Frasier (1993) s04e12 – Death and the Dog

Death and the Dog does a couple things I think are new to “Frasier” and immediately seem like series standards. The first is using the radio show as an episode-long bookend device. The episode opens with Kelsey Grammer and Peri Gilpin bored on a sunny Seattle day and getting a single caller—Patty Duke (not playing Patty Duke, obviously)—and Grammer regales her, the listening audience, and the viewer with a moral tale to help her with her depression problem. I’m pretty sure the episode’s never used a call for bookending before. It’s an obvious device—and it even plays fairly obviously, with occasional interruptions from Gilpin as Grammer divulges too much about her personal life—but all plays well thanks to an excellent Suzanne Martin credited script.

The other new but familiar part of the episode is the entire regular cast—sans Dan Butler, who’s not in this episode and hasn’t been around for a while and must only be included in the regular cast titles when he appears–sitting around the apartment for a lengthy group conversation. James Burrows’s direction is really good on it, but it’s the actors and Martin’s script. See, Eddie the dog has been depressed and the pet psychiatrist Mahoney calls thinks he’s mirroring depression. So everyone talks about what’s got them depressed. It’s a phenomenal talking heads scene, bouncing between the five participants, exquisitely timed and acted.

Zeljko Ivanek guest stars as the pet shrink, who Grammer and Hyde Pierce mercilessly tease (turns out justifiably but it’s no less mean-spirited). Ivanek’s awesome. He’s got this very droll take on the character, which contrasts with Grammer and Hyde Pierce doing their gleeful snob thing. It’s a great scene.

We also get to see Hyde Pierce’s dog again—who hasn’t appeared since last season—as he brings her over to cheer up Eddie while Grammer cautions Mahoney not to point out the obvious similarities between the dog and Maris, Hyde Pierce’s never seen, infamous (and estranged) wife. It’s a quick, but thoughtful and effective set piece. Martin’s script has a number of such set pieces, including the cast discussing how they’d imagine Eddie the dog as a person, in addition to some great recurring bits. Jane Leeves gets the best recurring dialogue, while Gilpin gets this amazing subplot about dating gynecologist Tom Lagleder (against her better judgment).

It’s an excellent episode. The way it showcases the cast’s ability to play off one another (thanks to Martin and Burrows as well obviously) is spectacular. Not to mention how it’s able to get away with the pedestrian framing device thanks to everything else excelling so much.

Great end credits joke too.

Frasier (1993) s04e10 – Liar! Liar!

It’s a Seabees episode, but only sort of and only at the beginning (the Seabees are the annual radio awards on “Frasier” and there’s always an episode). Always with conditions, however, as the episode opens in the apartment at Kelsey Grammer’s Seabees after party, where the regular cast is doing their best to get the extras out so the story can start. The only winner at the awards was Dan Butler, who annoys everyone with his bragging, and there’s a great sequence with Peri Gilpin getting him out of the apartment under false pretenses. The episode’s going to be about lying, specifically the consequences of it. Though there’s going to be a lot of privilege in play and how sometimes that privilege can get you out of consequences.

Seriously, white men avoiding responsibility for their actions in an amusing way is basically the most standard sitcom trope.

Turns out when they were kids, Grammer and David Hyde Pierce pulled the fire alarm at their prep school and dad John Mahoney defended them as not being liars. They were, in fact, liars. And utterly indifferent to their lie getting another kid expelled. The other kid bullied them—even being established as the primary culprit in Hyde Pierce’s infamous, previously established flag-pole hanging—so Hyde Pierce feels no guilt while Grammer just has to know how the kid’s life went.

Turns out it did not pass go and went straight to jail , which is where Grammer goes to meet the grown-up kid, now an intimidating adult played by Saul Stein. Thanks to Grammer’s prodding, Stein’s able to identify the most salient point in his juvenile delinquency as it relates to long term effects—back when he was kicked out of a prep school where he could’ve gotten out of his working class situation and excelled as a productive white collar member of society. Grammer feels bad he’s given Stein so much self-awareness, so he sets out to right Stein’s rocky relationship with his wife, Carlene Watkins.

Little does Grammer know Watkins is a sex addict who needs the danger and nothing’s more dangerous than Stein potentially killing her partners during coitus.

