Frasier (1993) s03e09 – Frasier Grinch

I really wish I were keeping some kind of track of “Frasier” episodes. I’m half-assing the watch-through. I wasn’t sure if this episode was the first “Frasier” Christmas or not, but it turns out its the first one where we get the Crane family having Christmas onscreen. And find out John Mahoney is a Christmas enthusiast of the whole home decorating variety, which Kelsey Grammer really doesn’t like.

He liked it as a kid, but eventually got to the age where the mom had to tell he and David Hyde Pierce “shut up or you’ll hurt [Mahoney's] feelings.” It’s a great bit; writer David Lloyd has numerous repeat anecdotes and sight gags and they’re always good.

There’s a fun radio station Christmas party where Dan Butler and Edward Hibbert try to prank Grammer on air for his annual original Christmas story, which I know we haven’t gotten before. This one is about Olaf the Lonely Goat Herd (I haven’t seen Frozen yet, is Olaf in Frozen a lonely goat herd?). It’s a really funny sequence. Great pace from director Philip Charles MacKenzie and Butler and Hibbert prove a fine team.

The main story has Grammer all of a sudden needing a Christmas gift for visiting son Luke Tarsitano, which leads to he and Hyde Pierce having to go out among the commoners to a shopping mall. Grammer and Hyde Pierce toy store shopping is an outstanding scene.

The conclusion involves Grammer and Mahoney having a nice, heartwarming scene without it drawing too much attention to their relationship being the show’s original concept. It’s a good Christmas episode.

Taristano’s iffy as the kid, though he gets off a good joke at Hyde Pierce’s expense.

Speaking of Hyde Pierce, he’s got a reliably funny subplot involving separated wife Maris cancelling his credit cards.

Oh, and the dog wears an elf costume. It’s obnoxiously adorable.

Frasier (1993) s03e08 – The Last Time I Saw Maris

Despite some very silly—and funny (well, not really Paul Mazursky’s call, it’s Paul Mazursky after all)—opening shenanigans, it quickly turns into a very dramatic episode.

The opening antics involve station “Star Trek” nerd Patrick Kerr—weird how Paramount self-advertised its properties in the nineties—organizing a petition to get an homage to Peri Gilpin on “Trek.” It’s kind of lazy writing from Ian Gurvitz, but he makes up for it going forward. It’s funny, it’s just easy.

The main plot is Maris going missing, causing David Hyde Pierce to panic… after a delay; Maris not speaking to him for three days straight doesn’t raise any eyebrows. There’s a big scene at Hyde Pierce’s house with the family—Kelsey Grammer gets there last, John Mahoney is already phoning his cop buddies to put out a search—“thin, very thin; Caucasian, very Caucasian” is a great bit—and Jane Leeves gets to do her psychic thing for the first time in a while.

It’s a really funny scene (you’ve got to wonder how Maris not being an actual character affected the trajectory of long-term story arcs), culminating in Grammer butting into Hyde Pierce’s martial problems to offer some advice. Much to Mahoney’s chagrin, which is going to be a running subplot with a great punchline.

It quickly turns into a Hyde Pierce showcase and a very good one. Grammer—and Mahoney—still get things to do and there’s a fun small bit for Leeves, but it’s Hyde Pierce’s show in the end. Great supporting work from Irene Olga López as the maid too.

And although Philip Charles MacKenzie’s been doing a fine job directing most of the season’s episodes, this one is the first where it’s particularly well-done. The way the episode toggles from comedy to drama and back, sometimes in the span of a sentence or two, is outstanding.

It’s one of those exemplar “Frasier” episodes.

Oh, and the end credit bit is pretty great too.

Frasier (1993) s03e07 – The Adventures of Bad Boy and Dirty Girl

The episode opens at the coffee shop and it stands out because it’s the first time this season there’s been a coffee shop scene. Kelsey Grammer and David Hyde Pierce have a quick scene post “previously on” to talk about Grammer’s “tawdry” romance with boss Mercedes Ruehl. Ruehl then shows up, so exit Hyde Pierce, then in comes Peri Gilpin, and so exit Ruehl. Lots of quick character interactions and a setup—Grammer and Gilpin have to cover the night shift.

Covering the night shift is important because it leads to Ruehl and Grammer having a liaison live on air, which is pretty funny stuff on its own but then there’s how it impacts the supporting cast. Particularly Hyde Pierce. His reaction shots are the oomph of the punchline. Excellent stuff.

