(courtesy CBS)
If there is one thing that the classic sitcom excelled at, it was not pretending that everything in life was perfect. Oh, Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) and his equally dandy brother Niles (David Hyde Pierce) aspired to that superlative state of being with their eyes always on the just-so wine, the exemplary dinner party and membership to the right strata of club. They well and truly reached for the brass ring with often hilarious zeal, but the sitcom, which ran for 11 seasons from 1994 to 2004 never once pretended that what you reached for, you got. It didn’t make fun of the reaching as such; rather, it accepted, with good grace and an eye for wittily and cleverly, and deeply empathetic comedy, that it just as likely you’d land flat on your face as soar into the sky.
In these two beautifully judged and emotionally resonant Christmas episodes – “Miracle on Third or Fourth Street” and “Perspectives on Christmas” – the show really brought home the fact that life disappoints possibly more than it satisfies. It’s true for most of life, but especially so at Christmas which comes loaded with a surfeit of over-the-top hopes and dreams for peace and joy and family togetherness and an escapist bliss, and while we know deep down it can’t possibly deliver on that stratospherically festive expectation (and this is coming from a Christmasaholic blogger), we want and hope and almost plead that it will play exactly as we have in our tinsel-smothered mind’s eye.
But it rarely does; even so, while Frasier is honest and sanguine about the yawning between Festive Have and Festive Have-Not moments, and it has a lot of fun pointing out that it’s knows it’s a thing, it also quietly and with a nuance the show always had in underplayed abundance, that there can still be a quiet joy to be had come what may.
Both “Miracle on Third or Fourth Street” and “Perspectives on Christmas” are perfect examples of the way Frasier approaches its festive storytelling.
In the former episode from season 1, Frasier is excited that his son Freddy is coming to visit for the holidays and while he’s still trying to figure out to accommodate the clashing design aesthetic of his demur decorations vs. his father Martin’s (John Mahoney) who wants a Santa vomited approach (which horrifies his son), all is right with his festive world. Until Freddy gets a better offer, or at least one that Frasier’s ex and Freddy’s mum Lilith (Bebe Neuwirth) deems a better offer, and then his whole world collapses and he decides to take a shift at the radio station on Christmas day instead. The calls are as depressing as you might expect, despite Frasier’s best efforts to get people to look on bright side of the holiday, and it’s not until he’s shown some real sacrificial festive kindness by a homeless man at a diner that Frasier finally gets into the holiday spirit.
By way of contrast, “Perspectives on Christmas” is a lot more comedy-driven but has much the same message as Frasier, Niles, Martin, his homecare therapist Daphne (Jane Leeves) and Frasier’s radio program producer Roz (Peri Gilpin) all grapple with a less than ideal run-up to Christmas and yet somehow end up, courtesy of last-minute massage therapy gifts from Frasier and an impassioned speech by him, recognising again how good they have it.
In neither is the Christmas lily gilded, with the show being characteristically honest about life, the season and relationships can be, but then neither does it lose itself in the bleakness, pulling a quietly joyous rabbit out of the festive hat and let the characters have their small “e” festive epiphany and a chance to bask in the fact that their Christmases may not have been ideal but that there is still much to be thankful for.
Frasier is currently streaming on Paramount+
BONUS REVIEW: Frasier 2023 review (S1, E7-10)
(courtesy IMP Awards)
Fast forward over twenty years from the episodes above, and you land in the still funny, if not quite as cleverly written, world of Frasier 2023 a reboot, though it’s not called a reboot, which brings the lead character full circle back to Boston where he lands a gig, after a highly successful and immensely gig as a TV psychiatrist, at Harvard. Suddenly back in the city of Cheers where he first appeared in our screens, Frasier, once again played of course by Kelsey Grammer, gets to know his now grown, college dropout, firefighter son Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott), and gets reacquainted with bestie Alan (Nicholas Lyndhurst) while working for the head of the school of psychiatry, Olivia (Toks Olagundoye). The all-new cast, which includes Niles and Daphne’s grown son David (Anders keith), also training to go into psychiatry and Eve (Jess Salguiero) the girlfriend of Freedy now-deceased best friend, presents Frasier with all kinds of new challenges although true to form, many of those issues come courtesy of Frasier himself. He may be older, and a yes, somewhat wiser, but he still can’t resist gunning to become a professor years ahead of the usual schedule (“The B Story”, which yes, does come with a very funny secondary plot tread courtesy of Freddy only letting himself express his intellectuality when he’s smashed), sparring with ex Lilith (Bebe Neuwirth) at their son’s birthday party which is fun to watch but which does not well for either of them, or Freddy, or allowing Freddy to help him when he’s injured because of his pride. It’s classic Frasier and while it doesn’t reach the witty, farcical heights of the old iteration, it’s still entertaining because it underscores how, while he’s matured enough to become far more emotionally self aware, he’s still capable of falling victim, entertainingly for us, to his own ego.
But it’s the final episode that really adds some festive charm to proceedings. In an episode that marks the return of Frasier’s old radio producer and close friend Roz (Peri Gilpin), albeit in what is effectively a cameo that feels a little stilted and which misses the old interactive beats that made their friendship so much fun to watch, it’s Christmastime and in trademark Frasier fashion, Freddy’s idea for a fun, relaxed gathering at the apartment he lives in with his dad – it has to be noted that Frasier, flush with cash, owns the whole complex – suddenly a stuffy, suited, classical music-soundtracked night of too many Christmas trees, not quite enough high-end champagne and some lovely observational insights (and comedy) about what grief can do to you on major events, especially when it’s the first time they’ve happened since the person’s death. Jess is mourning the death of her boyfriend while Frasier and Freddy are grappling with the fact that Martin, with his outsized love for Christmas and his happily trashy decorations (some of the classics make a small return), is not there to enjoy the festive season. It’s funny but quite emotionally thoughtful, and while it doesn’t reach the heights of the two classic episodes reviewed above, it does come close and reveals the show’s ability, still marvellously intact, to go emotionally and meaningfully deep while letting the spirit of Christmas shine through. Merry Christmas Frasier and here’s to meeting old friends again just when you need them.
Frasier 2023 is currently streaming on Paramount+