As they do, complications ensue, and manage to get Grammer to the finish without actually having to learn any real lessons or to make writers Chuck Ranberg and Anne Flett-Giordano—who write a very funny script (one caveat in a moment)—figure out if there’s a moral. Given Mahoney’s the moral authority in the episode, some kind of resolution with him would help but he’s out. After his initial outrage, he instead joins the Hyde Pierce and Jane Leeves subplot, which has Hyde Pierce hurting his back (adjusting his Mercedes’s seat) and Leeves applying an icy then very hot liniment to make him feel better. Mahoney hates the stuff, Hyde Pierce has to appear tough. Lots and lots of great physical comedy from Hyde Pierce and decent material for Leeves and Mahoney, but it definitely doesn’t do anything for Mahoney’s pseudo-arc.

The aforementioned iffy bit is a “too early to actually be hurtfully transphobic” joke but it’s iffy because it’s also slightly misogynist in addition to be mired in toxic masculinity. It’s a way easier joke than Ranberg and Flett-Giordano’s other easy jokes in the episode and they seem to realize it’s a dead-end because it too doesn’t get the natural resolution. Though the natural resolution would’ve definitely been hurtfully transphobic?

It’s a solid episode, with a lot of potential—Watkins and Stein are excellent guest stars (look, two in the same episode again)—but the end is a definite cop out.

Also, the question of why does Frasier Crane have a lighter is possibly more profound than why does God need a starship.

Frasier (1993) s04e09 – Dad Loves Sherry, the Boys Just Whine

It’s a pretty good episode, even if most of the laughs are cheap and mean. The cheap starts right away, with Peri Gilpin getting her one scene in the episode opposite David Hyde Pierce. She’s celebrating and the punchline’s gross funny. And Hyde Pierce’s reactions to it are great. But then the episode’s done with her because it’s going to be too full, starting with returning guest star Jane Kaczmarek, who’s having coffee with Kelsey Grammer during the Gilpin and Hyde Pierce bit.

Kaczmarek was the cop who Grammer liked but she liked his ex-cop dad more; apparently she and John Mahoney have been happily—albeit unmentionably—dating since the end of last season. Only now she’s breaking it off and telling Grammer because… well, to set up the joke where Grammer tells Mahoney before Kaczmarek has a chance. Mahoney has an unexpected reaction to the bad news because he really wanted to dump her to date Marsha Mason, his bartender at—wait, is it at the bar where Mahoney met Kaczmarek. I can’t keep the bar names straight. I think it was McGinty’s—yep, it’s McGinty’s. So, um, there’s a whole other layer to the already iffy episode.

Mahoney introduces Hyde Pierce, Grammer, and Jane Leeves to Mason on his birthday; they’re all going out together. Only Mason is too “brass and flamboyant” for Grammer and Hyde Pierce so they’re miserable. Plus she makes them drink cheap champagne.

The rest of the episode is about Grammer and Hyde Pierce trying to decide whether or not to tell Mahoney they don’t like Mason, while Mahoney’s thrilled with his new romance. Once it all finally comes out, there’s a big argument scene—with the best acting easily from Mahoney, as he’s the only one where there’s any reality to the character; Grammer and Hyde Pierce are playing petulant caricatures, albeit with some appropriate details, but they’re being cruel and mean. The resolution isn’t about them being dickheads, it’s about how Mahoney’s a dickhead too—comparisons of Mason to Grammer and Hyde Pierce’s spouses—and it’s a very strange finish.

Though given the highpoint is either Gilpin with the grody celebration topic, Grammer not letting an upset Leeves have too good a whine, or some banter about Hyde Pierce’s imaginary protege—actually, wait, Grammer teasing Hyde Pierce for wetting the bed as a kid is probably a good forecast of the episode’s empathy.

There are some amusing moments—Keenan’s script is better micro than macro—and Mason’s a lot of fun, but it’s awkward to turn all your male regular cast into jerks because you can’t find better laughs.

Frasier (1993) s03e16 – Look Before You Leap

Look Before You Leap is one of those exemplar “Frasier” episodes. It’s just the regular cast, it’s just the regular sets, and it’s perfect situation comedy.

The episode starts with Kelsey Grammer taking Eddie the dog for a walk, which should’ve forecasted everything being off since Grammer abhorring the dog is one of the show staples. It’s February 29th—a leap year—and Grammer starts encouraging everyone to take a “leap,” which leads to disastrous results for nearly everyone involved. Once the episode—with a great script credited to Chuck Ranberg and Anne Flett-Giordano—establishes things aren’t going to go well for anyone, it becomes a waiting game to see how the disasters are going to unfold.

