jimdbs

Based on the premise and how it's advertised, this seems like it would be in the light hearted, cozier sub-genre of murder mysteries but it's not. Most of the time the tone, look, and music score feels more like the very serious, dark, police centered mysteries.

On the plus side, it was unexpectedly higher quality than what I was expecting in various ways but I am more of a fan of the light hearted style and was hoping for that. The main character doesn't seem to fit with the dark, serious style and it's harder to believe she has has such an extraordinary gift and so much random knowledge in the setting of the show while these qualities would be easier to accept in the light hearted, less realistic style.

A typical cozy mystery, more common in the UK, set in a visually idyllic small town (fictional Cabot Cove, Maine, but the actual location is northern California), later NYC, that has a disturbingly high rate of murder. And like other cozy mysteries, it's somewhat detached from reality, best to think of it like a fictional murder mystery book series, not comparing it to real life.

If you go by a top 20-30 episode list, it will seem pretty good especially keeping in mind it was a TV show in the 80s and they were generally lower quality and lower budget compared to now. If you try to binge watch it chronologically though, you'll notice there are many unremarkable episodes, with often poor acting and dialogue from the cast specific to the episode (not the main recurring cast). On the plus side, each episode started with a brief overview with some non-spoiler clips so you can get a general idea of what the episode will be like.

Admittedly, I never really gave this show much of a chance when I was growing up and only decided to after hearing about it being revived for streaming as I wanted to compare them.

This one is much better than the new one but I also now consider it on par with Friends and Seinfeld of that era. In particular, the clever dialogue and word play is on another level and they were creative with comedic scenarios, though not to the level of Seinfeld.

The characters and actors who played them were also fantastic. I also like that it's set in a city besides NYC and LA (as well as Chicago and Miami). Too many TV shows are set in the same few cities while the US has so many. Each of the main sets were also very appealing, something I think is important for a sitcom but people don't think about it.

As for why an 8 and not a 9 or 10, I rarely give out 10s and also rated Friends and Seinfeld as 8. What brought it down most for me, and similar for those shows, especially Friends, was the drop in quality in seasons 8 onward. 8 was particularly bad but from that point on, Frasier and Niles are like absurd caricatures and don't seem realistic at all, especially Frasier. Seasons 3 to 7 are the best, followed by 2, 1, 11, 10, 9, 8.

The new series is barely similar to this one. Different city, different characters, only his son is a regular from the original (though played by a different actor). No Niles, Daphne, or Martin (but the actor who played him passed away a few years ago). That said, I think it's still decent, especially after the first few episodes that were pretty rough. My score has nothing to do with the new series though as there is a separate IMDB entry for it.

Trivia fact: The actor who plays Martin, John Mahoney, was English, moved to the US at 18 and said he worked on permanently changing his accent to fit in. Similarly, the actor playing Frasier's son Freddy in the new series is an English actor, except he just changed his accent for the show. I would not have been able to tell either were originally from the UK had I not read about it.