A Touch of Class, A Frasier Retrospective

[Music] spin-offs almost never work they usually miss the magic of their predecessor run for half a season and are quickly forgotten resigned to the dustbin of tv history frasier was not just an exception it was one of those rare sitcoms that went from spin-off to its own full-fledged hit a classic of the 90s frasier ran for 11 seasons and was a critical darling with 37 emmy wins which as of 2022 was the third highest ever for a series and the highest for any sitcom frasier was in some ways an unlikely success story as big a hit as cheers was being a cheer spin-off wasn't a sure-fire recipe for success the first spin-off attempt the tortellis lasted a mere 13 episodes before it was canceled when cheers went off the air a poll conducted by pew found that of all the cheers characters who might get a spin-off only two percent of fans wanted to see one starring frasier not the best of omens but frasier quickly went over any doubters by being a hit from its very first episode of course the story behind how that show came to be started before that first title card it's hard to explain frasier without explaining all of cheers and luckily i've already done that if you'd like to hear a detailed breakdown of that show please check out my video on cheers for everyone else here's a quick refresher frasier crane was introduced in season three of the series as a foil in the sam diane will they won't they relationship although the character was intended to make a quick exit appearing as a temporary boyfriend for diane kelsey grammer made such a strong impression on the show's producers that they kept him around for the next eight seasons in that time he was left at the altar by diane met and married lilith sternan had a child named frederick revealed that he had been married once before in his younger days and eventually divorced lilith only to seemingly reconcile in the final season of the show at the end of cheers frazier was set to spend the rest of his days sitting in that bar in boston listening to cliff tell tall tales watching norm drink countless beers and inhaling dangerous levels of sand malones and many layers of cologne but a frasier spin-off took the character in a new direction let's briefly talk about wings the series was created by david angel peter casey and david lee all former writers on cheers it was through their production company grub street productions that they approached kelsey grammer about working on a new series they had a good relationship from their time on cheers together so much so that frasier even made a guest appearance on an episode of wings all aboard the crane train to mental well-being originally this new project wasn't going to be a cheers-related spin-off at all but rather an original series starring kelsey grammer the idea they came up with was that of a wealthy mogul who was in a motorcycle accident and then confined to his bedroom running his entire empire from his bed the idea was rejected by nbc and paramount and it was firmly suggested that the new show would be about frasier crane he looked across the table and said there's only one thing i got to tell you i think a sitcom should be funny it's got to be frasier we got to do frasier again if fraser was going to return kelsey grammer insisted on the rest of the show being something entirely new so the character was packed up moved to seattle and would start a new life as a radio psychiatrist frasier crane would be played of course by kelsey grammer the erudite sophisticated man returning to his hometown although he had known frasier for nine years on cheers in seattle he would be far more inclined to let his more cultured side show with less time spent on barstools and more time spent in opera boxes he would also spend less time being married and more time trying to figure out how to be a single man in his 40s i miss frederick like the dickens of course you know he's quite a boy he's playing goalie on the pb soccer team now chip off the old block you hated sports so does he david hyde pierce was cast as niles crane fraser's younger brother although the initial idea for the show never included a brother character he was added after assistant casting director sheila guthrie pointed out how much pierce resembled a young kelsey grammer particularly in his first appearance on cheers after the character was created the role went directly to pierce who created exactly what you would expect of frasier's brother prim eccentric and dripping with snobbery oh i'm sorry niles i didn't realize you'd stop talking you haven't heard a word i said niles you're a psychiatrist you know what it's like to listen to people prattling on endlessly about their mundane lives touche and on that subject i heard your show today martin crane was played by john mahoney the gruff former cop who finds himself suddenly living with frasier after he becomes unable to handle life on his own due to a gunshot wound he received a few years prior martin was inspired by the real life experience of series co-creator david lee who had been helping take care of his infarm father at the time i was thinking about a recent stroke that my father had had and i mentioned to peter and david have you noticed that everybody our age is starting to have to take care of their parents more and sort of try to tie up old strings and heal wounds mahoney was the first choice for the character and much like pierce was offered the role directly i study you expect me to give up my study the place where i read when i do my most profound thinking i use the can like the rest of the world jane leaves played daphne moon martin's physical therapist and live in housekeeper for frasier and martin although initially there was some discussion on making her latina the producers eventually made daphne english and jane leaves like pierce and mahoney before her was pre-approved for the role daphne provides a quirkier side of frasier's home life occasionally dropping in strange stories from her days back in manchester and having the odd psychic vision wait a minute i'm getting something on you you're a florist no i'm a psychiatrist well it comes and goes ros doyle played by perry gilpin is the hard-edged foil to the more gentile character of frasier she brings her frankly of speaking to bear in most scenes at the kacl radio station along with a very prolific dating life the only character whose actor wasn't pre-approved at first lisa kudrow was cast to be raw's gilpin was brought in when things didn't work out with her although kudrow would find her own success a year later when she was cast as phoebe in the show friends totally passionless it was like he was thinking of someone else i know i was somebody's here i gotta go all right i'll talk to you later bye mom the final member of the cast was a lovable jack russell terrier named moose who played the role of eddie martin's pet dog moose played eddie for the first six seasons but in later seasons with moose getting older his son enzo took up the family business and also played eddie dad i can't read my paper eddie's staring at me well you do make quite a picture in the morning just ignore him i'm trying to i'm talking to the dog although the principal cast was relatively small frazier made the most of them with numerous episodes exploring the antics of the korean men and the women who tolerated them there were several recurring characters who join them including dan butler as bob bulldog briscoe edward hibbert as gil chesterton and tom mcgowan as kenny daly even though frasier was a spin-off there was such a strong desire for it to be its own show that very few cameos came from cheers regulars with one exception bb new earth who would reprise her role as lilith in every season of frasier although the show had no theme song its ending theme tossed salad and scrambled eggs sung by grammar at his insistence is one of tv's most memorable closers according to the series composer bruce miller the lyrics weren't allowed to make any reference to the subject matter of the show including its title and there has been some speculation as to what the song even means although the lyrics seem nonsensical they actually do tell a story hey baby i hear the blue is a call in tall salad and scrambled eggs refers to frasier's callers on his radio show the next part but maybe i seem a bit confused maybe but i got you pegged refers to fraser struggling to understand his own life but still being able to help but i don't know what to do with these tossed salad and scrambled eggs the cullen again is a reference to an endless stream of people calling for help [Music] on september 16 1993 frasier debuted and much of america was watching the premiere of frasier was titled the good sun and was written by the show's creators david angel peter casey and david lee and directed by long-standing cheers director james burrows it very quickly filled in the blanks as to what happened with frasier following the end of cheers six months ago i was living in boston my wife had left me which was very painful then she came back to me which was excruciating reflecting on this moment writer david isaacs said that got a big laugh bigger than it should have i thought to myself we're going to be okay part of the premise is given to us right away with frasier hosting a radio show in seattle and we are introduced to his brother niles in a creative way frasier made use of title cards to introduce scenes so instead of having an awkward bit of dialogue where the relationship between frasier and niles is acknowledged explicitly the title card simply reads the brother these title cards became an iconic part of the fraser style often framing your expectations for a scene with some important information or providing a joke to add a bit more levity into the scene in the cafe niles helpfully introduces the idea that martin should move in with frasier all right i'll make up the spare bedroom oh you're a good son frasier oh god i am i die two cafe supremos anything to eat no i seem to have lost my appetite i'll have a large piece of cheesecake martin is not thrilled with the arrangement we all know i am here your old man can't be left alone for 10 minutes without falling on his ass afraid you got stuck with me isn't that right no no no no i want you here they'll give us a chance to get reacquainted that implies we were acquainted at one point [Laughter] martin brings one piece of furniture with him to complete frazier's carefully decorated apartment his iconic chair after a suggestion from niles frazier decides to hire some help and we then meet daphne you were a policeman weren't you yeah how'd you know i must confess i'm a bit psychic martin instantly wants to hire her partially i suspect to annoy frasier the main conflict of this episode is between frasier and martin struggling to find a way to live together ever since you moved in here it's been a snide comment about this on a smart little put down about that well i've done my best to make a home here for you and once just once would it have killed you to say thank you one lousy thank you after the fight martin makes a gesture to frasier the best way he can yeah i'm worried my son doesn't know that i really appreciate what he's done for me why don't you tell him uh you know it is with fathers and sons who have trouble saying that stuff well if it helps i suspect your son already knows how you feel is that all yeah i guess that's it thank you dr crane my pleasure martin yeah what i said i said thank you yes i heard what makes this a great pilot is that it not only establishes the premise and introduces the characters but also sets up one of the primary plot lines for the first few seasons frasier and martin reconnecting after frasier had spent 15 years away in boston one thing abundantly clear is that this show will be set in the world of the upper class fraser is obviously well off and so is niles and while martin and definitely certainly aren't both of them will be living under fraser's roof reacting to the context he's created for them and roz while more akin to daphne and martin in class status typically appears in scenes at the radio station the cafe or frasier's apartment in a supporting role when you look at the class backgrounds of the characters this split between them matters far less than the context they find themselves in ultimately this show is about frasier's world niles might be the best fit into it but to an extent all the other characters are trying to fit into frazier's world as well and this is all very ironic considering this whole episode is about frasier fighting himself in a new context it speaks to the power of perspective and how when a show focuses on one character it can very easily shape the world around them and how they define this space [Music] living in an apartment that is almost timelessly classic in its design working the cushy job of radio psychiatrists and going to chic restaurants and art events frasier crane is a man of means and class he's also incredibly vain arrogant and sometimes a complete goof but none of these qualities make him particularly likable the key to frazier's appeal is that he very deeply cares about people frasier's job as a radio therapist makes him something of a local celebrity in seattle more so than you'd expect from someone on the radio and frasier is more than happy to revel in that fame and fortune then i will just