another one. Oh, no. Okay. Or could it be that Roz followed this Julia's advice to day trade to get out of debt or to retire and lost a bunch of money? You think she read day trade your way out of debt? I think that's what happened. Her hate predates the show? Not to question the fact that, you know, the producers and the directors probably got into the psyche of a woman who feels insecure and threatened by the presence of another possibly successful woman. But I think the more obvious. Could it be both? To be clear, I think all of the behind the scenes people who were writing these women and directing these women, almost all of them were men. So let's get that out of the way. Well, there you go. Which, which tells me that it's definitely the latter, which is she lost money day trading following Julia. Yeah. To be clear, you think it has nothing to do with the copy thing or calling her Rizzo or. I think it all has to do with calling her Rizzo. No, I'm asking Steha. I don't know. But it feels like for Roz to be ticked off for as long as she was, it has to be something deeper. That's okay. You know what? Sneha, dang. You came in and nailed it. All about reverse psychology, y'all. And she name drops the show. Lock it in, Curt. So you can't cut it. We'll see you next week, Steha. I did love when she caught her Rizzo. So disappointing that it never came up in another episode. You don't think the writer could have added that in any of the other episodes with the two of them in it? No. Okay. Real props to Julia because she's, she goes from this getting into it with Frasier, getting into it with Roz and then just boom, right into her shell. And she crushes it. Unlike we've ever seen out of Frasier for the record. Yeah. Yeah. Well, again, I've said this all season. Julia is all business. And she, she, she'll stay it later in this episode. It's not rudeness. It's indifference. I'm sorry I'm not joining your bowling team, but this is just a pit stop for me. She just does not care about these people or this place. It's just, it's out. Yeah. I frankly love that about her. She gets in, she does her work, and that's all she wants to do. Exactly. At the coffee shop, Rizzo and Frasier complain to Kenny about Julia. Rizzo correctly guesses he will eventually hit on her. Frasier goes up to Julia to connect emotionally, but indifference is her only emotional state. Yeah. Roz really gets Frasier. That's for sure. She, she really understands what, how he's going to handle the situation. Maybe they should end up together. Oh, oh, oh. Oh. You're missing it again, Steha. Crushing it again. This all comes back to the point earlier. I said this show pretty obvious, but continue. They're the Pam and Jim, except they're not pranking on people together. They're just. I thought you were going to say funny. If we're doing comps to the office, ooh. Roz and Frasier would be on the office. We know that Julia would be Angela. That much is clear. I was thinking Angela-Oscar, that combo, or Angela-Kevin, but that really feels like a disservice. I think mostly Angela. She's too stiff. Getting back to this episode. Did anybody else think it was really kind of odd the way Roz and Kenny have a battle of the sexes? Like when they just start sniping about what men do and what women do? It seemed very odd to me. It doesn't go anywhere. Kenny is not the right person to be on the other side of that. Like you can do that bit even in this context, but I don't understand why Kenny is the one opposite of Roz. He will lose that battle every time. And he doesn't really, which is annoying. Question for Stan. What did you think of Kenny? Did you think he was like a main character? Like what was, because he was a lot. No. Okay, good. I mean, he's just background noise at this point. Just adding to a little bit of comic relief. The insight. Nailed it again. Are you a writer for Frasier? Do you actually know everything? You know, if I would have been, then it wouldn't be something from the 90s. It would have still been on. You know, they did have a season this year though, right? Huh. Literally. Well, sorry. Sorry, last year, I guess, but. I'm not allowed to watch it yet. Hold up. So this show went from 1993 to 2023? No. No, no. It had one season last year. But 1994, 2004. It did a will and grace. And then they bombed, probably, because it just wasn't good enough as the real deal. Nailed it again. Spoiler alert. I can't. Did you guys think it was weird that there was a segment of her book, which was Day Trade your way out of debt, but there was starting a .com as one of the chapters? I don't think that has anything to do with Day Trade. I think that was part of the joke. I think that whole subplot is mired in early 2000s insider jokes. That is like topical humor that just does not last. Yeah. He just made it a point. He had to be there. .com boom in every situation. I would have loved to have started .com and been there. I would have loved to have boomed and even busted. It would have been great.

Context outside the activity. Activity request: What would you .com be? Response context: Since no one asked me our answer anyway, I would make weaved baskets and they would be Reviewed full source context: What would you .com be? It would be virtual juggling. And you'd go in and you'd watch someone juggle and then you'd peace out. I think this is called YouTube. This is pre-YouTube, though. You know how Amazon started as like a bookstore and then evolved into the everything store? You would have started a juggling video website and it would have become YouTube. Oh my God, that would have been amazing. I could have been Ryan YouTube. That would have been great. I would have changed my last name because of the success, but. Why did you name your juggling video site YouTube, though? I was like YouTube in for some juggling, you know? No. You jello. What, Curtis, what would .com name be? Oh, that's a good question. Yeah, Curt. No. No .com would be great. I would have never had the balls to start anything. Up to and including a podcast. Yeah, why'd you use the past tense? Since no one asked me our answer anyway, I would make weaved baskets and they would be called Rosie the Reaver and I would just make weaved baskets. My goodness. Is reaving part of baskets? Like a weaved basket? Oh, I think you said reaved with an R. No. I think you did. Curtis, check the tape. I think he said reaved. Please check the tape. Other than the partisan rhetoric, what you don't hear him talking about are, in fact, the most important issues facing this country. That's what the establishment does. Brad, have you seen the building in Ohio that's the shape of a giant basket? I have Longaberger. Longaberger. Yeah, that's right. Longaberger. It's a wild building. I think, isn't it near where Vitaly is from? I think Vitaly showed me. No. No, it's like in the middle of nowhere. It's just a giant basket building around nothing. It's crazy. Oh, yeah. I've never seen it in person, but I've seen the pictures. It's crazier in person because it's that picture, but like in real life. And you're like, wow, this is someone made a really big decision. No. Are you sure? I'm looking at it. Oh. Yeah, you're looking at it. No, I was looking at a picture of that building, but with a crane, like literally it's half down. But then the title says fake picture of vandalized basket building. What is the internet? It would phrase your crane and heat on the building. There's a reason there was a dot-com bubble. There was a bubble. It did burst. I would have absolutely been one of the rooves. I would have been buying day trading your way to success or whatever and trying to win it big by reading a book. Same. I definitely would have been one of the readers of the book, but I would have also just owned a bunch of web pages, something generic called www.books.com, www.chairs.com, and just bought it. Oh, I see. You just want to get that real estate so you can sell it off on somebody's real estate. You want to be the lander. Yeah. Yeah. That's smart. Easy money. No work. Just money. Well, too bad you're not slightly older.

