The objective of this paper was to assess whether television is a Passive or Active experience, and if Frasier viewers interpret the images of the show to create their own meanings. For our purposes, Active means involvement with the show, either overt (discussions) or covert (thinking), while Passivity refers to an uninvolved, unconcerned experience.
When asked explicitly if the process is Active or Passive, interviewees explained that the show is designed to encourage active participation. It is quick, witty and requires a mental effort to “catch everything that’s going on.” Like all other shows, Frasier requires that the viewer invests a limited amount attention to understand the basic storyline, therefore for a deeper understanding the viewer needs to invest more attention. Generally respondents believe that its viewer and not the show that decides if the experience is Passive or Active. If some viewers want to be active and engage with the show to uncover alternative meanings and interpretations, they will. If other viewers sit in front of their TV sets, being bombarded with images and decide to be passive, they will. The viewer that decides how to engage with the television program.
From the onset, we have treated Frasier as a text instead of a television sitcom. If for a moment we consider the show in a larger realm, as a form of artistic expression, we can further understand why multiple interpretations and meanings are possible. All forms of art are open to various interpretations by different people, in support of Stefan Hermann’s argument that television viewers are not “passive,” but instead interpret television images in order to create their own meaning(s).

This idea is captured in the dialogue between Frasier and his longtime mentor and therapist, Tewksbury.....

Frasier: But all art is self portraiture, and that includes the written word.
Tewksbury: However, we can only view art through the lens of our own psyches.
Frasier: Then there is no pure art.

[Episode 8.9, “Frasier’s Edge” Jan 15, 2001]
George V Gadwah,
York University, Toronto