Grammer gets the idea from dad John Mahoney talking about his friend having a big sixteenth birthday party (which leads to Mahoney doing an outstanding impression of Jane Leeves’s Daphne character, giving some wonderful insight into the characters’ relationship between their scenes). Whether it’s flying to Montana for the party, Leeves getting her hair cut, or Peri Gilpin using the radio show to try to find a missed connection from her morning commute, Grammer can’t stop encouraging people to be bold with the extra day.

Except brother David Hyde Pierce, who gets an unexpected request for a booty call from estranged, ever offscreen wife Maris, and Grammer spends the episode telling him not to do it. Hyde Pierce doing uncontrollably horny is probably the funniest thing in the episode; they use the device sparingly because it’s just so good. Great physical comedy from Hyde Pierce. And also great banter for he and Grammer; Ranberg and Flett-Giordano find a perfect balance between talking heads, sight gags, and so on. Gilpin gets a similar mix of styles, including a nice bit during the PBS telethon finale, where Grammer is going to make his own “leap” in his choice of song.

There’s a great punchline at the finish, then another great one during the end credits.

I’m not sure I’ve ever noticed the studio audiences’ laughs delaying the actors so much before. After at least two particularly excellent jokes, Hyde Pierce and Grammer visibly have to wait for things to calm down enough so they’re not talking about the still laughing audience.

Eventually good direction from James Burrows? It’s weird, but it’s like he takes a second to wake up in the first act. He’s initially lethargic, then has this too rapid swoosh of a camera movement and is good afterwards.

It’s a great episode. Excellent performances all around, particularly Hyde Pierce.

Frasier (1993) s03e14 – The Show Where Diane Comes Back

Shelley Long is a very good guest star for “Frasier.” She irritates John Mahoney in a particular way he’s never been irritated before and it leads to some great expressions from him and some great one-liners too. Long’s also really good with David Hyde Pierce; they’re both snobs but he wants to be more of a snob so he’s on the defensive.

Long’s visiting because she has a new play coming out in Seattle and she’s there to work on the production. She comes to see Kelsey Grammer at the radio, prompting him to race across town for an emergency therapy session with Hyde Pierce. It’s an absolutely fantastic scene between the two, with writer Christopher Lloyd getting in what’s going to be a great recurring bit about Hyde Pierce’s notepad. See, Long left Grammer at the alter—“Cheers” season three season finale—and there’s unresolved hurt, which Grammer’s never told Long about. Presumably they didn’t talk about it during seasons four and five of “Cheers,” even offscreen.

So ignoring Hyde Pierce’s advise to confront Long and talk to her about the pain she’s caused,Grammer decides he’s going to show up Long—out snob her, out wealth her—and invites her over to the apartment. There we find out she got to meet Mahoney and Hyde Pierce back in the “Cheers” days, which leads to a good Maris joke.

Eventually, we get to see Long’s play, which suggests she has a very different recollection of “Cheers” seasons four and five than Grammer—it’s a very funny scene, but probably lost on anyone not versed in their “Cheers”—and they work toward some sincere human understanding. With some good laughs.

Really good direction from James Burrows—his first episode this season—and excellent performances from Grammer, Long, and Mahoney. And Lloyd’s script’s real good too, all the way through.

Frasier (1993) s02e24 – Dark Victory

Dark Victory has three writers—Christopher Lloyd, Linda Morris, Vic Rauseo—except Morris and Rauseo are a team and Lloyd is a solo guy usually so the disjointed flow makes sense. It’s the season finale, it’s got to get to some kind of season finale moment, except it’s a sitcom and it doesn’t have a cliffhanger. I can still remember the first season finale… and I remember it being a lot more successful. Not sure if the memory would’ve been as fresh at the time.

It probably doesn’t help they continually reference a previous season episode where Kelsey Grammer forgot John Mahoney’s birthday—this episode takes place at the next year’s make-up party and Grammer wants to make sure it’s perfect.

It is not, of course, perfect, with an eventual city-wide blackout markedly improving everyone’s experience.

The episode opens with a contrived but effective enough story about Roz (Peri Gilpin) being sad she couldn’t go home for her family reunion. Basically because she’s single and doesn’t have a good enough job for her relatives to think it makes up for her being single.

There are some good cheese puns (she’s from Wisconsin).