tell them that they can take their five-figure deal and find someone else five figures didn't i mention precious this is for television the big kahuna television research has shown that a single television commercial can turn an obscure radio personality into a national celebrity a year from now someone like you could be broadcasting your message of hope and healing not just to the pacific northwest but to the entire nation that celebrity affords frasier access to seattle's more elite circles often hobbing with the most impressive of knobs what makes razor fun to watch is when that class status makes him the subject of mockery for example when bulldog tricks them into singing some gilbert sullivan i don't suppose you happen to remember the words to three little maids well let me see three little mates from school are we this is it's the classic comedy trope of laffy that someone in a higher class be humiliated and while it's easy to laugh at frazier's class making him look silly it does make it tougher to empathize with him when it also isolates him from suffering in the crucible frasier is the victim of fraud when a painting he's purchased is revealed to be a forgery i didn't paint it of course you didn't you you created it you gave birth to it i didn't do anything to it i never saw this painting before in my whole life and you thought i was gonna embarrass you the cops are unable to help frazier and a legal proceeding against the gallery he bought the painting from would cost more than the painting is worth leaving him with nothing to do but hurl a brick through the gallery's window if you act like a barbarian you will become a barbarian give me the brick fraser and let him get away with this i know i know but the gallery owner did to you was wrong it was humiliating but if you throw that brick through that window you will have lost something more valuable than your money you will have lost your mind you can't do this injustice for frasier is a blow to his ego but not the material conditions of his life niles's advice is good only in so far that frasier can afford to take a little humiliation what if this was someone who's swindled out of their savings or even their weekly paycheck the real lesson here is that the privileged can afford for the system to fail them at the end of the show's fifth season frasier's stand against kacl's station manager gets him and all of his colleagues fired and we see frasier in season six out of work for the first nine episodes frasier you're not famous anymore [Music] kelsey grimer spoke about these episodes with frasier being out of work we thought it was a good storyline we got nine stories out of it we thought it was an interesting journey for him to take we always knew he was going to go back to the station but i think it might have made the audience uncomfortable because frasier wasn't as attractive there was something more sad about him frasier's suffering is a huge part of what makes the show work but that's often seen through his many failures in dating or struggling to hold a dinner party being out of work hit differently it's easy enough to empathize with a frasier struggling to find someone dating is universal and when his fancy dinner parties go awry it's usually just his own vanity biting him in the butt but this pain wasn't as easy to laugh at it was understandable without being relatable because even out of work frazier wasn't hurting for money he was upset that he wasn't famous anymore it's possible to pity frasier but it's a lot harder to empathize and empathy is at the heart of what makes frasier a great character we can see frasier's personal empathy in his chosen profession as a psychiatrist frazier's background in psychiatry means he's a medical doctor who has chosen to specialize in mental health although being a character created in 1984 he represents a very old-fashioned depiction of a psychiatrist one who fits the classic mold of having a patient sit on a couch while they talk through their problems as their psychiatrist takes notes and offers a few insights something you're more likely to see a psychologist do today rather than a psychiatrist frasier practices his psychiatry through his radio show hello mark i'm listening okay uh well i work at this all night mini mart and um i've been watching myself on the video camera and the camera me is doing things i don't approve of these calls are often voiced by some pretty popular actors including mel brooks ben steller elijah wood mary tyler moore and kevin bacon frazier is a freudian which dates them even further back to the practice of psychoanalysis and psychoanalysis as is sometimes mentioned on the show doesn't have the best track record in the episode chest pains after losing several games of chess against his father frazier is obsessed with winning i am analyzing my options unlike your winged approach i like to plan a strategy like a general leading his troops into battle checkmate schwarzkopf frazier who fancies himself an intellectual force can accept that his less educated father who had never played chess before is better than him so frasier and niles analyze why this is happening sooner or later the sun eclipses the father it's the natural order yet it's frequently a stumbling block because the sun's competitive stirrings are accompanied by tremendous feelings of guilt i see yes it's the classic edible conflict mike it seems so obvious now i've been letting him win later martin cuts the heart of what's really happening this isn't about losing is it this is about losing to me that's what's driving you nuts how could i lose to the old man i'm much smarter than he is i never said that you didn't have to say you thought it all your life no i have yes you haven't how you're insulting my intelligence again the answer is painfully obvious martin is just better at chess than frasier in fact there's an episode of cheers where frasier loses a game of chest the slow-witted woody raising serious questions about frasier's chess skills rather than accept that maybe he needs to improve his chess game frasier and niles concoct this freudian explanation as to why frasier keeps losing it isn't a genuine attempt to understand the situation but rather to protect frazier's ego on the presumption that an educated man like him must be better at chest than martin even when frasier finally wins he has to make a subtle nod to his little pet theory about this being some kind of eatable struggle i'm sorry i beat you dead this once again highlights how frasier is at its funniest when it's highlighting the excesses of the character the series often includes skepticism towards psychiatry and psychology more broadly or at least the type practiced by frasier and niles i'm not like a psychiatrist who works with someone for years and years and it doesn't matter if they ever get better a bust of freud oh wow that's really quite thoughtful of you i figured you'd appreciate the irony since he's been proven wrong about practically everything i like to think that freud's theories will stand the test of time really have you read either of his books oh what a relief i've been ringing my hands over nothing i mean it's okay all i want to do is have sex with my dead mother that last clip is frazier scion in relief because he's figured out the meaning of a particularly difficult dream he's been having where he finds himself in bed with his colleague gill well look who's up although dreams being secret desires people have isn't backed by much scientific evidence if you're someone who buys into dream analysis the obvious reading here is that frasier is secretly gay an interpretation he resists here's something dreams as an expression of wish fulfillment moving on so he and niles dive deep into their knowledge of dream analysis to pull together all sorts of conclusions that will supposedly resolve the tension in fraser's mind letting him avoid these dreams of course it's so obvious gil is a food critic food criticism once again this analysis is very forced the tools of freudian psychoanalysis are less a tool for greater understanding and used instead to reassure frazier's ego in the decades since his ideas were introduced much of the work of sigmund freud has largely been supplanted the best explanation i've heard as to why he should still be taught in an academic setting is that his insights were incredibly important even though his conclusions were ridiculous for example his insight that human development is a product of not nature or nurture but rather nature interacting with nurture was groundbreaking but his conclusion that development was the guiding of sexual desire through distinct stages from infancy to adolescents including breastfeeding leading to some kind of oral fixation is completely without empirical support while it might seem like i'm being a bit unfair to an older show none of what i'm saying is particularly new freud's theories have been criticized for decades and much of this was known in the 90s frasier represents the classic idea of a psychiatrist in the world of pop culture not reality the type of psychoanalysis done by fraser is sometimes not much better than what daphne can figure out on her own in your dream who was in the shower gill what is a shower running water who needs water fish what the fish have gills do you see where i'm going by the end of this episode frasier realizes he's feeling frustrated at work because he finds a lack of challenge in the colors he's getting and according to him and niles that should resolve the dream except the episode ends like this dr sigmund freud my goodness it's quite an honor honor it's all mine i gave you a complex psychological problem and yourself right now we have more important matters and just to be clear i'm not saying therapy is a bad thing in fact working with a psychiatrist or psychologist can be incredibly helpful in improving one's mental health what i am saying is that frasier and niles often let their biases impact their psychiatry particularly when they try to understand themselves and that some of the theories and ideas that they use are very out of date even for the 90s there is another problem with the type of psychiatry practice by fraser and niles too generally speaking it is very expensive while fraser doesn't charge his colors anything his background and expertise come from a field of medicine that is very lucrative psychoanalytic therapy can involve multiple sessions a week sometimes lasting for years and at a cost of one to two hundred dollars a session in today's money this type of therapy can be very costly another way which the series demonstrates the various class places between acts of compassion although frasier has chosen a field that puts his help out of the reach of all but the most privileged one overarching aspect of his character and one that makes him particularly likable is that he genuinely wants to help other people this can be seen in him choosing to host a show where people can call in with their problems for free as limited to help as that may be one specific example of frasier's compassion overcoming his vanity is in the episode death becomes him when martin's physician suddenly passes away a man who is similar in physique behavior and temperament frasier it leads him to question his own mortality frazier death please trying to listen to my heartbeat frazier becomes obsessed planning his own funeral and trying to find a way in which this doctor neglected his health he even crashes the man's shiva to learn more about him he only steps out of his vanity when the opportunity to help someone arises i suppose the best we can do is is live for the little joys and surprises that life affords us you can't spend your life being obsessed with death you're not jewish are you frazier's insight comes from his own experiences and he uses these moments of compassion for others as opportunities to grow himself which isn't the safest way to practice psychiatry but on a more human emotional level it offers the chance for two people to help one another in the episode dark victory a disastrous birthday party for martin leaves everyone bickering rose where are you going with a blackout keeping them all indoors frasier makes the rounds with everyone in his little extended family offering advice to calm their various tensions maybe you're just looking for too much from your job you should start exploring other areas of your life interests maybe uh maybe a serious relationship maybe you're right how long can i go on chasing these hunky 25 year olds that are all looks and no substance exactly right oh i'm serious i'm asking how long three four years it just makes me feel like i'm not very ambitious i mean i could be working in a hospital or a clinic of course you could definitely but maybe that's not what's important to you right now i think you like being part of a family if you can't walk around paris you could sit at a nice cafe and let paris walk past you maybe buy a glass of wine for a beautiful mademoiselle get yourself a nice bottle of imported beer i only like valentines in paris valentines is imported beer could it be you're really upset just because you couldn't help that woman you know i really hate that when you take a simple criticism and you turn it back on me i think i'm right but of course you're right why do you think i hate it and at the end of it all frasier is left emotionally spent i tend to each one