Context outside the activity. Segment context: episode discussion, reported future requests and fictional events Reviewed full source context: So Frazier and Niles elect to build a breakfast nook onto their treehouse. Oh, yeah. What does that sound? That is a great moment. You know, I will give the show credit because it's very on brand for the two of them. At least they understand the characters that they're writing for, and that made me happy. You're telling me if you had a treehouse right now, you wouldn't want a breakfast nook? Is that what I'm hearing? I think I would now. I'm not sure if I would want one as a child. What child doesn't want a breakfast nook? What are you talking about, Brad? It's comfy. It's cozy. You get to eat pancakes there. What's not to love? Yeah. Ryan and Say Howe, will you please talk to your children about this and let Curtis know, and then he will auto-impose this into the podcast. What do you think auto-impose means? Do you have any idea how any of this gets done? I imagine in my world, Curtis is in a black room with film, and he is producing film, and he's doing the photosynthesis to make the film work. I'm sorry. I'm doing photosynthesis to make the film work. Oh, Curtis. Curtis, you have to auto-impose stuff. It's difficult work. Yeah, come on, Curtis. Know your child. Doesn't happen overnight. Doesn't happen overnight. Well, he does have to stay up all night, but it doesn't happen over just that night. Sometimes I forget that we're talking to Bradley Kirksten, noted scientist. Noted Scientologist. I really thought he was meant to call me a Scientologist. I really thought so. We can't burn past this. They refer to Cheers. Oh, yeah. He basically just recounts a plot of an episode of Cheers. Yeah. I think this is the first time we've had that, which is weird at this point. You think it would come up a lot. I love that you're drawing parallel connections with other 90s sitcoms. That's pretty cool. Oh, well, first of all, it's an 80s sitcom. You probably are not aware of this. Frasier is a spinoff of the sitcom Cheers. Oh, no shit. So the character Frasier started on Cheers. Fair for you not to know that. Okay, so it's like Better Call Saul. Yes. It is precisely. Like Better Call Saul. Better Call Saul is a prequel. So this would be a sequel to Cheers. We all agree there is no comparison more apt than Cheers is freaking bad and Frasier is Better Call Saul. You're goddamn right. It's exactly like the Young Sheldon spinoff, whatever the hell they do for that. It'll be just like that. I'm not sure why you keep bringing up the Young Sheldon spinoff. They're a past with Young Sheldon. I don't like that they're having a spinoff. God, it's the dumbest concept. It's the dumbest concept. I wish it was old Sheldon. I think that would have been great. I hate the choice that they're making. Marty reveals that Niles will soon see his patients at home due to a remodel at his office. Frasier is upset that a fan complimented his on-air rapport with Julia. And everyone assumes he has a schoolboy crush. I know this is the early 2000s. I know this is a show about psychiatry. It's late 90s. It's late 90s. Let's get it right. Well, it's 2002 in this episode. I do think 2002 is the late 90s. Correct. The fact that he calls his patients the crazies, probably not the most political correct way to discuss your patients. Is Niles? Does he call them the crazies? Sorry, Martin does, but still. Yeah, Martin can do that. Martin's whole character is being a funny, that he weird old guy. It's just not politically correct. That's not his only time he does that, I think, this scene. You're getting upset with lack of political correctness. He literally says he thinks all protesters should be gassed in this scene. He's very comfortable saying that. Well, I'm just going one line at a time, okay? Stop jumping around. You can take it as a whole. Marty's a terrible person. Say hi, I already gave us permission to jump around. Yeah, jump, jump around. Jump, jump. What if Curtis, instead of jumping around by scene, if Curtis just gave us one line at a time when we discussed it? Curt, what's our next line? Is it talking about why Gertrude ran around naked after her soccer team lost? Because that felt very in character. Well, you know how soccer fans are. Soccer fans are pretty serious. It'd be weird to do around your son-in-law and daughter's own apartment. I don't care about that, let's be honest. That is what we've seen out of her. So when they were saying the fan joke, I thought they kept saying the word van, and I was so confused. I thought they kept saying that Frasier ran into a van. I was like, why have you kept making that joke over the years? It's very specific, and I don't understand it. Is NBL surprised that he has a fan? I was surprised that there's actually somebody recognizing him. Wait, is it canon that he ran into a fan? I thought they were just making a dumb joke. I didn't think he actually ran into what? Yeah, the whole point is that he saw a fan, and that he gave him a compliment. He has good chemistry with Julia. That's the whole point of the scene. Oh man, I missed that. I missed that completely. I thought it was a van thing the whole time. Can we start keeping track of any time that Ryan doesn't understand the full scene? We're averaging about once an episode. We don't have that kind of time. He totally misses the point of the scene. It's really great. So clearly, Fraser does not want to hear a compliment if he does not agree with it. I'm sure he was probably super rude to the fan. Or, as a psychiatrist... Lay it down, Sneha. Lay it down. ...who wouldn't otherwise have fans, did he just say thank you and then roll his eyes within his mind? You know, Fraser enough, he's the type of guy that would correct somebody. You were doing so well for so long, Sneha. That's not the Fraser we know. This is the same guy who said, I won't dignify that with a response, except to say you're wrong. Yes. A line I loved. I know Daphne got to talk this scene. That was pretty cool. That's pretty progressive of the writers today. We're going in a string of not a lot of Daphne. That's for sure. This is a big Daph episode. Also, we had the biggest Daph episode of all, like two episodes ago. What do you mean a string? That's pretty much the rest of her series. Correct. Fraser tries to hash things out with Julia, but she remains indifferent to him. When they get into a shouting match, he tries to sand Malone her into bed, but she is rightly disgusted by his advances. Fraser should adopt a cat. That really felt right for him. Why would he adopt a cat? Like at the start of the scene. I am reaching out to you here. Yeah, will you cut that out? It's like you're trying to make me your special project. Why don't you just adopt a cat or something? And I was like, yeah, you should do that, Fraser. This is the meat of the episode, right? This is the thing that makes comedy happen the rest of the episode, or what they call the comedy at that time. Then we're talking sexual harassment seminars. I think this is part for most of the episode. You're right, Sarah. This whole episode really is anachronistic in its comedy. Like a lot of the stuff is like tropes that have not been funny, for sure. I mean, not for the political correct reasons, but it's just seen it. And I say seen it because, you know, we've seen these other shows that did something very similar. Case in point, The Office. Like The Office. They have a very specific episode that's just like the sexual harassment. I'm willing to bet they drew a lot of inspiration from this episode on Fraser. But then the chain of events is different. You know, there is a potential romance. What happens next is different than what happened on Fraser. But I'm thinking back to the fact that today, in 2024, I'm watching this and I'm thinking, first time, and I'm thinking maybe it was new in the 90s. In 2024, you're watching a, you know, 20-year-old sitcom, The Office. And you're going, yeah, this 30-year-old sitcom, Fraser, is really happy. Now, what do you think happens? Like, what do you think Fraser and Julia's relationships like for the rest of the series? Especially after you see this scene? I was actually with Fraser because I was sensing some sexual chemistry. Oh, interesting. If typically when there's a guy and a girl, they're fighting, fighting, fighting, you know, all these sitcoms, they always end up in bed together. So I was expecting that. So Fraser was, I don't know, I guess he wasn't wrong to make an assumption that that was what's going to happen. Look at you, darling. Fraser. We definitely have a lot of guests that defend Fraser. So we'll take that as a win. Do you think they end up getting together? I think they do. And they stay together for a little bit. But then he ends up, ends up together with Roz because she knows him better than he knows him. Wow. For as much as you're wrong. You have a lot, right? Yeah. Him and Julia absolutely do end up together. They do. For three seasons. No, no, it's, no. It's like, when they kiss, it's like six episodes. Go back and look. Count it. Go back and count it. Tell me the episode number where the kiss happens. It's like 10 episodes from now. Jesus Christ. That's way too long. Well, she's also not in every episode. Because Fraser does this annoying thing where like characters dip in it out, even if they're a main character for stretches. With no explanation. Like I know in many ways she's supposed to be the bad guy of this episode, but nothing could endear her to me more than when she says, You're a magic eight ball with a Harvard degree. Yes, that was iconic. And at least that's a joke they reference more in the episode. They do come back to her, which is nice. I think you're terrified that you're going to fail here too. Then what do I know? I'm just a magic eight ball with a Harvard and Oxford degree. Which is a great line. Honestly. I like it. I love how she kind of attacked him with that. And I love how he came back with it. I think when they're yelling at each other and sniping at each other, that's them at their best, frankly. Yeah, definitely. This is not the last time we'll see that. KACO attends a sexual harassment seminar hosted by the manager from Tchotchkes. I don't know.

