Situation Comedy: Frasier (Paramount) Channel 4, Fridays, 10pm.
Creators and executive producers: David Angell, Peter Casey and David Lee
Based on characters created by Glen Charles, Les Charles and James Burrows
Regular cast:
Frasier: Kelsey GrammerEpisode 47 (season two) "THE INNKEEPERS" First aired (US): 05/16/95
Daphne Moon: Jane Leeves
Niles Crane: David Hyde Pierce
Roz Doyle: Peri Gilpin
Bob "Bulldog" Briscoe: Dan Butler
Martin Crane: John Mahoney
Eddie (the dog): Moose
Gil Chesterton: Edward Hibbert
Written by David Lloyd
Directed by James Burrows
'Frasier and Niles' brief and disastrous acquisition of a restaurant leads to the realisation that some dreams should not be made into reality. [end: Bulldog wanders around the remains of the restaurant]
Bulldog: Dan ButlerSynopsis taken from the Frasier Episode guide by Dean Adams (www.nyx.net/~dnadams/guides/frasier)
Gil Chesterton: Edward Hibbert
Owner: Mike Nussbaum
Otto: Nathan Davis
Brad: Diedrich Bader
Maurice: Jay Bell
Sous Chef: Alan Shearman
Waiter: Robert Lee Jacobs
Bartender: Tom Hewitt
Customer: Deborah Lacey
The episode 'The Innkeeper' is typical of the content style and form of both the series itself and situation comedy in general. In terms of production Frasier is typically American. It is filmed before a studio audience and is written by a committee of writers 'in a room'. This differs from British sitcoms, which are usually written in ones or twos. Financed by Paramount studios, who also produce Caroline in the City, the production team behind Frasier is similar to the team behind Cheers. James Burrows, the director, David Lee and David Angell the writers were involved in the writing and directing of Cheers. Also acting similarities are evident in the form of guest star roles in Frasier. Sam Malone (Ted Danson) has appeared as has Diane Chambers (Shelley Long). The continuity of the program was broken however as in Cheers Frasier's father was supposed to be a dead scientist not a living policeman.
Production
Having transplanted Frasier from Boston to Seattle it was necessary to create new locations for Frasier to work and live in. The three recurring locations are His home, the radio station were he works and the coffee house he frequents Café Nervosa. Frasier is almost unique in that the Café is not used that much as a meeting place for all the characters. His home contains four of the characters in Niles, Martin and Daphne and his office has the other recurring characters of Roz, Bulldog and Gil. Only when they feel the need to mix these characters do they sometimes use the Coffee house and even then Martin doesn't like the place and Daphne follows Martin (usually). The locations are all relatively inexpensive and do not require to be changed that often. Only in rare circumstances do the characters branch out into other locations, like in 'The Innkeeper', which features a lavish restaurant. Outside locations are hardly ever used because of the tight shooting schedule.
Usually episodes are filmed in one day. This means that lighting, camera work and sound recording are stripped of all the unessential elements. The strict schedule is due to the amount of episodes filmed in one year (twenty-four for Frasier) this means that unlike in British sitcoms the production suffers. In the UK you can actually vary the time of day, in the USA it is either day or night.
The difference between Frasier and other American sitcoms is the length of scenes. Although the scenes could be broken down into smaller sub-scenes the majority of scenes are quite lengthy ('The Innkeeper' had scenes in excess of five minutes in length in both acts). This allows the actors to actually act as opposed to just crack jokes which is apparent in sitcoms such as Friends and Spin City.
Style and Form
In sitcom the overall narrative structure is lost. You could watch any episode of Friends or Frasier and you would not need to have seen the previous series to 'get' the program. The only time this is altered is for example when Ross and Rachel break up or Niles and Daphne actually do proclaim love for each other. In these instances the background changes but only slightly. To paraphrase The Simpsons: The characters have to remain the same or else the program suffers. The tensions between Daphne and Niles are needed only for joke purposes. There are no Cliff-hangers in episodes as there is no need to retain the attention of the audience who just require jokes. There is closure in each episode in at least the main story and usually, if there is time the B story. In essence the episodes themselves follow a classical narrative structure. What is not resolved, and probably should not be resolved, are the tensions in the character's relationships. These tensions are the reason for most of the humour and if they are removed then the humour form the situation is lost. When the relationship between Ross and Rachel had to end or lose all credibility as a relationship a new one was created between Chandler and Monica.
