Bonus! Where is the Frasier of Europe?

Why doesn't American TV have any panel shows (failed remakes don't count)? Where is the American KVN? Why are American movies segregated into "musicals" and "normal movies" which, of course, still have music written specifically for the movie, but you can't have songs with lyrics, and god forbid you fail make it crystal clear as to whether the music is diegetic? Why doesn't American media have more multi-part movies (not talking about sequels), self-contained mini-series, loose series that are revisited on an ad-hoc basis over many years? Because these are (for now) different cultures that developed different nuances and different forms of entertainment. Sitcoms are a pretty American thing. "Where is the non-American thing that takes the exact format of the American thing I'm used to" is a fundamentally narrow and lopsided way to pose the question, like "what is a tree and what do you eat it with?" You have to wait for globalization/Americanization to complete its course before you can have your answers.

The closest thing I thought of when you mentioned sitcoms on US public television was "The Red Green Show" (which is technically Canadian but was a staple for a lot of PBS stations in the show's 15 seasons), but the lack of sitcoms never occurred to me until you mentioned it. It's fascinating.

Have you see the BBC Scotland‘s The High Life with Alan Cumming?

There was this one, which I always enjoyed. Kind of like Ellen but with a Scottish leading lady. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhona_(TV_series)

It was so fun to see you in Stockholm! I was so distracted, I think I even forgot to say thank you for signing my copy of your book! So, belatedly, thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying your trip and have found so much reading material.

A queer pass sounds like a great idea, something that will never happen in Trump’s American 🇺🇸

Why are American sitcoms so dominant? I would say, American everything is very dominant haha. I live in Bavaria, which was US-occupied after WW2, so there was definitely a lot of American influence in addition to the general Americanization. As to where we get our comedy, in Germany comedy can be very local. A lot of the comedy shows we watch are specifically Bavarian. The style of German comedy is also very different compared to the US, it tends to be very satirical and political (Kabarett is very popular both on TV and in person – not to be confused with Cabaret!). If you want to see some true German comedy, watch something by Loriot (probably the most famous German comedian). Another notable German comedian is Hape Kerkeling, who is gay and was outed by Rosa von Praunheim in 1991. The first German sitcom was ‘Ein Herz und eine Seele’ (1973) which was based on 'Till Death Us Do Part' (same as 'All in the Family'). One German sitcom that I personally watched a lot of is called 'Um Himmels Willen', about a group of catholic nuns in a Bavarian town who are constantly at odds with the mayor. There even is one episode in which they celebrate a gay wedding in their cloister. So, a typical one-off gay sitcom episode!

I never thought of Fraiser a specifically queer sitcom, but I can't think of any 90s sitcoms in the UK that starred queer characters (that weren't the butt of a joke). Agree that Eurovision is a bit poisonous at the moment so probably steer clear of it.

Sorry but if you do an Eurovision video be extremely careful, because right now Eurovision is the biggest symbol of zionist propaganda, in fact many countries have boycotted it (something they haven't done in about 60 years) precisely because the show has become fixed on it each time more, so uncritical support and admiration contributes to it. I know it's important to queer culture, but be extremely careful when talking about it.