Segment context: guest-star clarification, quoted performance and reactions within the information request Reviewed full source context: Brad, do you want to do your guest star thing? The manager from Tchotchkes. I didn't think I don't even know who that was. I thought it was just a random actor. Is that from office space? People can get a cheeseburger anywhere, okay? They come to Tchotchkes for the atmosphere and the attitude. That is Mike Judge, creator of King of the Hill, Silicon Valley. Oh, wow. That's Van, the guy running this sexual harassment seminar. I just thought it was a random person. Oh, I didn't realize that. Why are you telling us about nobodies? Yeah. Come on. Keep focused, Curt.

Context outside the activity. Segment context: discussion of the fictional seminar, performers and next scene Reviewed full source context: Everyone hates Frazier. It's like, perfect. It's exactly how I meant. If you set something up and then people can't say asses anymore, you're going to be hated in your workplace. That's just what's going to happen. Also, if you have to go in on your day off for a sexual harassment seminar. For a mouse pad. Free mouse pad. If I was in a meeting and someone said free mouse pads, I don't even use a mouse pad. I'd be excited. I'd be like, yes, let's get a free mouse pad. I'm second, Brad. You do not speak for the average American. We can get mouse pads with our name and image and likeness on it. Sneha, for joining us tonight, you get a mouse pad. It would be hilarious if our first and only merch was a mouse pad. It goes with the sick album we're talking about in the years it was on. I think it should. I think it's topical. I think it's relevant. And you know what? Corporate America could use some more mouse pads. Time out. I forgot to say something in the beginning of this scene that I really am sorry to not say because it really goes, it really supports who I am as a person. But this scene has puppets, guys. You know how much I love puppets. You didn't want to wait till the puppets came out to mention that? I had to say it in the beginning how much I love puppets. Mostly because I like the word puppets. That's creepy. That's creepy. Brad's definitely the kind of person who could lead a sexual harassment seminar, right? He's got a bad bum. And be as ineffective as this guy. Wow. I want to be part of that. Yeah, I would also attend now. But I don't want the world to know that I was ever a part of that. I don't want it to happen to the world. But I would attend. I would absolutely attend and film the whole thing. I use puppets in my explanation, though. Oh. Yeah, we know. So this is, we get to hear Bulldog's bark, which I don't think we've heard before. By the way, the chick at the coffee table's got her high beams on. Very good bark. I didn't realize that was part of his character. That he really lived the Bulldog lifestyle. Yeah, he's on fire in this episode, honestly. He's doing some good work. You mean creeping on people at the sexual harassment seminar? To be clear, I'm saying as a piece of comedy. That's what people should do. He's doing some good work. We get it. I'm so glad that Curtis gets to be the bad guy and not me. Curtis took down notes. He's like, this is what I can do in my next harassment seminar. This would be great. I'm laughing at him, not with him. You did. You did. He's doing good work. Yeah. He did God's work in staring at that girl's boobs. Talking about the actor performing the character of Bulldog. Look, I'm just going to say it. I'm pro-sexual harassment. Oh, God, Curtis. This is my Brad Hitler moment. Who are all these people at this seminar, by the way? I know you can't answer it, and they probably won't ever come up again, but there's a lot of people that we've never seen and probably will never see again. Do you guys ever wonder or go into this rabbit hole of, hey, this one character popped up like two times. Let's say Bulldog, for example. Do you ever feel the need to dig into his IMDb to see, did something come out of those two appearances and the two lines that he had, or did he just wander off in the ether? That's Brad's job. He's never done it once. I was going to say, the guy that plays Bulldog, he's in a bunch of 90s sitcoms. I recently just watched two. Yeah, but we want to know what happened to him in the 2000s. Did he give up acting and then be a waiter, or? Did he go run tchotchkes? He has done nothing in late 10. You just said he's nothing. The actor who played Bulldog is probably going to be one of your listeners, and you're about to get some go-kill-yourself emails. This actor, you think his current life is listening to Frasier podcasts and then sending hate mail when they don't honor him? I don't see any other Frasier podcasts happening. Only if that were true. There's nothing wrong with reliving your glory days through somebody else's perspective. He had a small role in the 2022 film Blood. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, about Marilyn Monroe. Yeah, yeah. Oh. He was Monroe. Yeah. He was like the 15th actor. Gil's reaction to puppets is very surprising. Gil seems like a pro-puppet type of character. We find out he loves the females. He's just a man's man. Let's be honest. He's a man's man. He's a tough guy. Yep. He's a brute. The man's a brute. This isn't the first time we've seen Gil do this kind of thing. It made way more sense here than when we see it, I think, literally the next time. Yeah. I do not buy for one second that he's mad that puppets shown up to that seminar. Not for one second. He would be the puppet-loving type. I think he probably brought his own puppet. Well, that's why he's upset because he thought he was going to be the puppet guy and then here comes Van with his puppets. I also found his threatening punch to Frasier really awkward. It was a really grindy punch. I don't know what he's going to do though. He's going to punch and grind. He's going to do the old punching. Actually, you know what? That's the threat. We get our first title card. There's a doctor in the house. Mr. Peanutbutter finds it hard to focus on his therapy session with Niles because he suddenly sees him as a person. Much like seeing your teacher at the grocery store.

