Frasier Online

Variable ethics :

In The Candidate Niles has to find an end run around the confidentiality rule so that Frasier can tell him what Phil Patterson told him on the balcony.

In Frasier Loves Roz Niles has no problem whatsoever revealing confidential information in sight of the patient himself (At a minimum he should have kept his indentity a secret).

Seems Niles work ethic is slipping...

So is Martin's.

In A Word To The Wiseguy:
Niles: You were a cop. I'm sure you still have "chums", hint-hint? Who could lend you a hand, wink-wink?
Martin: No. Look, you know I'd do anything for you, but not this. All my years on the force I never even fixed a ticket, let alone an arrest warrant.
Niles: You couldn't pull one little string?
Martin: No, I hope everything works out for you, but I think the law should be the same for everyone.

Then in Sweet Dreams (where Daphne goes to jail):
Martin: I can't believe it took me six hours to get her out. In my day cops could count on a few perks, you know. No speeding tickets, get your friends out of jail fast... It's all gone to hell!

I don't know if it's necessarily a mistake but in Wheels of Fortune, the doorman phones up to advise that Blaine Sternin is on his way in. This has never happened before or since, and I'm sure there are countless occasions when people show up unexpectedly. I can imagine Niles and Roz being on the guest list, but many of Frasier's dates/rival/workmates aren't around long enough to justify the doorman being aware of them in advance!

And in The Return Of Martin Crane he admits that he even got colleagues to lift Maris' car closer to a hydrant, so he could boot her car. The excuse was she was loaded...

What's the point of another thread criticizing the show when there's one that can be used just 4 threads under this one?!

welshben23 wrote:What's the point of another thread criticizing the show when there's one that can be used just 4 threads under this one?!

This one was untarnished by controversy...

...still could be.

Hint, hint...

Eddie2012 wrote:And in The Return Of Martin Crane he admits that he even got colleagues to lift Maris' car closer to a hydrant, so he could boot her car. The excuse was she was loaded...

Yeah, for someone who's never "fixed a ticket", that's borderline sleazy. Basically, that's tantamount to steal the fine money from Maris and that makes him a criminal even if he's not the one who gets the money.

Patrick wrote:

welshben23 wrote:What's the point of another thread criticizing the show when there's one that can be used just 4 threads under this one?!

This one was untarnished by controversy...

...still could be.

Hint, hint...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106004/rev ... ter=chrono Until I noticed it said United States I thought the newest review was from you, Patrick.

welshben23 wrote:

Patrick wrote:

welshben23 wrote:What's the point of another thread criticizing the show when there's one that can be used just 4 threads under this one?!

This one was untarnished by controversy...

...still could be.

Hint, hint...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106004/rev ... ter=chrono Until I noticed it said United States I thought the newest review was from you, Patrick.

(and to base their entire review of the show on the fact that Frasier left Frederick... wow...)

Tryna start trouble in here? I can see where that reviewer was coming from. Frasier did move across the country to start a new life, apparently without much thought for his son. However, I think it's safe to say that this is just another fact of the show that viewers aren't meant to analyze too seriously. I mean, most of the characters are often shallow, narcissistic, selfish and deceptive but this hasn't stopped us from watching and enjoying them. It's a comedy, not a drama series.

welshben23 wrote:

Patrick wrote:

welshben23 wrote:What's the point of another thread criticizing the show when there's one that can be used just 4 threads under this one?!

This one was untarnished by controversy...

...still could be.

Hint, hint...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106004/rev ... ter=chrono Until I noticed it said United States I thought the newest review was from you, Patrick.

That's idiotic. I never said anything like that.

I just found your portrait :

Gonna keep this going. I've noticed that the television in Frasier's living room changes to totally different positions depending on the episode. Not a big deal or mistake really, I'm just curious what it's supposed to look like from Martin's seat.

frasier floyd wrote:Gonna keep this going. I've noticed that the television in Frasier's living room changes to totally different positions depending on the episode. Not a big deal or mistake really, I'm just curious what it's supposed to look like from Martin's seat.

Actually, we never see that wall, except for the small portion of it beside the entry door. When we see the TV screen, it doesn't always look the same.Maybe Martin breaks a TV set each time his favorite team loses a game.

I love the line when Frasier sees the big screen TV and speakers set up for the first time

'Oh Dear God its STONEHENGE'

Gets me everytime.....