While the episode’s ostensibly the second part of a two-parter, it’s got a different credited writer (Joe Keenan), a different director (Philip Charles MacKenzie), and a somewhat different supporting cast. Apparently all the workplace troubles are over because only Dan Butler shows up at the station—besides Gilpin—where he congratulates Grammer for his on-air tryst. Gilpin rightly points out she doesn’t want to be hearing any more slut shaming from Grammer (I wonder if it holds from this point on).

Then the plot gets into the fall out and how it affects Grammer and Ruehl, professionally and personally.

John Mahoney’s got a subplot with an amorous romance novelist (Pamela Kosh) moving out of the building and trying to get him in her apartment. Lots of good material for Mahoney and it ties into the main plot quite nicely at the finish.

The episode’s quite good. Real funny, really good acting from Grammer and Ruehl and everyone else–Jane Leeves maybe gets the best moment embarrassing the erstwhile couple; it’s only a few seconds, but they’re all amazing.

Frasier (1993) s03e05 – Kisses Sweeter Than Wine

It’s an apartment episode, very much an apartment episode; such an apartment episode, the apartment plays a vital role in the plot.

The episode opens with the obligatory radio station scene, giving Peri Gilpin a chance to reminisce about the great cheese state of her birth with a caller (Brooke Adams) to Kelsey Grammer’s utter disinterest. Grammer’s planning for a wine club soirée, nothing to interest the “Women of the Cheese Belt.”

The action moves to the apartment, where Grammer’s trying to figure out what to do with John Mahoney and his gross chair. He and David Hyde Pierce try to get it out of sight and it slips, scuffing the floor. Luckily Hyde Pierce knows the best floor guy in Seattle (Tony Carreiro) and they’re going to get everything taken care of, plenty of time, Mr. Fawlty.

Contractor finding more and more wrong on main set is a fairly standard sitcom episode, but the A plot here quickly becomes Carreiro’s flirtation with Jane Leeves, which brings out the worst in Hyde Pierce.

Not only do we get physical comedy Hyde Pierce, we also get—well, what’s the word for non-dangerous insidious—but basically we get Hyde Pierce scheming to foil the flirtation. It leads to actual character development for Hyde Pierce especially, but Leeves and Grammer as well. The script—credited to a solo Anne Flett-Giordano–knows how to work the characters (or how the cast will work them) and it gets around the discussing some issues the show’s been sitting on for… well, since episode one. The character development Flett-Giordano gets in is some very good work.

And the episode’s also got a phenomenal punchline. Excellent performances from Hyde Pierce, Leeves, and Grammer too… not to mention guest star Peter Siragusa, who’s perfect in a particular role.

Frasier (1993) s03e04 – Leapin’ Lizards

Mercedes Ruehl is back, initially as a quick foil for David Hyde Pierce and Kelsey Grammer. Hyde Pierce is visiting Grammer at work—there’s a brief, welcome Peri Gilpin eye-roll in Hyde Pierce’s direction—and they run into Ruehl. She quickly shows them both up, which is hilarious, and then seems to disappear–“Frasier” has these outstanding pivots from episode setup to A plot, with the setup rarely even showing up as a subplot.

For example, once Ruehl has shown herself to be better informed than Hyde Pierce and Grammer, the opening with the brothers goes nowhere. Instead, Ruehl gets involved with Grammer’s subplot with sports radio host Dan Butler. Butler pranked Grammer, Grammer complained, Ruehl finds out how much more engagement Butler gets from his listeners; so she tells Butler to keep up the pranks and we get an episode.

Can Grammer, with the ever-mentioned Harvard degree, find a way to best Butler with pranks or is it going to go bad real fast….

Butler’s pranks are hilarious—Grammer’s great playing the butt of jokes, it’s kind of a staple of the performance from “Cheers” days—and the plot nicely involves everyone: John Mahoney’s a faithful Butler listener, Gilpin’s Grammer’s sidekick whether she likes it or not, and then Hyde Pierce is his sounding board.

Nice support from Michael Whaley as Butler’s comically suffering (he works for Butler, after all) producer.

Chuck Ranberg and Anne Flett-Giordano are the credited writers. They’re quite good at finding the right situational comedy for “Frasier,” like, all you need is the spark and you get a great episode thanks to the cast, which makes me think it’s when “Frasier” starts taking itself for granted is when the slide begins.

