Frasier

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Frasier
Frasier title screen
Genre	Sitcom
Creator(s)	David Angell Peter Casey David Lee
Starring	Kelsey Grammer David Hyde Pierce John Mahoney Jane Leeves Peri Gilpin
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	265
Production
Running time	24 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	September 16, 1993 – May 13, 2004
Links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Frasier was a popular American situation comedy television series that starred Kelsey Grammer. A spin-off from the successful 1980s show Cheers, it centered around the character of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane, whom Grammer had also played in the earlier show. David Hyde Pierce, John Mahoney, Jane Leeves, and Peri Gilpin rounded out the regular cast.

The show was created by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee, and was produced by Angell, Casey, and Lee (as Grub Street Productions) in association with Paramount Television. Angell, Casey and Lee had also written and produced Cheers and created Wings.

Frasier aired on NBC for eleven seasons from September 16, 1993 to May 13, 2004. The final episode was at the time the 16th highest rated series finale. Critically acclaimed, the show won a record 39 Emmy Awards during its run.

Contents 1 Cast 2 Summary 3 TV Rating 4 Records 5 Critical reaction 6 Episodes 7 Production 8 Trivia 9 DVD Releases 10 Other merchandise 10.1 VHS 11 CDs 11.1 Books 12 NBC broadcast history 13 Syndication and international broadcasters 14 See Also 15 References 16 External links

[edit] Cast

Regulars:

• Kelsey Grammer as Dr. Frasier Crane. Grammar sang the song that appears during the closing credits, "Tossed salad and scrambled eggs", by Bruce Miller and Daryl Phinessee.
• John Mahoney as Martin Crane. Mahoney appeared in an episode of Cheers, as Si Phlembeck, an over-the-hill advertising executive hired by Rebecca to write a jingle for the bar. Grammer and Mahoney shared a few lines. The plot of an episode of Frasier is somewhat similar to the Cheers episode. In the eighth season of Cheers in the episode "Two Girls for Every Boyd", Frasier tells Sam Malone (Ted Danson) that his research scientist father had died. In the Season 2 episode "The One Where Sam Shows Up", when Sam meets Martin, he brings up the discrepancies. In an example of retconning, Frasier explains it away by saying he had just had a fight with his father on the phone and he was very angry with him at the time.
• Jane Leeves as Daphne Moon. Leeves used a mixture of different Northern English accents to portray a stereotypical working class Briton. She is actually from Sussex, in the south.
• David Hyde Pierce as Dr. Niles Crane. The casting directors' second choices for the roles of Niles and Martin Crane were Peter MacNicol and Robert Prosky respectively. Prosky had previously played the father of Cheers regular Rebecca on an episode of that show. Prosky appeared in Season 4, as a J.D. Salinger-like writer who strikes up a friendship with Martin.
• Peri Gilpin as Roz Doyle. In a Cheers episode, Gilpin plays a reporter who interviews Woody when he runs for office.
• "Moose" and "Enzo" as Eddie the dog. Eddie received more fan mail than any other cast member in Frasier. He is also reputed to have earned $10,000 per episode.

Recurring guest stars (see Minor characters on Frasier)

• Dan Butler as Bob "Bulldog" Briscoe, the obnoxious host of a radio sports show. Butler was made a series regular for seasons four and five.
• Edward Hibbert as Gil Chesterton, another employee at the radio station.
• Bebe Neuwirth as Lilith Sternin, Frasier's ex-wife (also on Cheers)
• Trevor Einhorn as Frederick Gaylord Crane, Frasier's son. The character was first played in Season 3 by child actor Luke Tarsitano. The following season, Einhorn took over for the rest of the series.
• Tom McGowan as Kenny Daley
• Patrick Kerr as Noel Shempsky
• Harriet Sansom Harris as Bebe Glazer, Frasier's amoral agent.
• Marsha Mason as Sherry Dempsey
• Saul Rubinek as Donny Douglas
• Jane Adams as Mel Karnofsky
• Millicent Martin as Gertrude Moon, Daphne's mother. Although not noticed by the average American viewer, aside from her mother, none of Daphne’s relatives nor her ex-boyfriend have Manchester accents, despite supposedly being from there. They mostly have Southern English accents (i.e. London). Her brother Nigel's accent is Cockney. Ironically, John Mahoney actually is from Manchester.
• Anthony LaPaglia as Simon Moon
• Brian Stokes Mitchell as Cam Winston
• Wendie Malick as Ronee Lawrence

[edit] Summary

Psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane (Grammer) returns to his hometown of Seattle, Washington, following the break-up of his marriage and his life in Boston (which was covered in the series Cheers). His plans for his new life as a bachelor are complicated when he is forced to take in his father, retired police officer Martin Crane (Mahoney), who had been forced to retire from the police department and is unable to live by himself owing to an injury caused by being shot in the line of duty. Frasier and Martin are joined by Daphne Moon (Leeves), Martin's eccentric live-in British physical therapist, and Martin's dog Eddie (Moose). A frequent visitor to their apartment is Frasier's younger brother Niles (Pierce), a fellow psychiatrist who, like Frasier, is pompous, snobbish, and overly intellectual.