of you and you all feel better and the minute you get a whiff of mesquite coming from down below are out the door without so much as a thank you wow thank you for the invitation but i am frankly fed up with people and their problems the doctor is out frazier is a helper from the callers on his show to his own family and more than that he's willing to sacrifice his own down time to help others albeit while venting his frustrations at the situation which is totally fair when you consider his job is to help people and having to do the same for the people in his personal life might feel incredibly taxing but that gets to the heart of why he's a likable character he's willing to put others before himself one particularly clever part of this episode is that it takes place during a blackout which makes the fancy trappings around them disappear leaving the characters with only the props of their own baggage with all that gone frasier can navigate through the void using only his compassion to connect with his loved ones and it works very well problems are solved riffs are mended and everyone is brought a few steps closer to each other in the episode the thousandth show seattle hosts a frasier crane day episode speaking directly to frasier's vanity for your sake and the stations to submit well a small tasteful uh low-key public rally a series of mishaps keep frasier from the rally and he's left to dwell on his own sense of self i wanted my day i wanted hoopla and fuss practically planned the whole thing myself when frasier eventually gets to the rally via a limo ride or rather almost there he postpones attending because he's met someone who needs help no don't worry about me i got plenty tonight tell me more about your kids all right i'm john by the way i'm frasier the crumpled sign reflects how hollow the fame and fortune are compared to the act of compassion much like the blackout hiding frazier's wealth this obscurian of frasier's fame reveal that the true value of his character comes from how he helps people frazier's wealth and radio show fueled by his occasionally dubious psychiatry create a distance between him and the people he wants to help in the episode frasier's edge this becomes particularly evident after being told he'll be winning a lifetime achievement award frasier has a crisis of confidence and goes to see his old mentor dr william tewksbury played by renee i suppose if one were looking hard enough one could even say you're coming down here was a desperate quest for approval oh well that one's a little out there yes dr tewksbury reveals to frasier that he has a tendency to keep people at a distance how's your practice i don't have a practice i have a radio show distance any children yes i have a wonderful son with whom i'm very close you live with him he lives in boston distance with your wife my ex-wife yes i know distance wasn't she a psychiatrist yes she was she had to be a damn good one too well that's a handy choice for someone who'd rather share ideas than emotions have you ever met lilith no well she happens to be a a very warm and loving woman although psychoanalysis isn't always the best tool for providing therapy to someone it does make for a handy way of dissecting art particularly art that holds it in high regard this episode demonstrates the distance frazier has created in his life but it goes beyond the personal relationships and professional choices he's made it goes deep into who he is as a character he lives in a social class that creates distance from the rest of the world he works in a profession only available to those with the means to pay for it and when he takes a step towards bringing his expertise to the people it's done in a way that keeps those people at a distance as well and somehow through all those distances manages to make real connections and give people genuine comfort class through the mediums of wealth and exclusive medical treatment reveals itself to be a barrier to expressions of human compassion frazier is a likable character not because he uses his status to help others but because he can help others in spite of it [Music] frasier simply wouldn't exist without cheers so it made perfect sense for some of those old friends from cheers to stop by for a few cameos throughout the years frasier had been moved to seattle in part to signify that this new show would be a departure from cheers and the first season of frasier deliberately avoided bringing back any other cheers alumni the one exception naturally was his ex-wife lilith and the episode featuring her return titled the show where lilith comes back was the second most watched episode of frasier ever congratulations frasier you've done it again luckily for us frasier and lilith still have that wonderful chemistry i'm here for a convention and i happen to hear your voice on the radio i kept hoping you'd introduce pearl jam's latest hit but much to my chagrin you were doling out worthless little advice pellets from your psychiatric pez dispenser lilith would make guest appearances in each of the show's 11 seasons including a particularly memorable episode where she hooks up with niles let's try to stay calm these things happen they happen every day every day in arkansas frazier's son frederick first played by luke tarsitano and then trevor einhorn also made several appearances memorably offering some competition to niles that's so cute he's got a crush on you yes you said i seen him last night i spent the entire evening sitting on daphne's lap watching tv [Laughter] really what can i do to make you feel better maybe a hug oh come on oh there you go by the end of the series we see how frasier and lilith have grown to have a meaningful friendship together with one hand the past moves us forward and with the other it holds us back and frazier in spite of frederick entering his goth phase in the final season still manages to have a connection with his son andy ran into a friend from her old school oh another boy she hardly talked to me the whole night i'm sorry son these things happen and well they always stink did it ever happen to you dad it may have frazier in spite of the challenges of living on the other side of the country manages to hold on to the things that matter most to him from his time in boston it's a charmingly uplifting message of course there were some other connections from boston who also had cameos in the season 2 episode the show where sam shows up sam alone naturally played by ted denson makes a surprise appearance in seattle this episode also provides some interesting bits of trivia such as highlighting how much david hyde pierce looked like a young kelsey grammer when he first appeared on cheers wow man this is freaky he looks just just like you did when i met you what happened huh it wasn't exactly a health club you were running there we also get some plot holes addressed such as the truth behind frasier's father my father wanted me to go into psychology he insisted on it the time i hated him for it i mean he died before i had a chance to realize that he was right and i never got to tell him he told me you were dead dad well we had had an argument he called me a stuffed shirt and hung up on me i was mad you're a cop you told me he was a research scientist you weren't dead what did it matter in the episode the show where diane comes back we get a cameo from shelley long reprising her role as diane frazier's former fiancee there was a very brief diane cameo in season two but it was this season three episode that really brought her back for a proper cheers reunion complete with a stage production this whole getting left at the altar thing i just don't know what i'm supposed to be feeling i may be able to illuminate that point what you are feeling is that this woman has reached into your chest plucked out your heart and thrown it to her hellhounds for a chew toy the episode offers frazier the chance to get some real closure with diane after over a decade of bitterness goodbye diane goodbye fresh of course it happened in season six woody harrelson once again took up the role of woody boyd in an episode you'll be shocked to learn was called the show where woody shows up this episode really seemed to tie a bow on the idea that fraser was no longer a spin-off and had cemented its own identity in case four and a half successful seasons wasn't enough i've moved on to bigger and better things in my life he's still pouring drinks back at the same bar he's been after the last 15 years don't you think that's kind of sad well no offense but look at your life you you live with your dad you hang out with your brother well just the other day i was thinking about your life and all i could think was what how lucky you are you see you you've found where you belong and you've made your home there i guess for some of us it just takes longer than others cheers cheers the last of the cheers reunions is also the only one with an original name cheerful goodbyes this brought back cliff clavin played by john ratzenberger norm peterson played by george wendt and carla maria victoria angelina teresa apollonia luponse tortelli lebeck played by rhea pearlman of the cheers reunions this one is the most extensive and feels the least natural even though it takes place in boston there's no sign of the original cheers bar it also doesn't quite feel the same without sam woody or rebecca the interactions between the two cats are interesting but are mostly a novelty the presence of a guy who looks suspiciously like cheers director james burroughs who also directed 32 episodes of frasier along with cameos from a number of cheers regulars makes the whole episode feel like a messy celebration of the series that birthed frasier it might have made for a good cheers reunion but it being an average episode of frasier speaks even further to how far apart these two shows have grown the only principal cast member from cheers still alive to not appear on frasier at all was christiale it's been reported that the reason why was because ali a practicing scientologist didn't approve of a show about psychiatry when asked in an interview about why ali hadn't appeared on the show co-creator david lee said i don't recall asking [Music] the original premise for frasier was the building of a relationship between frasier and his father martin my brother and i a lot more like my mother you know if it wasn't biologically impossible i'd swear the dad was dropped in a basket on our doorstep many of the early episodes of the series include moments where fraser and martin make an effort to connect and it's a bit of a struggle for them so how about those seahawks no sports all right no opera agreed martin is the voice of reason when it comes to making things work look you want us to forge some great father-son relationships to make some connection well that kind of thing takes a couple of years not a couple of days doesn't it you're the shrink a couple of years huh i'll go by before you know it either that or it'll seem like eternity importantly martin's not just being roped into a pet project of frasier's to mend their relationship he wants to reconnect as well and rather than through frasier's exercises growing closer comes about just by them being together more often creating new opportunities to learn about one another it seems like a tall order with martin being so unlike his sons but kelsey grimer summed up the dynamic nicely saying people always ask how frasier niles came from a father like martin martin's in public service into knowing what's right and wrong that's exactly what his sons were on the simplest level he was a good man and their hope was to become the same thing one sweet example is in the episode martin does it his way where the crane men bond while trying to piece together a song martin had written decades previously he was hoping to send to frank sinatra she's such a groovy lady she makes my heart go hide in haiti she is the chick i spent my nights while many of the bondi moments were like this the series also didn't shy away from other types of bonding in beloved infidel a secret is revealed about martin and an old family friend look don't bother calling that vivian you want to know the truth fine i had an affair it happened a long time ago and it's not anything i'm proud of but eventually frasier finds out the truth frasier your mother was a good person so is my husband they made a mistake and the two have something to connect over i never told you this but tom lolith did the same thing to me lilith had an affair his most painful and humiliating experience of my entire life oh i'm sure you felt the same way well i hadn't thought about it for quite some time but thanks for reminding me look son do me a favor don't hate your mother for this i wasn't the easiest person to live with back then and she had plenty of reason for doing what she did luckily we were able to put it behind us but i'll tell you there were times when it really tore me up i loved your mother except i ever since you moved in here we've been trying to find something we have in common and i i think we finally found it yeah wish it was a birthmark so do i the idea of bonding over trauma is a good one and the family connection makes it even stronger helping forge this connection martin and frasier were hoping for and by the fourth season we started to see this father-son relationship take real shape in our father whose art ain't heaven