Frasier (1993) s03e03 – Martin Does It His Way

After a couple professional episodes where John Mahoney and Jane Leeves are interactive scenery, Martin Does It His Way is an apartment episode. There’s a radio station setup—with some great work from Kelsey Grammer and Peri Gilpin—establishing Grammer’s aunt has died and he’s leaded to the lawyer’s to talk about the estate.

Cut to after the meeting, Grammer’s got to give the eulogy and David Hyde Pierce has got to dispose of the ashes. The dead aunt was a mean aunt, so the episode’s full of stories about her from Grammer, Hyde Pierce, and Mahoney.

Somehow the talk of the dead aunt’s final wishes leads to Leeves telling Grammer and Hyde Pierce about Mahoney’s hidden shoeboxes of unfulfilled dreams, then runs off to get them. It’s a great scene for Leeves even if connecting the two plots isn’t exactly organic. Writer David Lloyd correctly assumes the laughs will mask the tape.

Turns out Mahoney spent his years on stakeouts writing songs for Frank Sinatra, but never submitted any of them. Despite both having to work on their aunt’s last wishes, Grammer and Hyde Pierce decide they’re going to finish one of Mahoney’s songs. There are some really funny music-related jokes and anything to let Grammer sing.

The conclusion brings the plots together well—with some nice, wholesome family stuff—and some great Hyde Pierce physical comedy.

Season three “Frasier,” so far, is leaning heavy into its established successful types of episodes—last time it was Crane brothers, this time it’s Crane family. Even with a sort of silly A plot–Sinatra songs, but without any product placement—it works out. Just because there’s a formula doesn’t mean the results aren’t excellent.

Frasier (1993) s03e01 – She’s the Boss

There are a couple big “it was the nineties” moments in the episode. Though, I haven’t watched sitcoms regularly in over a decade so maybe they’re still doing whole main plots about men (in this case Kelsey Grammer) not being able to work for women (here his new station manager, Mercedes Ruehl). But I’m fairly sure there aren’t sitcoms with ex-cops (John Mahoney) talking about how civilians shouldn’t own firearms anymore.

The firearms thing is about the David Hyde Pierce subplot, where he’s going to get a gun to protect his wife and estate. It’s a really good subplot for Hyde Pierce and keeps the supporting cast busy for Grammer’s work main plot. See, things go so bad at his first meeting with Ruehl, she exiles he and Peri Gilpin to the overnight shift.

Ruehl had wanted Grammer to prioritize “juicier” calls (as Grammer describes them) and he, of course, refused. Third season opener of his own show, after ten years or whatever on “Cheers,” and Ruehl gets in this amazing dig at all the Harvard drops Grammer always makes. Immediately she’s a great foil for him. Makes you wonder if they auditioned anyone else or stopped after they saw how well Ruehl and Grammer yell at each other.

Lots of guest callers—Matthew Broderick, Carrie Fisher, Teri Garr, Tom Hulce—who I didn’t recognize (possibly) because there’s always accompanying drama. Or snoring. Might just not have my “Frasier” guest caller ears tuned.

It’s a great season opener, with some actual unexpected turns—especially for Grammer–and Ruehl’s off to an excellent start. Also, Gilpin’s great. She’s entirely support, but she’s always right on.

Frasier (1993) s02e22 – Agents in America: Part 3

Agents in America: Part 3 doesn’t seem like it’s going to be a very big episode, but then the last third or so is very big scale. The first two acts(?)—see, I probably should have learned the structure of sitcom plots, I’m sure there’s proper terminology—but the first two-thirds is mostly at the apartment.

The episode opens at the coffee shop with Frasier’s unstoppable agent, Harriet Sansom Harris, telling Kelsey Grammer he needs to feign illness to force the station to pay him more money. Turns out he’s their most popular show but he’s got a terrible contract because Grammer didn’t have Harris at the time.

The action then moves to the apartment and pretty much stays there as Grammer is “home sick” until the station agrees to renegotiate. John Mahoney and Jane Leeves are around, sick of Grammer’s company, and then Harris is popping in to check on him and getting everyone pissed off at her. David Hyde Pierce shows up, Peri Gilpin shows up. Everyone gets their time and their laughs—it’s a lot of fun watching the cast play off Harris, particularly Leeves—it’s just at the apartment.

So it seems like a small episode.

