Frasier article in my local paper

[Dean Winchester]

"FRASIER" ISN'T GETTING A PROPER SEND-OFF

by Tom Dorsey
Courier Journal, May 13, 2004. pg C2

Kelsey Grammer is feeling a little like Rodney Dangerfield in the get-no-respect departmant as he bids farewell to one of the longest-running characters in TV history tonight.

Grammer will play Dr. Frasier Crane in one last new episode tonight at 8:55 on NBC, ending an 11-year-run of "Frasier." NBC will reel off an hour of clips from the sitcom at 8 PM, just like it did with "Friends" last Thursday.

NBC's super-hype for the "Friends" finale rubbed the "Frasier" folks the wrong way. Promos calling "Friends" the "best sitcom ever" were the big boo-boo. In numerous published interviews, "Fraiser" cast members, including Grammer, said they didn't like being made to feel like second-class citizens.

There isn't much doubt that "Friends" got a bigger network send-off than "Frasier" is getting, even though the network got a lot more for it's money out of Grammer's character.

For openers, "Frasier" ran a year longer on NBC than "Friends." Before that, Grammer's Dr. Frasier Crane was on "Cheers" for nine years. That means the neurotic shrink is tied with James Arness' Marshal Matt Dillon character on "Gunsmoke" for the longest run of any TV character -- 20 years.

"Frasier" also won 31 Emmys, the most for any show ever, including five consecutive best-comedy awards, a record. In addition, "Frasier" has been given a Peabody award, the Humanitas Prize and a mantel full of Golden Globes. By comparison, it took "Friends" eight seasons to win it's first best-comedy Emmy.

So why hasn't "Frasier" enjoyed all the hoopla that's been accorded "Friends"? Ratings may be the reason, as they so often are in TV land. "Frasier" may have stayed a little too long at the party.

"Frasier" is No. 36 in the Nielsen standings, drawing about 11 million viewers for an average episode. "Friends" is No. 4, attracting doubt that audience. The glory years for "Frasier" were in the 1990s. It's highest rank being in 1998-99, where it finished No. 3 in the ratings right behind "Friends."

For most of his 11 years, the radio doctor has been unlucky in love, never quite connecting in a long-standing relationship but having fun with a series of one-episode stands. The word is he may say "I do" to Laura Linney's character, who has been playing his matchmaker over the last few weeks.

Frasier's series of romances, going all the way back to Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) on "Cheers," may have finally become a little tiring for fans. The show started losing steam about the time that Niles (David Hyde Pierce) married Daphne (Jane Leeves).

Pierce was perhaps the best second-banana since Don Knotts on "The Andy Griffith Show."

"Frasier" boasted a classy cast that deserved the recognition it won. Grammer thought "Frasier" proved that viewers were brighter than TV executives gave them credit for.

In a way, the series paralleled much of the ups and downs of Grammer's personal life. He got a big break when he was signed to do a four-episode run on "Cheers" as Diane's love interest. The audience liked his character so much he stayed on until the series left the air in 1993. Grammer next did what few actors in supporting roles have ever done in TV history when his character was sucessfully spun off into his own series.

Off camera his life was not so great. He struggled with drug and alcohol addiction in the 1990s and served jail time. He also went through two divorces for a dancer and a stripper.

His father, who left the family when Grammer was just 18 months old, was later murdered. His sister was kidnapped and killed. Two half-brothers died in an auto accident.

Now he's happily married for a third time and has a baby girl, with another child on the way, in addition to two daughters from previous relationships. Grammer says he and his "Frasier" character have grown and matured through the years and that playing the radio shrink was the best thing that ever happened to him.

At 49, he wants to go on acting but fears that people will always see Frasier, no matter what character he plays. He told The New York Times that his portrayal of Macbeth on Broadway closed in just 10 days because all the critics fixated on how much he looked like Frasier Crane.

Grammer has other interests he can pursue. His TV production company does "Girlfriends" for UPN and is negotiating with two or three other networks about shows. He wants to do a musical about J. Edgar Hoover, he told the Times. He is also pitching a comedy show starring himself to Fox, and he is even considering trying to bring his Frasier character back in another series.

There should be a giant audience tuning in tonight, including all those defectors who will stop by for a final, sentimental goodbye to a character who originally helped make Thursday "Must-See TV" for NBC.

Let's hope the audience will be treated to the kind of clever writing and acting that won "Frasier" all those awards and all that respect over the years.