8 August 2006 | slouchingpoet

10 | The lost post-Cheers success story

It's ironic that two of the very rare sort of American sit-coms not to condescend to the audience both came from ex-Cheers actors. One, of course, is Fraiser, the other was the short lived Pearl. The show was perfect for all the actors involved. Rhea Perlman has never really found the right vehicle for her acting outside of Cheers and Pearl. Malcolm McDowell was pitch perfect for the first time since A Clockwork Orange.



Anyway, Pearl got short changed early on. Earlier even than the equally brilliant but more difficult to love John Larroquette Show. If you missed either of those shows when they were first on the air, then you've probably missed them for good. If there's a lesson to be learned, if you're a TV exec don't ever target an audience with any kind of IQ if you hope to have success.