I love the sitcom Frasier, it’s majestic, so let’s do a little thing here, summed up thus: me, Frasier episodes, a random number generator, and then I’ll review the episode it picks out.

According to the fantastic and never wrong Google AI, there were 264 episodes where we met the good doctor for his second act. So that could be a wonderful 264 posts to strain my rarely-used webhosting. For those of you who are completionists or pedants (and I know I’ll link at least one of you to it), I’m not currently including the revival in this, because I’ve reviewed it already.

Thanks to the wonder that is random.org, I was able to generate a number to get us started on this endeavour. Let’s see what it’s thrown at us today.

Episode 36 – “Roz In The Doghouse” (Season 2, Episode 12)

Well, it could’ve been worse, and spookily, this was the random episode I decided to revisit today before I started writing this post and series – but bloody hell, it could’ve been a lot better.

I don’t revisit this one a lot because there’s parts of it I really, really, really dislike, particularly involving Frasier. Let’s get to it and let’s see what I can make of it.

The basic premise, as I recall it as I watch, is Roz injures herself running to move her car, leaving her out of commission for a few shows. Couple in a ridiculous row with Frasier because of her seconding herself to Bulldog’s show, and there’s our conflict for today.

Everything opens quite well – Frasier’s sassy, and Roz is sassy back, over a caller who isn’t sure about dating someone 40 and unmarried. Boy, does this feel like a 90s thing – as someone 35 and unmarried, I’m glad Roz at least stood up for the terminally single.

Following a very contrived moment that allows Roz to acquire her ankle sprain (there is, at least, a decent moment for Gil), the action moves to Roz’s apartment, where, amid some clumsy flirting, Bulldog offers Roz the option to produce his show. Bulldog is an acquired taste, but he somehow comes out as a complete saint here compared to the inconsiderate arse that Frasier’s being. This is a poorly-written episode for Fras, that’s for sure.

Niles is wonderfully introduced with his artisan Italian shoes for Martin (“they have tassels…”), but that soon gives way to more of Frasier being a complete arse for no reason, implying Roz and Bulldog slept together after he left her apartment the previous evening.

That goes about as well as you’d expect, and Roz eventually explodes, and while Daphne’s obliviousness to Niles’s gift-buying and Roz’s slow descent out of the apartment both raise a chuckle, I really do find this a chore to get behind – Frasier stops being ‘lovably pompous’, and is honestly just a complete prat.

Roz quits, and goes with Bulldog – after about 2 and a half minutes of trying to leave the apartment. That did make me laugh at least.

We transition to several Frasier show cockups over the next scene, with “Weird Bruce” managing to hang up on someone with a fear of abandonment (played by future guest star and almost-Daphne Rosie Perez, which was “Supah” to hear), among other technical glitches. Conversely, Bulldog and Roz kill their show, after a false ending for Frasier’s belief of Bulldog’s perversions. Peri Glipin is a tremendous actress, and she nails being Bulldog’s sidekick. This is also one of the few times I enjoy Gil’s appearances, as his general snobbishness just gives things a bit of light, and life, in an episode that seems painfully by-the-numbers.

Cue the montage, as Frasier runs through a number of dreadful producer options in approximately 15 seconds. This didn’t do much for me, but a Nervosa scene with Niles and Frasier, including the usual classic Maris line (this week; ‘she distrusts anything that loves her unconditionally’) and an explanation of their gardener’s creation of obscenity via horticulture, puts things back on track.

Martin and Daphne show up for some early-season Martin-Frasier conflict, and John Mahoney is, as usual, fantastic at being the everyman, enhanced in this episode by Frasier, again, being an extra-level idiot. This being early-season Daphne as well, Jane Leeves remembers that she’s supposed to play the character with some homespun, working-class charm, and she’s great here too.

And now, the denouement. After some shop talk between Roz and Bulldog, Bulldog ‘hilariously’ misreads Roz’s intentions, and after a somewhat predictable explosion of anger, Bulldog runs right into…yes, an apologising Frasier, holding a bunch of flowers.

So the show resolves its drama most predictably – despite being an utter cock for 22 minutes, Frasier turns out to be right, and is implied to be insufferable about it, meaning that not for the first time, he’s the living embodiment of ‘you can be right, but don’t be a prick about it’. Sigh.

Final Score – 2/5 – Sorry, if you’re reading this for the first time, you probably think I hate Frasier after this. I really don’t, it’s my favourite sitcom ever. But christ, is this an average-to-poor episode. Frasier is not even humorously insufferable, he’s just a tit throughout, and there’s no real lightening of the story. This isn’t one of Bulldog’s good outings, while Peri Glipin is great as Roz and the crutches/apartment departure scene is very very good, but they’re working with some poor material here. Let’s hope episode 2 is more fun.

The show is essentially a comfort blanket – I’ve seen every episode hundreds of times, and yet it still brings a laugh at all the right times in all the right places. One of my Christmas traditions is to watch the Frasier Christmas episodes, so today, I thought I’d share that tradition with you, and my thoughts on each.