The music of sitcom usually takes a back seat to other more important thing like dialogue and the all important laugh track. When music is prominent is between scenes, usually combined with a city or street shot, which indicates a time lapse or scene change. The title music of Frasier is exactly the same as that; a city shot with a short burst of lounge music to open the show. The end music is longer but still in the lounge style. Sung by Kelsey Grammer the music reflects the condition Frasier is in. His head is just as messed up as the people he is trying to heal.
In terms of FX this episode is extraordinary. It uses make-up, sprinklers, explosions and car accidents. Even for Frasier's usual slapstick style this is unusual. In most sitcoms little or no FX are used (with the possible exception of Red Dwarf) because of the punishing schedule, which requires speed. Most writers realise this and write accordingly.
The performances of sitcom are usually over the top. Basil Fawlty hitting his car with branches, Frasier and Niles shouting at each other and even Chandler's quips are not true to real life. The point with all of these things is that they are all funny, which is the bottom line. The characters while being developed highly are all simple enough for anyone to understand within a few episodes.
Comparisons and Ideology
It would be easy to say that Frasier share more characteristics with Cheers than Fawlty Towers. After all Frasier was a character in that sitcom that blossomed into his own. This would be a terrible mistake on the part of anyone studying this program as the Ideology of the two programs is so very different. Cheers is essentially working class. The characters all earn minimum wage and go to a bar to meet their friends. The idea of going to a coffee house to see Sam, Norm or Cliff is absurd. It seems to me the only reason to use Frasier as opposed to any other character is his fame, which came from Cheers. Frasier was always a minor character in Cheers. He didn't appear until two seasons in, he had little or no actual character, and what he did have was changed anyway. The name was synonymous with Cheers and this proved to be bankable.
The comparisons with Fawlty Towers however are much more real. Both are about pompous men with ideas above their station. Each deals with the subsequent mess that greets the character when they get in over their heads. The episode 'The Innkeeper' is almost parallel to the kinds of trouble that Basil Fawlty used to get into every week in Fawlty Towers. Both use slapstick and highbrow humour usually in the same scenes. The programs deal with the preoccupations of the middle class and their subsequent downfall.
Success or Failure?
The target audience of Frasier is the lower-middle/upper-lower class. The only characters that are usually unscathed by the end of the episodes are the characters of Martin, a policeman, Daphne, a home-help and Roz, a radio producer. The characters of Niles and Frasier are usually the butt of all the jokes in the final analysis and thus we are not supposed to identify with them. This places an upper limit on the class range. The lower limit is set by the demographic that watch comedy. It is not a working class hobby. Comedy for some reason has not been aimed at the working classes since the seventies purely because it doesn't sell. Political correctness has also stamped out the usual avenues of humour that satisfy the working class such as racist and sexist humour of the likes of Bernard Manning and Love Thy Neighbour. Age distinctions are quite important too, whereas Friends is aimed at a younger twenty-something audience the Cheers watching audience has grown older with Frasier. While obviously the main audience for comedy of any sort is twenty to forty the audience of Frasier is slightly older than that. The Scheduling on UK TV at 10pm on Friday nights is consistent with this view. Younger twenty somethings will go out on a Friday night leaving only the older generations to watch Frasier. Friends at 9pm is watched by more and then the younger people leave for night-clubs etc.
Critically Frasier has been tremendously successful. There has not been a year when Frasier did not pick up an Emmy and in its first four years it garnered sixteen all together. The reason for its critical and commercial success is its clever writing, fine acting and good directing. The series may be on the wane but it is still one of the best examples of sitcoms in the world.