Joseph J. Darowski - Frasier: A Cultural History

Mad Men: A Cultural History, by M. Keith Booker and Bob Batchelor

Frasier: A Cultural History, by Joseph J. Darowski and Kate Darowski

A Cultural History

Joseph J. Darowski

Kate Darowski

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD

Lanham Boulder New York London

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Darowski, Joseph J. author. | Darowski, Kate, 1988 author.

Title: Frasier : a cultural history / Joseph J. Darowski and Kate Darowski.

Description: Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, 2017. | Series: The cultural history of television | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017001797 (print) | LCCN 2017017625 (ebook) | ISBN 9781442277977 (electronic) | ISBN 9781442277960 (hardback : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Frasier (Television program)

Classification: Classification: LCC PN1992.77.F72 (ebook) | LCC PN1992.77.F72 D38 2017 (print) | DDC 791.45/72dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017001797

TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

To Les and Glen Charles for creating a great character,

to Kelsey Grammer for playing him,

and to David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee

for giving him a family

There are several people who personally helped us by reading chapters of the book and giving us some feedback, including John Darowski, Joe and Kay Darowski, and Gary Hoppenstand. Wed also like to thank Tom Hubbell, KACL780.net webmaster, and John Taylor, administrator of the Frasier Forums, who were kind enough to respond to our email inquiries. Wed also like to acknowledge Ken Levines blog, ... by Ken Levine (kenlevine.blogspot.com), which provided invaluable insights into some of the behind-the-scenes work that happens on sitcoms.

Welcome to Camp Crane.

The premise is strong and likely to generate a lot of comedy. Frasier Crane is a pompous psychiatrist who moves back to his hometown of Seattle as the host of a radio advice show. His father, Martin, is a gruff cop who was shot in the hip in the line of duty. He cant live on his own anymore because of his injury, so Frasier takes him into his home, even though their relationship has never been great. Throw in an uptight brother, an eccentric home health care worker, and a sassy producer for the radio show and you have all the ingredients for a good sitcom.

So what made Frasier great?

There are any number of accolades that Frasier earned during its run that stand as evidence that it is one of the most successful TV shows of all time.

• Thirty-seven total Emmy wins, the most ever for a sitcom

• 108 Emmy nominations across all categories

• Five consecutive wins for Outstanding Comedy Series, a record later tied by Modern Family (a show that shares many behind-the-scenes talent with Frasier)

• Twenty-four Golden Globe wins

• Six nominations for the Humanitas Award (recognizing writing that promotes human dignity, meaning, and freedom) and two wins

• The 1994 Peabody Award (recognizing excellence in quality in broadcast radio and television)

• David Hyde Pierce was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Emmy all eleven seasons, winning four times.

• Kelsey Grammer is the only actor to have been nominated for an Emmy for playing the same character on three separate series (Cheers, Wings, and Frasier).

Or you could talk about the fan base for the series. During most of its run, despite NBC shifting its time slot around multiple times, Frasier was consistently one of the twenty most viewed shows on television.

Kelsey Grammer and Moose.

NBC; NBC/Photofest

Significantly, many of the fans of the series carry their love for the show on to the present day. There are multiple active fan sites available online where fans still discuss the show. One Frasier fan site, KACL780.net, hosts transcripts, made by fans, of every episode of the series. Tom Hubbell, KACL780.net webmaster, says that he did not make any of the transcriptsother fans did and his site just hosts thembut even more than a decade after Frasier went off the air he is still contacted frequently by fans who write to correct phrases, translations, and even subtext. The site hosts transcripts that fans have translated into other languages, including Japanese. Another fan site, frasieronline.co.uk, has episode guides, fan-generated ratings for each episode, trivia and background information about the show, and a fan forum for discussion about the series.

There are also multiple podcasts that plan to discuss the series episode by episode. These include The Frasier-Philes Podcast and Talk Salad and Scrambled Eggs, the latter of which is cohosted by the filmmaker Kevin Smith.

During the shows run several books were published for fans, including an official companion book, an unauthorized guide to the series, multiple books reprinting scripts, a trivia book, a cookbook titled CafNervosa: The Connoisseurs Cookbook, and even an autobiography written by Moose, the dog who played Eddie on the show. One of the stranger artifacts is a CD titled Tossed Salad and Scrambled Eggs, which features a few selections of Kelsey Grammer singing on the show interspersed with tracks by jazz artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, and Louis Armstrong. Of course, there were also assorted Caf Nervosa mugs and Frasier T-shirts, but the merchandizing never reached the successful level NBC experienced with Cheers.

Besides the longtime fans who watched the show during its initial run, new fans also discover the show through its DVD sets, reruns, and availability through streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. Also, entertainment websites routinely preach the shows quality, with articles appearing periodically recommending that people who never gave the show a chance go back and enjoy the show.

Obviously, with this fan engagement, enduring interest, and repeated recommendations, the show must be funny and stand up even more than a decade after it went off the air. That is perhaps what stands out most about the series. This show is incredibly funny. And the writers, actors, and directors managed to find humor in very different and unique ways. As Joe Keenan, a writer of many of the best episodes of the series, notes: