- But, what do I know? I'm just a magic eight ball with a Harvard and Oxford degree
- —Frasier to Julia Wilcox
Dr. Frasier Crane is the protagonist of NBC series Frasier. He is portrayed by Kelsey Grammer. The character originated on Cheers.
Character
After leaving Boston, Frasier returns home to Seattle, hoping to rebuild his life and recuperate from his disastrous divorce with Lillith Sternin. He starts a new job at KACL as an on-air psychiatrist who helps people through their troubled lives, quickly gains a friend in his producer, Roz Doyle and decides to renew his relationship with his brother, Niles. In the first episode, Frasier meets Niles in Café Nervosa, where they have a coffee and talk for a while. Niles is worried about Martin Crane, their father, who was recently shot in an attempted robbery and can no longer live on his own. Frasier reluctantly offers to take his father in in hopes of renewing their father-son relationship.
When Martin moves in with Frasier, he brings his signature split-pea chair and his dog. The chair is emotionally significant to Martin, a reminder of happier times, and it serves as a fixture in the plot throughout the series (The Good Son (Pilot)). In a later episode, Frasier destroys the chair by allowing it to catch fire and accidentally knocking it off of the balcony. In addition to his chair, Martin's other sentimental attachment is to Eddie, his dog (The Good Son (Pilot)). Eddie and Frasier do not get along, and their animosity for one another serves as the storyline for several subplots. During the course of the following years, Frasier's and Martin's relationship goes through a series of trials and tribulations.
As Frasier rebuilds his life in Seattle, he also renews his relationship with his brother, Niles. They often spend time together, attending symphonies and operas, dining at the finest establishments, and frequenting art galleries and other soirees. In nearly every episode, the brothers are seen in Cafe Nervosa, their regular hangout. Over the years, Frasier has a variety trysts, flings, and other short-term relationships with women. In one episode, Lilith says he has a self-destructive streak concerning relationships ("Cheers: Severe Crane Damage"). Frasier's notable romantic relationships include Samantha, the lawyer; Faye, the pastry chef; Cassandra, a KACL co-worker; Julia, the financial analyst; Kate, the KACL station manager; Lana, a high school crush; Claire, a cello player; and Charlotte, the matchmaker. In the final episode, Frasier makes the decision to pursue Charlotte to Chicago and continue their relationship, perhaps giving up show-business altogether
Personality
- You don't understand. It's not the same as Dad being wrong, or your being wrong. I have a degree from Harvard. Whenever I'm wrong, the world makes a little less sense
- —Frasier to Daphne at Cafe Nervosa[src]
Frasier Crane, the eccentric Seattle radio psychiatrist, is a pedantic, finicky, overscrupulous and sometimes pontifical man. Growing up with a cultured mother and yet "Average Joe" father, Frasier is sometimes a convolution of upper-class sophistication yet is still capable of working-class enjoyments. During his time at Cheers, he began acting like "one of the boys", ignoring his cultural roots to fit in better but nevertheless attempted to bring a degree of class to the bar and his friends even if he was shot down constantly. After returning to Seattle, he began embracing his more cultured background but developed a more snobbish and haughty self, which could be because of him rekindling his relationship and frequently spending more time with Niles if not retaining a good heart in spite of this pretentious demeanour.
Described as a "pop psychiatrist", Frasier entered the fields of psychiatry to help people due to having his mother, who was also a psychiatrist as a role model. Frasier has done genuine good but but he can go from being a genuine healer to a shameless self-promoter. As displayed on his talk show, Frasier genuinely wishes to help people but his celebrity status that came with his radio show has allowed his ego to expand and almost abandon his original reasons to why he sought out psychiatry in favour to gain more fame instead. Indeed, Frasier is an "applause junkie" according to Niles as shown when he came very close to abandoning his radio job so he could instead co-star on a morning talk show (which he initially entered vowing bring a degree of sophistication opposed to the usual media ravel the show is based upon) but was fortunately persuaded by Niles in time. On his radio show, Frasier gives the best advice he can but those who ignore him altogether, rebuff his advice and occasionally insult him, he will respond with sharp sarcasm. Due to the nature of his profession, Frasier finds it justifiable when he peers into his friends and families personal problems, even at their unwilling consent as he is ultimately driven for their best interests but this tends to always have negative affects for them rather than himself.
