TV Quote of the Day (‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,’ on a Major Source of Fancy Sentences)

“That's the fanciest sentence I've ever heard, and I used to watch Frasier."— Kimmy Schmidt (played by Ellie Kemper), in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Season 1, Episode 2, “Kimmy Gets a Job!,” original air date Mar. 6, 2015, teleplay by Sam Means, directed by Tristram Shapeero     

Guess what? Kimmy’s going to add to her treasure trove of highfalutin language. Seventeen years after signing off on his gig as a Seattle radio psychiatrist, Frasier Crane will be contributing more pearls of wisdom, in a “reboot” of the sitcom that will help anchor ViacomCBS's new streaming service Paramount+.

Kelsey Grammer (pictured here with an actor equally adept with allusion-heavy dialogue, David Hyde Pierce as younger brother Niles) will step into his Emmy-winning role for the 21^st season. This will break the tie he set when leaving the show with James Arness (as Gunsmoke’s Matt Dillon) for playing the longest-running character in primetime TV (a record since broken by Richard Belzer and Mariska Hargitay on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit).

You have to ask what is leading Grammer to take up his career-defining role again. Is he short of money? Just antsy after so long in COVID-enforced isolation? Over the years, he has tried valiantly to escape typecasting on the tube and onstage, in performances well-received (Boss) and panned (a disastrous 13-performance Broadway revival of Macbeth 21 years ago). After so much time, is he finally saying the heck with the struggle?

The great risk is this: to what extent can he bring together the talents that made his spinoff of Cheers such a success—not just the wonderful supporting cast, but also the directors and writers (you know—the creators of those pretentious, persnickety lines that Kimmy remembers so vividly)?

This last factor is a far greater risk than what one might expect. Even the hugely talented Peter Falk had an extremely difficult time when he returned to Columbo more than a decade after finishing the series in the Seventies. Most fans would agree that the second incarnation of the show was inferior to the original, largely because of often lackluster scripts.

Oh, well. As a worshipper of Shakespeare, Frasier (and Grammar) will undoubtedly say: “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more.” Let's just hope he won't follow up, several unsuccessful episodes later, with "You can't go home again."

TV Quote of the Day (‘Frasier,’ In Which He Encounters a New Moon in Seattle)

(Daphne Moon, interviewing for a position as home health aide for Frasier’s father Martin, guesses that he’s a former policeman. She says she knows this because she is “a bit psychic.”)

Daphne [played by Jane Leeves] [turning to Frasier]: “Wait a minute! I'm getting something on you - you're a florist!”

Frasier [played by Kelsey Grammer]: “No, I'm a psychiatrist.”

Daphne: “Oh, well, it comes and goes. Usually it's strongest around my time of the month [giggling]... so I guess I let a little secret out there.”

Frasier: “It's safe with us. Well, Miss Moon, I think we've learned everything we need to about you, and a dash extra!”

Daphne: [turning to Martin's pet Eddie] “You're a dog, aren't you?”—Frasier, Season 1, Episode 1, “The Good Son,” original air date Sept. 16, 1993, teleplay by David Angell, Peter Casey and David Lee, directed by James Burrows

TV Quote of the Day (‘Frasier,’ With Niles Showing Brotherly Love)

Dr. Frasier Crane (played by Kelsey Grammer): “You're a psychiatrist, you know what it's like to listen to people prattling on endlessly about their mundane lives.”

Dr. Niles Crane (played by David Hyde Pierce): “Touche. And on that subject, I heard your show today.”—Frasier, Season 1, Episode 1, “The Good Son,” teleplay by David Angell, Peter Casey and David Lee, directed by James Burrows, air date September 16, 1993

Frasier, which premiered on this date 20 years ago, could have been a mildly successful spinoff, the way that Rhoda and Lou Grant sprang from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, or crashed and burned in virtually no time, like After M*A*S*H. Who would have thought the offspring of Cheers'--with psychiatrist-barfly Frasier Crane landing in Seattle, all the way on the other side of Boston--would last 11 seasons and 263 episodes in its own right?

Part of the show’s longevity, I’m convinced, is the mantra recalled by co-creators Casey and Lee, on the first season DVD: “No stupid characters, no stupid jokes.” Moreover, they gave their audience credit for intelligence by letting scenes run longer than the norm and by high-end pop-culture references (e.g., the anecdote in this episode on film star Lupe Velez’s death).

Casting was critical because of the interplay of characters. Surprisingly, the normally marvelous Lisa Kudrow did not work out well as Roz, so the role of Frasier’s feisty assistant ended up going to Peri Gilpin.

Even more critical, of course, was the casting of David Hyde Pierce as Niles. The surprising resemblance between Pierce and Kelsey Grammer was probably the most felicitous case of a supporting actor looking like the series’ star since Vikki Lawrence appeared on The Carol Burnett Show.

It allowed the creators of Frasier to depart from the normal comic instinct of creating friction with opposite characters. That wouldn’t have to worry about a source for that—it would be supplied, in spades, by Frasier’s father Martin, a blunt, decidedly plebeian cop shot in the line of duty and now requiring home care.

No, the creation of Niles—and his brilliant embodiment by Pierce—enabled the show to create a fraternal doppelganger for Frasier. When the brothers did disagree about something, it was like Frasier arguing with himself. And when Niles got his own double—in the episode when home health aide Daphne Moon dates a guy who looks, talks, and even acts like Frasier’s persnickety brother—the results were enough to create a perfect comic storm. ("I can't talk now, Duke," an astonished Martin tells a caller. "I'm in the Twilight Zone!")

(The picture accompanying this post was shot in Cafe Nervosa--a great place for psychiatrists to go trolling for clients, of course...)