Frasier
Season 11 Frasier title screen
Format	Sitcom
Created by	David Angell Peter Casey David Lee
Starring	Kelsey Grammer David Hyde Pierce John Mahoney Jane Leeves Peri Gilpin
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	11
No. of episodes	264 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	24 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Picture format	NTSC (480i) (US broadcasts, shown in PAL or NTSC in international syndication)
Audio format	Stereo
Original run	September 16, 1993 – May 13, 2004
Chronology
Preceded by	Cheers (1982–1993)
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Frasier is an American sitcom starring Kelsey Grammer as psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane. A spinoff of Cheers, Frasier was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993 to May 13, 2004. David Hyde Pierce, John Mahoney, Jane Leeves, Peri Gilpin and the late Moose rounded out the regular cast.

A critically acclaimed series, Frasier won a record 37 Emmy Awards during its run. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee (as Grub Street Productions) in association with Paramount Television. Frasier has been considered one of the most successful spinoff series in television history.^[1]

Premise

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 obliged to take in his father, ex-police officer Martin Crane (Mahoney), who had to retire 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, British, live-in physical therapist and caretaker, 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 popular radio talk show 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.

Plot themes

Numerous running jokes and themes develop throughout the series. Chief among them are the class and familial conflicts between Frasier, Niles, and Martin. The two sons, who possess 'fine' tastes, 'intellectual' interests and rather high opinions of themselves, frequently clash with their more blue-collar, down-to-earth father, and his dog Eddie. A running theme, particularly in the early seasons, is Frasier's and Martin's difficulty in reaching an accommodation with each other and in sharing an apartment. Despite being similar in personality, interests and sensibilities, the relationship between Frasier and Niles is no less turbulent; victims of intense sibling rivalry, their jealousy of each other and petty attempts at one-upmanship (which frequently result in chaos) drive many of the plots. Other developing storylines include Niles' growing love for Daphne (of which she 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 gain acceptance into Seattle's cultural elite.

Cast

The main cast of Frasier (from left to right) David Hyde Pierce, Peri Gilpin, Kelsey Grammer, Jane Leeves, John Mahoney, and Moose

Regulars:

• Kelsey Grammer as Dr. Frasier Crane. Grammer sang the song heard during the closing credits, "Tossed salad and scrambled eggs", by Bruce Miller and Daryl Phinessee. In the episode "Are You Being Served" it is revealed that Frasier and his brother Niles were named after two lab rats their mother was using in an experiment.

• David Hyde Pierce as Dr. Niles Crane. In Season 2's "The Show Where Sam Shows Up", one of the first things Sam Malone says when he first meets Niles is how he looks exactly like Frasier when he first knew him back in Boston. In his previous series, The Powers That Be, Hyde Pierce played a very similar character, a stuffy milquetoast with a mad passion for the maid. The second choice for the role of Niles was Peter MacNicol.^{[citation needed]}

• John Mahoney as Martin Crane. In a final-season interview, Mahoney said the first offer he received to play Martin Crane consisted of a phone call from Grammer in which he asked, "Will you be my Dad?"

• 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 Essex, in the south. Ms. Leeves was also once one of "Hill's Angels", the troupe of female extras on Benny Hill's shows.

• Peri Gilpin as Roz Doyle (named in honor of a producer of Wings, which shares show creators with Frasier). Lisa Kudrow was originally cast as Roz, but was replaced before production began.

• "Moose" and Moose's son "Enzo" as Eddie, the Jack Russell Terrier. Eddie received more fan mail than any other cast member in Frasier.

• Dan Butler as Bob 'Bulldog' Briscoe, the obnoxious host of a radio sports show. Butler was made a series regular for seasons 4 and 5, and served as a recurring guest star in other seasons.

Recurring guest stars:

Main article: Minor characters on Frasier

• Edward Hibbert as Gil Chesterton, food critic 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. The writers had Frasier say that he missed Frederick in the pilot episode so that the audience wouldn't view him as deserting his son.
• Tom McGowan as Kenny Daley, the station manager.
• Patrick Kerr as Noel Shempsky, a geeky station employee.
• Harriet Sansom Harris as Bebe Glazer, Frasier's amoral agent.
• Marsha Mason as Sherry Dempsey, Martin's lady friend
• Saul Rubinek as Donny Douglas, Daphne's fiancé
• Jane Adams as Mel Karnofsky, Niles' girlfriend and (for a few days) wife.
• Millicent Martin as Gertrude Moon, Daphne's mother.
• Anthony LaPaglia as Simon Moon, one of Daphne's brothers. 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 (i.e. London) accents, while her brother Nigel's is Cockney. When three of Daphne's brothers appear in the series finale, none of the actors playing them are English. LaPaglia is from Australia, Richard E. Grant from Swaziland and Robbie Coltrane from Scotland. Interestingly, John Mahoney actually is from Manchester.
• Brian Stokes Mitchell as Cam Winston, Frasier's upstairs neighbor and nemesis.
• Wendie Malick as Ronee Lawrence, Martin's girlfriend and eventual wife.

Records

• The series won 37 prime-time Emmys during its 11-year run, breaking the 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 for the most consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series, winning five from 1994 to 1998.

• Grammer played Frasier for 20 years, tying the James Arness portrayal of Marshall Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke in terms of character longevity in prime-time 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. Wagner has been playing the role since the show's first episode in 1956.

• Grammer was briefly the highest-paid television 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.

