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Excellent Continuity on Frasier

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Excellent Continuity on Frasier

Postby Whisper of cinnamon » Fri Jul 26, 2013 5:12 pm

There's been lots of talk recently about continuity errors on Frasier, but what about examples of excellent continuity on Frasier?

Here's 3 that I've always enjoyed:

I love the fact that the guy who comes to take Martin's chair in the final episode is the same guy who brought it in in episode 1!

I love the fact that in The New Friend, Niles describes Luke as 'your much-ballyhooed new best friend', a nice bit of continuity with The Friend from S3, where Niles similarly described Bob as 'much-ballyhooed' (a wonderful Niles-ian phrase!). It's one of those things that's going to go over the head of the casual viewer, and indeed most viewers unless you've seen the episodes lots of times. It's a nice little in-joke for the Frasier fans and I appreciate the writers for putting that in there. It makes me smile every time.

I love the continuity of the fact that the issues discussed in S9's Don Juan in Hell, where Frasier realises why he fails with women - fear of rejection so he finds a way to sabotage it - are brought up again in S11's A Man, A Plan... This time, Frasier tries hard not to sabotage it when, really, this time, he should! Watching him try to contain himself is hilarious: 'Gone are the days when I would have said something like "How Rude"! :lol:

So, are there any other nice pieces of continuity in the show that people like?
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Re: Excellent Continuity on Frasier

Postby Patrick » Fri Jul 26, 2013 5:28 pm

In Cheerful Goodbyes, they all remember the snipe hunt, although they didn't remember the part that we didn't see which is understandable since it was the part humiliating to them, that is when Frasier got the last laugh by stranding them all in the middle of the woods while he drove back to prepare an omelet for Diane, that was before Diane left him mercilessly at the altar of course. I like that they strived to be consistent between the two shows.
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Re: Excellent Continuity on Frasier

Postby Whisper of cinnamon » Fri Jul 26, 2013 5:57 pm

Patrick wrote:In Cheerful Goodbyes, they all remember the snipe hunt, although they didn't remember the part that we didn't see which is understandable since it was the part humiliating to them, that is when Frasier got the last laugh by stranding them all in the middle of the woods while he drove back to prepare an omelet for Diane, that was before Diane left him mercilessly at the altar of course. I like that they strived to be consistent between the two shows.


Yes, this is a nice call back for Cheers fans! Another one is the dialogue between Frasier and Julia in The Harassed when Frasier says in the middle of an argument 'Are you as turned on as I am?', which is exactly what Sam said to Diane in the middle of an argument in Showdown - Part 2! Another nice touch is that The Harassed aired in 2003, 20 years after Showdown in 1983, and in The Harassed Bulldog says that no one has used the phrase 'turned on' in 20 years! A line to make Cheers fans smile!
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Re: Excellent Continuity on Frasier

Postby Patrick » Fri Jul 26, 2013 6:03 pm

Whisper of cinnamon wrote:
Patrick wrote:In Cheerful Goodbyes, they all remember the snipe hunt, although they didn't remember the part that we didn't see which is understandable since it was the part humiliating to them, that is when Frasier got the last laugh by stranding them all in the middle of the woods while he drove back to prepare an omelet for Diane, that was before Diane left him mercilessly at the altar of course. I like that they strived to be consistent between the two shows.


Yes, this is a nice call back for Cheers fans! Another one is the dialogue between Frasier and Julia in The Harassed when Frasier says in the middle of an argument 'Are you as turned on as I am?', which is exactly what Sam said to Diane in the middle of an argument in Showdown - Part 2! Another nice touch is that The Harassed aired in 2003, 20 years after Showdown in 1983, and in The Harassed Bulldog says that no one has used the phrase 'turned on' in 20 years! A line to make Cheers fans smile!

Indeed! Nice catch! :)

Imaginary Diane in Don Juan in hell, correctly remembers that Old Hester told her that she had a gun as a way to threaten her. (of course it's actually Frasier remembering that Diane told him that back when they were dating.)

