Recently I have been in the mood to watch situation comedies on television. It is surprising what good shows one can encounter if he or she is inclined to strategially channel-switch.

If I play my cards right, I can watch 2 hours of "Seinfeld" (or 3 on a Wednesday!) an hour of "Cheers," and an episode each of "The Simpsons," and "Frasier." I am sure that I will get tired of watching those shows so often, but they are good for now. (I could watch more Cheers if Nick at Night didn't get rid of it in favor of either "Cosby" or "Full House." -Lord knows who wants to see those every night...)

This reminds me of when I was in high school. During summer vacations when I wasn't at work, I could use strategic television tuning to catch two hours of "The Brady Bunch" each day.

My wife Kazuko isn't watching sitcoms while she is at home with Kenny, but she is watching the two-hour block of ER that they play on TNT each morning. She is enjoying the quality reruns that we have available on American TV too.

About "Frasier" : I had never watched that show in the first run. They have been playing reruns of that show locally at 10:30 PM (I watch it right before bed.) It is nice to see a show that's "new to me." I have seen all of the episodes of the other shows that I had mentioned in this article. -On "Frasier" I was especially impressed with how they explained the character Daphne's pregnancy as uncontrollable weight-gain. Then, to explain her losing it, the character Niles said, "She was at a spa and just recently lost 9 pounds 2 ounces." (A good way to give "insider information" to the viewers without breaking storyline or character.) I thought that was really clever.

Alright friends, time to work! Have a good day.