Context outside the activity. Notable references: I just named him as Mr. Peanutbutter on BoJack Horseman. And he was on the VH on-show best week ever. He was on that show every week. Reviewed full source context: Okay, so this time I'll do my job. The actor in the scene was played by Paul F. Tompkins. Do you think Paul F. Tompkins did anything after his one appearance in Frasier? Do you think he had a career? I just named him as Mr. Peanutbutter on BoJack Horseman. No one knows what you're ever talking about, Curt. And he was on the VH on-show best week ever. He was on that show every week. Oh yeah. He was on every week. Yeah.

Context outside the activity. Segment context: episode discussion, fictional role-play quotations and closing-scene interpretation Reviewed full source context: I think this scene's colored by the fact that he shows up. He's just like, ah, Paul F., this is great to see you. I don't think this scene's actually like that funny, but I'm just so delighted by everything he's doing anyway because it's him. Like, I don't think I liked the bits, but all in all, it worked for me. It was one of those scenes where they were just trying to like get people to go, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Do you know the sitcom is? Yeah. Did you go, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha? Yeah. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Oh, Noah. Shit. They're laughing. We were hoping for some guffaws. Oh, that's they laughing. I see. Again, everything in this episode is a throwback because it was made in 2003. One of the main jokes of this scene depends on the answering machine. Like how many sitcom tropes just died when the answering machine was replaced with voicemail? Why does every psychiatrist just let her roll to voicemail? Or why do the cranes at least let her roll to voicemail? That's never going to go well, no matter what's happening. Weirdly, whoever it is must have hung up because we just hear the like song they do for their message. We never hear the message from the person who called him. There's no way that Daphne is doing that song from everything we've seen from her. Daphne, at least I can see her like playing along for her husband. There's no way Gert, her mother, is joining in on this. Wait, it was Gert in that? Yes. Absolutely. Oh, I missed that. Chalk another one up. I missed that. How about Niles getting heated seats for his bathroom? Good move. I don't know what that feels like. I started looking up heated toilet seats on Amazon. How much do they cost? I would love to buy one. I don't think they're that expensive. I don't think they're a standalone seat. I think you have to get some extra. I think it's a whole thing. Yeah, I think it's a whole thing. A sponsorship opportunity. Heated seats dot com. Get at us. We are bought and paid for by a big mouse pad. Don't get it twisted. There you go. If you know that that's your answering machine, you can't let it roll. He's like embarrassed by it immediately. But like you filmed that, Niles. You can't let that happen. Recorded it. He was in a dark room with some tape. Thank you. Film and he made a message. You photosynthesized that. You can't let that roll. Look at you trying to be logical. I just feel like that he like then immediately gets embarrassed by it. Like that makes no sense. Yeah, it's a bad joke and a bad scene. It doesn't feel connected to the rest of the episode. That's true. It felt so out of place. That's a really good call. There is nothing else. They're just like we need to get Niles and Daphne something to do. Yeah. Usually they do a better job tying in B plot to the rest of the plot. They just don't here. They had to find a reason to get Marty into the episode and all they could come up with is Marty's going to announce what Niles' plot's going to be. Well, he also loves tear gas. But yeah, he's a fascist. Bulldog knows how to play the game at this sexual harassment seminar. But no one else plays it cool. Fraser complains and lectures at everyone until Julia cries uncle and agrees to not soothe the station. Okay. Kind of forgot to go back to this. This is actually the scene where we find out Gil loves the ladies. Yeah. Yeah. He gives the speech here. Yeah. That's right. The first time we see Gil, he's just mad puppets are involved. Yeah. Now he's giving speeches. Probably with a puppet. I don't know why they wrote that out. We also get really gross and unpleasant Noel time. Yeah. That gets a little creepy. There's a couple creepy bits to this scene. We're literally attacking Julia, who's like the reason we have the seminar. You can't do that. Absolutely. It is so weird when he's like, hey, Fraser, the guy who committed the offense and the victim of that offense. Why don't you come up and role play? Right, right, right. Like what? Without any guidance either. That's the comedy of the 90s. There was just so much insensitivity that they were like, why don't you reenact what you just did so we can talk about what you did? It was much more evolved in two years than The Office does it. Yeah, I kind of loved it. I'm not pro-sexual harassment. I'm not. Listen, this whole podcast is pro-sexual harassment. We've made that clear. It's fine. You've signed on by being part of us. This will live on the internet forever, following you wherever you go and whatever you do. Oh, fuck. When I post about this episode, I'm going to hyperlink to your LinkedIn. Oh, fuck off. Curtis doesn't know how to do that. Relax. I do think when Bulldog and Roz are role playing, Roz gives a great line. After work, would you care to join me for a coffee or non-stimulating beverage? Thank you, Bulldog, for your offer, but I'm uncomfortable with it, as I would prefer to cut my own arm off and eat it. God, I hate when girls say that to me. It's happened a couple times. I would expect nothing less. Well, what's more disturbing are the ones who follow through. Yeah, it's not a good look for me. Or them. No, it shows their commitment. The badge of honor. Yeah. God, how many women have cut off their arms to not date you? Okay, I'm not going to explain it, but two and a half. Makes sense. I wrote Frasier doing well for once. I don't know what that's referring to. By the end, people seem to be on Frasier's side, so maybe that's what it was. I mean, he does have this moment with Julia where he kind of psychoanalyzes. Maybe you meant that, but I think you just meant that his blowhardedness gets Julia to say she won't sue, so that it finally ends this nightmare for all of us involved. I like that we have three different scenarios of what you meant, so hopefully one of them. I think it is taking Julia to task. Ryan, I'm going to interrupt. Sneha, could you explain what Ryan memes? Wait, repeat. Never mind. Well, so, okay, how do you think he was doing in this scene? Maybe that's intentional, because then that kind of sparks the whole, he can psychoanalyze the person he is romantically involved with. Sneha's really turned everything up on their head. Like, we have to really now consider the writers are amazing and really think these things through and don't just want to leave women off of the show because they don't know how to write for them. Doesn't sound right. That doesn't sound right. That doesn't sound right. I've got a lot to think about for next episode. There isn't that much depth. I don't know. You talked me into it immediately, so I disagree. I'm willing to bet that at least one of the writers on Frasier are probably listening. And are subscribers to the podcast. Yeah, it's Bulldog. We only know because of all the hate mail he sends. That's right. You just keep sending kill yourself an email. I don't understand. Give me some context, Bulldog. What do you mean? Ow. Julia remains cold and distant, but offers the smallest of all of branches. When Frasier takes too long to say no, she gives up. Sweet little endearing scene. Crites kind of sums it up. There's not much more to say. I always sum it up. Do you think this is her taking the seminar to heart? Do you think this is Frasier really moved the needle here? Or do you think she just has given up on her life? What do you think is happening in this one? I think the writers knew she was going to be an ongoing story arc. I think they thought they were planting seeds that she's going to start really harsh and slowly warm up to Frasier. But then apparently they just forgot to do that part. They were like, we got 49 episodes to really figure this girl out. And we're going to skip some of the episodes. Not have her in the next episode, but that's fine. Part of me is so curious. What changed? I feel like there's a gap. What changed from the sexual harassment episode where she walks away with Frasier psychoanalyzing her and telling her about herself that she might not have known? I guess that's what changed. Just a bit of a revelation that he sees through the hard exterior. So anyhow, we'd love to go on that journey with you, but we're going the other way. I think she respects that he called him out. I don't think she gained insights from that comment. I think she was like, oh, he's feisty. I like this one. I think that's actually it. Oh, that they have a rapport. A banter. They do end up having a bit more of a rapport from this episode on. And Roz and her never do. Frasier and her do. And no one else in the whole show has a real rapport with her. Also, it's like Kenny's fifth last episode. Rizzo brings coffee for herself and Julia. Knowing one is tainted, they both try the old switcheroo until neither knows which mug has the eye cane powder. Rizzo dumps both. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Would you believe this was probably the best scrambled egg scene we ever had? It's just so dumb. Roz trying to take revenge for whatever Julia considered subpar coffee. I obviously, but I didn't find it funny, guys.