As an aside: Hester also made an allusion to Frasier's spider collection back then, that must have been a real inconvenience to Niles given his crippling fear of bugs...

You don't think Frasier did it on purpose just to frighten his little brother, do you?
Last edited by Patrick on Fri Jul 26, 2013 6:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Excellent Continuity on Frasier

Postby Whisper of cinnamon » Fri Jul 26, 2013 6:24 pm

Patrick wrote:You don't think Frasier did it on purpose just to frighten his little brother, don't you?


Given what we know of how much they didn't get along as kids, it wouldn't surprise me! :lol:
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Re: Excellent Continuity on Frasier

Postby Patrick » Fri Jul 26, 2013 6:30 pm

When Sam says in his episode that Frasier told them that Martin was a scientist and that he was dead, he is right. I remember the moment when he said that, although I'd need some time and effort to identify the episode. It seems though that later Sam set things straight with Woody since he knew that Martin was a cop.

I can picture the scene:

Sam: By the way Woody, you remember when Frasier told us that his Father was dead and a scientist?

Woody: Oh Yeah, I remember that... sort of.

Sam: well, turns out he was lying, he's a retired cop and got shot in the hip.

Woody; Wow! And all this time I thought he was a psychiatrist, even when he was sweeping the floor.

Sam: No Woody, I mean his father.

Woody: You're wrong Sam, that's Frasier that was sweeping the floor not his father.

Sam: Never mind woody... (sigh)
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Re: Excellent Continuity on Frasier

Postby frasier floyd » Fri Jul 26, 2013 8:23 pm

Whisper of cinnamon wrote:There's been lots of talk recently about continuity errors on Frasier, but what about examples of excellent continuity on Frasier?

Here's 3 that I've always enjoyed:

I love the fact that the guy who comes to take Martin's chair in the final episode is the same guy who brought it in in episode 1!

I love the fact that in The New Friend, Niles describes Luke as 'your much-ballyhooed new best friend', a nice bit of continuity with The Friend from S3, where Niles similarly described Bob as 'much-ballyhooed' (a wonderful Niles-ian phrase!). It's one of those things that's going to go over the head of the casual viewer, and indeed most viewers unless you've seen the episodes lots of times. It's a nice little in-joke for the Frasier fans and I appreciate the writers for putting that in there. It makes me smile every time.

I love the continuity of the fact that the issues discussed in S9's Don Juan in Hell, where Frasier realises why he fails with women - fear of rejection so he finds a way to sabotage it - are brought up again in S11's A Man, A Plan... This time, Frasier tries hard not to sabotage it when, really, this time, he should! Watching him try to contain himself is hilarious: 'Gone are the days when I would have said something like "How Rude"! :lol:

So, are there any other nice pieces of continuity in the show that people like?


Speaking of Niles' funny phrases, I've noticed that he uses "pretentious fop" a few times. The first time I noticed it was when Daphne brought home a Niles doppelganger (so it's funny that he's almost saying this about himself) but he says it about someone else too! It's a funny phrase so I was happy to catch that.
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Re: Excellent Continuity on Frasier

Postby Patrick » Fri Jul 26, 2013 9:00 pm

frasier floyd wrote:...
Speaking of Niles' funny phrases, I've noticed that he uses "pretentious fop" a few times. The first time I noticed it was when Daphne brought home a Niles doppelganger (so it's funny that he's almost saying this about himself) but he says it about someone else too! It's a funny phrase so I was happy to catch that.

Yes, he also says that of the (young) man he replaces as critic in the Magazine in Everyone's a Critic of the seventh season, who was also another himself (although much younger) so to speak.
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Re: Excellent Continuity on Frasier

Postby Patrick » Fri Jul 26, 2013 9:07 pm

Niles' nosebleed (which is to Niles what a growing nose is to Pinocchio) that is shown the first time in Kisses Sweeter Than Wine of the third season, reappears in the 11th season when he lies on several occasions (about Martin calling Ronee "little cupid" when she's not around for example).
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Re: Excellent Continuity on Frasier