As explained through the show and his backstory, Frasier is a victim of many unfortunate incidents from being bullied into childhood and finding himself into a multitude of embarrassing and farcical situations into adulthood, however most of these are unwillingly self-inflicted due to his own behaviour and neuroses. Both Niles and Frasier believe that the reason they were picked on was jealousy but Martin elaborates that the two of them came off as pompous and better than their childhood peers which is apparently the true reason behind the bullying. Many of his coworkers at KACL also concur that he comes off as a pretentious snob towards most of them, being the main reason why he was picked on by the KACL jokers like Bulldog and Carlos & The Chicken due to his serious demeanour. Also, as mentioned by a multitude of characters in Frasier's personal life, he is incapable of being happy. Although he does admit to being contented with his new life in Seattle near the end of Season 1, his perfectionism and belief that things, from a new home, city, girlfriend and even a door behind a spa might possibly be better, even be a slight have also caused him confusion and trouble in his life. Whilst his intelligence and dedication to psychiatry is commonly a gift, it also makes him impractical on seeing things simply and how they usually are. This and his tendency to overthink situations caused him to believe that finding a skull in his summer house was that the house-owner had murdered his wife whereas the easier solution would be that it was a prop form Niles and his childhood rendition of Macbeth.
Frasier's lifestyle genuinely revolves around the enjoyment of the opera, symphony, gourmet dining and general luxury. Although he was affected by the people of Cheers and is not completely intolerable of mundane things such as his father's favourite beer, Ballantine, opposed to Niles who can barely drink half a can without switching to wine, at the same time Frasier utterly loathes most of Martin's possessions that are not to the highest standard such as his BarcaLounger and dog, Eddie but he is not as heartless to throw away the chair or the dog, especially since discovering the emotional connection his father has for the two of them. He also has a high degree for disdain towards people who have PhD's yet are not official doctors such as a dog psychiatrist, psychic doctor and upon discovering a respected counsellor received his doctorate from Vegas, both he and Niles mock him over this realisation.
He has a tendency to deliver long-drafted speeches, occasionally without even realising he is doing, like when he lectured the incompetent KACL assistant to do his job correctly, finishes with "I am this close to giving you a lecture". He speaks eloquently with a sophisticated vocabulary that he believes is cultured whereas others view him as pompous. Whenever he does give a speech, despite delivering with bravado and genuine emotion, is commonly ignored, especially by his family which tends to take him a comical amount of time before realising he is talking to himself. He requires constant affirmation of his intelligence and popularity, and will go to great lengths to provoke other to provide 'spontaneous' praise. Frasier believes that his mannerisms is a testaments to the sophistication of his own upbringing but he usually tends to come off as flamboyant and effeminate. In addition, the newly-rekindled relationship between Niles and Frasier has been misinterpreted as gay and even unusual due to the closeness between the two although this tends to remain unaffected by both of them except for the occasion they discovered they were similar to the brothers who, after one died and kept the corpse in the apartment, agreed to stop going out with each other so much.
A poetic irony of the show is that, even though he is a psychiatrist, Frasier suffers from a degree of mental health issues himself. Being left by Lilith caused severe depression, to the point of feigning suicide in an attempt to win her back. His Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder can be displayed by the he fussily organises his apartment to match the diagram he created to exactly how it should look like and measuring most of his memorabilia and items, even if they are a hairline off the way they should be positioned. On one episode, after seeing who empty and unfulfilling his life has become, develops kleptomania to the point where he steals from an old woman. Frasier discovered the disturbing way that he harbours an Oedipus complex leftover from childhood but he was blinded to the fact that Mia was strikingly similar to his mother after seeing a video of Hester.
As a man of high ethical standards, Frasier has a psychosomatic response to whenever he breaches his morals. While Niles has a bloody nose, he gets a queasy stomach. On principle he refuses to do advertisements on his show unlike most on-air personalities.
Relationships
Frasier and Nanette married in 1973.
Frasier meets Diane when counselling her. They fall in love and agree to marry, but Diane leaves Frasier at the altar for Sam Malone.
Following Frasier's failed romance with Diane, he meets and marries fellow psychiatrist, Lilith.
Trivia
- Frasier has a 129 IQ[2]
- He has gone on a date with Maris' sister, Bree, who only has one nostril.[3]
- Frasier's final spoken line is "Wish me luck"
- As a psychiatrist, Frasier follows the Freudian school of thought and psychoanalysis.
- In prep school, he wrote a society column under the pseudonym "Alistair Mulberry". (IQ)
- At a bar, away from his sherry, Frasier's drink of preference is a martini, straight up, two olives, a taste he shares with Claire French.
- Grammer portrayed the character for twenty years, tying the record for the longest-running live-action character on prime-time American television, which was set by James Arness, who played Marshal Matt Dillon on the show Gunsmoke.
- Grammer received Emmy Award nominations for portraying Crane on three different NBC shows, including a 1992 guest appearance on Wings.
- Frasier is referenced in the Video game Infamous: Second Son, which takes place in Seattle. His first name can be found on a crane atop a multi story car park.