Let’s get started.

The Episodes

We’ll be taking the following episodes into consideration today:

Original Series

1:12 Miracle on Third or Fourth Street
3:9 Frasier Grinch
5:9 Perspectives on Christmas
6:10 Merry Christmas, Mrs. Moskowitz
7:11 The Fight Before Christmas
8:8 Mary Christmas
10:10 We Two Kings
11:11 High Holidays

Revival
1:10 Reindeer Games
2:10 Father Christmas

Miracle On Third Or Fourth Street (Season 1, Episode 12)

OK, that pun hurts me to start off with, chiefly because I hate the movie it’s based on.

This really isn’t an episode I love at all. I think Season 1 of Frasier is absolutely razor-sharp and one of the best debut seasons of any television show in history (think how other modern classics like Parks and Recreation or The Office struggled to find their way in their early seasons). But this….eesh.

It starts off pretty well, actually; there’s some good repartee at KACL, and Roz, Bulldog and Frasier all kind of shine. Back at the condo, the NIles/Daphne interactions are still in their slapstick/for fun era (and boy, won’t we be wishing for that in a few episodes time!) and it’s all good fun.

Where it goes off the rails is from here on, really – Frasier and Martin argue, and Frasier decides to stay in Seattle after Frederick decides not to visit him (he’s going on a Sound Of Music expedition, it seems). After that, this all becomes really, really dark for me. As they were still doing the ‘Frasier and Martin don’t entirely get along’ arc this early it’s not unreasonable that they’d fight, but there’s something deeply sad about the scene of him working at KACL on Christmas Day, Roz crying, the overall dark and somber tone of the studio, etc etc. It’s terribly bleak for me for a sitcom Christmas episode, and even their attempts to lighten it with the ‘funny’ upset callers doesn’t really hit for me,. That said, Frasier’s closing line about where he’s going to eat having a liquor license is another example of excellent writing.

Act 3 then tries manfully to pull it back round, as Frasier eats a PLATTER! surrounded by what seem to be broke and homeless people. There’s some good back and forths here – “I’m not sure this isn’t last year’s” is a good sarcastic Frasier line, while the callback to the robbed sneakers joke gets the deserved laughs and applause from the studio audience.

Again, though, it can’t quite sustain this – I think the meal being paid for by the other patrons in the restaurant was supposed to be heartwarming and It’s A Wonderful Life esque, and it is pretty funny (“Hey, we’re not buying you dessert!”) but it just misses the mark for me. It feels too much like one of Frasier’s parables to be funny, and although we know he’s likely to call his family at the end, we never really see the redemption arc that seems to be promised.

It’s not bad – and oh boy, will we get some worse ones – but it just never really gets off the ground for me.

Highlight: The ‘found sneakers’ callback. Even the audience seems relieved to have something to laugh at.

5/10 – Soggy roast potatoes.

Frasier Grinch (Season 3, episode 9)

OK, this one works a little better. It’s a simple plot, as most of the best Frasier episodes are: Frasier’s son Frederick is flying in for Christmas, Frasier’s excited, and gets delivered the wrong presents. This leads to one of the best lines in the entire show from Niles, who is fantastic throughout this episode:

I don’t know, everything just seems to work in this episode somehow. From Niles’s money troubles (“I’m calling her now to demand the restoration of my credit cards…and my bank account…and my phone service!), the KACL call with the caller torn about a flight to home or to vacation (“Mele Kaliki Maka, Bob”), Frasier’s parable being interrupted by a stripper (“YIKES!”….”One dark *pfff* windy night….”), Martin’s light decorating touch (“Shut up, I’ll hurt his feelings”) and so on, this is a homage to the best of Frasier’s writing. It’s sharp, it’s witty, it brings in all sorts of characters and conceit from Frasier himself, and compared to our first episode, it just has a warmer, comfortable feel that I more closely identify with the show as a whole. I suppose by this point the characters are bedded in, and this episode really benefits from that.

Even the heartwarming bit hits this time – after Frasier hilariously scams a hustler at the toy shop (“Niles, write the man a cheque”), and a heart-to-heart over Frasier’s habit of buying gifts people should want against what they do want, Martin saves the day by getting Freddy what he really wants – The Outlaw Laser Robo-Geek. It’s a lovely closer and a great example of how the writers developed the Martin-Frasier relationship from it’s difficult beginnings.

I don’t want to hand out awards too early, but looking at what’s still on the docket, I think there’s only one, maybe two, Frasier Christmas episodes better than this. It’s a great watch and a classic example of just how synergised the early seasons were, writing wise.

Highlight: “Yes, the Cranes, of Maine, have got your living brain” – absolutely perfect sitcom writing. Bravo.

9/10 – Yorkshire puddings, pigs in blankets, proper roast potatoes – just fantastic all round.