frazier refuses a gift from martin and we see what that gesture meant to the guy you don't like it i'll take it back oh thank god i thank you that's such a relief you know i was up half the night worried about it and i just bet are you all right i didn't upset you did i my god dad are you crying oh no oh my god i made my father cry that old news star and frazier wasn't the only son connecting to martin dad are you crying frasier what happened oh my god you're crying too why is everybody crying you know how i get when other people cry tell me what happened even the small gestures reveal how the two of them have grown closer together mom's a heart act to follow we knew we were meant to be together and that was that it's hard to find that out there i've been trying for a while you'll get there this all raises some interesting questions about the show if by the halfway point the main premise of a father and son reconnecting had already reached its conclusion what's to be done with martin to understand martin though it's important to take a step back and understand who his character is aside from his relationship with frasier martin is often positioned on the show as the average guy the working class everyman most of the audience can relate to except martin isn't really the average blue-collar worker he's presented as he's a former cop and that has an impact on how he sees the world here's a brief example of his politics how could you support that odious little hose head i once heard him say cancer aside tobacco's good for the economy he's gonna put more cops on the street when frazier is dealing with a con man in the episode fool me once shame on you fool me twice martin makes his feelings about people in general clearer this world would be a happier place if everybody would remember two little words people stink although we only get vague references to martin's life before he became a cop his time working for the force has certainly cemented the idea that people are generally bad and need the firm hand of the police to keep them in check throughout the series martin is softened quite a bit becoming more well versed in the finer things in life thanks to his time with frasier and becoming a kinder gender person as a result of having a stronger home life in connection with his sons but his attitudes towards people more broadly doesn't change too much he can't share frasier's optimism that people are generally good and when he's given the opportunity to offer some forgiveness of his own he can't bring himself to do it in the season 8 episode a day in may martin attends the parole hearing of the guy who shot him even after speaking with the man's mother martin can't bring himself to make a statement in favor of his release the victim is here mr crane would you like to make a statement i have nothing to say martin doesn't have to forgive the guy who shot him but his rigidness here represents a side of him that he carries throughout the series this skepticism towards the idea that people can change for the better which is ironic concerning in his own change throughout the series such as finally mustering the courage to tell his sons that he loves them frasier frasier i love you niles i love you martin's struggle to connect with his sons and his cynicism towards society present a man who is trapped in certain confining elements of masculinity we see martin get angry when eddie is playing with a doll or his deep discomfort when frasier wants to talk about his concerns that he may be gay martin has a very fixed idea of what it means to be a man in the world and it's what makes him miserable it may also be part of the reason he chose to become a police officer a job that reflects masculinity that drenched him in cynicism martin is both a victim and a critique of the times he lived in and sometimes the show goes out of its way to present that to us here's martin opining on women getting pregnant out of wedlock things have sure changed since my day back then if a girl got in trouble or family had just shipper off to relatives in another state and if anybody asked is lyden said she went to europe then when she came back they'd raised the baby as a little sister not like today we had morals and values back then in later seasons of the series martin began something close to a redemption arc in the return of martin crane we see martin leave his early retirement to rejoin the working world as a security guard although not exactly quite the high stakes job of his younger days it does let him reclaim part of his life by feeling like he's part of society it's not as though he's in dire need of assistance with him being quite happy living with frasier but martin needs something to feel like he isn't just slipping into the back pocket of someone else's life and adorably part of martin reasserting himself often involves treating his sons like kids i'm going to work now i'll be home late don't wait up this happened throughout the series and was one of the few ways martin would insert control over his life martin's dating life was a subject throughout the series while he had had some success with women it wasn't until the show's final season that he met ronnie lawrence played by wendy malik a former babysitter of frasier and niles how are you mr craig it's marty and i'm just great yeah you haven't changed a bit oh yes i have i can legally drink now it's a bit strange considering the dynamic they used to have though it has been over 30 years since ronnie was a teenage babysitter working for the cranes even so martin still feels a bit insecure she's young she's got all these guys after her i'm lucky she even gave me a second glance i don't want to blow it by looking like some desperate old guy with no options it's not desperate to tell somebody how you feel about them what if she doesn't feel the same way what if she does and you never find out martin eventually tells ronnie how strongly he feels about her and the two grow closer throughout the final season at the beginning of the series martin is a crotchety old man with a funny dog who lives alone with no real connections aside from his old buddies on the police force by the end he's reconnected with his sons found new family in daphne and roz managed to find his first lasting relationship since his wife passed away a new purpose with a new job and he still has that funny dog martin wasn't quite the everyman because it's difficult to believe that the average man lives a life quite as tragic as his had been in that first episode and one drenched in so much cynicism and bitterness towards the world at large but by making him the everyman and highlighting his journey it reveals that life can still change even in old age in some of the most dire of circumstances that you can discover a new reason to wake up every morning martin still carries the baggage of a cynical cop who's been shaped into someone suspicious of the world around him but by learning to find the good in his life from family and new friends he's at least found some kind of happiness frasier writer joe keenan explains the saying martin could have stepped out of an arthur miller play the guy's lost everything he's loved his wife job independence he has nothing left but his dog chair and two sons he feels looked down on him watching him warm up to them gave the show its sweetest most hopeful long-term arc in the episode freudian sleep the cast of the show minus raw's have a series of bizarre nightmares while staying at a house in the mountains when we peer into martin's dreams though they take a different tone [Music] of all the sections this one was a bit of a struggle as eddie is the character steeped in the most scandalous of controversies i should acknowledge first one of the big ones that he has had a long-standing feud with a certain type of bird there's this vicious blue jay on the terrace who keeps teasing him and then eddie goes chasing after him and slams into that glass door and this bird just struts around big as you please laughing that snooty bird laugh snooty bird laugh yeah like that i'd like to remind my audience that we aren't hearing the bird side of the story for this incident so please don't rush to judgment of this particular blue jay behind the scenes there was also ongoing drama between the dogs who played eddie moose and his son enzo co-creator peter casey explains moose and enzo hated each other they couldn't be on the set together apparently it was one of those classic parent-child hollywood rivalries even with all this controversy swirling about there were a number of wonderful eddie moments much of this should be credited to his trainer matilda cagney she even got a nod in one of the episodes the finest gilda ever sung was by the great matilda to cagney it's difficult to analyze the majesty and depth of the eddie character so i won't go into too much more detail aside from the fact that throughout the series he was unquestionably and unwaveringly a very good boy there were also the revelations in his groundbreaking biography the details of which can be safely passed over in this video you can see this book out if you're curious to learn more about this pup [Music] one of the signature styles of frasier was its use of farce these comedies of errors revolved around a misunderstanding or misunderstandings spiraling out of control an early example is the episode the matchmaker where frasier's new boss thinks he's gay that's a hell of a view it's even better from the bedroom why don't we just start with a drink another would be the innkeepers where frasier and niles open a restaurant together i'm just trimming them now oh no take them out of the tank till i'm sure they're dead oh for heaven's sakes or the much beloved ham radio where frazier stages a radio play the grizzly business miss von thorndike i can't believe any of my girl could be a mopable motherboard but the most fondly remembered of these episodes so much so that it's the favorite of many fans is the ski lodge after roz wins a freeze trip to a ski lodge frazier convinced sirs to sell it to him so he takes niles martin daphne and daphne's friend annie played by cynthia lamontagne to enjoy a ski trip complete with ski instructor gee played by james patrick stewart this episode featured an elaborate ski lodge set one of only two that was so big it was built in front of the main set of fraser's apartment the basic idea of this episode is that everyone aside from martin is attracted to another person in that ski lodge only no one seems to know who is into who frasier is into annie and he's in denials niles is of course into daphne daphne is into ghee and ghee is into niles some misunderstandings lead to a few memorable moments you unless a crane i won't you're not even the sex i want all the lust coursing through this lodge tonight all the hormones virtually ricocheting off the walls and no one was chasing me it's all absurdly convoluted yet somehow still manages to work the writer for the episode david lee explains why this episode worked so well the motivations always have to be absolutely real it helps if they come from the heart they can also come from lower on the anatomy which they often do but what really gets the audience engaged is when they care about the characters in this case it was niles feelings that you cared about niles and daphne are probably the most important relationship in the series being the only long-running story arc that lasts throughout the whole show and one that was featured in its most watched episode niles and daphne first meet in the third episode of the series dinner at eight although daphne happily acknowledges him niles's reaction is a bit more extreme you're daphne why yes i am well when fraser told me he hired an english woman i pictured someone a little more not quite so you're daphne the complication here is that niles is very much a married man to the unseen maris which doesn't stop him from making certain overtures daphne you're looking luminous this evening my thank you dr crane what's in the bag uh just a little treat i picked up for dad some devonshire clotted cream poor dad i loved every chick clotted green isn't that lucky you two can share it the niles and daphne relationship would continue like this in the early seasons of the show though at first it wasn't supposed to happen at all in interviews david hyde pierce would tell the story of how while doing press for the show before production began jane leaves had mentioned the idea that perhaps daphne and niles should get together this manifested on the writing side in its own way writer producer ann fletch giordano explains an encounter with series producer christopher lloyd early in the first season niles comes to the apartment chris realizing that niles would be meeting daphne for the first time said what if he had a crazy crush on her and it was here this multi-year crush began with many delightful misunderstandings this is one of my psychic headaches there's some kind of negative force out there i only get these when there's a clawing at the cosmic continuum oh perhaps if someone rubbed your temples oh my goodness dr crane shouldn't you be out there mixing oh don't mind me i'm just getting some eyes lovely party dr crane is always dropping by and bringing me little gifts and he's not after anything although charming in their execution there's something a bit strange about a married man drilling over his father's