Frasier dominated the Emmys, winning Outstanding Comedy Series its first five years. And the quality didn't drop off during the sixth season.
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It's quite a leap, going from hanging out at a Boston bar where everybody knows your name, to hosting a call-in advice show in Seattle and becoming a minor celebrity. But the good (and pretentious) life has always suited Dr. Frasier Crane and his equally society-conscious younger brother (and fellow shrink), Niles.
"Frasier," a spin-off from the popular "Cheers," is the kind of show that its namesake would have loved to watch: a witty, urbane, and, yes, slightly highbrow situation comedy of character. Kelsey Grammer made pompousness endearing when he played the good-but-jilted doctor who hung out with a dim-witted Iowa bartender, a narcissistic ex-ballplayer, a know-it-all mailman, and an overweight, professional barfly. Sometimes you laughed with him, while at other times the humor came at the doctor's expense—a book smarts vs. street smarts face-off. Dr. Crane was a complex character who both reveled in his intellect and haute culture tastes, but also yearned to be "one of the guys," an average Joe who could enjoy a hot dog and a good night of snipe hunting.
In Seattle, fresh from a divorce from his domineering wife, Lilith (Bebe Neuwirth), Frasier found a fresh start and a new hangout: Café Nervosa, where he and Niles would indulge their cappuccino tastes and parade their knowledge in front of a generally apathetic public.
The show, with chapter tiles that played with puns, had two main sets: Radio station KACL, where Frasier dispensed his psychiatric bromides and producer Roz Doyle (Peri Gilpin) was a perfect "give it a rest" foil to his pompous side, and obnoxious sportscaster Bob "Bulldog" Briscoe (Dan Butler) took him down a few more pegs with his frequent cuts and practical jokes. What's more, restaurant critic Gil Chesterton (Patrick Kerr) was the uncomfortable, even mocking mirror that showed reflections of what Frasier would be like without such irreverent and frequent shots to keep him grounded.
Much of the at-work time is spent with Frasier talking to unseen call-ins with a host of problems, and much of the fun for fans is watching the end-credits to see what famous celebrities posed as the callers from week to week.
At home, the brandy-oriented Frasier met his match with his blue-collar dad (John Mahoney), a Ballantine-loving ex-cop who walks with a limp and has a live-in therapist, a Brit named Daphne (Jane Leeves). With Dad and Son facing off and Daphne offering her humorous third-party, third-culture take on things, it made for more non-stop humor. And when Niles (David Hyde Pierce) visited so often that it felt as if the four of them lived . . . and bantered there.
This season finds Frasier and the work gang picking up the pieces after the bungling doctor inadvertently persuaded the station manager to switch to an all-salsa format—which left the entire crew out of work. With Niles estranged from his wife, Maris (who, in an interesting character twist, is much maligned but never seen or heard), the two brothers are like shipwrecked sailors adrift in a lifeboat, looking for various lifelines. It's a season of unattached people wishing for attachments, and a season where Niles gets to offer more advice to his brother than usual.
Here's the episode rundown:
1) "Good Grief"—Frasier goes through the famous Kübler-Ross "stages of dying" (denial, anger, etc.) as he grapples with the notion that he's actually unemployed.
2) "Frasier's Curse"—Every time his high school has a reunion, it's been Frasier's curse to have hit a spell of bad luck. He wonders how to break the curse—to go, or not to go.
3) "Dial M for Martin"—In a very funny episode, when things get strained between Frasier and Martin, Niles offers to have Dad move in with him for a few months, thinking that Daphne was a sure bet to follow. But when she says her work is done, Martin starts to think his son's out to hurt him in order to keep her on.
4) "Got Tickets"—The brothers' pretentiousness and concern for how Seattle's high society perceives them ends up trumping their love of theater in this show about faking it.
5) "First Do No Harm"—When Martin sets Frasier up with the daughter of a buddy, it turns out she's mostly interested in Frasier as a free shrink.
6) "Secret Admirer"—Maris is sending gifts to Niles, but Frasier's convinced he's got a secret admirer, and acts like the greedy dog who drops the bone in his mouth when he sees his own reflection in a stream.
7) "How To Bury a Millionaire"—Divorce has Niles downsizing, big-time. He ends up at the Shangri-La Apartments and packs himself a bologna sandwich for lunch.
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