Perspectives On Christmas (Season 5, episode 9)

This episode is actually a nice inversion of the classic sitcom misunderstandings, as we get the same story told from multiple perspectives. Frasier, Niles, Daphne, Martin and Roz all have slightly different recollections of how the days leading up to Christmas have gone, leading to things like Daphne thinking Martin is dying, Frasier accidentally telling Roz’s mother that she’s pregnant, NIles having a fight with an elevator, and Marty trying manfully to learn ‘O Night’ for a Christmas pageant.

There are some wonderful classic Frasier moments here – anything involving the singing practice is fantastic, particularly Niles and Frasier’s opposing scales, while I can’t hear O Night any more without singing ‘DIVIIIIIIIIINE’ in a very obvious way. It actually has the feel of a sketch show with scenes stitched together at times, particularly with the zaniness of Niles’s story, but it’s a credit to the writers that they stitch it together well, culminating in Frasier’s ‘cheap’ Christmas present and the arrival of a masseuse to work out everyone’s tension.

Frasier usually shines the most when everyone gets a turn on the humour wheel (think ‘Ham Radio’ or ‘Look Before You Leap’) and that’s true here as well – there’s little Roz, for instance, but she nails her scenes (“Cmere, I’ll kiss ya…I’ll kiss ya GOOOOOD!”), while the big four are all on song – David Hyde Pierce excels, as usual, at physical comedy, while Daphne’s innocence paired with Marty’s delivery of Daphne’s misunderstood lines stands out too. Incidentally, the more Frasier I watch, the more convinced I am that John Mahoney was the best one in the cast, but that’s another article for another day.

Anyway. this is very very fun. I don’t think it reaches the heights of Frasier Grinch, but it’s a really good episode and shows just how on fire the show was through it’s middle seasons, a trend that continues for a while yet. Again, it’s a wonderfully warm episode and really captures the essence of what the show’s all about.

Highlight: “Oh night….”

8/10 – Sage and Onion stuffing. Not the best component, but a great one that would be missed.

Merry Christmas, Mrs. Moskowitz (Season 6, episode 10)

This is one of my crown jewels when it comes to Frasier episodes – everything connects together to create a wonderful farce, something Frasier does better than any sitcom this side of Fawlty Towers. A quick run-through – Frederick’s absence (again) at Christmas leads to Frasier taking a date with Faye (fabulous, forever Faye), a Jewish woman with an overbearing mother. After a successful blind date (despite two escape calls), Faye (and said mother, who got her the date) visits the Crane house at Christmas, where Martin and Frasier are having their usual fight over Christmas decorations.

One problem: Faye thinks Frasier’s Jewish and has told her mother so.

What follows is a brilliant Frasier farce: Frasier pretending to be Jewish and throwing out every Jewish word he can think of (including that his Bat Mitzvah was attended by the one who performed his circumcision…’no hard feelings’ indeed…a great piece of writing), Marty unwittingly performing the role of Jewish parent, then being coached by Niles into continuing (what, I have to give you an example?!), and Niles relishing his role as the irritant, throwing out some ridiculous Yiddish idioms and mostly just winding Frasier up to hell (Ooh, ham).

Where it eventually shines is in the denouement – a seemingly innocuous, although funny, mention of a Christmas play by Daphne spirals into Niles playing Jesus and re-entering the Crane apartment in full costume – which inevitably gives up the ruse when he’s caught sniffing a nasal spray in the toilet next to a Christmas tree (it’s a long story – honestly, just watch it) and leads to some fantastic lines.

There’s a slightly stereotypical laboured bit over a Jewish parent/child argument that plays out to resolve the Martin/Frasier conflict that I don’t exactly love, but it fits in with the lunacy of the episode. All in all, though, it’s a minor complaint, because the episode is comfortably in the top 10 Frasier episodes, and would have a decent shot at claiming it all.

Highlight: GET OOOOOOOOOUT!…..of that coat already! or JESUS! – Sometimes Kelsey Grammar overacts, but he’s pitched perfectly in this one.

10/10 – Perfectly cooked turkey.

The Fight Before Christmas (Season 7, episode 11)

We’re firmly in the ‘meh’ territory now unfortunately, as this uses Christmas as a backdrop to play out the continuing Niles/Daphne drama (my god, did they ever drag this out – it’s not resolved for another THIRTEEN episodes), as Niles meets with Maris(!) while with Mel to commemorate the death of their former gardener Yoshi. Predictably, misunderstanding ensues, as Frasier is more preoccupied with ‘Crane Party 1901’ going on at his apartment that evening. Mel is therefore angry at Niles, Niles is desperately trying to resolve it, meanwhile Daphne (newly aware of Niles’s feelings) is panicking about what Niles might do at the party…zzz.

Sorry, I just really don’t like this one. Mel is written to be odious and largely is, although her delivery of ‘What’s the little whore’s name?’ is up there as one of the best line deliveries in the show. Daphne meanwhile starts her decline pretty much from this point – she’s utterly pathetic at dealing with her feelings here, but it’s not even in an amusing way as Dark Side Of The Moon would make it A FULL ELEVEN EPISODES LATER. Sorry, I hate the length of this arc.