physical therapist although it might make niles appear like a brute to his wife david hyde pierce performed the character in a way that made his love for maris clear writer joe keenan explains no matter how ludicrous our descriptions got david made nile's feelings about the marriage very real he knew that if niles didn't love maris there'd be no reason for us to care when she divorced them or for nice to feel conflicted and hide his love for daphne that can be seen in episodes such as an affair to forget where niles confronts maris's fencing instructor gunnar over an affair niall suspects gunnar is having with maris luckily for niles he finds out maris has remained faithful oh but she refused him really the early flirtations between niles and daphne happened with the specter of maris around them in spite of that barrier to them being together there's still an obvious chemistry between them in the first seasons a mid-winter night's dream a storm traps daphne at nile's mansion while maris is in arizona well it's not that bad a storm oh maris i really think you should come home [Laughter] no no well of course i don't want you traveling if it's if it's not safe as niles comforts daphne after a recent breakup things get heated [Music] dr crane your glockenspiel has sprung to life oh the clock maris [Music] you really love her don't you you know i do love is a funny thing isn't it sometimes it's exciting and passionate and sometimes it's something else something comfortable and familiar david hyde pierce describes niles's attraction to daphne saying i think she's just an exotic flower to him and she's so beautiful and it's so unusual for him to be treated by a woman with such friendliness that he's overwhelmed by that openness because maris is so manipulative and difficult now zamarus's marriage over the years deteriorates leading to separation and then eventually divorce it never sounded particularly happy but whatever it was was enough for niles that is until the arrival of daphne which introduced something new and different to him at first it could simply be the echo of a wealthy man lusting after a woman of a lower class a very old trope and seen in classic works of literature such as pamela class has a very strange place in this relationship though as we never see niles consider daphne beneath him rather he just seems her as different and enticing the timing of niles and maris's divorce a few years after the arrival of daphne does suggest that the idea of something more may have fueled its end at some level though the series never makes that explicit the closest sign we get is when during his separation niles takes daphne to a ball in the episode moon dance what started off as an evening to show niles's friends he wasn't sulking over maris becomes something more than that let it out niles let everything out oh daphne i adore you [Music] i adore you too what niles is on the cusp of getting swept away with daphne until he learns the truth i knew you were a good dancer but i had no idea you were such a good actor actor oh daphne you're a goddess daphne i adore you we fooled everyone didn't we oh we certainly did didn't we a crucial part of this episode is that niles brought daphne to impress his snooty high society friends the idea that niles would show up with someone of a lower class to impress a bunch of snobs doesn't really make sense though it does reveal that when it comes to daphne now sees her for more than who she is in her social standing to her being a beautiful woman i'm sure helps as well although niles clearly has romantic feelings for daphne part of what keeps it from getting too creepy is that ultimately he cares about her as a person he may want to be with her but he also wants her to be happy before his divorce with maris we see this in the episode kisses sweeter than wine niles reluctantly helps daphne connect with his handyman joe thanks steph oh i got a spark me too that's just static electricity from the carpet it can happen to anyone if you had ever smelled her hair you'd know she's worth at least one more try joe told me what you did i think that's the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me thank you oh did you feel that we made a spark oh yes we did i guess you were right it is just the carpet next season when daphne breaks up with joe for good the separated niles and daphne have a nice talk i would have said is this seat taken and you would have said no and you would have said my name is daphne and i would have said my name is niles and then i would have said what are you doing for the rest of your life you always know just the right thing to say oh i love you dr crane i love you too daphne unrequited love is one of the oldest tropes in english literature it can be traced back to the medieval concept of courtly love which would often entail a man's desire for an unavailable woman although when it comes to women of a lower class whether or not she's unavailable never quite enters into the equation in this instance it actually subverts that expectation niles doesn't see daphne as a lower class woman he can take advantage of but as an equal or someone even greater than himself it's a bit strange to square the idea that daphne who clearly understands and cares for niles as a friend is still somehow oblivious to his attraction towards her jane leaves explains why from her own perspective you know i've always played that she knows somewhere in the back of her head but it's too scary to deal with because he's niles and he's you know posh and and he had maris and money and you know what's he doing going for a girl like daphne this little trope of pining for an oblivious woman can create many great episodes and moments as the series so easily demonstrates but it does also carry with it a more pernicious element and that's the objectification of daphne by objectification i don't mean in the more commonly understood sense of highlighting a woman's physical form over her character daphne wasn't really objectified in that way at least not that often what i mean is all those delightful moments where niles fawns over and oblivious daphne are effectively removing her from the scene as a full character let me show you it's all in the tongue that's right just purse your lips and put her up like a little goldfish [Music] just like that very good you got it [Laughter] what are you doing i'm learning how to blow smoke where when niles and daphne have one of these cute little moments there are two conversations happening the obvious one in which daphne is showing niles how to blow a smoke ring and the subtextual one of nile's getting turned on by daphne in many of these moments these scenes don't just include daphne and niles but also have frasier martin present to underscore what's going on it isn't just niles drifting off into a world of fantasy it's a secret conversation happening between the crane men even a conversation that's little more than a few weighted glances looking at the two layers of these moments niles and the other men operate on both while daphne only operates on one in that second later she is present but not as an active participant but rather an unthinking element to be played against like a prop or an object the show itself acknowledges this dynamic in the episode perspectives on christmas where each of the characters describe a disastrous christmas from their own points of view here's how martin observed one of those moments afternoon oh that's awfully dangerous daphne standing there under that mistletoe enough eggnog and here's how that same moment played out from daphne's perspective afternoon hello that's awfully dangerous daphne standing under that mistletoe a piece could fall into your eye let me pressure on your drink oh and the show certainly doesn't shy away from making fun of her with moments like this you know it's always so obvious when a man likes a woman you can just tell by his awkward body language shifting in his chair he doesn't know quite what to do with his hands he's as nervous as a hen oh for god's sake stop fidgeting in the early seasons this was a common trend for daphne unfortunately she was such a charmingly offbeat character that existed purely as you saw her without much of an interior life even stories that focused on her such as her having her boyfriend spend the night at fraser's apartment with her ended up becoming stories more focused on other characters in this case frasier and his anxiety about daphne having a man over this can be seen in a comment from christopher lloyd he's describing why niles and daphne work as a couple i thought could it be because she's so different than he is he's upper class and she's working class she says what's on her mind and he's restrained and thoughtful jane lee's did have some say in making daphne a more interesting character over the years even filling in some of her backstory she explained in an interview daphne was like a pair of comfy shoes she had a sort of earthiness and honesty that definitely came from me i told the writers that a girl who's comfortable around these men who doesn't take any of their crap must come from a household filled with men in one of the more ironic twists of the series by being actively pursued by niles instead of him just loving her from afar daphne started to become a more well-rounded character as niles's divorce with marist starts to get messy he decides to change his legal representation from a high-priced law firm to one of roz's ex-boyfriends donnie douglas played by saul rubinek and while he offers an immediate reversal of fortune for niles's finances netting him a nice settlement donnie's presence also has another unexpected consequence who understands why anything happens i mean it's remarkable how completely one's life can change in an instant poor niles it's over the next season and a half things start getting messy with donnie and daphne getting engaged and niall's starting to date mel played by jane adams a plastic surgeon who had worked extensively on maris you must think i'm terribly fussy yes one day though a pulled muscle in frazier's back changes everything what's the matter my back oh it's completely seized up while he sit in and out of all places martin's chair frasier ruminates about his life i really do love daphne i terrified daphne tries to confirm the issue with martin it's about dr green i overheard him say he's in love with me what and he wants to show me how much he loves me while he still has the chat oh geez not this you knew about this i'm not getting in the middle of this but it's true look i kept my mouth shut for six years i'm not saying anything now after taking some medication frazier asks daphne for a massage which gets pretty awkward but eventually the misunderstanding is partially revealed you see when i said how much i i cared about you i didn't mean it in a romantic sense then you don't love me oh no of course i love you daphne but as a friend that's all oh oh thank god and everything is fine until the meds frasier took start to kick in when i said to your father dr crane's in love with me he said it's been going on for six years now what did he mean by that oh that he meant niall what no he's crazy about you frasier doesn't remember spilling the beans and it appears daphne has learned the truth with everyone else none the wiser but niles is a little more astute than everyone else good evening daphne dr crane you look different somehow have you done something new with your hair oh that must be it while dating donnie daphne had gradually been revealing more of herself we learned more about her life in manchester and about the things that made her happy but this is the moment that really made her come to life as a character maybe it's the simple fact that having a secret reveals an interior life and one that puts her on par with the other characters around her in some ways it even gives her an edge since they don't know that she knows the truth about niles's feelings for her we can see that inversion very clearly in moments where daphne and niles have their rules reversed in those little moments of subtext you have to be careful those pan handles get awfully hot oh well not anymore it's got a protective coating of skin on it just give it a minute to absorb now it'll be fine i'm feeling better already thanks kathy hey what's up nothing it's fitting that niles being an old hand at this can sense something is a mess i burned my hand while i was cooking and she began putting first aid cream on it in a a very tender way and then uh dad came in and she jumped as if she felt guilty is it possible daphne has feelings for me no [Laughter] oh well as long as you've considered it from all angles things finally reach a boiling point with the season seven finale and two-parter something borrowed someone blew daphne's wedding and is fast approaching and she needs to get some things off her chest it's about your brother you see i know no what i know about his feelings for me my god how did you find out so was the nattering gossip roz dad you what you were taking those pills for your back and you blurted it out while i was giving you a massage oh well they were very strong pills you've seen after a while i couldn't put it out of my mind anymore i find myself thinking about him all the time daphne are you saying that you have feelings for niles i think i do unfortunately for daphne niles and mel have some