But then it gets really big—bringing in Dan Butler and Eric Lutes at the station in exaggerated cameos—because it needs to rise to a big enough scale for Harris to have room to really let loose. Harris didn’t win an Emmy for this episode, which is disappointing but she didn’t even get nominated, which is shocking. She’s so good. Director Philip Charles MacKenzie directs the episode with Harris not as the protagonist, antagonist, or subject, but the natural disaster in a disaster movie. She’s the unstoppable force, everyone else are the victims in her path.

Great little stuff from Hyde Pierce, strong lead stuff from Grammer. Mahoney’s got some excellent moments too. It’s just another great one.

Script by Joe Keenan.

Frasier (1993) s02e21 – An Affair to Forget

Writer Chuck Ranberg and Anne Flett-Giordano turn in one of the instant “Frasier” classics. It involves the show’s reliable standards—Maris jokes, the radio show, David Hyde Pierce’s physical comedy–and hits spectacular heights with all three, but most impressively the Hyde Pierce stuff. The episode ends with a fantastic sword fight with Hyde Pierce versus Brian Cousins as they tear through Hyde Pierce’s extravagant living room. There’s even some sword fighting on staircases; not quite Robin Hood or Scaramouche but closer than not.

Hyde Pierce is a singular physical comedian. The way his timing scales from micro-expressions to actual big stunts here is breathtaking. It’s awesome to watch.

The story has Kelsey Grammer become convinced Cousins is the cheating fencing instructor husband of a caller (an unrecognizable until you see her name in the credits Glenne Headly, at which point it becomes immediately obvious and another reminder Dirty Rotten Scoundrels 2 probably would’ve been better than the original thanks to her) and he’s cheating on Headly with Hyde Pierce’s ever unseen wife Maris. Grammer gets some great scenes as he butts in—after dad John Mahoney tells him to sit it out and we miss seeing Peri Gilpin’s response once she’s got the whole story.

We get to see Gilpin’s reaction to Grammer acting like a jackass on the air as he panics and starts yelling at Headly, which is great and has an outstanding punchline, but Gilpin doesn’t stay involved with the plot as it continues. It’s okay because it’s great but it’s also a bummer not to get to see what they would’ve come up with for Gilpin to do.

Another foil—no pun, but there’s an amazing line from Mahoney about fencing foils before I forget, just an inspired one liner (the episode’s full of them)—is Hyde Pierce’s maid, Irene Olga López. López is excellent.

Great direction from Philip Charles MacKenzie.

It’s another standout episode, which is kind of great era “Frasier”’s thing; all of the episodes are classics, all of the episodes are standout.

It’s so good.

Frasier (1993) s02e20 – Breaking the Ice

I really wish I was keeping track of what “Frasier” writers wrote what kind of episodes, though I do know I wasn’t expecting a Crane boys outing episode from Steven Levitan. Or, at least, I would’ve expected it from other writers first. Levitan wrote an episode first season, but just the one. This episode, Breaking the Ice, fits so perfectly into the always developing relationship arc between the Crane boys—sons Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) and Niles (David Hyde Pierce) and father John Mahoney.

The episode opens with Grammer realizing Mahoney has never told him he loves him—Peri Gilpin, who only gets the opening scene and makes it count, has a great line about how much it explains about Grammer. But then we quickly get through Mahoney’s ice fishing buddy falling through and wanting the boys to go fishing with him.

Grammer says no, but after it turns out Jane Leeves thinks fishers are hot, Hyde Pierce is all aboard to go. Eventually, Grammer works out he wants to go with, in hunt of the illusive “I Love You” from Dad, and the episode moves on to the ice shack, which is going to be the single location the rest of the episode.

One of the other reasons it seems like the writer has got to be a regular—Levitan writes the whiny Grammer killjoy stuff perfectly. It’s happened in multiple episodes to this point—Grammer harangues Mahoney into a joint social outing then Grammer ruins it for everyone. It’s not a trope, it’s a character defect for Frasier and they do a great job with it.

And this episode seems to be headed on that path but then Levitan finds a different turn—alcohol and opera singing are involved—and gets to these phenomenal moments for the cast. Mahoney’s the best, but all three are excellent.

Lots of solid jokes too, including a somewhat long bit about Hyde Pierce’s fishing outfit, which moves from Grammer to Leeves because Levitan’s script is very strong. Again, very surprising he’s not a more frequent writer on the show.

Good direction from Philip Charles MacKenzie too.

It’s a really good episode; might be the strongest Crane Boys episode so far.