Tag: Mercedes Ruehl

Frasier (1993) s03e10 – It’s Hard to Say Goodbye If You Won’t Leave

I thought this episode was the season finale but, no, it’s not even halfway through the season.

As Kelsey Grammer realizes he’s still pining for station manager Mercedes Ruehl (they’ve behaved since their on-air tryst) and commits to doing something about it, Ruehl is accepting a transfer to Chicago. They’ve both been fantasizing about each other—a hilarious use of stock footage and some original, with an additional gag after Peri Gilpin makes the mistake of imagining the couple. She finally finds out Ruehl was Grammer’s partner for the on-air escapade, but doesn’t seem to remember she should be upset Grammer was getting busy with his negotiation adversary for Gilpin and the station personnel’s raises.

It works out real funny, just seems like a missed opportunity in Steven Levitan’s script but, what can you do, sitcom continuity.

After a good conversation scene with John Mahoney—David Hyde Pierce and Jane Leeves are there, but they have their own running comedy bit about old movies going—Grammer decides to tell Ruehl how he feels and see what happens.

It ends up being another fine showcase for Ruehl and Grammer, with some great dialogue and some funny twists. It’s not the best they’ve ever been together, but it’s a solid—albeit functional—episode. Grammer does a particularly good job as the romantic hero here, keeping enough of the character’s goofiness, but finding the heart under it all.

The ending tag is particularly cute too, because it involves Hyde Pierce doing physical comedy and the dog being the dog.

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) s03e06 – Sleeping with the Enemy

Mercedes Ruehl’s really funny. She’s been good on “Frasier” before and the casting is working out great, but this episode she’s occasionally really, really funny. Like they must’ve had this episode in mind when casting the part because she and Kelsey Grammer’s back and forth yelling is next level phenomenal.

They’re yelling because Ruehl’s frozen the salaries for the station staff—i.e. not the talent—which leads Peri Gilpin and her colleagues (specifically guest star Patrick Kerr) to near organizing. They back down when Ruehl yells at them; luckily, Grammer’s going to champion their cause and get the on-air talent to support them in a strike.

The moment where Grammer goes from being an opinionated, disconnected blowhard to committing to helping is a really nice one, courtesy credited writers Linda Morris and Vic Rauseo. It’s a little moment but a very good one, character development-wise.

There’s a great scene at the apartment where Grammer’s trying to rally the talent, with David Hyde Pierce showing up to feel uninvited, then Jane Leeves and John Mahoney getting to meet Edward Hibbert. Mahoney and Hibbert are perfect foils for one another, little bit less when Hibbert sneers at Leeves.

The organizing scene turns out to be a really good one, particularly for Mahoney, with some very deliberate pacing.

But the episode’s not even to the hook yet–Ruehl and Grammer’s distain for one another turning into lust. Here’s where the chemistry between Grammer and Ruehl really starts to pay off, their timing from the yelling banter working with everything else; great comedy acting from the actors.

There’s a “to be continued” tag—can Grammer successfully negotiate the deal given his new romantic predicament—but the cliffhanger nicely still allows for a great end credits sequence for Kerr.

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) 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.

Crazy People (1990, Tony Bill)

Crazy People is distressingly tepid. It has a number of fine performances–Dudley Moore’s sturdy and likable in the lead, Daryl Hannah’s outstanding as his love interest and the supporting cast’s so good I’m going to wait a while to talk about them to go out on an up note. But the film itself? Very tepid. Like they threw in curse words to guarantee an R rating when it really could have been PG.

Strangely enough, writer Mitch Markowitz does a great job with the swearing. He just doesn’t do enough of it.

The film concerns an institutionalized ad writer (Moore). It’s more of a retreat, really–there’s the kindly doctor (an underutilized Mercedes Ruehl) and friendly fellow patients. Moore recruits these patients to write honest (and very) funny ads.

But then Markowitz runs out of story. Sure, People only runs ninety minutes, but there are long gaps without Moore or even his fellow patients. Instead, the picture concentrates on J.T. Walsh’s odious advertising executive. Not even Paul Reiser, as Moore’s friend, sticks around for the entire runtime. And Ruehl gets an unceremonious boot.

Luckily, the actors playing the patients are outstanding. David Paymer’s probably the best, but Paul Bates and Danton Stone are both good too.

Ben Hammer’s fine as the evil doctor–People has a big problem with internal logic; an evil doctor doesn’t make a good villain.

Besides an annoying score from Cliff Eidelman, it’s technically proficient.

The parts are funnier than the final product. Much funnier.

1/4★

CREDITS

Directed by Tony Bill; written by Mitch Markowitz; director of photography, Victor J. Kemper; edited by Mia Goldman; music by Cliff Eidelman; production designer, John J. Lloyd; produced by Thomas Barad; released by Paramount Pictures.

Starring Dudley Moore (Emory Leeson), Daryl Hannah (Kathy Burgess), Paul Reiser (Stephen Bachman), J.T. Walsh (Drucker), Bill Smitrovich (Bruce), Alan North (Judge), David Paymer (George), Danton Stone (Saabs), Paul Bates (Robles), Dick Cusack (Mort), Doug Yasuda (Hsu), Floyd Vivino (Eddie Aris), Mercedes Ruehl (Dr. Liz Baylor) and Ben Hammer (Dr. Koch).

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