Dr Frasier Crane - Kelsey Grammar
Martin Crane - John Mahoney
Dr Niles Crane - David Hyde Pierce
Roz Doyle - Peri Gilpin
Daphne Moon - Jane Leeves
Trivia via IMDB.com
The show's 100th episode, which first aired in September 1997, was filmed on the streets of Seattle.
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The celebrities who play the callers on Frasier's radio show, instead of coming in to record a voice-over, often just phone in their lines.
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Kelsey Grammer has been Emmy-nominated for playing the same character on three different shows: Cheers, Frasier and a guest appearance on Wings.
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In the premiere episode of season 8, Niles takes a mobile phone call. After a pause, he says, "No, there is no Wendell Vaughn here." Wendell Vaughn is the real name of the Marvel Comics superhero Quasar.
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The two final choices for the role of Roz were Peri Gilpin and Lisa Kudrow. Kudrow was originally cast because her line readings were funnier. But during rehearsals, the show's creators felt that Kudrow lacked the forcefulness needed to play Roz and she was replaced with Gilpin.
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David Hyde Pierce's Niles Crane is a stuffy milquetoast with a mad passion for his father's live-in therapist. In his previous series, The Powers That Be, he played a stuffy milquetoast with a mad passion for the maid.
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Niles' wife Maris is never seen (at least her face) or heard from in the entire series. The same thing is mentioned about Vera, the wife of Norm Petersen in Cheers. We only hear of Maris from Niles about what is wrong about her. This method is used again when Martin meets the girl he has been watching from across the street via his telescope.
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The only television show to date that has won five consecutive "Outstanding Comedy Series" EMMY awards.
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The show was originally written with Frasier as an only child (references had already been made to this in Cheers, but one of the producers saw a headshot of David Hyde Pierce and commented that he looked exactly like Kelsey Grammer did when he first started to appear on Cheers. Presumably as a nod to this, in Season's Two's "The Show Where Sam Shows Up", one of the first things Sam Malone says when he first meets Niles is how Niles looks exactly like Frasier did when he first knew him back in Boston.
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Kelsey Grammer has said that "The Show Where Diane Comes Back" is one of his favorite episodes. On Cheers, Shelley Long didn't like the Frasier character and lobbied hard to get Grammer removed from the show. The producers disagreed, noting that the audience liked him. When Long's character of "Diane Chambers" appeared on this show, Grammer said the episode was an opportunity for him and Long to make peace with each other.
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The season 4 episode "Head Game" only featured Frasier for the first few minutes, and the rest of the episode is entirely centered around Niles. This role should have been written for Frasier, but Kelsey Grammer wasn't available as he was being treated for his addiction problems, so it was re-written for Niles instead. This is also the reason why the plot involves Niles filling in for Frasier on his radio show, because the show is integral to the plot.
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In "The Harassed" (2003) Frasier and Julia Wilcox are having a heated argument, during which Frasier asks Julia "Are you as turned on as I am?" In the Cheers episode "Showdown - Part 2" Sam and Diane are having a similarly big argument. During this argument Sam asks the exact same question, to which Diane replies "More!" and they kiss. The episode aired in 1983, and as an in-joke Bulldog later criticizes Frasier's rather dated choice of line by saying that no one has used the term "turned on" for 20 years.
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Frasier's apartment set occupies the same soundstage at Paramount Studios that housed the set of Cheers for so many years.
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According to Lisa Maxwell, she auditioned for the role of Daphne. But to a misunderstanding with her agent, she under the impression that she was already cast in the role and did not know it was an audition. She criticized the script and made suggestions on improving it which the show's writers did not like so she did not get the part.
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Frasier's radio producer Roz Doyle was named after the late TV producer Roz Doyle as a way to honor her memory. Doyle was a producer on "Wings" which was created by the same creative team as Frasier.
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In the premiere episode of the sixth season, the show took over the time slot previously occupied by Seinfeld. The episode opens with Frasier auditioning for a TV show after being fired from his radio show, and his opening speech is a reference to the acquisition of "Seinfeld"'s slot: "Before we begin, I'd like to say how honored I am to be taking over this slot. Obviously, I have some rather big shoes to fill - my predecessor here was much beloved. But I have never been one to shrink from a challenge and I'm sure we'll enjoy many happy years here together in my new home."
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The show's theme song, "Tossed Salad & Scrambled Eggs", composed by Darryl Phinnessee and Bruce Miller, was performed by star Kelsey Grammer.
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Series Executive Producer David Angell and his wife were on board one of the airplanes that hit the World Trade Center in New York City during the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001.
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It is said in Season 8 that Daphne (Jane Leeves) has lost 9 lbs 12 oz at the health spa. This is a reference/inside joke to the fact that Jane Leeves was away on maternity leave, and her daughter Isabella's birth weight was 9 lbs 12 oz. Therefore the amount of weight that Daphne lost while being away from the show was the same amount Jane Leeves lost while being away from the show as a result of giving birth.
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David Hyde Pierce has said that, prior to this series, he had no strong interest in either wine or opera. Ironically, he was introduced to both by John Mahoney, whose Martin Crane character eschews anything cultured.
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As of 2004, Kelsey Grammer will have been playing the character of Frasier Crane for 20 consecutive years. This is one of the longest periods that an actor has played the same character on American prime time (non-soap opera) television. Fellow record holders include James Arness of Gunsmoke who also played Marshall Dillon for 20 years straight.
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2003 was the first year that Kelsey Grammer didn't receive an Emmy nomination for this series. David Hyde Pierce's streak remains unbroken.
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Every regular character from Cheers - with the exception of Rebecca (Kirstie Alley) and Coach (the late Nicholas Colasanto) - has appeared in at least one episode.
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In the 11th season (2004), guest star Laurie Metcalf, playing Frasier's first wife, Nanette, who a children's entertainer, asked Frasier, "Do you know what it's like to play the same character for twenty years?" Kelsey Grammer had been playing Frasier Crane since 1984.
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John Mahoney (Martin Crane) grew up in Manchester, England - which is where Daphne (Jane Leeves) is from.
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The glass sculpture to the right of Frasier's fireplace is a piece made by Dale Chihuly, a well-known glass sculptor whose studio is based in Tacoma, Washington (just south of Seattle).
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The sculpture above Frasier's fireplace is by Laddie John Dill, a sculptor based in Los Angeles.
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After Cheers had finished filming, the bar was taken down and the sets for this show were built over it.
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In an episode of Cheers, Frasier tells the gang that his father was a research scientist and has passed away. When Ted Danson guest-starred on the show in 1995 as Sam Malone, the continuity error was explained away by having Frasier admit that he made up the story because "We'd had a fight and I was mad at him."
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Bebe Neuwirth was offered a regular role on this series as Lilith but she turned it down so she could return to the Broadway stage. She appears only as a guest star.
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The deliveryman (Cleto Augusto) who drops off Martin Crane's easy chair in the first episode is the same deliveryman who took it away in the final episode. Aside from the regular cast, he is also the only person to appear in both episodes.
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In the series finale, three of Daphne's brothers visit from England, however, none of the actors playing them are English. They were Anthony LaPaglia (Australia), Richard E. Grant (Swaziland) and Robbie Coltrane (Scotland).
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As the series progresses, we learn that Frasier and Niles were named after two lab mice their mom was using in an experiment (psychology?) when she was pregnant with Frasier. Frasier (the mouse) had already died when Frasier (the human) was born.
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The producers made certain there were no stools in the coffee shop to purposefully distance it visually from the Cheers bar.
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When Frasier violates his code of ethics, his stomach turns. When Niles violates his code of ethics, his nose bleeds.
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During season 8, Jane Leeves's pregnancy was disguised by a storyline involving a severe over-eating disorder, and later her pregnancy leave was accounted for by having Daphne go to a health spa to cope with her weight problem.
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When playing their younger selves in "Crock Tales", the cast had to use various hairpieces, hair dyes etc. to resemble their younger selves in flashback sequences.David Hyde Pierce also wore a hairpiece for the same reason in "The Return of Martin Crane".
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In a final-season interview, John Mahoney said the first offer he received to play Martin Crane consisted of a phone call from Kelsey Grammer in which Grammer asked, "Will you be my Dad?"
