Martyn Conterio | On 22, Oct 2023

It’s been 30 years since Doctor Frasier Crane entered the building and into sitcom history. The Cheers spin-off’s setup saw the egghead Harvard and Oxford graduate move back from Boston to his hometown of Seattle, Washington, having been hired by a local radio station to present a daily phone-in show.

Having been a firm fixture in the cast of Cheers, one of the most beloved sitcoms of all time, which aired from 1982 to 1993, Kelsey Grammer going off on his own was no sure thing. Sam Malone (Ted Danson) was the main man in Cheers, after all.

The psychiatrist has started over afresh, having divorced comically ice maiden wife Lilith (Bebe Neuwirth) and, most painfully of all, he’s had to leave behind his young son, Frederick. These sorrows give Frasier – the man – a turmoil and fresh wound that needs to heal. For most of the series’ run, the radio host is perennially unlucky in love and a serial dater … nothing ever seems to go right. No woman can seem to measure up to the pale goddess Lilith (whose 12 guest appearances in Frasier are always comedy gold).

Pompous, self-regarding, a snob who sees himself as a great intellectual living among the philistines, Frasier Crane is not the most likeable character ever created. What he needed was foils to take him down a peg or two. They appeared in the form of his gruff blue-collar father, Martin Crane (John Mahoney), a former Seattle Police officer recently retired having been shot in the line of duty. Second in the equation is Frasier’s greatest rival of all: his baby brother, Niles (David Hyde Pierce).

In a story worthy of Greek tragedy, the brothers love each other dearly but constantly try to get one over on each other; their bond is fuelled by intense rivalry as much as love. Niles, also a psychiatrist, follows the tenets of Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung, while Frasier is a Freudian. These two rival schools of practice add an extra layer of comedy and angst to the ongoing saga of the Crane family.

Frasier does not have an always-functional relationship with Martin, either. A bit of retconning also had to occur. In Cheers, Frasier told the patrons of the bar his father is dead. In Frasier, it’s explained this was a mean outburst after a particularly fierce argument between father and son. Martin, disabled from the gunshot wound he received during a grocery store robbery, cannot live – or cope – on his own. Martin moves into Frasier’s bachelor pad, along with his beloved Jack Russell terrier, Eddie, kickstarting one of the funniest running gags of the entire run: Frasier’s irritation with and dislike for Eddie.

But there is a crucial warmth to every character that stops the show being aggressive, cynical, and frankly off-putting. If other 1990s sitcom heavyweight Friends (1994-2004) was too smug, or if Will and Grace (1998-2005) too neurotic, Frasier had a class dynamic going on – in a country that pretends it doesn’t do class, too!

Daphne Moon (Jane Leeves), the working-class Manchester girl who has somehow found herself living in Seattle, ends up employed as Martin’s physiotherapist and housekeeper. Daphne and Martin especially are vital to the functioning of the sitcom because they are consistent in cutting down Frasier’s worst personality excesses down to size, often leaving him looking an idiot and humiliated. Niles too. The Crane boys are not bad people at all. They just makes idiots out of themselves a lot because they’re so obsessed with impressing others, and think they’re a cut above. You don’t need to be a Freudian or a Jungian to know they’re deeply insecure types. And Martin and Daphne are there to remind them of this fact.

Also each cast member is an expert in different things, lending the show a rich variety of comedy. Frasier’s passive aggression and petty battles with neighbours are hilarious and often end up as pyrrhic victories. Niles’ physical comedy sequences are worthy of silent greats Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton. Daphne’s endearing, guileless, eccentric comments and views often leave everybody around her completely bewildered. Martin’s unpretentious attitudes and background dig at his two sons’ view of themselves as members of the elite. Roz (Peri Gilpin) – Frasier’s best friend and co-worker – is wonderfully dry and often amusingly fatalistic about her chances of finding a romantic partner.

The late Mahoney is Frasier’s standout performer (and the bar is really high across the board). The British-American actor provides the series with its heart and also its serious side. The tension between father and sons run like an electric current through all 11 seasons. The hurt comes across realistically and is beautifully acted by Mahoney. When Martin Crane loses his temper, his kids damn well know about it. Frasier does a great job exploring the truism that you love your family unconditionally, even though they can be difficult to like as people.

Another series highlight is Niles’ romantic obsession with Daphne. From the moment he clasps eyes on her in the first episode, it’s mad love at first sight. For Daphne, she spends seven seasons being completely clueless. It provides so much hilarity, where to even begin? Pierce and Leeves are delightfully batty together and mine every gag for maximum effect. And even when they get eventually get together, the dynamic might well change, yes, but the level of comedy remains at a peak. Niles and Daphne are a contender for the greatest love story ever told.

Of course, no show is perfect, no matter how consistent the quality. And comedy does date as times change and attitudes change. Co-worker Bulldog Briscoe (played by Dan Butler), the sports presenter at KACL, is basically a sex pest and his aggression around women looks disturbing to viewers today. There’s a sense the showrunners eventually understood this too, as he was phased out by Season 5, after flirting with softening his machismo and horn dog edges.

Another time they drop the ball is introducing members of Daphne’s family as guest stars. Daphne’s mum, Getrude Moon, played by Millicent Martin, pitches up in town and doesn’t leave. But the writers don’t know what to do with her once she stays put. While initially her emotional battles with Daphne provide again another sting of real-life truth to the comedy shenanigans, it gets tired quickly and Getrude disappears for stretches before reappearing for the odd episode – it clearly wasn’t thought out in the long term. Another misfire is Roz and Frasier having a one-night stand. Again, a bridge too far and ultimately unnecessary. But these are minor complaints in a show which was consistently brilliant and featured one of the finest ensemble casts ever put together.

Fast forward to October 2023 and the blues are calling again. Frasier has re-entered the building in a revival of the sitcom, and he still doesn’t know what to do with “those tossed salads and scrambled eggs”. It won’t be the same. It can’t be the same. Creative lightning like that can’t strike twice. Here, there is real artistic, creative, once-in-a-lifetime magic at work. Frasier (1993-2004) represented not just a highpoint in the history of the American sitcom but gave us the very format in its perfect form.

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