Frasier’s plot almost pulls the Christmas baubles out of the fire, thanks largely to his usual pomposity (SAVOURY LAAAAAAAAMB TENDERS!) and his desire to hide his party from his KACL workmates, but it doesn’t really ever come together in a meaningful way. This episode is way too drama-heavy for me and honestly not very memorable. Pretty much the only thing I ever end up recalling from this one is Daphne’s mocking of Roz (“Oh, not tonight, not while Donny’s here(!)”), which isn’t saying a lot. Meh, meh, meh.

Highlight: ‘So what’s the little whore’s name?’ – Frasier goes unexpectedly PG-13 and draws an uproarious laugh from me every time.

5/10 – The family argument drama around the dining table.

Mary Christmas (Season 8, Episode 8)

I mean, at least this is actually an attempted comedy episode.

Frasier tries to charm his way into hosting the Seattle Christmas Parade by making the lead anchor, Kelly Kirkland, a ‘hobo casserole’ (later hilariously deadpanned as a ‘hilbilly buffet’ by Frasier when he looks to have lost out on the job), and succeeds. Unfortunately for him, and the viewer, Kelly Kirkland pulls out with food poisoning, leading to him sharing the hosting duties with an old colleague instead: former KACL DJ ‘Dr’ Mary.

Yep, that’s where it goes off the rails.

It’s not that this episode is super terrible or anything, it definitely has it’s charm, and the fact it farcically ends with Frasier basically assaulting Santa Claus is quite funny, but it’s pretty slapstick, and lacks the sharpness and charm of earlier episodes. To be fair, this is firmly in the show’s weaker years, so it’s not a surprise, but Mary is basically a caricature at this point and it doesn’t really add anything to have her back here. If anything, Frasier’s interactions with Kelly Kirkland, Roz, and Kenny were the high point of the A plot, which doesn’t say much.

The B plot is somewhat humorous as Martin, Niles and Daphne end up opening pretty much all the presents while Frasier’s presenting, but honestly, it’s just a bit weak and a waste of their talent. It’s pretty clear that it was all meant to be Frasier-centric, but ah, it’s so so poor. It’s at least got some moments that raise a smile, so it’s above the prior episode, but it’s clear the show’s losing its way a bit at this point.

Highlight: Kelsey’s delivery of ‘hilbilly buffet’ or him assaulting Santa. Whatever you can say about Kelsey Grammar, he tries manfully to turn the bad episodes around.

5/10 – Overcooked turkey.

We Two Kings (Season 10, episode 10)

Firmly in Frasier’s nadir seasons of Season 9 (which didn’t even have a Christmas episode, that’s how uselessly bleak it was) and 10 (what the hell happened to this show?) comes We Two Kings, which is…fine I guess.

The central conceit is that the brothers, Niles and Frasier, can’t agree on where to spend Christmas, and they push it to Marty to answer. There’s some funny stuff in here, particularly Frasier’s bleating about ordering ‘an ‘Ungarian goose!’ which is Kelsey Grammar once again trying to elevate pretty average material. After days of one-upmanship and dirty tricks, Marty gets fed up and announces no one’s having Christmas, he’s working. While it’s quite funny watching the brothers bicker, I lose interest when it becomes clear Marty’s as sick of it as I am at this point. Perhaps it was the echo of Miracle On Third Or Fourth Street that put me off this episode, but I dislike any where the family conflict gets this bad.

Meanwhile, Roz is an elf and loves Santa. Less said the better. Save one ‘low elf-esteem’ crack from Frasier, this plot produces nothing of value, and Daphne’s extended puns are laboured at best. Meh. Thankfully, it’s binned with a decent payoff as Roz doesn’t like him out of his suit. Oh, Roz and her weird kinks.

Anyway, the boys end up scheming to surprise Marty at Christmas (including a very amusing Niles impression of his dad), but thanks to their Benny Hill like moving of the presents, everything ends up in the wrong place, and worse yet, Marty also tries to pull a surprise (by not actually working after all) and the presents end up under lock and key at Marty’s workplace.

There’s a nice ending to a conflict filled episode, where Martin forgives the boys, but it’s short on laughs for me, much like the first one we covered.

Highlight: “AN ‘UNGARIAN GOOOOOOOSE?!” – Good or bad material, Kelsey gives it his all.

6/10- Boxing Day leftovers.

High Holidays (Season 11, Episode 11)

Okay, now we’re back to something good. This is one of, possibly the best, late episodes of Frasier, and it all revolves around two very simple plot strands eventually tying together: Niles discovers he’s never rebelled against his parents, while Frasier is looking to record a Seattle tourism video. This episode doesn’t end up being about Frasier at all though – the starring roles go to Niles and Martin. Niles attempts to get stoned off a pot brownie (with associated, hilarious, drug lingo) with help from Roz, only for a dieting Marty to steal the brownie and eat it, thinking it’s a normal festive treat.