Not sure if it's a mistake but I'm just watching the pilot episode. During the scene where Frasier and Martin are discussing whether Daphne should move in, Martin says "[why can't she have] the room accross from mine?" To which Frasier replies "My Study?!?". The problem with that is that Daphne's room turns out to bein the right 'wing' of the house with Frasier and Martin occupying the left 'wing'... in fact during "Chess Pains" we see that there is no "room accross" from Martin's room, just a wall with some storage chest against it!

At the beginning of Season 6 Frasier is without a job for nine episodes, yet neither he nor Niles ever suggest that he could go back to practice. I've always found that strange. That was the most natural thing for him to do since he's had plenty of experience back when he lived in Boston.

That is strange. I don't remember him ever worrying about money during that time though. Maybe he made so much money at KACL that he never even considered taking a more common job. Private practice may pay well, but maybe it seemed too hard after his grueling 3-hour workdays of listening to the sound of his own voice.

The biggest mistake of all is how he looked down on Martin's lifestyle, as if "Cheers" never happened, and he'd never associated with low brow types like Norm, Cliff and Paul.

mickeba wrote:The biggest mistake of all is how he looked down on Martin's lifestyle, as if "Cheers" never happened, and he'd never associated with low brow types like Norm, Cliff and Paul.

I think Frasier is supposed to be its own show. I never really cared for Cheers, so when I watch Frasier I accept it as is- as opposed to comparing it to Cheers. Even Frasier refers to it as "back in Boston", instead of by name, so it seems that the separation between shows was intentional.

Plus, it could be that once Frasier moved to Seattle, he got swept up in the high society nonsense because of Niles. He also became somewhat famous because of his new job as radio host, so maybe the fame/money got to his head, making him more snooty and judgmental of others who don't care about that the superficial.

frasier floyd wrote:

mickeba wrote:The biggest mistake of all is how he looked down on Martin's lifestyle, as if "Cheers" never happened, and he'd never associated with low brow types like Norm, Cliff and Paul.

I think Frasier is supposed to be its own show. I never really cared for Cheers, so when I watch Frasier I accept it as is- as opposed to comparing it to Cheers. Even Frasier refers to it as "back in Boston", instead of by name, so it seems that the separation between shows was intentional.

While I definitely get where you're coming from, I don't think that the said seperation is quite as pronounced. I can think of instances where the phrase "Back at Cheers" was used, and add that to Frasier's opening monologue in S1E1 where he's summing up his life and talking about Cheers (although to be fair that may well have been just a nice scene setter to give the audience an idea of timescale etc.) not to mention the guest appearances from most of the principal Cheers fellows.

While I agree that there are definite elements of seperation (which I guess are necessary to prevent a spin-off from immediately stagnating and being viewed-in this case- as "Cheers-lite") and obvious inconsistencies (the attitude change, the fact that Martin is alive, that Frasier has a brother and has suddenly grown to despise beer among many others which I'm not aware of), I wouldn't interpret it as a forced attempt to differentiate between the shows. Interesting point though because I've never really thought about this in depth!

Yea I don't really know Cheers well enough to be able to note all the differences between the two shows. I've just noticed that Frasier often speaks of "the bar back in Boston" as opposed to naming it, so I assumed there was some attempt to make a distinction. I don't think the writers were attempting to make it an entirely different show, since Frasier's character obviously came from Cheers, but I think they wanted some distance so they could have some new creative license with his character and also so they wouldn't be in Cheers' shadow. Spin-offs are usually a toss up since it's rare that one character can keep another show going. But since they could make some changes to Frasier and give him more complexity, the show was a huge hit. They can appeal to the Cheers audience but also cater to their own audience, people like me.

Also, referring back to the original post on the topic, I'd say Martin looked down on Frasier and Niles' lifestyles just as much as they looked down on him. It seems really hateful and pointless, but that's when you consider their relationships in real life. On Frasier, everyone makes fun of/ looks down on everyone at some point, often in ways that wouldn't fly in real life, but the character conflicts are a major source of humor on the show.

They were successful in making it a show to stand on it's own. But they did incorporate every Cheers regular into at least one episode, except for Rebecca, so Cheers didn't exist completely outside Frasier. That's why I think the lifestyle contrasts of Frasier and Martin are so interesting.

Plus Lilith was a regular presence on Frasier, as well as Cheers.