Frasier hosts a radio talk show in on KACL 780AM (named to honor the show's creators, Angell, Casey, and Lee). His producer is Roz Doyle (Gilpin), a woman with an active romantic life who, while decidedly different from Frasier in taste and temperament, nevertheless becomes a very close friend over the course of the series.

Numerous running jokes and themes are developed throughout the series. Chief amongst them is the class-and-familial conflict between Frasier, Niles, and Martin; the two sons who possess tastes, intellectual interests and rather high opinions of themselves, frequently clash with their more blue-collar, down-to-earth father, and a running theme in the early seasons in particular is Frasier and Martin's difficulty in reaching an accommodation with each other and in sharing an apartment. Despite being incredibly similar in personality, interests and sensibilities, the relationship between Frasier and Niles is no less turbulent; victims of intense sibling rivalry, many plots revolve around their jealousy of each other and petty attempts at one-upmanship, which frequently result in chaos. Other developing storylines include Niles' growing love for Daphne (of which Daphne remains unaware in the early seasons, despite its increasingly obvious nature) and the breakdown of his marriage to the never-seen Maris, Frasier's search for love in his own life, and the various attempts of the two brothers to enter higher levels of Seattle's elite.

[edit] TV Rating

TV-PG

[edit] Records

• The series won 39 Emmys during its 11 year run, which is more than any other primetime show, a record long held by The Mary Tyler Moore Show; Grammer and Pierce each won four, including one each for the final season. The series holds the record as of 2004 for the most consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series, winning five from 1994 to 1998.

• Grammer played Frasier for twenty years, tying the James Arness portrayal of Marshall Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke in terms of character longevity in primetime American television. The record for all of television is held by Helen Wagner, for her portrayal of matriarch Nancy Hughes on the soap opera As the World Turns. Ms. Wagner has been playing the role since the show's first episode in 1956.

• Grammer was briefly the highest-paid TV star in history, reaching a salary of $1.6 million per episode for the last two seasons; his record was surpassed by Ray Romano within a year.

[edit] Critical reaction

In a retrospective review in The Radio Times Guide to Television Comedy, Mark Lewisohn called the show a "comedy masterpiece", noting the following (although the first bullet point is correct for the quote, more locations were eventually included in the show such as Niles Cranes' apartment):^[1]

• From just three studio-bound locations - Frasier's fine apartment 1901 in Elliott Bay Towers, with its panoramic view of Seattle; the KACL studio; and the perfectly named Café Nervosa, where Frasier, Niles and the others meet for coffee - truly great comedy was wrought.
• [T]he producers remained determined to keep Frasier adult and sophisticated: the scripts were literate, the plots tight and the one-liners extremely funny and incisive. The writers were never afraid to use classical references in the lines or make jokes about subjects that many of the viewers wouldn't have experienced.

In Season 5, the show pays homage to a letter the writers received from a renowned British T.V. critic, Sam Bates (of T.V. Quick! fame). The letter included the words "Ruddy Ace!", which Kelsey Grammer liked so much he insisted it be used in the show. Bates later claimed to be the biggest Frasier fan ever, having drunk three bottles of Cherry Lambrini. This claim has been widely discredited, as Bates has also claimed numerous times that his favourite program is the British drama series Doctors. The letter appears to have been written with Bates' best friend, Kelvin MacKenzie, former editor of The Sun.

Frasier was voted by sitcom writers, producers and actors as the greatest sitcom of all time in the Channel 4 (UK) show The Ultimate Sitcom, aired on January 2, 2006.

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of Frasier episodes

[edit] Production

The show is set in Seattle, Washington, but only one episode, "The 1000th Show", was filmed there.^[2] The remainder was filmed on Stage 25, Paramount Studios, and at various locations in and around Los Angeles.

The view from Frasier's apartment is impossible to achieve; no building or apartment in the city really has that view. It was done so that the Space Needle would appear more prominently. According to the season 1 DVD bonus features, the photograph was taken from atop a cliff (possibly the ledge at Kerry Park, a frequent photography location). Only once was there an exterior shot facing Frasier's apartment building, in a Season 4 episode, The Impossible Dream.

The radio station callers' lines were spoken by anonymous voiceover actors while filming the show in front of a live audience. This gave the cast something to react to. During postproduction, the lines were replaced by celebrities, who literally phoned in their parts without having to come into the studio. The end credits of season finales would show headshots of all the celebrities who had "called in" that season.

[edit] Trivia

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• In an eerie case of life imitating art, in Season 4, Episode 23 "Odd Man Out" (aired in the US and UK in 1997), a stranger named Laura calls Frasier's answering machine to say that she will be flying into Seattle on American Airlines Flight 11. Tragically, this is the flight on which series creator David Angell and his wife perished, when it hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
• In the Simpsons episode "Brother from Another Series", David Hyde Pierce guest stars as Cecil Terwilliger, brother of Sideshow Bob, a recurring villain voiced by Kelsey Grammer. The episode also alluded to Niles' wife, Maris Crane, and makes use of subtitle slides as the "Frasier" series does.
• Frasier's first wife, Nanny G. (a children's show host), was played by two different actresses in two different series; first by Emma Thompson on an episode of Cheers, and later by Laurie Metcalf (Jackie on "Roseanne") on an episode of Frasier.
• Most of the surviving cast members of Cheers appeared at one time or another, except for Kirstie Alley ("Rebecca Howe"). Alley was alleged to have turned down an appearance because she is a Scientologist (Scientologists reject psychiatry/psychology).
• The actor playing the deliveryman who wheels in Martin's chair in the first episode reprised his role in the final episode, and wheeled Martin's chair out of Frasier's apartment.
• The cast performed a "mock-audition" of Star Trek: Voyager during the Star Trek 30 Years and Beyond primetime special on October 6, 1996, alongside Kate Mulgrew as Voyager character Captain Janeway (a YouTube clip is available here). Grammer had previously played Captain Morgan Bateson in the episode "Cause and Effect" of Star Trek: The Next Generation, in this "audition" he played the Klingon. The primetime special was hosted by Ted Danson, who played Sam Malone on Cheers as well as on Frasier.
• Frasier's door number, 1901, is the year Freud's "The Psychopathology of Everyday Life" was published.
• Niles Crane's whippet was named "Girl". In a nod towards Niles' profession as a psychiatrist, Girl required nerve medication. (Episode #67 "Chess Pains")
• Frasier's radio station, KACL 780 AM, is named after the show's three executive producers (David Angell, Peter Casey and David Lee).
• Frasier, Niles, and Martin deliver a cab driver's baby. The cab number, 804, is the same as the one in which Alex (Judd Hirsch) delivered a baby on an episode of "Taxi".
• Kelsey Grammer has been Emmy-nominated for playing the same character on three different shows: "Cheers" (1982), "Frasier" (1993) and a guest appearance on "Wings" (1990).
• In the premiere episode of season 8, Niles takes a mobile phone call. After a pause, he says, "No, there is no Wendell Vaughn here." Wendell Vaughn is the real name of the Marvel Comics superhero Quasar.
• Lisa Kudrow was originally cast as Roz but was replaced before production began.
• David Hyde Pierce's Niles Crane is a stuffy milquetoast with a mad passion for his father's live-in therapist. In his previous series, "The Powers That Be" (1992), he played a stuffy milquetoast with a mad passion for the maid.
• Niles' wife Maris is never seen (at least her face) or heard from in the entire series. The same thing is mentioned about Vera, the wife of Norm Petersen in "Cheers" (1982). We only hear of Maris from Niles about what is wrong about her. This method is used again when Martin meets the girl he has been watching from across the street via his telescope.
• The only television show to date that has won five consecutive "Outstanding Comedy Series" Emmy awards.
• The show was originally written with Frasier as an only child (references had already been made to this in Cheers (1982), but one of the producers saw a headshot of David Hyde Pierce and commented that he looked exactly like Kelsey Grammer did when he first started to appear on Cheers (1982). Presumably as a nod to this, in Season's Two's "The Show Where Sam Shows Up", one of the first things Sam Malone says when he first meets Niles is how Niles looks exactly like Frasier did when he first knew him back in Boston.
• Kelsey Grammer has said that "The Show Where Diane Comes Back" is one of his favorite episodes. On Cheers (1982), Shelley Long didn't like the Frasier character and lobbied hard to get Grammer removed from the show. The producers disagreed, noting that the audience liked him. When Long's character, Diane Chambers, appeared on this show, Grammer said the episode was an opportunity for he and Long to make peace with each other.
• The season 4 episode "Head Game" only featured Frasier for the first few minutes, and the rest of the episode is entirely centered around Niles. This role was written for Frasier, but Kelsey Grammer wasn't available as he was being treated for his addiction problems, so it was re-written for Niles instead. This is also the reason why the plot involves Niles filling in for Frasier on his radio show, because the show is integral to the plot.