What follows is virtuoso work from both Hyde Pierce and Mahoney as each acts stoned – although only one actually is. Hyde Pierce in particular plays the ‘square wanting to be cool’ bit to perfection, and the ‘chilean seabass with an aggressive zinfandel’ line has gone down in meme history. Mahoney, meanwhile, steals the show as an unwitting stoner, his earnest delivery of ‘DOG ARMY’ and ‘THEY SHOULD LET EVERYBODY BE A GIANT FOR A DAY!’ adding perfectly to the madness. Couple this with a disappointment for Frasier as Eddie takes his voiceover role in the tourism video (utterly perplexing Marty, who now thinks Eddie can talk) and the hilarity just keeps on coming.

I could wax lyrical for paragraphs about just how funny they made this episode, but given some of the shlock in seasons 9 and 10, this is probably one of the best examples of how Frasier got it’s mojo back in its final season, helped along by the return of some of it’s original writers like Christopher Lloyd and Joe Keenan. The farce is set up perfectly, executed perfectly in script, and acted perfectly by the ensemble cast. It harkens back well enough to Moskowitz from earlier to be at least as good, if not better.

It’s also a great episode to choose when highlighting just how good the Frasier ensemble really was, as Frasier barely appears here, only really playing a setup role, while it’s his two supporting cast members who steal the show.

It’s hard to choose between this and Moskowitz…so I’m not going to. It’s a tie, and for the last Christmas episode of the original run, it’s a great way to go out.

Highlight: Anything Marty says stoned. FRIDGE PANTS!

10/10 – The best Christmas ever.

Revival Episodes

Reindeer Games (Season 1, Episode 10)

Look, the revival is not original Frasier. I get that. But what it is is a comfort show that provides fairly frequent laughs. By the end of season 1, it had really hit its stride, bedding in the new characters expertly and finding its own blend of humour.

Reindeer Games is a wonderful example of this – it’s gentle, but has some good lines in there still (‘The forest for the trees’ is extremely clever), and true to its characters. Nicholas Lyndhurst’s Alan Cornwall shines through constantly, for example, while Freddy progressively improves through the series and probably hits his Season 1 high point here. Like some of the original series episodes, it borders on parable, but unlike the original series, it seems much more comfortable in its comedy-drama footing, and therefore is able to hit that mark much more easily.

There’s good lines, humour and pathos, but obviously the highlight comes when an unexpected character makes a reappearance, as good old Roz shows up to turn Frasier’s Christmas around. I didn’t laugh out loud constantly through this, unlike High Holidays or Moskowitz, but what I did do was smile warmly through the whole thing and feel quite emotionally fulfilled. It’s Christmas TV without the pressure of wanting to be laugh a minute – it is comfortable in its own skin and all the better for it.

Highlight: Roz’s appearance and the subsequent audience meltdown.

7/10 – Good, solid, christmas cake.

Father Christmas (Season 2, episode 10)

In a similar vein to what I just wrote, Father Christmas isn’t a laugh a minute episode – the comedy’s gentle, and there’s some good lines, but it doesn’t reach the uproarious level of the best of Frasier. What it does do, though, is pack an obvious storyline with a ton of emotional heft.

In essence, Frasier, interfering as ever, tries to reunite Alan with his estranged daughter. And as you’d expect from the festive season, it happens, but as you’d also expect, Frasier’s meddling isn’t the reason why.

I can’t honestly say there’s a ton of comedy here, although Freddy does produce pretty well and they’ve somehow even made David a useful character – but the key is the end result, which mixes everything good about any iteration of Frasier into itself – its’s humorous, smart, and all those nice things, but more than anything, it just leaves you feeling warm and happy. Again, it does something that ‘old Frasier’ often failed to do, especially at Christmas: work it’s message and good feeling into something that works not just as humour but as drama too. I don’t know whether the new series will continue, and I know it, at best, divides fan opinion, but I can only say I absolutely loved this and feel that the show’s finding itself more and more as time goes on.

Highlight: Alan finally meets his granddaughter. It could’ve been schmaltzy and awful, but it worked tremendously well. Both he and Kelsey Grammar have acted their arses off in the revival and are starting to see the fruit of their labours.

8/10 – A warm Christmas pudding.

Final Scores and Summations

Merry Christmas Mrs Moskowitz (10/10)

High Holidays (10/10)

Frasier Grinch (9/10)

Perspectives On Christmas (8/10)

Father Christmas Revival Episode (8/10)

Reindeer Games Revival Episode (7/10)

We Two Kings (6/10)

Miracle On Third Or Fourth Street (5/10)

Mary Christmas (5/10)

The Fight Before Christmas (5/10)

Final thoughts – the top two are two of the best Frasier episodes full stop, so it’s only natural that they’re up top here. I side with Moskowitz by a hair over High Holidays just because I think it’s a touch smarter, but I could easily be swayed. Frasier Grinch is another episode that’s just purely great and it’s connection to Christmas is arbitrary, in terms of why it’s good. After that, the Christmas setting props up most episodes – Perspectives On Christmas is a great Christmas episode, but not near the top of the best Frasier episodes. Ditto for the two revival episodes – both lean heavily into the Christmas setting for its emotional heft and pathos, so while good, they would naturally score less than the episodes above them.