Context outside the activity. Segment context: interrupting and subsequent banter, not additional ingredient-response obligations Reviewed full source context: Should we speculate what we think she put in? Yes. I think she put something to cause diarrhea. I think she put lexative. Oh. Oh, Ipecac or whatever. I was thinking Metamucil. I think she went with decaf. I think it was just she went with a decaf. So really. That'd be fun. I would much rather have diarrhea than not be awake. Just to sleep on the toilet. If it's heated. Oh my God. If it's heated. Oh, that would be nice. Well, I don't have that. I don't live with a ritzy life. So I can't do decaf. Ryan, I'm now very concerned at the prospect of you getting a heated toilet seat because I don't know if you're ever going to leave the bathroom again. You don't have to be concerned about me getting decaf. I felt we I kept thinking I was drinking decaf for like a week straight and I was so tired that whole week. I slept in some very weird places. A heated toilet seat would have been amazing. Brad, what do you think? What do you think that she was slipping in there? You remember those old like pixie sticks? Why did you turn? Why did you age 20 years since we checked in with you last? Bernie. Bernie came back. OK, let's deal with it. Do you remember those old pixie sticks? That's what I think. Just the sugar. You can just call them pixie sticks. They still exist. Do they? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a stick of sugar. You're not going to get rid of a stick of sugar that's colored. Easy product. I remember when there was the jumbo ones that were like half your height. You're like, there's no problem consuming this whole thing. Oh, Ryan. I remember them. I remember them. I'm concerned to learn what you did with them.

Context outside the activity. Claim: The show only went 11 seasons, by the way. Response context: I'm talking just strictly this bonus because they always do a bonus scene. Answer: That's like when I saw that switcheroo, I was like, okay, I was not totally disappointed with the episode. But then that scene made me completely disappointed with the episode. Reviewed full source context: I liked this bonus scene as much as Sneha hated it. I think it was easily the best one we've seen. What? You are not the first person we've had on that is not a fan of the show. Not somebody who watched the show. And it is very weird to jump in on a random episode like this. It definitely is a little disorienting. You're coming out with a different context than us. We've seen all of the last two seasons worth of these ending scenes. The show only went 11 seasons, by the way. We know how bad it can get. So what you see is really bad. We're like actually middle of the pack at worst. The episode is one thing. I'm talking just strictly this bonus because they always do a bonus scene. We call it the scrambled egg scene. That's what I'm talking about. Yeah. I'm saying we've seen all the bonus scenes. The bonus scenes are stupid. Almost always. So for this one, was the bonus scene the coffee mix up? Yeah. The coffee switcheroo. Oh, come on. That's like when I saw that switcheroo, I was like, okay, I was not totally disappointed with the episode. But then that scene made me completely disappointed with the episode. Wow. Okay.