• In "The Harassed" (2003) Frasier and Julia Wilcox are having a heated argument, during which Frasier asks Julia "Are you as turned on as I am?" In the Cheers (1982) episode "Showdown - Part 2" Sam and Diane are having a similarly big argument. During this argument, Sam asks the exact same question, to which Diane replies "More!" and they kiss. The episode aired in 1983, and as an in-joke Bulldog later criticizes Frasier's rather dated choice of line by saying that no one has used the term "turned on" for 20 years.
• Frasier's apartment set occupies the same sound stage at Paramount Studios that housed the set of Cheers (1982) for so many years.
• Lisa Maxwell was originally cast as Daphne, but severe disagreements with the producers led to her being replaced.
• Frasier's radio producer Roz Doyle is named after Roz Doyle, a producer of NBC's "Wings" (1990), a Cheers-like show which shares show creators with Frasier.
• In the premiere episode of the sixth season, the show took over the time slot previously occupied by Seinfeld (1990). The episode opens with Frasier auditioning for a TV show after being fired from his radio show, and his opening speech is a reference to the acquisition of Seinfeld's slot: "Before we begin, I'd like to say how honored I am to be taking over this slot. Obviously, I have some rather big shoes to fill - my predecessor here was much beloved. But I have never been one to shrink from a challenge and I'm sure we'll enjoy many happy years here together in my new home."
• During season 8, Jane Leeves's pregnancy was disguised by a storyline involving a severe over-eating disorder; later, her pregnancy leave was accounted for by having Daphne go to a health spa to cope with her weight problem. Daphne lost 9 lbs 12 oz at the spa, an inside joke referring to the fact that Leeves' daughter Isabella's birth weight was 9 lbs 12 oz.
• David Hyde Pierce has said that, prior to this series, he had no strong interest in either wine or opera. Ironically, he was introduced to both by John Mahoney, whose Martin Crane character eschews anything cultured.
• As of 2004, Kelsey Grammer will have been playing the character of Frasier Crane for 20 consecutive years. This is one of the longest periods that an actor has played the same character on American prime time (non-soap opera) television. Fellow record holders include James Arness of "Gunsmoke" (1955) who played Marshall Dillon for 20 years straight as well.
• 2003 was the first year that Kelsey Grammer didn't receive an Emmy nomination for this series. David Hyde Pierce's streak remains unbroken.
• Every regular character from Cheers - with the exception of Rebecca Kirstie Alley and Coach the late Nicholas Colasanto - has appeared in at least one episode.
• After Cheers had finished filming, the bar was taken down and the sets for this show were built over it.
• Babe Neuwirth was offered a regular role on this series as Lilith, but she turned it down so she could return to the Broadway stage. She appeared only as a guest star.
• Niles and Daphne's baby, born in the final episode, is named David, after David Angell, one of the producers who was killed on 11 September 2001.
• In the series finale, three of Daphne's brothers visit from England, however, none of the actors playing them are English. They were Anthony LaPaglia (Australia), Richard E. Grant (Swaziland) and Robbie Coltrane (Scotland).
• As the series progresses, it is revealed that Frasier and Niles were named after two lab mice their mother was using in an experiment (psychology?) when she was pregnant with Frasier. Frasier (the mouse) had already died when Frasier (the human) was born.
• The producers made certain there were no stools in the coffee shop to purposefully distance it visually from the Cheers bar.
• Niles's alma mater is Yale, which is David Hyde Pierce's alma mater in real life.
• When Frasier violates his code of ethics, his stomach turns. When Niles violates his code of ethics, his nose bleeds.
• When playing their younger selves in "Crock Tales", the cast had to use various hairpieces, hair dyes etc. to resemble their younger selves in flashback sequences. David Hyde Pierce also wore a hairpiece for the same reason in "The Return of Martin Crane".
• In a final-season interview, John Mahoney said the first offer he received to play Martin Crane consisted of a phone call from Kelsey Grammer in which Grammer asked, "Will you be my Dad?"
• To make sure the viewers do not view Frasier as a family deserter, the writers made sure that Frasier reiterated that he missed Frederick in the pilot episode.
• * Kelsey Grammar was asked to shave the beard he had had during the final season of Cheers because the producers felt he wouldn't look young enough to be John Mahoney's son. Mahoney is only 15 years older than Kelsey Grammer.
• In one episode, after a night at the opera watching "Rigoletto" by Verdi, Frasier remarks to his date that the finest soprano to sing the role of "Gilda" was "The great Mathilde DeCagney". Mathilde DeCagney is the animal trainer who owns Moose, the dog who plays Eddie.