So Grammer invites her over to the Crane apartment for the evening’s festivities, but when he arrives home, he finds Mahoney and Jane Leeves in the middle of a huge argument. What’s the problem? Mahoney doesn’t want to do his physical therapy and he’s mean about it. So they’re yelling at each other. Then David Hyde Pierce shows up yelling at Grammer because of a work thing.

They calm down momentarily when Gilpin arrives for the party, only to descend again into yelling. Just as Gilpin’s slinking out away from the bickering Cranes, the power goes out.

At this point, we still haven’t gotten to the concept of the concept episode. See, Grammer’s going to therapist to each of the cast members and it’s going to put the season to bed. Except it’s still a sitcom so he’s basically helping them with the problems they’ve mentioned in this episode alone. Sure, there’s the characters’ ground situations, but they’re not significantly different from the previous season’s.

And, worse of all, Grammer has the least. It’s his show and when it’s his turn for the “share your pain” moment… it’s contrived filler.

Thank goodness they’ve got so much goodwill—and Eddie (Moose) the dog—to save the day.

It’s fine; it’s amusing and well-acted—James Burrows’s direction is oddly flat; it’s good. It’s just not great. It’s more concerned with being a season finale than a good episode.

Frasier (1993) s02e23 – The Innkeepers

The Innkeepers is a great sitcom episode without necessarily being a great “Frasier” episode. It’s a really good “Frasier,” with the entire cast doing a great job—they just aren’t asked to do very much. John Mahoney spends a bunch of the episode doing his irate thing even after it isn’t making things funny anymore. He eventually gets reassigned and does a lot better, but then you’re just left wondering why they weren’t using him better the whole time.

After some exceptionally efficient and funny setup—including some Peri Gilpin vs. David Hyde Pierce, which is always funny and usually good—Kelsey Grammer and Hyde Pierce are proud new restauranteurs and it’s opening night. Everyone’s going to be there—Mahoney, Jane Leeves, Gilpin, Dan Butler, and Edward Hibbert. Hibbert’s the radio restaurant critic who kicks off the whole plot in that efficient opening.

It’s important to have a lot of people around—it’s a big restaurant set, with adjoining kitchen (the unmarked kitchen doors are going to come into play, obviously)—because once things start going wrong, the episode will become Grammer and Hyde Pierce trying to fix one thing while breaking two others.

The episode gives everyone in the main cast–with the asterisk next to Mahoney—some great material. Some of it’s undercooked, like Leeves and Gilpin getting angry at each other when they should be mad at Grammer or Hyde Pierce, but some of it’s gold, like when Leeves shows off her seafood-related culinary skills.

But writer David Lloyd only seems to be able to reliably write two person conversations, which is usually why Mahoney comes off shoe-horned in and superfluous, and when the action gets to the restaurant, it no longer matters what sitcom this situational comedy is unfolding on. Eventually even Hyde Pierce becomes part of the stock cast, so it’s basically about the lead having four helpers and two foils as everything goes to pot.

Innkeepers is a hilarious half hour of television. And, take off the first act, it would’ve been just as funny if it were on “The Jeffersons,” “Friends,” or, I don’t know, “Family Guy.” If the script was more of a collaborative effort, it shows. If it wasn’t, I guess it needed some collaboration.

Frasier (1993) s02e19 – Someone to Watch Over Me

I figured I’d have remembered Don Seigel’s name from last season, if only for it confusing spell check, but I didn’t. I should have. His episode last season was great. This one’s pretty great too; it’s another SeaBea Awards episode, with Kelsey Grammer and Peri Gilpin sure they’ve got a chance this year if only Grammer’s stalker (Renée Lippin does the calls) lets them get to the podium to accept.

Much like last episode, this one is yet another good “Frasier” exemplar, but from an irregular writer (Seigel didn’t do anymore). They’ve got James Burrows directing, which is great—he does an excellent job managing Grammer’s manic stress in the finale, as he races around the hotel (where the awards show is being held) trying to escape fate. Meanwhile Gilpin’s got a big zit on her nose, which isn’t quite a subplot but does provide everyone something to talk about while they’re trying to decide whether or not Grammer’s in any actual danger.

Dad John Mahoney is conservative about it, but Grammer freaks out and hires a personal bodyguard anyway, which complicates the evening in its own ways.

But the big SeaBeas finish comes after the great build-up, starting with John Lithgow’s call in to the station (I was way too proud of myself for recognizing him) and then moving into Lippin as the too enthusiastic fan who starts scaring Grammer. That plot builds on its own, with the SeaBeas coming in as a subplot—it’s not for sure Grammer’s going to survive long enough to get there, even with a bodyguard—and Seigel gives lots of material to the cast. David Hyde Pierce and Jane Leeves technically get the least, but Seigel makes sure they have some solid contributions. It’s a very strong script.