Postby frasier floyd » Fri Jul 26, 2013 9:15 pm

Ah, I'm glad to hear his nosebleeds reappeared later in the show! It's been a while since I've seen the last few seasons. I thought it was another one of those things that's mentioned once but forgotten, like Niles hiding under the piano when he gets overwhelmed. Those are funny types of character quirks. Though, in praise of continuity, Niles did dust a few dozen chairs throughout the show! I'm glad that quirk was continued throughout the show (though it may have dwindled in the later seasons as Niles' character evened out a little).
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Re: Excellent Continuity on Frasier

Postby Patrick » Fri Jul 26, 2013 9:22 pm

frasier floyd wrote:Ah, I'm glad to hear his nosebleeds reappeared later in the show! It's been a while since I've seen the last few seasons. I thought it was another one of those things that's mentioned once but forgotten, like Niles hiding under the piano when he gets overwhelmed. Those are funny types of character quirks. Though, in praise of continuity, Niles did dust a few dozen chairs throughout the show! I'm glad that quirk was continued throughout the show (though it may have dwindled in the later seasons as Niles' character evened out a little).

While we're on the subject of the things that are only mentioned once, the straws used to stir the coffee, are only seen or mentioned once during the whole show. My guess is to allow for the "last straw" double meaning when Niles loses it at the end of a stressful chain of events. I mean, the last "plastic spoon" wouldn't have the same effect, would it? :D
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Re: Excellent Continuity on Frasier

Postby Whisper of cinnamon » Fri Jul 26, 2013 9:38 pm

frasier floyd wrote: Speaking of Niles' funny phrases, I've noticed that he uses "pretentious fop" a few times. The first time I noticed it was when Daphne brought home a Niles doppelganger (so it's funny that he's almost saying this about himself) but he says it about someone else too! It's a funny phrase so I was happy to catch that.


Ah yes, I enjoy that phrase too. My favourite phrase of his along similar lines is 'ludicrous popinjay', which is just brilliant! Although I think he says that one only once!

DHP was also very good at keeping up Niles' habit of smelling Daphne's hair. A bit creepy, but a nice bit of continuity throughout the seasons. Sometimes DHP does it even when the focus of the scene is not on him, as a little background thing.

Patrick wrote:Sam: By the way Woody, you remember when Frasier told us that his Father was dead and a scientist?

Woody: Oh Yeah, I remember that... sort of.

Sam: well, turns out he was lying, he's a retired cop and got shot in the hip.

Woody; Wow! And all this time I thought he was a psychiatrist, even when he was sweeping the floor.

Sam: No Woody, I mean his father.

Woody: You're wrong Sam, that's Frasier that was sweeping the floor not his father.

Sam: Never mind woody... (sigh)


:lol:
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Re: Excellent Continuity on Frasier

Postby Whisper of cinnamon » Fri Jul 26, 2013 10:01 pm

Other repeated phrases used throughout the show's run: Frasier's 'Oh dear God!' and 'Off you go!' and Martin's 'Oh Jeez'!
Also, I think that Niles says 'I hope you're happy!', in a melodramatic way, more than once!

And I like Martin's little quirk of adjusting himself in his seat when he's feeling uncomfortable about something! John Mahoney does this throughout the show's run.

Another bit of continuity: the fact that Martin met Hester over the chalk outline of a murder victim is introduced in S2 and recalled later - is it S4?, when Martin reveals they made crooked gingerbread men - is that right? - in honour of the occasion, which Niles as a child thought were dancing! :lol: I can't remember which episode it was, though.
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Re: Excellent Continuity on Frasier

Postby Patrick » Fri Jul 26, 2013 10:08 pm

One recurrent shtick that everyone knows: "This stinks, this is total BS..."