news of their own we can't keep something like this a secret we got married did you before the wedding frasier notices how niles and daphne look at one another and he decides to confront niles she knows what daphne knows that you have feelings for her she's known for some time i knew you thought my marriage to mel was hasty but to poison it like this i'm not gonna listen to this niles definitely feels the same way about you she told me as much the other day and then she denied it once you got married but i saw the way she was looking at you downstairs just now oh my god miles i'm not in the habit of breaking up people's marriages but how could i not tell you you're my brother i love you this gives niles the courage to finally tell daphne the truth daphne i'm glad he told me because i love you meant what i said when i said i would leave her that's crazy no no it's not crazy if you feel the same way i do but i need you to tell me and i can accept it if the answer is no how do you feel about me and minutes later she finally responds you know a lot of times oh for god's sake dr crain i think you can call me niles now although the episode seemed to end with daphne deciding she can't leave donny luckily for all of us we still got a happy ending hello daphne i was wondering if you might be free for a date oh my god yes after seven long years of seeing niles and daphne go from awkward flirtation to a romantic escape it felt as though this story was reaching its climax and that was reflected in the ratings as this was the most watched episode of frasier seen by nearly 34 million people in the united states christopher lloyd explains this moment when niles kisses daphne for the first time it gave me goosebumps i'd lived with these characters for so long as did the audience and wanted that moment for them and david hyde pierce shares his experience of the moment saying the live audience's reaction when we kissed showed how completely involved they had become with these made up people's lives and how much they wanted them to get together love stories often don't extend beyond the moment when two people finally get together and we simply expect them to live happily ever after but love isn't so simple in real life and sometimes the hardest stories to tell aren't about how a couple gets together but rather how that couple stays together the moment when daphne and niles get together is often cited as where frasier starts going downhill and while ratings did begin to decline i would argue the quality was still certainly there only we weren't getting any more of those moments of hidden desire leading to a comedic misunderstanding we were going to see how this couple dealt with the idea of changing their lives on the spot for a chance at a love that might only come once in a lifetime series co-creator david lee elaborates when niles and daphne finally got together there was a certain tension gone that had been sustaining the series in ways we didn't understand when the eighth season began it picked up right where the finale left off with niles and daphne figuring out how to navigate lives they had just destroyed leaving your fiance on your wedding day and divorcing your wife on the fourth day of marriage does create some feelings of resentment these obstacles would be dealt with over the next couple of episodes but i want to highlight another important moment would you like some sherry uh yes thanks daphne yeah all right i'll get your precious wedge of brie and your water crackers no i meant would you like some cherry oh loss some thanks although daphne had been close with the cranes it's only now we see her being treated more like family it's also a clear indicator that fraser sees her as an equal she effectively marries into a higher class the episode even ends with martin and frazier putting together a special dinner for the new couple the biggest challenge to the niles and daphne relationship is how devoid it is of any real tension that it might end no one can doubt for a second that niles is hopelessly devoted to her and daphne seems to be quite taken with him as well the show plays a little with this idea when the stress of living up to niles's expectations leads daphne to gain a significant amount of weight behind the scenes this was done to accommodate jane leaves his pregnancy but it did raise some interesting questions about how two people can date when so much of it is based on a love that was built on years of pining how can reality ever live up to that when you and i first came together we decided to wait and get to know each other before bringing the relationship into the bedroom then as time went on you told me all these stories about how you'd pined for me for seven years how i've been your unobtainable dream how could anybody live up to that although niles takes this revelation personally and the two have their first fight they reconcile before the end of the episode and the two managed to stay together for the rest of the series the episodes for niles and daphne that stand out the most are like this one though ones where tension arises and the relationship is threatened but at this point in the series it's unthinkable that these two would ever break up and what tension is created is undercut because of that there's no will they or won't they it's very clear that they will and have in the same way niles is utterly committed to daphne the show is utterly committed to making this relationship work spending years showing how dials longs for her using moments to reveal how good the two of them are together and revealing how much they've always cared for one another although it's certainly possible to tell interesting stories about how a couple stays together the series had the added pressure of years of build up that might have felt like a cruel tease had niles and daphne broken up a year or two after getting together by season 9 in the episode the proposal we get exactly that will you marry me oh niles of course i will instead of a big lavish wedding niles and daphne end up eloping in las vegas he never said you may kiss the bride you may kiss the bride the threats to niles and daphne are often external to the relationship such as when niles faces a medical emergency and is rushed to the hospital for an operation there is an anomaly in your ekg i'm gonna have to check you into the hospital oh uh will hmm ah i guess i can clear my schedule uh how's uh how's tomorrow afternoon no no no niles you need to go right now there's also the return of maris who re-enters niles's life after she accidentally murders her new boyfriend with a crossbow i've just arrested seattle socialite maris crane for the murder of her lover argentine polo star esteban di rojo the niles and daphne relationship is one that was defined by tension and once that inner tension was resolved went on to face a series of tensions from outside the relationship always chasing that earlier feeling although niles and daphne are lovely together their on-screen dynamic only occasionally explored that relationship instead we had x's near-death experiences and murder threatening to tear these two apart although daphne and niles had grown so much to be together their relationship never quite managed to do the same when people say frasier changed after niles and daphne got together they're right and change doesn't have to be a bad thing but when you go to a show in part for the exciting romantic tension and it's all gone you can't help but feel as though something has been lost and the new thing might appear hollow if it seems to be an imitation of the old thing there is something to be said for seeing a happy couple together instead of one in constant conflict it just wasn't as enthralling as the pursuit it also highlights another way in which class manifests itself in the series daphne and niles on paper shouldn't work he's a rich psychiatrist and she's a kooky physical therapist but it does work in spite of this class divide and it serves as a reminder that true love is possible when you're willing to ignore the things that don't matter in this case social class because doing so opens a door to meeting someone who represents a whole new world of possibilities janely's describes it she is the complete opposite of anything he's ever known she's grounded and down to earth and that's just not the sort of person he's used to she's not out for herself like everybody else she's there to help others and it turns him on to see her rooting around under the sink and fixing things the only real journey left for them to take together is the one to parenthood this isn't the ovulation kit it's the pregnancy test oh silly me that looks so much we're pregnant although this is daphne's first child in a way this is niles ii though the show never did answer what happened to that little bag of flower oh dear what eddie that dingo's got your baby [Music] oh god or maybe we do know [Music] frasier was rightfully lauded as having a very strong record on depicting gay characters often tackling stereotypes head-on david hyde pierce explains it was never jokes at the expense of gay people we had gay people on staff david lee one of the creators on the show is gay and so to me it was always acknowledging the preposterousness of stereotypes this dynamic was well explained in matt bomb's excellent video frasier and sitcoms of the gay 90s so give it a watch if you'd like to learn more about that instead i'd like to talk about some other forms of representation on the series nbc's lineup of sitcoms throughout much of the 90s which fraser was a part of on thursday's nights was overwhelmingly white and this wasn't an accident one of the executive producers of the fresh prince of the bel air andy burwitz described what it was like to be producing one of the few sitcoms for nbc on prime time that had a black cast the knee-jerk response of the network was maybe we need more cast members on the show they never said white but curiously all the characters they proposed were white they believed a white audience wouldn't watch a black show this came after programs including the cosby shows and the jeffersons demonstrated the opposite but with cable channels attracting more of that tv audience big networks such as nbc started trying to appeal more to that white audience the only way they knew how making shows predominantly featuring white people none of this is to say that frasier was a show built specifically to appeal to white people but it's certainly a fact that its makeup was a perfect fit for nbc reflected in as simple a change as suggesting the latina housekeeper on the show's original pitch instead be an english woman frasier had a strange relationship with race in that it says very little about it and the one time it does we get the episode something about dr mary in this episode frasier's temporary replacement for raws mary played by kim coles starts getting too comfortable participating in the show and fraser feels too awkward to tell her to ease up a little i know why he didn't say anything cause she's black oh that's ridiculous dad race has nothing to do with it oh come now frasier can't deny a certain measure of guilt living as you do in your exclusive lilly white world interestingly enough in this season seven episode the first one to ever mention race we get this line you know phrase there's such a thing as being too sensitive about this stuff a scene with three white men talking about how perhaps white people are being too sensitive about racial issues is a very 90s moment we also have frasier acting out a paranoid white guy fantasy of what it's like to disagree with a black woman so you want me to stay in my place massa she's not going to say massive what am i getting jewelry for you you sherry swelling opera loving armani wearing elitist you have no idea how difficult it is for a black woman in a white man's world frasier i don't think so eventually frasier comes clean and confesses the truth to mary who of course takes it all in stride why didn't you just say something before well it's because you're black and the truth is i i'm i was afraid that if i if i said something critical of you you you might react the wrong way and i feel just terrible about it all and well as mary's interjections made her so popular she's offered her own show a show with a white cast talking about race isn't impossible to do well a few years prior roseanne did a masterful job with white men can't kiss frasier is a sad reminder though that these topics can be clumsily handled in the hands of a creative team completely divorced from the experiences they're speaking to though it does reflect quite nicely the misplaced anxieties certain white people might feel when discussing race the show did fare slightly better over the years introducing the less stereotypical character of cam winston and having his mother cora have a brief relationship with martin but these are characters for whom race is incidental and they neatly fit into frasier's upper class world another uncomfortable blind spot is the character of maris which only makes sense because we never see her the show goes out of its way to describe how odd she is being an heiress who is constantly engaging in surgeries and beauty treatments to keep herself looking young and beautiful in the episode to thine old self be true we find out maris has been struggling with an eating disorder maris was always chubby as a child