And the end credits sequel is absolutely hilarious, getting a much different laugh then the episode initially closes on.

Good, good, good stuff.

Frasier (1993) s02e16 – The Show Where Sam Shows Up

I was kind of dreading this episode—the first season of “Frasier” immediately established the show’s differences from “Cheers” and made the need for a stunt cameo from a “Cheers” cast member superfluous. So waiting to the back nine of the second season to bring in Ted Danson, who was trying to recover from the blackface incident—wait, I wonder if he was originally supposed to be in the first season and they had to push him back.

Either way, waiting until the show’s not just creatively established but also culturally and critically was a power move. As much as an NBC sitcom could make a power move. The episode has “Cheers” pedigree—writers Ken Levine and David Isaacs (who I think have only done “Frasier” for the “Cheers” crossovers), director James Burrows—but the story ends up being Kelsey Grammer’s. It’s less about Grammer as king of “Cheers-Wings-Frasier Multiverse,” taking the crown off Danson, and more about the writers trying to figure out what do to with Sam Malone outside the bar.

He’s a dim bulb, which is kind of a weird thing to bring to the audience’s attention because all it does is reveal how “Cheers” was just written at an easier joke level. Often by Levine and Isaacs. While directed by Burrows. It plays out as this de facto flex from “Frasier” about the child surpassing the parent, but seemingly unintentionally. There really is just nothing to do with Sam Malone outside a particular soundstage.

There’s some fun stuff with Peri Gilpin and Danson as two sexual predators attacking each other—sadly it goes nowhere, which would be fine if Danson did anything but he’s just sort of around; he’s available to participate in jokes, like post-scripting the “Cheers” characters and John Mahoney trying to get Danson to sit in the gross chair.

It’s fine. It’s funny. Affable. David Hyde Pierce and Danson work better together than you’d expect.

Then we get to Danson’s story—he’s got a fiancée he’s avoiding (Téa Leoni, getting an NBC test out)—but then the real story is about Grammer and Leoni. See, when Grammer says he’s met a girl in Boston, it’s not Boston, Canada he’s talking about.

The third act is a little rough and a little easy, but it’s a successful reunion episode. Danson’s fine, Leoni’s good, Grammer’s really good.

Not dreadful at all.

Frasier (1993) s02e12 – Roz in the Doghouse

It’s writers Chuck Ranberg and Anne Flett-Giordano’s second episode this season. They sort of established the show in the first season, so it’s nice to see them back. Even if this episode doesn’t age well. Some of the jokes are great and the performances are fantastic, but the situations associated with said jokes and performances are extremely cringe.

Roz in the Doghouse is about Roz (Peri Gilpin) going to work for sports show guy Bulldog (Dan Butler) after Kelsey Grammer’s just too much of an unappreciative dick to her too many times. Grammer tells Gilpin it’s all because Butler wants to sleep with her. Now, Grammer makes this observation with his entire family looking on. John Mahoney and Jane Leeves in horror, David Hyde Pierce in agreement. It’s an extraordinarily rude move from Grammer, especially after we’ve seen Gilpin busting ass for the show already.

Once Gilpin gets over to Butler’s show, turns out she’s a perfect fit and the show’s a great success and she’s professionally fulfilled in ways she could never imagine. It’s also where the show goes down the worse path of history and contorts itself to ensure no matter what happens, Grammer will never have to apologize to Gilpin.

It’s a deliberate, unfortunate move.

But really good acting from Gilpin and Butler in the episode. Grammer’s okay, but his material isn’t good. Quite the opposite. Because there’s also stuff with him gossiping, which is really crappy given he and Gilpin’s character development.

Maybe more appropriate as a first season episode?

Anyway. Celebrity callers are Rosie Perez (see Birds of Prey if you haven’t) and Carly Simon. I recognized Perez (if you’ve already seen Birds of Prey, see it again), not Simon.

There’s a whole sequence with Grammer trying out new producers while he’s learning he should appreciate Gilpin (though not fast enough), which doesn’t play out as funny as it should. Most of them aren’t credited because they don’t have any lines but none of them jumped out. Again, ought to have been better. Grammer’s plot this episode is a slog.

So, very funny and reasonably problematic.