After that…well, it all gets a bit much of a muchness. We Two Kings tops the poor four because it’s actually attempting to be funny – the writing is laboured unlike the earlier seasons, and it just doesn’t really sparkle, but it’s still better than The Fight Before Christmas, because it’s still actually a comedy episode. Miracle suffers from the show not quite knowing or finding its tone yet, while Mary Christmas is everything wrong with mid-to-late Frasier – laboured, poor writing, and inexplicable use of unlikeable characters. It’s still better than Fight, though, because it’s actually a comedy episode. Not another chapter in a drama that will run for THIRTEEN MORE EPISODES.

Goddamn it.

Anyway, that’s all – hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing. I love Frasier, and the holidays wouldn’t be the same without it.

Merry Christmas one and all, and see you soon. x

_{^{My reaction to the revival announcement.}}

For Frasier is a precious thing, particularly in US sitcoms – a sitcom that went off the air largely still critically lauded and esteemed. It was with some trepidation, therefore, that I dived into the revival. Any massive Frasier fan is very protective of the property and it’s well-written, clever wit, so all of us were crossing our fingers and hoping for the best; that this revival wouldn’t ruin the Frasier legacy, and it was in fact a lovely bookend to the character, and not just a disastrous Grammar-led ego trip.

_{^{Live shot of Frasier fans just before the new episode.}}

It’s obvious that James Burrows (the legendary Cheers director, brought back to, in Grammar’s words, ‘take care of the character’), and Grammar felt this uneasiness from the audience, as almost from the opening moment, it tries to make the viewer comfortable, from the nostalgic opening titles, to the familiar setting of Boston. There’s almost immediately a great deal of exposition, including references to Martin’s funeral, his breakup with Charlotte, last seen in the final season, among other things. It’s a bit clunky, and the dialogue shows it, with Grammar particularly wooden.

_{^{Almost(!) as wooden as this.}}

However, it moves on quickly, introducing us to David (Niles’s son, and a relatively flagrant attempt at replacing Niles himself) and Alan (British comedy legend Nicholas Lyndhurst), a professor at Harvard. Neither particularly shines in the early moments, and David in particular feels like an artefact from a different sitcom, his closest companion seemingly being Sheldon Cooper of the execrable Big Bang Theory. It’s a character both conceived and written poorly, beneath the previous intellectual level of Frasier, and he doesn’t improve over either of the opening episodes.

Once this has been established, though, the show picks up a little pace, introducing son Freddy, who has undergone a huge transformation between the original series and the revival, and is now playing an everyman firefighter, a nice echo to the uncomplicated policeman that was his grandfather. He and Frasier’s strained relationship is established, and we have a pretty good idea what the central conflict of this strand of the series is going to be. After this, two more characters, Eve and Olivia, are introduced, as well as a workplace and new watering hole for Frasier. Setting all this up takes up the first half of the first episode, and makes things seem a little forced and contrived at times. I was beginning to worry quite heavily at this point, as the humour seemed somewhat more reminiscent of Everybody Loves Raymond or *shudder* The King Of Queens than something on the original series’ level.

In retrospect, though, I shouldn’t have worried, as Frasier was always at it’s strongest in two forms – the ensemble coming together, and the emotional punch that follows comedic moments. Just as the revival threatens to fall off into the same comedic revival pit that befell Arrested Development, among others, it finally finds it’s feet. As someone who lost a beloved grandparent, and who loved the Martin Crane character and this show, the bedroom scene where Freddy and Frasier finally have it out was perfectly pitched, written, and packed one hell of an emotional punch – both Grammar and Jack Cutmore-Scott (a well-played Freddy) are at their raw, honest peak here, and it turns the whole episode from a mediocre establishing one to a great one for establishing the characters.

This whole scene changed my entire mindset, as by the end of episode one, particularly the tribute to Mahoney in the closing credits, I was starting to smile and began to honestly, unashamedly weep – and realised that this show could, maybe, in fact, live up to the level of it’s predecessor after all. It carries the momentum similarly into the second episode – each character feels stronger (the dreadful David aside, although his screen time is at least limited in this one), the humour gets a little sharper and wittier, and there’s some wonderful callbacks, and once again, some incredibly well written, emotional scenes that really establish the central conflicts of the show.

To be honest, it’s not for everyone – if you weren’t a Frasier fan, there’s nothing for you here that breaks any ground or does anything new – it’s unashamed, comfortable, fanservice. It’s hard not to see the very obvious echoes of Frasier and Martin being reversed in Freddy and Frasier, and some very similar devices are employed (episode 2 feels very much like The Good Son at points, as well as other classic scenes such as his attempt to hold a three-minute conversation with Marty), but it’s done well, and it’s done warmly, with a real respect for the character of Frasier and its history and surroundings.

