Word: contrasting
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...dissenters, the problem with Frasier is that it is not as smart as it thinks it is. Merely mentioning Biedermeier should not pass for wit. Of course, the show makes fun of Frasier and his twittering brother, while Martin, an ex-cop, is intended to provide an earthy contrast to them. But viewers are still supposed to find the Crane boys sophisticated and lovable and ever ready with the withering riposte. Au contraire, they are often insufferable. Too frequently Grammer and Pierce adopt the mannerisms and voices of two actors in a provincial production of Noel Coward, working themselves...
...richness is one that distinguishes the show as a whole. The writing is more writerly and the acting is more, well, actorly. On most sitcoms, all the lines but the jokes seem dispensable, and the shows seem to have been mostly put together in the editing room. In contrast, the best Frasier episodes seem like little 22-min. plays whose scripts have words that actually matter, and whose scenes build as they would onstage. Indeed, that's where most of the ensemble started out. "Maybe because of our theater training we are conditioned to listen to each other," says Grammer...
...postwar era. "Kohl's themes were derived from World War II and the Cold War," says TIME correspondent James Graff. "He shepherded the country through the complex process of reunification, and worked to protect Germany from its worst impulses by centering it in a strong European Union." Schroeder, by contrast, is a German baby-boomer, concerned less with the past and the wider European perspective than with the domestic economy. "This election marks a new generation assuming the leadership of Germany, one less shadowed by the legacy of the war," says Graff. "Enough of history, German voters seemed...
...good news is that not all brain-dead computers are created equal. Hewlett-Packard had the best rating in the survey; its computers worked on startup 92 percent of the time. By contrast, 17 percent of AST users had a bad out-of-box experience. Interestingly enough, AST users, while reporting the most initial problems, were also the least likely to call tech support -- a level of diminished expectations that may explain how PC makers can ship nonfunctional products and still make the big bucks...
...course, love. Renee's songs may have varied subjects (she wrote or co-wrote every song on the album), but they invariably share one thing: a sharp melodic hook. The listener, once caught, is reeled in quickly. Renee has a nasal, adventurous soprano that stands out in contrast to the mellow, unobtrusive croons of many of today's best-selling R.-and-B. vocalists. She's a new voice that's hard to forget...