Five Cheers for Frasier

For a group of people who are taking on the biggest job of the new TV season, the cast of Frasier seems pretty relaxed and excited. At a recent rehearsal of the first episode, Kelsey Grammer, who plays Frasier Crane--radio psychiatrist, aesthete, lech--cracks jokes and sucks on a lollipop. David Hyde Pierce--Frasier's brother Niles--lounges on the set sharing a newspaper with John Mahoney, who plays Frasier's and Niles' father Martin. Jane Leeves, Martin's home-health aide, and Peri Gilpin, who plays Frasier's producer, chat and giggle on a nearby couch. Moose the dog (known on the show as Eddie) curls up in a chair. Even on the night of the filming, as they practice lines in a crowded hair-and-makeup room, there's more ebullience than anxiety. Grammer struggles to remember a line that begins, "And finally..." Over and over he says, "And finally...And finally...And finally..." until he gives up and jokes, "Orgasm! That's it! And finally orgasm!"

This week Frasier becomes television's most prominent comedy. Its season premiere airs Sept. 24 at 9 p.m. e.t. as part of NBC's Thursday lineup, which for years has been the most dominant in prime time. Occupying the Seinfeld slot will give Frasier added prestige and viewers. If it can hold on to them, the show is virtually guaranteed to be the highest-rated comedy this season. The move is in fact a homecoming for Grammer, since Cheers, where his character originated, was shown during the same time period, and Frasier started out on that night before moving to Tuesday in 1994.

"I thought it was appropriate," says Grammer of his return. "I do think we are the premiere show on NBC and the best series on television." Many people agree with him. Earlier this month, Frasier won its fifth consecutive Emmy, a record. It has continually earned praise over the years for being intelligent and literate, and it has been a perennial ratings success, always finishing in the Top 20.

And yet there are also some bad fairies at the party, a small band for whom two minutes' exposure to Frasier, with its forced repartee about boutonnieres, is an excruciating experience in midcult hell. For us, the apotheosis of Frasier is not a great cause for celebration. What are we going to do on Thursdays at 9? The alternatives aren't terrible: we could watch Diagnosis Murder, the sublimely hokey CBS drama. We could read Wallace Stevens. But is it possible that there is another option? Could it be that even someone most resistant to Frasier's charms could learn to love it? Well, maybe.

The first step to acceptance--of a spouse, a parent or a television program--is to honestly acknowledge that person's or program's flaws. To us dissenters, the problem with Frasier is that it is not as smart as it thinks it is. Merely mentioning Biedermeier should not pass for wit. Of course, the show makes fun of Frasier and his twittering brother, while Martin, an ex-cop, is intended to provide an earthy contrast to them. But viewers are still supposed to find the Crane boys sophisticated and lovable and ever ready with the withering riposte. Au contraire, they are often insufferable. Too frequently Grammer and Pierce adopt the mannerisms and voices of two actors in a provincial production of Noel Coward, working themselves to death. The other members of the cast, including Dan Butler as sportscaster "Bulldog" Briscoe, are likable enough, but the brothers dominate.