Frazier is the Uber-Sitcom

What a show! Every possible sitcom convention is used--and perfected. There's no reason to do a conventional sitcom after Frazier. After this, shows had to start going in new directions--using narrators, abandoning the laugh track, etc. Frazier was simply the culmination of a great sitcom tradition of zany capers, overheard (and misunderstood) conversations, two characters thinking they're talking about the same thing when they're actually talking about something different, secrets and deceptions, characters named but never seen, characters trying to extricate themselves from embarrassing situations (and usually failing), and romantic relationships gone awry. The big distinction is that the two characters are pretentious fellows that are difficult to like.