her whole life she's been obsessed with keeping weight off the episode includes much discussion about how maris has gained so much weight that she's gone from dangerously thin too dangerously overweight in both cases it's played for a laugh something must have snapped but literally when she saw me she swallowed and her necklace exploded from the pressure not being able to see maris has always made it easy to create this bizarre entity to drive comedy but if we could see her in this moment eating away her misery that niles has moved on without her i imagine we'd probably feel more pity than anything else it puts in stark relief all the other times maris was described as being too light to leave footprints in the snow or her weight being so small in her youth that frasier is amazed she was even alive a person that small and frail probably wouldn't be nearly as funny if you saw her in the flesh and you could see what her eating disorder is doing to her this along with frasier's record on race underscores one of the sad truths about the series it's a show about white men that struggles to see anything outside that perspective and by not acknowledging those other perspectives makes hay out of struggles that feel like laughing down what keeps these episodes from getting too uncomfortable is how class acts as something of a barrier to disguise what's happening in something about dr mary it can be argued that the comedy comes from frasier's lack of perspective outside of his upper class world even if the merry character reads like a stereotype in the case of maris her obscene wealth makes her far less empathetic a character even though her disorder is incredibly tragic in both cases it's the status of the characters that informs the audience that it's okay to laugh at what's happening it's another way in which class is a barrier to feeling empathy something core to the character of frasier i'm certainly not saying we shouldn't laugh at the rich and powerful in fact i'd say we should err on the side of laughing at them more but it is worth considering why we're laughing whether it's for the silly excesses of the wealthy or the problems that impact people across class lines [Music] roz doyle is a tough character to pin down particularly in the beginning of the series frasier needed someone to interact with as part of his radio show but only a few small details about the character really existed when perry gilpin got the role she was told by the creative team that they weren't really sure who roz was as a character leaving her wide open to the actress's interpretation guildpin once said in an interview i imagined roz constantly trying to live up to a forceful mother i actually based a lot of her on a really good friend of mine she's super smart self-dependent sexually adventurous and honest about it although this might have let her devolve into a cliche she managed to be a sexually active career woman without becoming a negative stereotype in the episode raw's in the doghouse we see bulldog the perpetual sexual harasser at the station appealed to raz for her producing talents i did not sleep with bulldog he didn't even hit on me he didn't want something though wanted me to leave you and come be his new producer well i wonder why he said that eventually we find out frasier's suspicions to be true and raz is quick to stand up to bulldog hey hey you're gonna have to slow down i'm getting some mixed signals here the lesson almost learned here was for frasier to respect the talent of his producer as we did see how talented roz was in helping improve bulldog show but it's undercut by the reality that in spite of her skills raz was still reduced to her sexual appeal by both of her bosses this is something of a running theme for the character in the early seasons and while it puts her on par with frasier and niles who often end up being humiliated by people who know better it hits a bit different when it's someone who doesn't have the same degree of power or status of all the characters on the show it's raz who is the most detached from the rest of the cast much like daphne in the earlier seasons raz isn't highlighted the way many of the crane men are sometimes reduced to only having one or two scenes in an episode unlike daphne she doesn't get the same opportunity of character growth when she becomes involved with niles often leaving raws as the odd one out the most meaningful connection bras has to the rest of the cast is her friendship with frasier although this does get teased as them being more than friends multiple times you know maybe if we both went into it with our eyes open now aside from one night where they hook up the two of them never come close to anything romantic the relationship simply works best with them being friends the friendship between roz and frazier is a bit different not just because of the class divide but because frasier is raz's boss it leads to some strange moments such as the episode raws alone where frasier loans raw some money and then becomes very judgmental when he sees how she spends it i don't want to talk to her about it i have to become sick the rate she's spending she's gonna be out of money before we're back to work yeah and frankly i'm just a little bit annoyed with the way she keeps flaunting it in my face expensive lunches needless extravagances frankly i think the entire thing's just a bit insensitive don't you daphne is luckily there to point out how frazier's loan of fifteen hundred dollars contrasts his usual spending habits are the cigars cuban other tulips dutch oh good news my personal shopper just found a dozen antique pudding plates who has 12 people over for pudding so you gave paul roz a bit of money it hasn't changed your life has it your sherry swilling foie gras munching hypocrite it's also worth mentioning that raw's being on hard times is because frasier got her and everyone else at kacl fired when he made a stand against the station manager frazier eventually confronts roz about her spending habits excuse me but weren't you the one that said i could spend it any way i wanted well i just thought you were gonna be a little more responsible than that oh so now i'm irresponsible no no i'm just saying even their reconciliation is kind of weird as raz is forced to listen to frasier's apology because she's his producer and he's doing it on the air it's not an exaggeration to say i put my career in this woman's hands every day and she never lets me down onto the show and if i'm a bit rusty i hope you'll forgive me after all to er is human i hope you'll look into your heart all right frazier you're forgiven oh good these power dynamics come up several times throughout the series frasier and roz are absolutely friends but they aren't quite on the same level the tension in this relationship always seems to come from the fact that frasier has power over ra's and reveals the perils of friendships within hierarchies it's not as simple as saying no one can ever be friends with their boss that's obviously not true rather what the series suggests is that this dynamic presents a barrier or obstacle in that friendship in season 9 roz meets roger a man who would be one of her longest romantic partners on the show there are some echoes of class in that relationship as roger is a garbage man something that at first embarrasses roz but over time she learns to accept it by the end of the season sadly they've broken up although frasier tries to reach out to her she insists she's fine we broke up oh ross i'm so sorry we just talked about some problems we've been having and decided you know we'd be better off apart when did this happen last week last weekend i didn't tell you because i didn't want to have a long conversation the rest of this episode titled frasier has spokane focuses on frasier's expanding to the spokane market and him struggling to be accepted by the listeners there roz is enlisted to help out posing as a caller looking for help i had somebody a guy i really liked and then we broke up god frasier i miss him so much love is always a risk but you have to take it the pain you're feeling now will pass in time and you'll find yourself ready to take that risk again well thanks you're welcome fraser and roz have a very real connection and it reveals the workplace friendships are just as valid as any other working together was never the problem for frasier and roz raz having to answer to frasier as her boss was what introduced a power dynamic that undercut what is otherwise a very meaningful friendship this is a reflection of what i was saying earlier about frasier and how class creates barriers between him and the people he cares about roz is clearly no exception and while it does provide an interesting reading for her character it does frame the frasier and fra's friendship as less about her story and more about his there was one storyline for raz that was all her own and that was the birth of her daughter alice the birth of alice was not planned by raz or even the show's producers christopher lloyd in an interview said it was the network's idea it's one of those things because they like doing event shows and so in the season 5 episode halloween we find out raz is expecting and as is tradition for the show it's revealed in the most embarrassing way possible if anybody's going to propose to roza's frasier what how could you do that get her pregnant it was free sure listen everybody i am not the father of ross's baby in fact we don't even know for sure if there is a baby we do now the father is a young barista working at cafe nervosa who roz encourages to go live his life as she intends to raise the baby on her own i hope that you can understand why i can't possibly marry you when i get married it's gonna be to someone i love and someone who loves me and someone who can legally drink champagne at my wedding okay i understand although roz doesn't think this is going to be as easy to handle as she lets on i can't take this damn it let this happen are we still talking about the milk don't you see milk is a staple i let a staple go bad good mothers don't let stables go bad how can i be responsible for a child when i can't even keep fresh milk in the house kids need milk i have to know everything you could know half of everything you can know about the milk and lilith can know about the booties and the snugglies you never met lilith did you what seemed to be the beginning of raz's character moving in a new direction never quite gets off the ground as even the delivery of the baby is almost smuggled into an episode about frasier and niles competing over the same woman at a party what is wrong with me why can't i find a single woman who's interested in me those are two different questions really so we should just sit down and talk them both over oh wait i can't because i'm in labor still we do get a huge moment with baby alice oh she's beautiful it's a long story and that was about it on the odd occasion we would see alice appear in an episode or raz would make a reference to having to stay home because she couldn't find a babysitter but otherwise we don't get too much of a change in roz's life aside from maybe her dating habits slowing down a bit one interesting bit of trivia about raz doyle is that she gets her name from one of the producers on wings the show david angel peter casey and david lee created before frasier the real life roz doyle passed away in 1991 from breast cancer towards the end of the series we see some development in sight for roz as she's offered a job as station manager at a rival radio station i'm not saying i've got sort of mixed feelings about this i mean i couldn't be happier they're finally getting the recognition you deserve but i'm gonna miss you well let's wait till there's a real offer before we break out the kleenex and champagne roz being so capable gets the job wait i got the job oh congratulations rob i'm so proud of you now can i tell you how much i'm gonna miss you this two-parter is a strange dynamic where roz inserts herself into frasier's new relationship with co-worker julia played by felicity huffman though ultimately none of this goes anywhere frazier breaks things off with julia and roz exits the new job to go back to her old one at kacl while a bit of an odd part of the show it does reveal to us that roz aspires to be something more than a producer for frasier's show and that's something we learned a little more about in the finale of the series [Music] one major part of the series i haven't really touched on is frasier's long-standing problems with aiding throughout the over 250 episodes of the show we see frasier go on countless dates struggling to find happiness with women that are a bad fit for him a great fit for him and ones who don't stick around long enough for us to find out frasier's struggle to find a relationship is one of the core conflicts of the series season nine opens with the two-parter don juan in hell where frasier dives deep into his own mind to figure out what he wants imagining the many women who he's had relationships with i have carried you with me throughout every relationship on every date you pick apart the women i care about and you remind me how much it'll hurt if i open myself up you don't help me you hold me back how will i ever move forward if i don't put you behind me although this two-parter led frazier to a place of emotional strength ready to enter into a meaningful