by Cake for Brains » Wed Oct 04, 2006 3:43 pm
I’ll start by thanking everybody who showed interest in the recent ‘Worst Episode Poll’, which ended last Thursday, and although the winner (A Day in May) deserved to its victory, I think the poll was still worth conducting. Having said that, it would be great if these ‘Awards’ threads attracted a tad more interest though – as only eight people (nine including myself) cast their votes, and it would be nicer to have a more distinct and diverse representation of opinion. However, this third poll is arguably one of the most important of all – and this time we’re looking for the forum’s favourite supporting character/recurring character in ‘Frasier’. With such an entourage of interesting, eccentric and colourful personalities cropping up over the eleven year run, and it is important we find our favourite, whether it be a relative, a KACL worker, a love interest, etc. Unlike the previous ‘Forum Awards’ threads than ran in the summer, the ‘Best Frasier Supporting Character’ is going to operate as a poll, and you will have the opportunity to vote for your personal favourite secondary character from the five nominations given above, which are the protagonists that received the highest number of votes. This time, you are not posting a list of nominations, because the names which triumphs in this poll will be named ‘Favourite Secondary Character’, and will hopefully represent this forum’s views accurately. I am going to allow this poll to run for a week, before the winner is announced next Wednesday (11th October 2006).
If you have any questions at all, please feel free to ask. Otherwise, happy voting everyone. Please, we need as many people to give imput as possible in order to provide an interesting poll!
The Five ‘Favourite Supporting Characters’ at the moment are:
1) Bob ‘Bulldog’ Briscoe (Dan Butler) (21 votes)
2) Bebe Glazer (Harriet Samson-Harris) (21 votes)
3) Gil Chesterton (Edward Hibbert) (20 votes)
4) Dr Lilith Sternin (Bebe Neuwirth) (18 votes)
5) Sherry Dempsey (Marsha Mason) (9 votes)
Below is a list of interesting statistics (well I thought so) concerning the voting progress. The number allocated in brackets next to the supporting character indicates how many votes they received. There were a total of 18 characters voted for, which (again) represents the diversity of this forum. I, feel particularly smug however, because my nominations for the category have formed the final shortlist, which I’m pretty happy about. Therefore, the five secondary characters that have made the final list are all absolutely wonderful in terms of ‘Frasier’ standards, and there aren’t really any surprise additions amongst them. I think the final compilation of nominations is brilliant – and the most consistently hilarious and colourful personalities have qualified. I am particularly happy with this shortlist, because I think it will be the first really interesting poll we’ve done, because (looking at the nominations now) there is now clear winner that jumps out at you. The ‘Best Episode’ poll was instance was really predictable and ‘Ham Radio’ was the obvious victor, whereas it was hard to really take an interest in the ‘Worst Episode Poll’ because all of the episodes were so terrible, you couldn’t really care what won, because they were all utter rubbish by ‘Frasier’ standards. I am delighted therefore to be able to say that I am unable to even hazard a prediction as to what will triumph on this poll, because (due to the fact that the votes on the first four are so close), it really could go anyway and to anyone. I think the winner will be a surprise (or at least I hope it will)
Characters voted for:
Gil Chesterton (20)
Dr Lilith Sternin (18)
Sherry Dempsey (9)
Bebe Glazer (21)
Bob ‘Bulldog’ Briscoe (21)
Ronee Lawrence (5)
Kenny Daily (6)
Kate Costas (2)
Mel Karnofsky (5)
Noel Shempsky (4)
Marta (Maris’ housemaid) (1)
Simon Moon (2)
Lorna Gardner (1)
Charlotte (1)
Maris Crane (2)
Roz Doyle (1)
Daphne’s father from ‘Moons Over Seattle’ (1)
Annie from ‘The Ski Lodge’ (1)
Although not all of the supporting characters to have appeared in ‘Frasier’ get a voice in the final shortlist – I can’t say I am particularly affecting by such omissions as Mrs Moon for example, so in conclusion I think there’s a pretty strong set of results. I wish I’d voted for Maris in hindsight though, because she was the definitive comedy monster, and I don’t think Roz qualifies as a supporting character, because she appeared in every episode (bar two in Season 11) and therefore surely constitutes as one of the regular ensemble cast. Again, I don’t really think Daphne’s father or Annie from ‘Moons over Seattle’ and ‘The Ski Lodge’ respective can really be justified to appear on this list, because they only appeared in one episode each. Anyway, I’ve thought long and hard about my choice, but in the end, I had to go for Edward Hibbert’s marvellous portrayal of snobby restaurant critic Gil Chesterton. Gil’s presence is always a bonus in an episode, and with such memorable appearances as his outing support speech to Frasier in ‘The Doctor is Out’ to his infamous ‘Boyhood in Surrey’ speech in ‘Ham Radio’, he surely deserves the honour. But who will you vote for?
"I don't want to go." - The Tenth Doctor