Just recently we started watching Frasier again. Right from the start, as we have them all on DVD. And each time I return to this show, I fall in love with it all over again. For eleven seasons this show maintained its elegance, absurdity and razor sharp wit. It sounds like a cliche but the core group of Frasier, Niles, Martin, Daphne and Roz (and Eddie!) became something akin to friends whose company you treasured and adored. There was none of the schmalzt that often marrs a lot of American sitcoms, and for a show that took quite broad character sweeps - wine and opera loving fopps/ crotchety retired cop/ a very English maid/ a sex mad producer - nevertheless managed to breathe real life and and a rich seam of depth into each of them.
I picked the following clip from Season three because it ecompasses everything I adore about this show. You Can Go Home Again sees Frasier celebrating three years of his radio show and flashbacks to his first farcical day on the job at KACL, meeting with Niles for the first time in several years, and then seeing his father Martin for the first time since The Crane's mother's death. What Frasier did brilliantly was go from laugh out loud humour to moments of pure perfect poignancy. Kelsey Grammer distills everything that made Frasier touching, funny and warm in this scene in Martin's apartment. It speaks for itself. Perfect. Just perfect.
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