I bet it's been said a few dozens of times.
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Re: Excellent Continuity on Frasier

Postby PistolPoet » Fri Jul 26, 2013 10:44 pm

I like the fact that they gave Daphne's brother Billy, the ballroom dancer, a personality long before we actually saw any of the Moon brothers. Daphne mentions him in at least two episodes, and both times it explains parts of her personality nicely: in Daphne's Room, when she says how all her brothers peeked at her in the shower apart from him, and in Moon Dance to explain why she's such a good dancer.
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Re: Excellent Continuity on Frasier

Postby Patrick » Sat Jul 27, 2013 5:16 am

She also said that she had a brother that volunteered to be experimented on. To me, they all look like they've been experimented on. :lol:
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Re: Excellent Continuity on Frasier

Postby Whisper of cinnamon » Sat Jul 27, 2013 12:12 pm

PistolPoet wrote:I like the fact that they gave Daphne's brother Billy, the ballroom dancer, a personality long before we actually saw any of the Moon brothers. Daphne mentions him in at least two episodes, and both times it explains parts of her personality nicely: in Daphne's Room, when she says how all her brothers peeked at her in the shower apart from him, and in Moon Dance to explain why she's such a good dancer.


Oh yes, this is a good one. I wouldn't imagine that they knew they were going to do an episode with Daphne ballroom dancing when they wrote that Billy did it, so it was a very nice bit of continuity to think of calling that back in Moon Dance. They also kept up the continuity with Daphne's parents in that before we ever see Daphne's mum, we get an idea of her personality - lowering Daphne's self-esteem by putting her down (see Dr Nora), guilt-tripping Daphne so she can get her way (see Father Of The Bride), and when we finally meet her, these qualities are very much in evidence - the put-downs - 'she does what she can with what God gave her' she says, or something like that, at one point, and she also guilt trips Daphne into letting her stay by faking injury (in fact, she does a lot of guilt tripping at other points too). They kept her personality very consistent with what we already knew.

Similarly, Daphne talks a number of times over the years about her dad spending a lot of time at the pub - there's that story where she talks about him being out at the pub and then when he came back they couldn't argue because of his headaches, which she viewed as his 'way of keeping the family together'! And in Love Stinks we find out that Daphne drew a picture as a child of her dad crawling home from the pub, which Niles thought was a picture of a turtle! And the story she tells Niles in The Bad Son also features her dad coming home from the pub, I believe. And then when we finally come to meet him in S9, sure enough, he is not only in a pub, he works there! (Albeit in a rather strange capacity!)
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Re: Excellent Continuity on Frasier

Postby PistolPoet » Sat Jul 27, 2013 1:51 pm

Whisper of cinnamon wrote:Oh yes, this is a good one. I wouldn't imagine that they knew they were going to do an episode with Daphne ballroom dancing when they wrote that Billy did it, so it was a very nice bit of continuity to think of calling that back in Moon Dance. They also kept up the continuity with Daphne's parents in that before we ever see Daphne's mum, we get an idea of her personality - lowering Daphne's self-esteem by putting her down (see Dr Nora), guilt-tripping Daphne so she can get her way (see Father Of The Bride), and when we finally meet her, these qualities are very much in evidence - the put-downs - 'she does what she can with what God gave her' she says, or something like that, at one point, and she also guilt trips Daphne into letting her stay by faking injury (in fact, she does a lot of guilt tripping at other points too). They kept her personality very consistent with what we already knew.

Similarly, Daphne talks a number of times over the years about her dad spending a lot of time at the pub - there's that story where she talks about him being out at the pub and then when he came back they couldn't argue because of his headaches, which she viewed as his 'way of keeping the family together'! And in Love Stinks we find out that Daphne drew a picture as a child of her dad crawling home from the pub, which Niles thought was a picture of a turtle! And the story she tells Niles in The Bad Son also features her dad coming home from the pub, I believe. And then when we finally come to meet him in S9, sure enough, he is not only in a pub, he works there! (Albeit in a rather strange capacity!)