Segment type: noncompetitive episode reviews and ratings Competition adjudication competition established: False Reviewed full source context: Well, I think before we go any further, Sneha, did you like this episode of Frasier? Talk to us pre the switcheroo scene and then post the switcheroo scene. So pre switcheroo scene, it was just tried and been there, done that before episode of a sitcom. Is it what you expected of Frasier? Gosh, I got to say, I don't know what I expected of Frasier. That's very fair. Yeah. That's where I found myself in this watch as well. The most surprising part of this entire episode for me, the most part of aha revelation was the fact that he's a radio host. Even by the way, if you've seen Cheers, that's a very surprising thing to find out. Yeah, it was surprising thing to find out because in my mind, Frasier Crane, psychiatrist, was just listening to people while they're laying on the couch. I fully expected the episode to be some guy walks in and talks about childhood trauma and Frasier goes in the back, makes fun of that guy with childhood trauma. A hundred percent. That's a hundred percent what I thought the show would be as well. And I've been very surprised to learn that almost never happens. It happens exactly once so far. That's interesting. What kind of a rating would you give this episode? How many stars do we have? Seven. As many as you want. Oh, okay. I'll keep it out of five. Our listeners can calibrate themselves because that's more common. They've been on Amazon. They know what a five star rating looks like. I'm just making sure, right? We got listeners from all around the world. We got to be inclusive. Everyone understands stars. I think I would give 1.5 stars, to be honest, out of five. You realize if that's an Amazon product, that means it doesn't even turn on. You bought a vacuum that doesn't turn on. It doesn't work. What's a show that you give three stars out of five? The Office. No, I would give five stars out of five for The Office. I think three. Double Frasier, basically. It would be Arrested Development. Oh, Curtis, do you take offense to that or do you support that? I actually love Arrested Development. For me, comic relief is Arrested plus The Office. So I guess I should take that back. Now I'm confused by your scale. 2007, Curtis, would have been deeply offended by that statement. 2023, Curtis, I can see it. Are we counting seasons four and five? Because that also changes things. Yeah. Including season four and five, I would put Arrested at a three. But without it, I think Arrested lives in a higher place. I think Friends is something that can come close to a three. There's just a timeless element to it. Twice as funny as Frasier. Oh. I don't know. Oh. Okay. Think about, okay. Case in point, right? You're throwing a lot of judgment on somebody that has only seen this episode. I think her rating is very fair. She was like, this episode would be okay, but where's Ross? Where's Ross Geller? What are we doing? Or think about how clever the scene was with the couch. The most iconic pivot. Pivot! Pivot? Pivot! It's just so memorable to me. They're moving the couch around and they just can't get the right angle. And I don't know, that kind of humor scratches my itch sometimes. I imagine you had never seen an episode of Friends, but the first one you ever watched was episode 12 of season 9. Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! We're in the Joey Rachel storylines at this point. Oh, we are. Okay. That should tell you. Yeah. So anyway, Brad, what about you? How did you like this episode? Welcome to Brad's Report Card. What? That's what this section is called, Brad's Report Card. Since when? And after really deliberating and thinking about it with the council, I have decided to- Wait, wait, wait. Is it Brad's Report Card or is it Brad and the council's Report Card? No, it's Brad's Report Card, but I use the council for- Why are you deliberating with the council? Well, you'll find out in future episodes. The score that I give this episode, after really thinking about it, is a D-. Whoa. Wow. I felt the answer was- Interesting. Lacked humor. It lacked pure pointless points. And there was not really a good- What? Sorry, that statement- It lacked words. It lacked pure pointless points. But there was no real B-plot. And I just- This episode did not inspire me. And I'm someone who likes to be inspired. And this episode just did not- You want to be inspired by Frasier Crane. Yeah. I want to be like- Am I getting that right? Yeah. I want to be like a honeybee, you know? No. I would not expect any less, Brad. Yeah, thank you. No, I don't know what you mean. What do you mean like a honeybee? Like, you know, the honeybee takes the pollen, pollinates, you know, does all that kind of fun stuff. That's what I would have felt, that feeling of pollination. What? Yeah. What the fuck does that mean? He wants to be photosynthesized by a bee. Maybe I need to have a new segment on the show besides Brad's report card called Brad the Science Man, where I just talked about science. No. All right, we got to move it in. I'm going to give you my- Thank you, Curtis. I wanted to hear more about Brad pollinating things or whatever the fuck was going on. Yeah. Why does he think that he can feel it? Yeah. What do you think feeling pollination is? Well, I've never been a bee. Why is that what you're going for? And I wonder why someone said that I turned everything into myself on this podcast. So this is 22 out of 36. Okay. Okay. This is also on the lower end of the spectrum. It is a sandwich between two of the other mediocre Julia F's. Analyze Kiss, the one where they kiss, and the one where something else happens. Great. I didn't write it down, okay? I don't know. Great card. It's just really mediocre. The humor is deeply dated and does not hold up. And the story isn't very interesting. And for our finale of this character of Julia, who we have been throughout rooting for to be something better than mediocre, she ends as mediocre as she's been the whole time. Ryan, how about you? Yeah. So we definitely do not get the Julia Roz explosive scene that we should have gotten to set up all of the jokes that led up to this. So that was extremely disappointing. It's weird, Brad, that you said you didn't feel inspired. I think this is one of Frasier's more inspiring segments. If you think about, from a comedy aspect, this episode wasn't that great. Sneha crushed it. This is very outdated. It feels very outdated. It's nothing like The Office. But I do think the sincere elements were, but they weren't bad. I liked his speech he gave to Julia. I thought it kind of did tee up the rest of their plot line. That was all right. This was best Kenny episode. Probably best Julia episode, which doesn't say much of anything. Mari's a fascist, which fits. I'm glad we finally have learned that. I'm fine with the lack of B plot. I kind of wish they just left it out. I really think we could have skipped it. Sorry. Did I just win something? What the fuck was that? I hit the wrong button. What do you mean you hit the wrong button? What button was that? I clicked on a video. Of what? Of someone. Oh, wow. What video were you going to watch? Of someone becoming a rainbow? What the fuck was that? It was a trailer for some movie. Oh, my God. Sorry about that. I don't want to know. I don't either. Ryan, do you have a number for, do you give a rating yet? Yeah, you know, I'm bouncing all over the place. Like, I was, you guys kind of talked me down a little bit. I was kind of dipping below fives. But the more I'm talking, the more I'm, you know, I won something for Brad's weird noise. I'm like, I'm putting it in like a solid five and a half. There's no Eddie that I think probably that was pretty exciting. Five and a half. Okay. All right. Out of what? Ten? I do it. I do it out of ten. Yes. You do? I do it. What if it was out of five? I do it just for your scale. I think it was slightly better than all of Friends. Awesome.

Title: Rank the Ratings Activity premise: I've got a list of the top 100 TV shows from the 2002-2003 season. Method: It's a Nielsen's Sneha. He uses the Nielsen's. Rules: reference show: Frasier; reference rank: 28; better: closer to number one; worse: lower in the ratings Interaction mode: unified team answer resolved by votes Scoring method: Three of them you got correct. Two of them you got wrong. This is for the win versus a tie. Winner statement: With my usual excitement, I will just say congratulations on winning the game, rank the ratings. Competition adjudication competition established: True

Segment context: game-level setup before comparison play Choice: Team Freshman Dorms Reviewed full source context: Now for a recurring segment. It's another edition of Rank the Ratings. I've got a list of the top 100 TV shows from the 2002-2003 season. I'm going to name and briefly describe some of the shows that year. And what I want you to do is tell me if Frasier ranked better or worse than those shows. What do you mean better or worse? Why haven't you fixed that? Higher or lower? No, no. I did higher or lower before and that was confusing. Basically, Frasier this season came in at a rank of 28th. Whoa! Big upgrade. It was 28th of all shows. What's your source? It's a Nielsen's Sneha. He uses the Nielsen's. Oh. Yeah. I talked to Nelson and he gets together with the council and they pollinate for a while. Oh, good. And then they photosynthesize me in an answer. Thank you for using my council. So, yeah, it was 28 overall. So, I'm going to give you shows. You have to say if it was better, meaning it was closer to number one, or if it was worse, meaning it was lower in the ratings. And we're all giving an answer every round. I think you guys can discuss it and come up with a unified answer. That's fine. What? Okay. All right. All right, team. Should we have a team name? Extreme. Should we have a team name? Santa, you seem ably suited to come up with a team name. Yeah, I'm thinking. I think it should be. Ably suited is a fun description. I think it should be Freshman Dorms. Team Freshman Dorms. Let's go. Freshman Dorms. Okay. Freshman Dorms. Team name proposer: Sneha