relationship it would be two more seasons until he found the last of the women he would earnestly pursue on the series charlotte played by laura linney we only meet charlotte seven episodes before the series finale but lenny spoke about the experience of joining the cast so late in its run i was a frasier fan for so long i think charlotte's a good-hearted fumbling person trying her best but things weren't working and she was beginning to lose heart a little bit in a fitting turn charlotte met frasier while trying to help him make a meaningful connection as a matchmaker after setting up a series of disastrous dates frasier realizes he's attracted to charlotte fraser charlotte hi uh good to see you uh i i'd like you to meet uh roz after some brief maneuvering around charlotte's less than ideal boyfriend frank played by erin eckhart frazier manages to get closer to charlotte until finding out something crucial i'm moving back to chicago in three weeks three weeks it's not you i bought my old business back from my ex i i know i should have told you sooner but it was never the right time frazier and charlotte decide to spend the last three weeks she has together and that time is drawn to a close in the final episode two-parter goodnight seattle as the episode begins we can see the cast all reaching pivotal turning points in their lives martin and ronnie having gotten engaged a few episodes earlier are planning their wedding a very pregnant daphne could give birth at any moment and unbeknownst to roz she has an exciting career opportunity ahead of her and frasier is preparing to say goodbye to charlotte the episode opens with frasier on a plane recounting the strange turn of events that got him aboard that flight and it began with frasier's agent bibi letting frazier know he has an exciting new job offer good news i'm busting you out of this hellhole what did you ever hear of dr mark riesman the san francisco radio psychiatrist yes we had a nice encounter once at a conference well last week he had a not-so-nice encounter with a falling air conditioner anyway they want you to replace him and the money's huge as frasier weighs his options he has to say goodbye to charlotte as she leaves for chicago at martin and ronnie's wedding disaster hits when eddie the ring bearer eats the wedding ring the ring i dropped it when that cannon was fired daphne and niles take eddie to the vet and then her water breaks they are a handful my brother i can just imagine the hell they're raising back there with an open bar oh my god my water just broke the baby's coming because i said open bars and just like that she has a brand new baby boy he's named david which is possibly a tribute to siri's co-creator david angel who had passed away with his wife a few years prior martin and ronnie arrive and get married at the vet's office and for good measure it's also eddie's birthday it only loosely enters into the plot but i felt like it needed to be mentioned after the wedding martin and ronnie plan on moving in together and with daphne already moved in with niles it leaves frasier finally alone in his apartment as he poses for a meme we see the end of an era as martin's chair is moved out of the apartment waiting long 11 years uh be careful with it in a cute nod to the first episode the same actor who moved in martin's chair is also the one who takes it away with martin moved out and daphne and niles now busy with their new son a lonely frazier decides to take that job in san francisco listen about that san francisco job i think i'll take it raz is also moving on as she's promoted to station manor at kacl who's the jack-booted tyrant who's fanny i'll be kissing till god knows when me joyful news your majesty everyone gathers in frasier's apartment to say goodbye before he moves to san francisco you're really leaving what will i ever do without you you're the sweetest most wonderful okay roz he's not going till next week let her talk to that martin's goodbye is particularly sweet hearkening back to the first episode as he finally thanks frasier just once would it have killed you to say thank you one lousy thank you thank you frasier or well you know and niles simply is niles coffee tomorrow 10 30. i'll miss the coffees the episode is capped off with frasier reading tennyson's poem ulysses and braving one more change in his life which brings us back to that flight i think it's great what you're doing well i just know i'd always regret it if i didn't take the chance ladies and gentlemen welcome to chicago for your safety the captain has asked me to remain seated wish me luck frasier taking a chance on love is a nice way to bookend the series what is life without taking those chances making those gestures striving for something to live for frazier's life has consistently been one about the barriers that prevent him from connecting to others some a product of his class others of his own making it's a great irony that runs through a series about a man who makes his living helping others his abysmal dating record is perhaps the greatest symbol of his lack of ability to connect to anything with bad luck explaining some of his troubles and circumstance affecting the rest frazier deciding to take one more leap in his life and heading towards the great unknown of chicago to be with charlotte is him finally jumping over one of those barriers finally closing one of those distances and he's also turning down a great job offer as part of it effectively sacrificing fame and fortune for a chance at love if frasier began the series as a silly rich man to absorb with vanity to find real happiness in his life the finale is him choosing not to venture deeper into that world so he might find something more meaningful when asked his thoughts on what fate awaited frasier kelsey grammer said i sometimes think frasier went to chicago and charlotte told him to get the hell out that seems to be his luck maybe they ended up with a wonderful life together and maybe we'll find out someday good night seattle we love you kelsey grammer had been mentioning the possibility of a reboot as far back as 2018 with plans originally being a third act for frasier in a whole new setting the plan was at first to have it air in 2020 though that never materialized on february 24th 2021 it was revealed that the series would be streaming exclusively on paramount plus with hopes of it premiering sometimes in 2022. so far there's no concrete news of a date or even cast the only thing we know for certain is that kelsey grahamer will once again be reprising the role of frasier several cast members of frazier have been asked if they're participating but so far no one has confirmed much of anything aside from them being aware that it will be happening the cultural impact and lasting legacy of frasher extends well into the future it's a bit difficult to describe so i got some help to explain that hey this is hoots from the youtube channel little hoot i'm creating a companion video to jose's on frasier that's a collaboration with neil from the liberal cook in it neil and i attempt to suss out frasier's legacy and in doing so we touch on a broad range of topics including the misogyny of 90s comedy philosopher hannah arendt tv tropes and anita hill it's kind of a wild one and i hope you enjoy it's hard to overstate how well-received frasier was in addition to being a hit with strong ratings throughout its run frazier also managed to win 37 prime time ebby awards the most ever for a completed tv series until that record was broken by game of thrones in 2016. kelsey grammer and david hyde pierce both won four emmys for their respective portrayals of frasier and niles and frazier won outstanding comedy series five years in a row a feat only matched by modern family the series has also spawned a number of home releases books and other forms of merchandise over the years it's also been played in heavy syndication as well letting whole new generations of people discover frasier joe keenan describes how new viewers react to the show saying i think new viewers like the show because apart from its quality it doesn't remind them of anything no one says oh yet another show about two relentlessly high-brow romantically thwarted psychiatrists following the end of frasier kelsey grammer would go on to be involved in countless tv and film projects over the years from appearing as beast in the x-men movies to being the executive producer of the tv series girlfriends he is still likely best remembered for the 20 years he spent playing frasier though he spent even more time 29 years in fact playing sideshow bob on the simpsons and i would be remiss if i didn't also mention that the simpsons had a number of frasier references in those episodes including guest appearances by david hyde pierce and john mahoney david hyde pierce continued to have a number of tv and film roles though he tended more towards working on stage including winning a tony for his role in the 2007 production of curtains his performances on frasier were typically noted for how keenly they reacted to the audience so a career on stage makes perfect sense for pierce john mahoney appeared in several roles after frasier though martin crane would always be his signature performance sadly on february 4th 2018 mahoney passed away due to complications from throat cancer in an interview perry gilpin told a sweet story about mahoney a few years ago jon took me and my family to dinner in chicago while we were driving back my husband was texting with chris lloyd and read chris's text out loud please tell the great john mahoney it was one of the honors of my life to work with him i could see a little tear for him in john's eye then my daughter says who's john mahoney john almost fell out of the car laughing he never took himself too seriously jane leaves continued her career throughout the 2000s after the end of frasier eventually finding herself on hot in cleveland which ran for six seasons she took some time off of television after that though eventually returned to the drama series the resident which is currently in its fifth season perry gilpin has been working in film and tv since the end of fraser and has also built a fairly extensive list of credits doing voice over work she even has the unique distinction of being part of the ill-fated final fantasy the spirits within in addition to frasier moose also appeared in the feature film my dog skip once again alongside his son enzo sadly on june 22nd 2006 moose passed of natural causes at the age of 15. enzo would pass not long after on june 23 2010 at the age of 14 due to cancer both will be remembered as two of the very best boys class looms heavily in frasier often as a barrier from preventing people from making genuine connections the very idea of people in the upper class is consistently a source of mockery but more importantly it's also demonstrated to be a driver of division and a barrier for love and compassion frazier does a wonderful service by showing us that this excess doesn't make anyone better it's a social structure that moves us away from one another reflected on the show david i pierce describes how it connects people saying i have people tell me all the time that when their family was in crisis a dad in the hospital a mom dying arsha was the one thing their family could watch together that would make them laugh it's happened so many times over the years that i no longer think of it as a coincidence but is part of the show's legacy frasier was a show about connecting through unlikely circumstances but the circumstances weren't the living arrangements but the way their social spheres shaped them the idea that these barriers can be torn down makes it much easier to laugh together no matter how hard the times might get that's what makes frayser such an excellent show when i made that cheers retrospective a while ago i knew it had to be a two-parter and i knew i would eventually have to speak about frasier growing up i didn't really watch cheers but i definitely watched frasier so revisiting it all these years later was a treat and a reminder of why this show was such a joy to watch in my youth it held up surprisingly well and i think that's a tribute to the writing and performances throughout it if you enjoyed this lengthy look back at the show frasier do consider becoming a patron or member for this channel you'll join all the lovely names you see scrolling up on the screen now plus you'll get early access to videos in the future patrons also get a little extra say on which series comes next though i can't make any promises as to which you'll be covering thank you all so much for watching

Channel: José

Views: 322,662

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Id: Foau4PrnFTw

Length: 108min 13sec (6493 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 30 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/Richlore]

An infinitely rewatchable show

[u/Rich_Suspect_4910]

Jose makes good videos. His political videos are great too.

[u/Satanicbearmaster]

Quality. One of the best shows ever.

Anyone wanting to dip their toe in, look up a list of the 10 best episodes and pick one to watch for free on the All4 player.

[u/Cuddles77]

I recently bought the box set on dvd. I am watching right now, Season 7, the finale, Daphne and Donnie's wedding.

[u/Snoo-8506]

A favorite of mine along with Cheers. Smart, funny and heartfelt. Very rewatchable too.