Yup! And well done for all those examples :). I'm really glad they got very good actors to play Daphne's parents as well, because it's not easy to live up to seasons of their caricatured representations. Imagine if they'd gone for someone with a fake accent like Clive :P.
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Re: Excellent Continuity on Frasier

Postby Patrick » Sat Jul 27, 2013 2:19 pm

I am afraid that with Maris they've set the bar a little too high. I know that De Niro sometimes gains some weight to play a role but I don't think anybody would be willing to become (literally) skeletal in order to play Maris. :lol:


I imagine that some time before she became enormous in that episode where she just couldn't stop eating, she must have been normal for a few (transitionary) days. :P
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Re: Excellent Continuity on Frasier

Postby Patrick » Sat Jul 27, 2013 2:34 pm

There is another nice piece of continuity that I can think about: In the episode three blind dates where the date brought by Roz Susanna, almost said that Frasier had more money than taste, she actually hit the nail on the head, when you think about the Crucible where Frasier bought a painting that wasn't even a copy of an original by the artist he thought painted it. Maybe the reason Frasier was so dismissive and upset with her is because she was essentially right about him. He is a dilettante who buys art not because it resonates with him but because he thinks that that's what someone with actual taste is supposed to do. He may be artistically tone deaf.
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Re: Excellent Continuity on Frasier

Postby Whisper of cinnamon » Sat Jul 27, 2013 3:09 pm

PistolPoet wrote:Yup! And well done for all those examples :). I'm really glad they got very good actors to play Daphne's parents as well, because it's not easy to live up to seasons of their caricatured representations. Imagine if they'd gone for someone with a fake accent like Clive :P.


Yes, I actually think both Millicent Martin and Brian Cox do a very good job with the roles. The fact that I sometimes find Gertrude incredibly annoying is not the fault of Martin, but of the character she is playing!
You could argue that it might have been better to keep Daphne's parents as unseen characters, like Maris and Grammy Moon, but you can't really go 11 seasons with five main characters and not meet their parents (if they're alive, that is)! We never saw Roz's dad, though, did we?
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Re: Excellent Continuity on Frasier

Postby PistolPoet » Sat Jul 27, 2013 8:44 pm

Whisper of cinnamon wrote:
PistolPoet wrote:Yup! And well done for all those examples :). I'm really glad they got very good actors to play Daphne's parents as well, because it's not easy to live up to seasons of their caricatured representations. Imagine if they'd gone for someone with a fake accent like Clive :P.


Yes, I actually think both Millicent Martin and Brian Cox do a very good job with the roles. The fact that I sometimes find Gertrude incredibly annoying is not the fault of Martin, but of the character she is playing!
You could argue that it might have been better to keep Daphne's parents as unseen characters, like Maris and Grammy Moon, but you can't really go 11 seasons with five main characters and not meet their parents (if they're alive, that is)! We never saw Roz's dad, though, did we?

Nah, I think Daphne's parents (annoying as Gertrude is) did bring some colour into the later seasons, so I think it was a good move to bring them into the show.
And I guess we never see Roz's dad because her parents are divorced. I was still hoping to see Roz's mum again in Guilt Trippers (when Frasier travels to Wisconsin and gets to meet Roz's great-uncle Olaf, or whatever :P), that would have been a great example of continuity.
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Re: Excellent Continuity on Frasier

Postby Roverman » Sat Jul 27, 2013 9:27 pm

But had Roz's mum seen Frasier in Guilt Trippers she would have immediately confirmed that he was Frasier and not Roger!
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Re: Excellent Continuity on Frasier

Postby PistolPoet » Sat Jul 27, 2013 10:31 pm

Roverman wrote:But had Roz's mum seen Frasier in Guilt Trippers she would have immediately confirmed that he was Frasier and not Roger!

Ah, right! I forgot that :).
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Re: Excellent Continuity on Frasier

Postby Frasiertime » Sun Jul 28, 2013 6:34 pm

frasier floyd wrote:Ah, I'm glad to hear his nosebleeds reappeared later in the show! It's been a while since I've seen the last few seasons. I thought it was another one of those things that's mentioned once but forgotten, like Niles hiding under the piano when he gets overwhelmed. Those are funny types of character quirks. Though, in praise of continuity, Niles did dust a few dozen chairs throughout the show! I'm glad that quirk was continued throughout the show (though it may have dwindled in the later seasons as Niles' character evened out a little).


It was great when Ronee explained how the quirk began! (The Babysitter episode)
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