Prompt item: Scrubs Reviewed full source context: What do you think of the show Scrubs? A show where a young man named JD has a rich and full fantasy life in which he imagines he is a doctor surrounded by goofy characters. Did you figure out which season of Scrubs it is? You know what? I don't do a lot of things you asked me to do, but I did do this. My guy. This was season two, the second season of Scrubs. So Scrubs took a little bit for people to like, so I think I'm going to go on the lower side, Ryan. Why are you talking? You can also talk to Sme. I disagree. I think season two of Scrubs is when Scrubs started growing on people. And I don't know, medical comedy, I guess, is somewhat refreshing. Medical shows were big at that point. I think Grey's Adataboo is already around, right? Right. But Grey's is not comedy. It's just drama. So I'm saying Scrubs. They're like, oh, we're into medical shows. Let's do some comedy medical shows. Boom. I'm with you, Sneha. I think it was better. But here's the other part that is bothering me about Frasier. That it exists. The visuals, if you compare Frasier to Scrubs, just like I felt like I was in the 80s. You're right. Frasier feels older. You're right overall, because it is that old three camera sitcom. But I will say you're watching season 10, which I think is the worst season in terms of picture quality. Because the older seasons were in a different aspect ratio. And they did like a high def redo of it. But they just apparently never did that for season 10, because it was already in widescreen. And so it just looks terrible. That's weird. That's another comparison I wanted to draw against Scrubs, which is visuals don't strike as anything pre-early 2000s. It's bad visually. It comes with a peak in season three as far as best episodes. So people should be on board. Oh, you bet? Okay. Yeah. The Brandon Fraser episodes in season three. Yeah. Where do you think we are? You don't get better Scrubs than that. So you have collectively voted for better. And you are correct. It was 14 in the ratings. Hey, that's great. Booyah. That's 14. That's too low. Go team. Go teamwork. It should have been better than that. It's twice as high as Frasier. That's fine. At 28. Frasier season 10. Yeah.

Prompt item: extreme makeover Reviewed full source context: So next up, extreme makeover. Normal people are saved from their satisfactory lives by subjecting them to plastic surgery to make them fabulous. Their friends and family are kept from them for months while they undergo these changes. People did like that show. I had no idea that there was an extreme makeover people show. I thought it was just extreme makeover home edition. You guys want to see what's behind this bus? Why do you think it had to be called home edition? I didn't realize what the colon was. Yeah, I thought it was just about like, no, I'm with you 100% Sneha. I'm learning a lot right now. I do. Holy shit. I remember this show. What a big switch of a show to go to let's do homes instead of human faces. That's crazy. With houses instead of faces. Yeah. Wow. For the sake of humanity, I'm going to hope that it was lower. I mean, obviously it's popular enough to get a spinoff house show, which is so confusing. I'm going to say it was better. Sneha? I, I'm going to say it fair better than Frasier because there's just so much drama. This is people just want to see a bad accident. I like the neither stay how or I knew this existed. And we're both like, it had to be better than Frasier. I just remember being so disgusting. So that's why I'm just hoping for the sake of humanity. You know me, I'm a humanitarian. So you are voting exactly the same as last time. Only one of you has voted for worse and you are collectively voting for better. And for the sake of humanity, I'm pleased to announce that this was 31st in the ratings. It was worse than Frasier. Thank you. Oh, wow. Frasier was 28. Frasier was 28. By a hair. At least it's still better for humanity. I mean, not like by a lot. No.

Prompt item: Yes Dear Reviewed full source context: Next up, Yes Dear. This generic CBS sitcom that is too boring to describe. Instead, I'm going to talk about a show called Yes My Dear, a 1970s British sitcom described by the Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy as the worst British sitcom ever produced. I'm going to be real with you. I love Yes Dear. I love Yes Dear. Love Yes Dear. Whoa. Really? We're about to do a Yes Dear podcast. The Mike O'Malley vehicle. Of course I love Yes Dear. I'm going to say I think it was probably worse in the ratings. This is one of those shows that's always on TBS, like reruns. It was so cheap that TBS is like, we'll air like 90% of the day. I don't know if I watched the show live or I watched it like 10 years later. I have no idea when Yes Dear came out. Had to be worse. Do you want to know the season? Yeah. Season three. I don't know of how many. I don't know how many seasons there were. I don't either. I only watched these reruns. Was this one, did Mike O'Malley already own the house and Greg was living with him? Because that was, I mean, it was not that great of a season. Wait, Mike O'Malley from the Mike O'Malley show? Probably. That's where most people know him from. I don't know. No, most people know him as the amazing host of Guts. Absolutely. So Ryan, what's your vote? Worse, but it shouldn't be. Yes Dear was great. Yes Dear was. And Sneha? I have no idea what Yes Dear is or was. It's the Mike O'Malley vehicle. Not tracking it. You want to just go with the crowd and say worse? I'll take the majority. The Bob Ayatollah or whatever it is from, I heard Bob or whatever. He was also in that. The Ayatollah of Iran was a very big character of Yes Dear, that is correct. And you three have unanimously voted for worse and you lose. No! Because it was better. Also by a hair. This was 25th in the ratings. That makes me feel better though because Yes Dear was great. Well deserved. Good job, Yes Dear. Wow.

Prompt item: Meet My Folks Reviewed full source context: Next up, Meet My Folks. Inspired by the Ben Stiller vehicle, Meet the Parents, young men must get the approval of their partners demanding parents. Each episode featured a lie detector test. Wait, is this a reality TV show? Awesome. This is real? Yes. No, it's a reality. I'm going to guess it was on TLC. This happened. I watched this one. It was on NBC. Wow. I watched it. It was on NBC? What? I don't have that written down, but I'm almost certain that's true. I probably watched it after Frasier. Probably came on after Frasier. What? I thought it was on Fox. I've never heard of this. It could have been on Fox. Never heard of this. I don't actually know. But I, yeah, I definitely watched it though. If it's on a real network, that's interesting. I don't remember it ever once being advertised. I think I saw a couple episodes. That means nothing. Oh, it's the stuff from a dinner show. Curtis, you can tell me that part. That also doesn't help. I am still going to say worse because I've never, ever heard about it. I'm going to say worse. Yeah, me too. I don't know anything about it. Again, you are unanimous. We've seen some crazy reality shows that have insane premises that are somehow shockingly high on the list. This one did not fit the bill. It's a crazy premise, but it is 101st. Hey, that's great. I don't think the plot's that bad, right? I think it could be a good show. I'm guessing they just did a bad job with it. You were right. It was on NBC. It did last for 20 episodes. I think you could make that today and really get three or four seasons out of it.

