The Very Best of "Frasier" [Paperback]

The best American situation-comedy ever devised, FRASIER ran for eleven seasons, and the hit-to-miss ratio remained incredibly high throughout. It's no real surprise why. Choose any episode in this book (covering seasons 1-7) and you'll experience almost as much pleasure as watching it on the screen. There are many examples of laugh-out-loud dialogue - erudite, intellectual, mocking - which highlights just how extraordinarily sharp and inventive the writers were. Characters were identifiable and consistent and the sheer energy of the performances allowed for any number of situations to play off in often hilarious and unpredictable ways. If you've seen it, you'll know exactly what I mean. If you haven't, seek it out then come back here.

EXTRACT: FRASIER AND NILES, HAVING FAILED TO FIX A LEAKING TOILET, CALL IN A PLUMBER. (From 'SEAT OF POWER')

FRASIER: Kriezel the weasel?
NILES: Yes!
FRASIER: Are you sure? It's been twenty-five years.
NILES: I'd recognise him anywhere. He bullied me throughout my childhood. You could pluck my eyes out - by the way, he tried to do that - and I would be one-hundred-percent sure that was him.
FRASIER: Well, he certainly didn't recognise you just now.
NILES: (snapping) That's because he wasn't flushing my head in a toilet! That was his trademark. He called it a swirly!!
FRASIER: Niles, I don't need to be reminded of the Kriezels' reign of terror. I'm confident my fear of confined spaces can be traced back to when his brother Billy shoved me in a locker wearing a girl's field hockey uniform.
NILES: I'm sorry. I didn't mean to deny you your pain.
FRASIER: Thank you.
NILES: I can still hear the laughter, and Kriezel's mocking voice as he'd hoist me over the bowl: "Hold your breath, jocko." Then the crowd would begin its awful chant, "There goes Crane, down the drain. There..."
FRASIER: (interrupting) Niles, get hold of yourself. you're not an awkward teenager anymore. You're a renowned psychiatrist. Danny Kriezel may have won a battle or two in junior high, but that's where his life peaked. You won the war. You know the expression: "Living well is the best revenge."
NILES: It's a wonderful expression, but I don't know how true it is. You don't see that turning up in a lot of opera plots: Ludvig, maddened by the poisoning of his entire family, wreaks vengeance on Gunther in the third act by living well.
FRASIER: All right, Niles...

THEY CROSS TO THE KITCHEN. AS THEY GO:

NILES: Whereupon, Woton, discovering his deception, avenges his betrayal by living even better than the duke.
FRASIER: Oh, all right. It's just an expression.

Occasional episodes suffer from the lazy spectacle of broad farce and cliche (British culture via Daphne was not particularly well respresented at times) but even those misfires find redemption in the reassuring interplay of a family of actors confident in their ability to rise above mediocre material. KELSEY GRAMMAR and DAVID HYDE PIERCE, JOHN MAHONEY, JANE LEEVES and PERI GILPIN...right time, right place - unassuming stars in near-perfect alignment.

So, read these scripts and be in no doubt as to the sheer wit of the word. Sarcasm certainly had its part to play but, when you think about it, wasn't the classic FAWLTY TOWERS one of the most steeped-in-sarcasm comedies ever made? Now it's no more, the magic of FRASIER (unlike the horribly overrated FRIENDS) has left a strange kind of void in its wake which may never be adequately filled again. Why? Well, just like the blank page on a scriptwriter's laptop; it's not the spectre of writer's block that's getting him down, it's the cold-sweat realisation that all the best lines have already been taken.

MY COFFEE WITH NILES, SEAT OF POWER, Dr NORA, OUT WITH DAD, THE DINNER PARTY...shining, magnificent scripts, all guaranteed to leave you laughing - and surely the single most important reason why FRASIER remains so highly regarded today.

UNRESERVEDLY RECOMMENDED

This fantastic book has everything an avid fan would want. You can sit in front of your telly acting out the scenes of some of your favourite 'Frasier' episodes. It has some great gloosy pictues in from 15 of your favourite scripts.