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To make sure the viewers do not view Frasier as a family deserter, the writers made sure that Frasier reiterated that he missed Frederick in the pilot episode.
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In order to persuade Moose to lick John Mahoney's face when required for a scene, Mahoney's face first had to be discreetly smeared with liver pate
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In one episode, after a night at the opera watching "Rigoletto" by Verdi, Frasier remarks to his date that the finest soprano to sing the role of "Gilda" was "The great Mathilde Decagney". Mathilde Decagney is the animal trainer who owns Moose, the dog who plays Eddie.
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Kelsey Grammer was asked to shave the beard he had had during the final season of Cheers because the producers felt he wouldn't look young enough to be John Mahoney's son.
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Each season of the show can be distinguished by the color of "Frasier" in the opening title frame. In order: blue, pink, green, purple, yellow/white, brown, yellow/orange, bright/neon green, orange, silver, gold.
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Frasier's radio station, KACL 780 AM, is named after the three executive producers (David Angell, Peter Casey and David Lee). The K is a prefix for all radio stations west of the Mississippi River.
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In "Flour Child", the number on Arlene's taxicab, 804, is the same number used by Alex (Judd Hirsch) in Taxi - a show also directed by James Burrows, who directed the episode.
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In the pilot episode, Frasier and Martin have a fight over Frasier just wanting to hear "thank you" from Martin for allowing him to move in. Before John Mahoney (Martin) hugs Kelsey Grammer goodbye in the finale, his line is "Thank you, Frasier."
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The series finale "Goodnight Seattle" is the only episode that has a rainbow in the opening title card.
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There is a real radio station with the call letters KACL. It's an FM station (98.7) in Mandan, North Dakota.
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Bob "Bulldog" Briscoe shares some qualities with Barney Stinson from "How I Met Your Mother" including sleeping with many women and treading women like objects. Dan Butler who plays Bulldog and Neil Patrick Harris who plays Barney are both openly gay.
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The show's creators originally planned for the show to take place in Denver, Colorado. But in late 1992, Colorado passed an amendment that repealed anti-gay discrimination laws. (It was later declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.) The creators did not agree with the amendment and decided to move the show's setting further west to Seattle. The creators did not want the show to take place in Boston, Massachusetts as "Cheers" had because they did not want NBC to ask for frequent guest appearances from that show's characters.
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The original premise for the series was to revolve around Frasier and his co-workers at the radio station. But the creators felt it was too similar to WKRP in Cincinnati. While thinking of new ideas, co-creator David Lee was arranging for health care for his elderly father who had had a stroke and he came up with a premise based on that. Lee was also inspired by the vast personality differences between himself and his father.
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Martin's former occupation being a police officer was suggested by show writer Ken Levine. Levine's father and grandfather were police officers.
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The show's creators originally envisioned Daphne as a Latina similar to Rosie Perez. But NBC president Warren Littlefield suggested Jane Leeves and Daphne's ethnicity was changed to English. Grammer was originally disappointed because he felt that having an English housekeeper would make the show similar to Nanny and the Professor. But he changed his mind after a meeting with Leeves.
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Kirstie Alley was the only surviving regular cast member of Cheers not to appear on Frasier. Alley explained in an interview that appearing on a show which appeared to portray or endorse Psychiatry went against her beliefs as a practicing Scientologist.
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In 1990, Paramount made a deal with Kelsey Grammer to star him in his own series after Cheers ended. The idea of Grammer continuing the role of Frasier in the new series didn't come up until later in the show's development.
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John Mahoney and Peri Gilpin both made appearances as different characters on Cheersduring the show's final season.
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Bulldog was portrayed as a womanizer on the series, though Dan Butler who played Bulldog was openly gay. The character's name was likely inspired by that of New York City Sports Talk Radio Host Chris "Mad Dog" Russo.
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Jane Lynch, Timothy Omundson and Sarah Shahi all appear in various episodes in bit parts with only a few lines and very little time on screen. (Jane lynch in "A Lilith Thanksgiving", Timothy Omundson in "Good Grief" and Sarah Shahi in "Door Jam"). As of 2011 all three appear in starring roles on popular shows (Glee, Psych and Fairly Legal respectively).
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