[edit] DVD Releases

As of 2007, Paramount Home Entertainment has released Seasons 1-8 & 11 on Region 1 DVD, with Season 9 set for Region 1 DVD release on May 15, 2007. Season 10 is also expected in 2007.

Cover Art	DVD Name	Release dates
		Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
	The Complete 1st Season	May 20, 2003	November 24, 2003	January 13, 2004
	The Complete 2nd Season	January 6, 2004	June 7, 2004	June 3, 2004
	The Complete 3rd Season	May 25, 2004	September 6, 2004	September 10, 2004
	The Complete 4th Season	February 1, 2005	July 18, 2005	July 20, 2005
	The Complete 5th Season	June 7, 2005	November 27, 2006	January 11, 2007
	The Complete 6th Season	September 13, 2005	May 7, 2007	May 17, 2007
	The Complete 7th Season	November 15, 2005	N/A	N/A
	The Complete 8th Season	June 13, 2006	N/A	N/A
	The Complete 9th Season	May 15, 2007	N/A	N/A
	The Complete 10th Season	TBA 2007	N/A	N/A
	The Complete 11th Season	November 16, 2004	N/A	N/A

[edit] Other merchandise

[edit] VHS

The first four seasons have been released on VHS along with a series of 'Best Of' tapes. These tapes consist of four episodes taken from seasons 1-4. No more video releases have been announced.

Video Name	Release date
The Best Of Frasier 1 - From Boston To Seattle	TBC 1999
The Best Of Frasier 2 - Crane Vs. Crane	TBC 1999
The Best Of Frasier 3 - Serial Dater	TBC 1999
The Best Of Frasier 4 - Like Father Like Sons	TBC 1999
The Best Of Frasier 5 - Brotherly Love	TBC 1999
The Best Of Frasier 6 - Love Is In The Air	TBC 1999
The Best Of Frasier Box Set	TBC 1999
The Complete 1st Season	July 16, 2001
The Complete 2nd Season	December 3, 2001
Season 3 - Part 1	May 6, 2002
Season 3 - Part 2	July 1, 2002
Season 4 - Part 1	October 14, 2002
Season 4 - Part 2	November 18, 2002

[edit] CDs

One Frasier CD has been released featuring a number of songs taken from the show.

CD Name	Release date
Tossed Salads & Scrambled Eggs	TBC

[edit] Books

Several books about Frasier have been released, including the following:

Title	Publisher	ISBN
The Best Of Frasier	Channel 4 Books	ISBN 0-7522-1394-6
Cafe Nervosa: The Connoisseur's Cookbook	Oxmoor House	ISBN 0-8487-1550-0
Frasier	Pocket Books	ISBN 0-671-00368-2
The Frasier Scripts	Newmarket Press	ISBN 1-55704-403-1
Goodnight Seattle	Virgin Books	ISBN 0-7535-0286-0
The Very Best Of Frasier	Channel 4 Books	ISBN 0-7522-6179-7

[edit] NBC broadcast history

All times listed are North American Eastern Standard Time.

• September 1993-May 1994 - Thursdays 9:30pm

• September 1994-May 1998 - Tuesdays 9:00pm

• September 1998-May 2000 - Thursdays 9:00pm

• October 2000-May 2004 - Tuesdays 9:00pm

[edit] Syndication and international broadcasters

• Australia - Nine Network, TV1
• Canada - TVtropolis, CBC
• Denmark - Kanal 5
• Finland - Yle
• Germany - SAT 1
• México - Sony Entertainment Television
• India - Star World
• Ireland - Channel 6
• Middle East - MBC 4
• Norway - TV 2
• Portugal - TVI, SIC Comédia
• Slovakia - Markiza
• Slovenia - TV Slovenija 1
• Spain - Digital+
• Sweden - Kanal 5
• Turkey - ComedyMax
• UK - Channel 4/Paramount Comedy 1/ Paramount Comedy 2
• US - Lifetime Television, various network affiliates and independent stations

Preceded by Seinfeld

Emmy Award - Outstanding Comedy Series 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998

Succeeded by Ally McBeal

[edit] See Also

List of Frasier episodes

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Frasier at the TV IV
• The Frasier Files, a GeoCities-hosted fan's website with transcripts of all episodes
• Goodnight Seattle - the Unofficial Frasier Page - contains cast and character profiles, episode guide, fan fiction, trivia, merchandise and more
• "frasier online A fan site with a lively discussion forum