For me, it grows both on the viewer and in stature throughout watching, with Lyndhurst in particular seeming to settle into his role as the episode progresses. I have high hopes for Olivia as a character also, with her combination of snark and fastidiousness that always made Frasier characters shine, whereas Eve shows the potential to be a quirky, snarky modern woman in the Roz Doyle mould. It’s not going to revolutionise the character, or sitcoms in general, but with war waging outside, the news depressing, things being expensive, and the weather on the turn, sometimes it’s nice to put on something comfortable, wrap up warm, and just smile.

The first two episodes of a sitcom are notoriously difficult, as a premise and characters must be established, and they can be short on laughs and long on exposition – and indeed, the first half of the first episode proves that. Frasier‘s revival has navigated this well, though, and by the end of my time back with him, I found myself in a position I never expected – anxious for more.

You might just be right after all, Marty.

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The Gaslight Anthem convened in Los Angeles in 2008 to record this album, the follow-up to their debut, Sink or Swim. Guitarist Alex Rosamilia would later note in an interview that, “For Sink or Swim, we had a week or so and what we brought to the studio. For the last record we had about 5 weeks and quite the arsenal of gear to tear through. Which did lead to a couple ideas I don’t think we would’ve had otherwise.” I’m not sure there’s a better description of the raw, rich, power of this album than that. While Sink Or Swim introduced some of the hallmarks of Gaslight, be it the power rock sound or Fallon’s Jerseyite Springsteen-influenced poetry, one can’t escape, on relistening, that it sounds very much like a lo-fi album by a band at it’s very beginnings, still finding it’s way.

It’s perhaps surprising then that the second album became as seminal and lush as it did. After all, for many bands, the second album is a tough exercise – still trying to find their sound, still unsure of their voice. The 59 Sound sounds nothing like this. It’s rough, tough, and powerful, and the voice has distilled into a powerful roar of wistfulness and hope. It’s a band sure of themselves and sure of the songs, and for a newcomer to their music as I was at the time, it’s a real exercise in grabbing the listener by the balls and taking them on a journey. The whole album feels like being a young adult, driving a very fast car down an open highway, with all the promise of youth open to you.

If that is the case, however, the opening three songs are the immediate smash of the accelerator. The album opener, the runaway, fast-paced Great Expectations, would be a tremendous start to an album for almost any rock band, but for one still, ultimately, finding it’s feet, it’s truly incredible – a punk rock smash with emotional overtones, Fallon’s lyrical mastery already apparent via the continued refrain ‘everybody leaves so why, why wouldn’t you?’ – a wonderful song that leads into the most enduring of Gaslight’s hits – The 59 Sound, the album’s title track. There’s some evocation of Springsteen here, at least in my mind – as the tale of what seems to be a death via car crash while running away at the pace of the song evokes memories of The River’s ending track Death On The Highway. Away from the lyrical themes, it’s a soulful, emotional punch of a song, and I would say it still remains top of most Gaslight fans’ list of favourite songs to this day.

The opening barrage ends, appropriately, with the third song, Old White Lincoln. Prefab Sprout would have an aneurysm about the amount of cars and girls mentioned in this album. Anyway, Lincoln is lyrically wistful, and probably one of the first Gaslight songs that really transferred well to the acoustic format when used for various live sessions in later years. The full range of Fallon’s lyrical romanticism is to the fore here, lamenting an old friend no longer around for reasons unknown. I feel sure that, just as I did and do listening now, everyone can feel someone when this song plays. It’s not quite as good as the prior two tracks, but it’s part of one of the best three-song opens to any album in my view, and it deserves its place, fitting perfectly as it does in the powerful, driving, sentimental rock that this album is.

The most-overtly Springsteen reference on the album, High Lonesome, continues that trend, set off by the driving drums of Benny Horowitz. While musically similar to the rest of the album, lyrically I think this is some of Fallon’s finest work on the album, whether referencing Springsteen in at night I wake up with the sheets soaking wet, it’s a pretty good song, baby you know the rest… or the wham line of I kind of always sort of wished I was someone else. The song seems aptly titled after a 50s film, harking back to the murkiness and mystique of our dreams in the night – at once smoky, nostalgic, and romantic, but juxtaposed with the lyrical punch of a dreamer fighting reality.

Having now ventured into the dark, murky feel of a 50s film, the 50s references, prevalent throughout the album, continue to rain down on us, via the aptly titled Film Noir. After the punch in the face of the opening quartet, this feels like something of a cooldown song, but it’s no worse off for this, and is very welcomed. Soulful, almost crooner-like slow melody at the start gives way to a bittersweet song, referencing more icons of the past, in particular Marilyn Monroe. I think most songs can mean whatever you want them to mean, but this seems almost grandiose in its portrayal of romantic drama and a failing relationship. It fits perfectly with the emotional mood of the album, but is uniquely lacking in optimism for a Gaslight song.

