Friday, December 29, 2017

TV Quote of the Day (‘Frasier,’ Demonstrating the Ironic Impact of Sleep Deprivation)



[Much to his disgruntlement, Seattle’s favorite radio psychologist and advice dispenser, Dr. Frasier Cranier, has been scheduled beyond midnight by a new station program director. After gamely trying to subsist on acres of coffee, he and his assistant Roz have both fallen fast asleep in their chairs.  Suddenly, a caller names Phyllis is on the line.]

Phyllis [voice of Carrie Fisher] “People think insomnia is a laughing matter, but it's hell.  If I don't get some sleep soon, I'll just—I'll go crazy!  You've got to help me, Dr. Crane?  Dr. Crane?  Hey, I'm talking here!”

[Frasier and Roz wake up with a start.]

Frasier [played by Kelsey Grammer] (frightened at first before going into his customary greeting): “What?!  I'm listening.”

Phyllis: “So what do you think I should do?”

[Frasier looks helplessly at Roz, who can only shrug. He decides to wing it.]

Frasier: “Well, you know, sometimes these things seem clearer in the light of day.  My advice is to sleep on it.”

Phyllis: “Is that some kind of a joke?!  To make fun of the insomniac?!”

Frasier: “Oh, no…”

[She hangs up.  Frasier sighs.  Roz signals him to go to a commercial.]

Frasier: “Oh, oh, and now for a word from, um, uh, ah [shuffles some papers on his console] I forget, I think they sell paint.”—Frasier, Season 3, Episode 1, “She's The Boss,” original air date Sept. 19, 1995, teleplay by Chuck Ranberg and Anne Flett-Giordano, directed by Philip Charles Mackenzie

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