Prompt item: Law & Order SVU Reviewed full source context: Next up, Law & Order SVU. Rapper Ice-T and a man called Munch are entrusted by the NYPD to solve the most sensitive sexual crimes. What season? Season four. I'll never bet against Law & Order. I'm going to say better. Always. Always. For the good of humanity, I'm going to say worse or whatever bad side because fuck that show. Whoa. You don't like the SVU? You've done the same thing for 400 episodes. Can we just do anything different, please? People love it. Well, bear in mind, this was season four. They had only done 100 episodes. I was over it. Ice-T was a good addition and that's about all I'll say about it. So the betters have it and the betters are correct. It was 15 in the ratings. Hey, that's great.

Prompt item: America's most talented kid. Reviewed full source context: Final one. America's most talented kid. Dave Foulier hosts a talent competition for three to 16 year olds. The most awesome talent wins a kid-sized grand prize of $1,000. The finale featured senior citizen talents instead of children. Cut it out. What is the age rate? Three to 16. What? Three to 16. What? That is not a fair age range. Could you imagine if a three-year-old beat out a 16-year-old in the finale? That would be crazy. It's nuts. It's a crazy premise, yeah. Again, to steal Ryan's life that he stole from me, for the sake of humanity, I'm going to say that it was worse. The premise isn't that bad. Dave Foulier at this time, he was all right. People were still into full house. I think I'm giving it a higher. Before you answer Sneha, I just want to say that you are currently, there are only six of these. Three of them you got correct. Two of them you got wrong. This is for the win versus a tie. The high stakes. It's a split decision so far. You're the tiebreaker. You're the swing belt. Do you think this is better or worse? I think it was better. The betters have it. And the betters are wrong. It was worse. It was 63. What? No! Which means you have tied up.

Segment context: after the initial tie and before the extra response domain is authorized Activity request: What's our tiebreaker procedure, Curt? Response: I really want to just let you tie. Reviewed full source context: You as a group are completely... What's our tiebreaker procedure, Curt? I know you have one. I know you thought of this. You wouldn't just let us tie? That would be weird. Let us tie. I really want to just let you tie. This is a soccer match. There's no way we could just end it a tie. This is a European podcast. We can end it a tie. Curt, buddy. All right. Thank God. Okay. All right. You insist. You insist. I'm going to give you... This is going to sound crazy. Brian, you're the one insisting on the tiebreaker. So I need you to give me a number between 8 and 13. Oh, very normal. I'm obviously going to go 11. 11.

Activity description: tiebreaker Method: So I need you to give me a number between 8 and 13. Result type: successful tiebreak Reviewed full source context: This is a show called Married by America. A show where random people were paired off based on votes from America on the premise that they would get married. Each week, a relationship expert eliminates contestants until one couple was left. No one actually got married at the end of the show. I don't understand the premise that you explained. I don't know. Is it married at first sight? So what's happening here is it's kind of like a bunch of men and women are paired off. And the way they get paired off is not by choosing one another. It's America calling in like it's American Idol and voting on who should be with who. When did we get to meet? How did we vote on them? I don't know. I didn't go that deep in the research. I just know America's voting on how to pair these people off. And then the promise was that after America chooses who gets with who, they were going to get married. And nobody actually did. So it's like, it's basically like what happens if we stereotype people and they get together? Is that what the premise is supposed to be? I don't know. I think the premise is supposed to be audience participation. I don't know. I assume they didn't have a whole season to learn about these people to pair them off. Like I assume you just saw their faces and matched them or something weird. Better or worse. I mean, obviously it's worse. I would watch it though. I'll go worse. I go worse too. Well, you all are in agreement and you're all correct. It was 97 in the ratings.

Segment context: after tiebreak play and through game-closing congratulations Winner statement: With my usual excitement, I will just say congratulations on winning the game, rank the ratings. Reviewed full source context: Hey, that's great. Sneha just let out a real sigh of relief. I'm so glad it was. 2003 to 2004 had a real slur of really dumb reality shows that did really well in the ratings. 2002 to 2003, it was a lot of dumb ideas that nobody watched. It had not yet hit yet. The reality craze, I guess. Interesting. I wonder what turned the needle. The opinions weren't out then, I think. Probably not. All the reality shows were all competition based. But bad competitions. With my usual excitement, I will just say congratulations on winning the game, rank the ratings.

Segment context: prediction-task clarification and delivery feedback, outside the completed ratings game Adjudication: Better at saying them. Reviewed full source context: Brian, why don't you tell us what to expect next week when we cover the previous episode. It's season 10, episode 11, Door Jam. Marty runs amok, smearing eerie warnings on everyone's doors. Snearing? Smearing. He's smearing some jam. That's what I mean. He's smearing some jam on everyone's doors. Oh, it's jam. Yeah. Oh. That's strange behavior, Ethan, from Marty. Not that strange for Marty, the fascist. I actually think Ryan's getting better in his predictions. I mean, none of them are overcome true. I said, do you mean more accurate or just better at saying them? Better at saying them. Knowing the kind of punning that the Frasier writers do with the episode titles, the idea that they have the phrase Door Jam and it's going to be about literal jelly is on par with this show. Yeah, I usually do get the idea wrong. Like, I'm not even in the ballpark. I think we're here. I will be very shocked if some preservatives don't show up this episode. Well, if they do, we're going to find out about it next week.

Context outside the activity. Segment context: credits, guest thanks and podcast sign-off Reviewed full source context: Thanks to Kevin MacLeod for our theme music and thank you to Sneha for joining us. Yay! Sneha! Thank you for having me. What a great... I had such a good time catching up and just throwing my wisdom on Frasier. Genuine wisdom on the show. True and genuine. For like a real minute, you really sold me on the show. Those of you listening, we don't need your pity and we don't need your clicks. So stay away from our socials at Reverse Psych Pod and don't you dare email us at ReversePsychPod at gmail.com. For myself, for Ryan, for Brad, and for Sneha, Curtis evacuated the apartment.

Context outside the activity. Segment context: post-sign-off introduction outtake and retake context, not renewed game play Reviewed full source context: Well, also joining us today is a very special guest. It's Sneha Kogan. Yay! Nice high beam, Sneha. Woohoo! Hey, hey! Welcome to the show. Wow, that was dull. That was a dull reception. We were busy reacting to Curtis's horrible joke. I think there should be a redo. Let's redo. We want a redo. Curtis, a mulligan. I know you don't know what a mulligan is, but in golf, that means you try again and you pretend the first time didn't happen. Please reintroduce me. Reintroduce me. Reintroduce Sneha. I pretend that all of these never happen. Also joining us today is a very special guest. It's Sneha Kogan. There we go.