Miles Davis & The Cool seems to have all the optimism by contrast – a cheerful, upbeat song, invoking all the romanticism of young love, requited or not. The yearning and pleading of Don’t wait too long to come home invokes every single romantic dream any of us infatuated by young love have ever had. On an analytical listen, the thumbing of nose at disapproving adults and the belief that love could conquer all makes this probably the closest to a Rosalita, Come Out Tonight that the Gaslight Anthem ever wrote, and it’s all the better for it.

The Patient Ferris Wheel is a crowd-pleasing power stomp, and the backing vocals of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones Dicky Barrett adds a uniqueness to it. It’s probably the most straight-ahead rocker on the album, an absolute tour de force live (which doesn’t quite come through as well on the record), and it brings the power back after a brief cool-off from the last two songs.

By contrast, Casanova, Baby! almost feels quasi-country in melody and rhythm. Even the lyrical urging from Fallon for the girl to cast away her life and run away with him, while feeling very Springsteen-esque, is classic early to mid Eagles in its simplicity – arranged differently and written in the era the album evokes, this could’ve been a massive crossover country hit. It’s a good song, and possibly the sweetest song on the album, fitting well into the nostalgic, romantic, yearning feel of most of the songs.

Even Cowgirls Get The Blues might be the only average song on the album. While soulful and melodic, it’s a fairly plodding number, although at least lyrically, it feeds in nicely, with the lament of maturation and growing up providing an interesting coda to Casanova a song prior. Maybe I’m down on this song more than others because of it’s realism versus the prior romanticism – it feels like the loss of optimism, an acceptance almost, that youth might be over, and the strength of all the feelings and emotions we once had are now tinged by cynicism and worn down by understanding and life’s unique punch. Fallon’s strength is to be able to lift an at-times middling song (not that there are many in the Gaslight catalogue) to good or better with his lyrics. He tries manfully here and largely succeeds.

Meet Me By The River’s Edge is a return to the rockers, invoking multiple Springsteen comparisons, not least no surrender, my Bobby Jean. Whether this is Brian poking fun at the amount of Springsteen comparisons by lazy reviewers by outright waving them in a listeners face, I’m not sure, but it’s a portrayal of a confident band and man that they can look these comparisons in the eye and write a song that could’ve come off any classic Springsteen album and been beloved. This listener certainly believed in love and the idea that your true love would run after you in the rain and tell you that they loved you when he listened to this. Writing now, it’s hard not to feel the same way. While lacking in subtext, sometimes great music doesn’t need subtext. This song says love me, be not afraid, meet me there tonight, and we’ll start our life together. Much like Miles Davis earlier, the optimism shines through this song, and it benefits from it.

Here’s Looking At You, Kid is the Wham Line of the album. Up until now, there’s largely been optimism in the face of all. This song feels Cohen-esque in it’s lamenting of life’s loves, losses, disappointments and heartbreaks, in some way. It’s heartbreaking, emotional, and chilling in equal measure. I think this song is a complete masterpiece, and if Fallon wrote ten more albums I don’t think he could capture the lyrical genius and depth of feeling that his writing here evokes. I could write thousands of words on this song, but for the sake of brevity of the article, I won’t. Just listen to it, and tell me it doesn’t evoke some memory of something long-lost for you. It did for me, before I even knew what loss was. Somehow, though, in the midst of all the emotion, it somehow still finds a way to make you believe in success, love, and optimism overall. The best song on the album, for me.

Having drained us of all emotion and tears with the prior song (including this writer, right now), The Backseat is a wonderfully upbeat ode to friendship and love. If you never let me go, I will never let you down became words I lived and still live by to this day. An upbeat thrash and crash of all those youthful, energetic emotions, the feel of finding a place to belong, the feeling of mattering after so long – they all combine to form one of my favourite songs on the album, and a perfect coda at the end of it all. A reminder that no matter what is thrown at you, no matter your emotions and feelings, if you have someone you can rely on, you can go anywhere.

The album fades out, and you have a smile on your face, and that’s what it is about this album. It’s somehow modern and nostalgic at the same time. It’s a truly powerful, modern guitar music influenced album, yet somehow still has the tinge of nostalgia. That probably comes from Fallon’s lyrics and the impact on the listener, which is somehow augmented by the rock and roll style of the music. It’s their masterpiece for me, because ultimately, it proved not just to be a product of the band’s time, but a snapshot of mine too.

To this day, no matter where I am, what I’m doing, or how down my life is, the album brings me to a place. Some of those places are things I never had; summer romances, night drives with people who I love, and who love me; or some things I did have. Hope. Optimism. The feel that life’s out in front of you. That’s what this album represents to me. and that, more than anything, is why Gaslight Anthem’s The ’59 Sound is unabashedly one of my favourite albums of all time. I think that’s true for almost every Gaslight Anthem devotee, and anyone who loves this album. When it comes down to it, that’s music’s power. At it’s most seductive and inescapable, it has the ability to transport people to places they’d never been before, make people feel feelings they hadn’t before; but more than anything, many years after the fact, they can put you back in the place you were then.

I was glad to put myself in this place again. Thanks for reading if you got this far.

5/5. Still one of the greatest albums of all time.

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