Awards

Emmy Awards

• Comedy Series (1994-98)
• Lead Actor in a Comedy Series: Kelsey Grammer (1994, 1995, 1998, 2004)
• Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: David Hyde Pierce (1995, 1998, 1999, 2004)
• Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
  • Jean Smart (2000, 2001)
  • Laura Linney (2004)
• Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
  • Derek Jacobi (2001)
  • Anthony LaPaglia (2002)
• Directing in a Comedy Series
  • James Burrows (1994)
  • David Lee (1995, 1997)
• Writing in a Comedy Series
  • David Angell, Peter Casey, David Lee (1994)
  • Chuck Ranberg, Anne Flett-Giordano (1995)
  • Joe Keenan, Christopher Lloyd, Rob Greenberg, Jack Burditt, Chuck Ranberg, Anne Flett-Giordano, Linda Morris, Vic Rauseo (1996)
  • Jay Kogen (1999)
• Editing: Ron Volk (1994, 1996, 1998, 1999 with Scott Maisano, 2001-04)
• Sound Mixing (1996, 2002, 2004)
• Art Direction (2004)

Grammer has been Emmy-nominated for playing the same character on three different shows: Cheers, Frasier and a guest appearance on Wings. 2003 was the first year that Grammer didn't receive an Emmy nomination for this series. David Hyde Pierce's streak remains unbroken.

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 Crane's apartment):^[2]

• 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. In the commentary, the art director of the show mentions that no one could really be that close to the space needle to have the view from Frasier's apartment. The picture from the view had to be taken from a mountain.
• [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.

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

Episodes

Main article: List of Frasier episodes

The season 4 episode "Head Game" only featured Frasier for the first few minutes, with the rest of the episode centered around Niles. This role was written for Frasier, but Grammer was being treated for his addiction problems, so it was re-written for Niles instead. This is also the reason why Niles fills in for Frasier on his radio show, because the show is integral to the plot.

During season 8, Jane Leeves' 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 referencing the birth weight of Leeves' daughter, Isabella.

Production

The show is set in Seattle, Washington, but only one episode, "The 1,000th Show", was filmed there.^[3] The remainder was filmed on Stage 25 (location), Paramount Studios, and at various locations in and around Los Angeles.

Two of the three creators of the show, Peter Casey and David Lee

No building or apartment in Seattle really has the view from Frasier's residence. It was created so the Space Needle would appear more prominently. According to the Season 1 DVD bonus features, the photograph used on the set 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 Season 4 episode "The Impossible Dream".

The radio station callers' lines were spoken by anonymous voice-over actors while filming the show in front of a live audience. This gave the cast something to which they could react. During post-production, 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.

Cheers connections

• Every regular cast member of Cheers appeared in at least one episode, except for Kirstie Alley (Rebecca Howe) and the late Nicholas Colasanto (Coach).
• Lilith Sternin (Bebe Neuwirth) was the lone character of Cheers to become a consistent recurring character on Frasier.
• Kelsey Grammer has said that "The Show Where Diane Comes Back" is one of his favorite episodes. On Cheers, Shelley Long did not 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 it was an opportunity for them to make peace.
• John 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 Cheers 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. In "The One Where Woody Shows Up", Woody Boyd upon meeting Martin says he remembers hearing about him - probably from Sam talking about his experiences in Seattle when he returned to Boston.
• Robert Prosky played the father of Cheers regular Rebecca. He appeared in Season 4 as a J.D. Salinger-like writer who strikes up a friendship with Martin.
• Peri Gilpin was in a Cheers episode titled "Woody Gets an Election", playing a reporter who interviews Woody when he runs for office.
• Niles' wife Maris is never seen (at least her face) or heard from. The same device was used for Vera, Norm Petersen's wife in Cheers. This method is used again when Martin meets the woman he has been watching from across the street via his telescope.
• After Cheers had finished filming, the bar was taken down and the sets for this show were built over it. The producers made certain there were no stools in the coffee shop to distance it visually from the Cheers bar.
• Frasier's mother, who in Frasier is always remembered as a sensitive, intelligent woman and a wonderful mother, appears in an episode of "Cheers" (played by Nancy Marchand) when she threatens to kill Diane Chambers with a gun she has with her if the relationship with Frasier is not ended immediately.

Appearances outside of Frasier

In the Simpsons episode "Brother from Another Series", David Hyde Pierce guest stars as Cecil Terwilliger, brother of Sideshow Bob, a recurring over-cultured villain voiced by Kelsey Grammer. The episode also alludes to Niles' wife, Maris Crane, and makes use of subtitle slides Frasier employs. Sideshow Bob and his brother Cecil Terwilliger are slated to reappear in a future episode of The Simpsons, entitled "Funeral For A Fiend", with Grammer and Hyde Pierce reprising their respective roles and John Mahoney as their father.

The cast (minus Kelsey Grammer) 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 ^[4]). Grammer had previously played Captain Morgan Bateson in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Cause and Effect", but had to bow out after being admitted to rehabilitation in 1996. (Grammer was originally to play the role of the ship's captain). The primetime special was hosted by Ted Danson, who played Sam Malone on Cheers. Mulgrew also has a connection to Cheers, having played Sam's love interest in three episodes.^[5] Though not appearing in the skit, fellow Frasier semi-regulars Bebe Neuwirth, Patrick Kerr (Noel Shempsky) , and Dan Butler (Bob "Bulldog" Briscoe) have also guested on various Star Trek series over the years.

DVD Releases

As of 2007, CBS DVD has released seasons 1-9 and 11 on Region 1 DVD. Season 10 will be released on December 11, 2007.